(Archived) REQUEST: Automatic tagging

[Mr.P 18]

Anyone have an idea of how Evernote can automatically add a tag to a new note - for instance '2012'?

Thanks, Mr.P.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Anyone have an idea of how Evernote can automatically add a tag to a new note - for instance '2012'?

Thanks, Mr.P.

hi. welcome to the forums mr p. what you want cannot be sone, i am afraid. i believe the application devonthink might do something like that, but i am not sure. at any rate, it is something users have requested.

a workaround might be to search for a term (or use the advanced search grammar to look for various combinations) and to batch tag all of the notes that appear. i suspect this will turn out to be quick, easy, and more accurate than a computer algorithm.

[jefito 5,589]

a workaround might be to search for a term (or use the advanced search grammar to look for various combinations) and to batch tag all of the notes that appear. i suspect this will turn out to be quick, easy, and more accurate than a computer algorithm.

A-hem: any search is also based on computer algorithms (as is the tagging, and all the rest of Evernote, ad infinitum). Automatic tagging would most likely be based on rules that would include search criteria (think GMail filters), therefore should be as reliable as doing it manually.

Unless you're thinking of some sort of artificial intelligence-y system where Evernote builds up some notion of how you tag and applies it automatically to new notes, in which case, my first response would be "Where's the Off switch?"

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

a workaround might be to search for a term (or use the advanced search grammar to look for various combinations) and to batch tag all of the notes that appear. i suspect this will turn out to be quick, easy, and more accurate than a computer algorithm.

A-hem: any search is also based on computer algorithms (as is the tagging, and all the rest of Evernote, ad infinitum). Automatic tagging would most likely be based on rules that would include search criteria (think GMail filters), therefore should be as reliable as doing it manually.

Unless you're thinking of some sort of artificial intelligence-y system where Evernote builds up some notion of how you tag and applies it automatically to new notes, in which case, my first response would be "Where's the Off switch?"

lol. stop being silly. you know you can come up with search terms better than google can come up with them for you. they try, and sometimes they get it right, but a lot of times they don't. this leads to your second point, how to turn it off? i can imagine some possibilities, but at this point i am thrilled with how snappy evernote is (for everything but the search, which is instantaneous, so it is constantly searching for things before i finish typing--spinning beachballs on the newest model of the macbook pro even with 8gb ram). i wouldn't appreciate anything that slows me down. and, anyhow, i am a control freak, and couldn't stand having my tagging taken over like that.

[jefito 5,589]

lol. stop being silly.

A cure for this has not yet been found. To combat this dreaded condition, please call the number scrolling across the bottom of your screen, and don't forget to give generously...

you know you can come up with search terms better than google can come up with them for you. they try, and sometimes they get it right, but a lot of times they don't. this leads to your second point, how to turn it off? i can imagine some possibilities, but at this point i am thrilled with how snappy evernote is (for everything but the search, which is instantaneous, so it is constantly searching for things before i finish typing--spinning beachballs on the newest model of the macbook pro even with 8gb ram). i wouldn't appreciate anything that slows me down. and, anyhow, i am a control freak, and couldn't stand having my tagging taken over like that.

That's why I'd only use a rule-based system for modifying my notes, if I got to make the rules. In fact, life should be like that; I should make those rules, too!!

[Mr.P 18]

GrumpyMonkey - jefito, thanks very much for the useful response.

Appreciate that auto-tagging might not work for all, and artificial intelligence goes to the extreme, but the option to create one's own rules would be very nice.

Will send a a feature request; although GrumpyMonkey has suggested that this is not the first time that the question has been raised.

Keep up the good work.

Mr.P

[jefito 5,589]

Discussing it here on the forums should suffice. I've asked for this in the past and discussed it here on the forums. Evernote staff (at least one of them) didn't seem to care for the idea -- I seem to recall that he likened it to data mining, but if it's all user-guided, I don't see the problem. Anyways, it'd just be a useful tool for me, as I really don't do huge amounts of clipping/importing into Evernote, though I am used to this technology from both GMail and Outlook. For other, more active Evernoters, I think it would be very helpful.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

GrumpyMonkey - jefito, thanks very much for the useful response.

Appreciate that auto-tagging might not work for all, and artificial intelligence goes to the extreme, but the option to create one's own rules would be very nice.

Will send a a feature request; although GrumpyMonkey has suggested that this is not the first time that the question has been raised.

Keep up the good work.

Mr.P

it never hurts to ask! i think there is demand for it. i probably wouldn't use it myself, but that doesn't mean a whole lot, because i don't use tags

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

a workaround might be to search for a term (or use the advanced search grammar to look for various combinations) and to batch tag all of the notes that appear. i suspect this will turn out to be quick, easy, and more accurate than a computer algorithm.

Actually GM, you have just defined a "rule".

Anything that you can do repeatedly in a manual fashion can be turned into a rule.

Then, if you are going to manually "tag all of the notes", the computer could easily and reliably do this for you.

Doing this by a rule ("computer algorithm") would be much, much easier, faster, and more reliable than manual processing.

I have used Outlook rules for years to successfully and reliably move messages to a folder, to forward to another email account, or to just delete. I have also used "rules" in view autoformatting to highlight messages from VIPs, etc.

Outlook processes the rules as soon as it received the message.

Evernote could do just the same. This would be very helpful (for those of us who do use Tags) when capturing web pages.

Of course, since you don't use Tags, I guess this is all irrelevant to you.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

a workaround might be to search for a term (or use the advanced search grammar to look for various combinations) and to batch tag all of the notes that appear. i suspect this will turn out to be quick, easy, and more accurate than a computer algorithm.

Actually GM, you have just defined a "rule".

Anything that you can do repeatedly in a manual fashion can be turned into a rule.

Then, if you are going to manually "tag all of the notes", the computer could easily and reliably do this for you.

Doing this by a rule ("computer algorithm") would be much, much easier, faster, and more reliable than manual processing.

I have used Outlook rules for years to successfully and reliably move messages to a folder, to forward to another email account, or to just delete. I have also used "rules" in view autoformatting to highlight messages from VIPs, etc.

Outlook processes the rules as soon as it received the message.

Evernote could do just the same. This would be very helpful (for those of us who do use Tags) when capturing web pages.

Of course, since you don't use Tags, I guess this is all irrelevant to you.

sure. it's a rule. i was suggesting a workaround under the current system.

i don't share your enthusiasm for automation. don't be too proud of the technological terrors we've constructed. have faith in your ability to do things manually

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

i don't share your enthusiasm for automation. don't be too proud of the technological terrors we've constructed. have faith in your ability to do things manually

In that case, maybe it's time for you to trade in your shiny new iPad 3 for a Big Chief Tablet and a Number 2 pencil.

A computer is the epitome of automation.

[Tripp 2]

Actually this was something Evernote USED to be able to do several years ago under 2.x. It was a neat feature and one I hated seeing removed. I remember setting up filters/rules so when I clipped things (like emails), it would look for the company name in the text and auto apply a label to it. Very handy and saved a lot of time.

[whatevernote 0]

I would love something like this too!

[Amyrinth 0]

If I may add to the call for this functionality to be added, just being able to set a rule to remove all tags if a note is moved to a specific notebook would be a brilliant start.

[Wilfried 0]

Automatic keyword categories is the most powerfull feature you can imagine. Maual tagging is terrible, especially if you want to remove the tags again. Evernote v2.2 had this great and exclusive feature, which is missing in version 4. That's why we at our office in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, still use EN2 at our Windows7 systems integrated with Office2010 Outlook (32bit ) for its unparalleled power. Version 4 is not even close (no other systems!) mainly due to the lack of the most powerful feature of EN2, automatically tag and categorize notes. We consider EN2 far from the end of his lifecycle. Unless of course version 4 will catch up!