(Archived) Feature request: list links to a note

[flaneige 13]

Would it be possible, from the Note menu, to list all notes (in all notebooks) that link to the current (selected) note?

Thanks

[May 268]

Copy/paste the link to the note into search bar and you will find all notes that link to it

[flaneige 13]

I can't get it to work

The note link looks like "evernote:///view/1364424/........."

When pasted into search bar I don't find the notes containing this link

[May 268]

You want to paste the link name, not the URL because it's not indexed.

[flaneige 13]

Thank you for answering

I understand that, with this method, all links to a same note must have the same name. That's not my case

Additionally, every note with this text in it, even if not a link, will be found. That's not exactly what I was looking for

[Martin Packer 162]

The interlinkedness of notes remains, in my opinion, something to be worked on. I would think it's a client thing.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Thank you for answering

I understand that, with this method, all links to a same note must have the same name. That's not my case

Additionally, every note with this text in it, even if not a link, will be found. That's not exactly what I was looking for

If you put quotation marks around it, the search will only find notes with that exact phrase. In my case, I name things with YYMMDD + keywords ("121020 journal saturday"), so this kind of search will turn up relatively few notes. If you are naming your notes with generic titles like "Important" or "Photos", then you are not going to get very far with this kind of search. My recommendation, of course, is to find a titling system that works for you, and produces unique titles for each note.

As for the note links, if you create them, and then later change the name of a note, then the link will remain, even though it no longer matches the title. Of course, these will not turn up either in the searches that May recommended. I recommend that you do not change the titles of notes unless absolutely necessary in order to avoid this problem.

[jbenson2 2,147]

My understanding is there is no easy way to link a single note to all other relevant notes unless you either use a unique tag or an alternate search method. I also am a big supporter of well-structured titles as mentioned by GrumpyMonkey.

Here is what I do when I have a group of related notes and do not want to create a special tag for a unique task. I assign a 6 digit search code to each of the relevant notes.

Examples include shopping and buying a new car...; surgery and follow up care...; hail storm damage, repair work, insurance paperwork...; job interview process; etc.

The following screen shot shows the interactive links to all notes involved with our new wall-mounted oven.

http://www.evernote....d697cab1edb4a5f

The search code I used to link these notes together is some text inserted into each note

Search Code QF63YB (Oven)

[Martin Packer 162]

The six-digit search code idea is a good one. My objections to it would be twofold:

1) It's obtrusive

2) You have to know the code somehow

But it's a good idea as it's the best one we've got. (Yes I have enough maths by far to know the largest number isn't necessarily a large one.) :-)

[May 268]

Yeah, organising information for BROWSING isn't Evernote's strong point. I personally rely on mind maps for this.

Note links are great when you need to reference some note here and there, put some notes in an external app like a calendar but that's pretty much it.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

The six-digit search code idea is a good one. My objections to it would be twofold:

1) It's obtrusive

2) You have to know the code somehow

But it's a good idea as it's the best one we've got. (Yes I have enough maths by far to know the largest number isn't necessarily a large one.) :-)

It's actually not obtrusive at all. You just throw it down at the bottom of a note. As for knowing the code, there are two things to note:

(1) If you can find one note in a cluster, you can find them all. Chances are that when you are looking for your oven research, something will pop up with that code, and then you just plug that into the search.

(2) I go a step further. I have one note full of random codes, and I use these whenever I create a new cluster of notes. It serves as an index for everything.

I wrote a bit about it here (http://www.princeton.edu/~cmayo/evernote-organization.html).

[May 268]

As for the note links, if you create them, and then later change the name of a note, then the link will remain, even though it no longer matches the title. Of course, these will not turn up either in the searches that May recommended.

You can rename notes as much as you like and still find it by workaround with searches that I showed, As long as the link name/random code/unique keyword remains in the note.

If you rely on unique titles to group notes then you can still rename notes as much as you like, as long as you keep the original titles in the body of notes.

[May 268]

I agree that random codes are inconvenient way to group notes and I don't use them because:

Random code has to be copy/pasted manually each time.

To find out the random code you would first have to find some note which has it. This is another obstacle.

Personally I just use tags to group notes because thats the most straightforward process. I search for Tags instead of manually browsing the Tag List in Evernote to find them - so it doesn't matter how many tags I have.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I agree that random codes are inconvenient way to group notes and I don't use them because:

Random code has to be copy/pasted manually each time.

To find out the random code you would first have to find some note which has it. This is another obstacle.

As stated, I have a note with all of the codes there. It isn't a big deal. It is a pain to paste the codes in each time, to be sure, but on the iPad, less work than making a tag. I think it depends in part on what client you use the most.

Personally I just use tags to group notes because thats the most straightforward process. I search for Tags and don't manually browse the Tag List in Evernote to find Tags and so it doesn't matter how many tags I have.

Yep. It is more straightforward. The random code thing is a bit odd, and admittedly not for general use. But, it works really well for me.

[May 268]

It is a pain to paste the codes in each time, to be sure, but on the iPad, less work than making a tag

To create a new tag:

1.Type the tag

To create a new random code:

1. Type the random code in a note.

2. Search for the note with all your random codes.

2. Paste the new random code in this note.

I don't see how that's less work

Additionally

To find all notes with a random code:

1.Search for some which has the random code you need

OR

Search for a note which has all random codes and then search it for the random code you need

2. Copy/paste the random code in search bar.

To find all notes with a Tag:

1.Search for the Tag.

[May 268]

I mean... using tags is a one step process, using random codes is a multi step process.

Both have pretty much the same outcome though.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

It is a pain to paste the codes in each time, to be sure, but on the iPad, less work than making a tag

To create a new tag:

1.Type the tag

To create a new random code:

1. Type the random code in a note.

2. Search for the note with all your random codes.

2. Paste the new random code in this note.

I don't see how that's less work

Additionally

To find all notes with a random code:

1.Search for some which has the random code you need

OR

Search for a note which has all random codes and then search it for the random code you need

2. Copy/paste the random code in search bar.

To find all notes with a Tag:

1.Search for the Tag.

To add a tag to a note: press "i", tap "tags", and select your tag.

To add a random code: copy/paste.

Searching seems a toss-up to me. The main benefit (in my opinion) to tags) is that you can change the names and easily add/remove them from multiple notes on the desktop client.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

In my humble opinion, the random codes seem so appealing because they address deficiencies in the current Evernote implementation of tags. In general, if someone is looking for a workaround, then it suggests there is a bottleneck somewhere. In particular, on the iPad it takes several steps to apply a tag, and you cannot apply the tags to multiple notes at once. On the Mac, you have to go through multiple steps to add tags. And, on every client it is difficult to organize tags, because you cannot simply drag them around as needed. They are alphabetical, and you can only see a few at a time.

Tags are obviously more powerful (as you or JM said, why not just name your tags with random codes?), but they are cumbersome to use on a large scale. 5 or 10? No problem. 100 or 200? A bit messy. 1000? Good luck finding your tags.

[May 268]

To add a tag to a note: press "i", tap "tags", and select your tag.

To add a random code: copy/paste.

It's a one step process because tapping on "I" and then "tags" sub-menu doesn't require you to leave the current note screen and switch between notes, search or copy/paste.

Using random codes requires you to switch between different notes, search and copy/paste stuff

Do I need to make a quick video comparison? I'm not making this stuff up

[May 268]

on the iPad it takes several steps to apply a tag, and you cannot apply the tags to multiple notes at once

I use TagEver or MoveEver on iPad to apply a set of Tags to multiple notes all at once.

And, on every client it is difficult to organize tags, because you cannot simply drag them around as needed. They are alphabetical, and you can only see a few at a time.

they are cumbersome to use on a large scale. 5 or 10? No problem. 100 or 200? A bit messy. 1000? Good luck finding your tags.

Yes. I don't organise Tags in Evernote. I have a workaround for this (for any platform) but it's a whole different topic

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

To add a tag to a note: press "i", tap "tags", and select your tag.

To add a random code: copy/paste.

It's a one step process because tapping on "I" and then "tags" sub-menu doesn't require you to leave the current note screen and switch between notes, search or copy/paste.

Using random codes requires you to switch between different notes, search and copy/paste stuff

Do I need to make a quick video comparison? I'm not making this stuff up

Simmer down there Skitchy. No need for a video either. I don't have to switch back and forth because I usually copy / paste the code into several notes at once.

You know, you can avoid all of this quite easily with templates. Make a few dozen notes on your desktop client with the tags already applied, or with the random codes already inside them. It takes some thinking ahead, of course, but it speeds things up a little, because you don't have to apply the tag or copy/paste the random codes. In the end, it is a wash. Use whichever method you like

[May 268]

I don't have to switch back and forth because I usually copy / paste the code into several notes at once.

How do you copy/paste the code in multiple notes all at once without switch between notes?

I apply multiple tags to any group of notes on iPad, without any copy/pasting, searching, switching between notes, etc.

You know, you can avoid all of this quite easily with templates. Make a few dozen notes on your desktop client with the tags already applied, or with the random codes already inside them.

Templates are awesome but they're useful only for frequently used notes, all other notes still have to be processed manually.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I don't have to switch back and forth because I usually copy / paste the code into several notes at once.

How do you copy/paste the code in multiple notes all at once without switch between notes?

I apply multiple tags to any group of notes on iPad, without any copy/pasting, searching, switching between notes, etc.

Using the Evernote app, what you are talking about is not possible. Yes. If you use a third-party app, you can do all sorts of other things.

[May 268]

Using the Evernote app, what you are talking about is not possible. Yes. If you use a third-party app, you can do all sorts of other things

The Evernote app itself is good, however it's not particularly great at anything.

But... Open API, additional apps and services, like sending notes by email, webclipper, Evernote Food/Hello, skitch, third party apps... The whole Eco-system... All that combined is IMHO the biggest strength of Evernote...

It's the service that really matters (to me), not the app itself. Frankly, I could even remove Evernote app completely from my iPad and just rely on third party client apps... not that I'd want to but it could be done without much sacrifice.

[flaneige 13]

Back to the original request, don't you think that an option in the Note menu to show all the notes linked to the current note would add a great facility in organizing our data ?

[May 268]

Sure, but I also personally think that the whole note linking workflow could be re-worked and improved dramatically. However I doubt it's going to happen any time soon (if at all).

I could be wrong, but that's just the impression I get based on slow progress of the iPad app, and that it takes YEARS for Evernote devs to implement something like Due Dates... Still not implemented btw

[flaneige 13]

You are certainly right regarding a total rework.

My request seems relatively easy to implement, basically it's just a search.

[May 268]

Yeah, that'd be useful...

For example:

I have a note and there is another note which is somewhat related to it. Sure, I could just group those notes together with some Tag or unique keyword/random code but what if I just want to reference one note in the other note with a note link?

that's fine too, however,

Later on, when I find and look at the referenced note itself - there's no way to see all other notes that point/link to it. All of those notes are related and it would make sense to see them but Note links work only one-way, not both ways, .

Yes, you could add note link from Note A to Note B and then go ahead and add note link from Note B to Note A but this way you have to do double amount of work all the time. So at this point you might as well just be pasting unique random codes in those notes because you're surely not saving yourself from any additional unnecessary effort.

And that's one of the reasons why I find note linking to be an inconvenient and cumbersome way of **organising** notes in Evernote. There is no convenient way to solve this at the moment, other than using Tags to organise notes.

[flaneige 13]

Another use case

Before merging (or deleting) a note, there is no way to check if it is referenced in some other notes. Then, you can have dead links after proceeding.

[May 268]

Aha, using Note links to **organise** notes creates more problems than it solves.