(Archived) What is your system for entering & titling notes?

[todd1611 2]

I have faithfully scanned all my docs into Evernote for over a year now. However, I find that the whole process is becoming more time-consuming than it may be worth. The scanning is not the problem--that's quick and easy. However, I tag and title everything from grocery receipts to medical bills, etc. And I very very rarely ever need to retrieve an old grocery receipt. So I'm basically looking for tips from you on your level of involvement with each item you scan. Do you scan everything? Do you tag and title everything? There are no right or wrong answers. In short, how do you think is the best way to use Evernote most effectively? I really appreciate your tips and/or suggestions. Thank you.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi. I think you will find the forum full of suggestions from other users, so I encourage you to search around, and for this I recommend Google. As for your specific questions:

(1) I scan everything. See Jamie Todd Rubin's post (and the most recent Evernote podcast) for his thoughts on this. http://www.jamierubin.net/2012/05/15/going-paperless-to-scan-or-not-to-scan-that-is-the-question/

(2) I title everything with YYMMDD + keywords. I do not tag. I only use one notebook. See the link to my website in my signature below for more about this.

(3) Here are some suggestions I have for using Evernote effectively (at least, for my particular use case).

[CaptainTime 94]

I don't bother adding or scanning things I won't need later. I do keep all my research online as that is where I am most likely to find useful notes I have forgotten about when I search.

[C6REW 416]

Before using tags, I would add a lot into the title.

So if it is photography, about my club CCC (Calne Camera Club) and a spreadsheet of results from a competitions (I am competition secretary) then the title would have been:

Photo - CCC - Spreadsheet

Now that spreadsheet is automatically entered directly into a sub Notebook:

Photography

CCC Spreadsheets

It will be titled as per the name I have given the spreadsheet which includes the 6 digit date code as used by Grumpy above YYMMDD

Tags would be:

Photo

CCC

I keep a number of Notebooks that have a fairly strict structure based on their main purpose.

So I have one in my personal section called 'Chris's Bits'. Inside this I have 9 sub Notebooks that include 'Bike', 'Food' etc.

In my business section I keep Notebooks such as 'Diary' with sub Notebooks 'Diary - 2013', 'Diary - 2013 - Completed', 'Diary Archive' etc

All of this allows me to easily find what I need by either selecting the Notebook or going to the relevant tag.

Tags are becoming more useful to me. For example I have a 'shared' Notebook called 'OMD' (Olympus OMD-EM5 Camera) which is shared with a number of friends. Every note is also tagged with 'OMD'. But I also have private notes such as the receipt for my camera under the Notebook, 'Chris's Bits', and sub Notebook 'Various'. This would also have the tag 'OMD'. It then becomes easy to either click on the shared notebook 'OMD', to see if my friends have added anything, or click the tag 'OMD' to find everything I have about the camera.

Works for me!

Regards

Chris