(Archived) How does Evernote save files?

[mmmadeli 1]

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, I just want to make sure I don't make a mistake. So I'm in the process of shifting a lot of my reference files into Evernote. I'm a knitter, so part of this is moving a huge number of knitting patterns that I've downloaded over the past five years in pdf form into Evernote. This is awesome, it's a way better system than I had before (which was basically no system at all, lol). But I don't totally understand what Evernote does with the files, and I want to confirm before I create a problem for myself.

 

1. When I move an existing PDF into Evernote, does that essentially create a duplicate of the file? Like, if I have a PDF already saved on my hard drive and I drag it into a note, can I safely delete the file, or does the note only exist as a reference to the PDF that's already saved in my Downloads folder or wherever?

 

2. When I find a PDF on the web I want to save, does clipping it with the Web Clipper have the exact same result as downloading it to my hard drive and dragging it into a note? Is there a reason to do one over the other?

 

Thanks! I hope that was clear - I'd love to free myself from downloading hundreds of PDFs and creating all this clutter on my computer, but I want to be sure I won't lose stuff before I go deleting.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, I just want to make sure I don't make a mistake. So I'm in the process of shifting a lot of my reference files into Evernote. I'm a knitter, so part of this is moving a huge number of knitting patterns that I've downloaded over the past five years in pdf form into Evernote. This is awesome, it's a way better system than I had before (which was basically no system at all, lol). But I don't totally understand what Evernote does with the files, and I want to confirm before I create a problem for myself.

 

1. When I move an existing PDF into Evernote, does that essentially create a duplicate of the file? Like, if I have a PDF already saved on my hard drive and I drag it into a note, can I safely delete the file, or does the note only exist as a reference to the PDF that's already saved in my Downloads folder or wherever?

 

2. When I find a PDF on the web I want to save, does clipping it with the Web Clipper have the exact same result as downloading it to my hard drive and dragging it into a note? Is there a reason to do one over the other?

 

Thanks! I hope that was clear - I'd love to free myself from downloading hundreds of PDFs and creating all this clutter on my computer, but I want to be sure I won't lose stuff before I go deleting.

 

Yes, EN puts a copy into the database of your PDF.  If you alter one PDF, this does not change the other.  IMO, if it's anything worth saving, I prefer to save it not only in Evernote but also my hard drive.  Although you can get your files out of Evernote pretty easily, I just like having the two methods as a backup for each other. 

 

Web clipping is not the same as downloading a PDF, IME.