Combine/copy note checkboxes to to-do list

[caseycu 2]

Hi All,

 

I am BRAND new to evernote and I was wondering if there was a way to have evernote copy all the checkboxes I make in a note and combine them into a separate note that I could use as a to-do list. That way I could have individual notes from separate meetings, but since all of my check boxes (or tasks) would be copied and combined into one easy access note. If this is not possible, how could I suggest this to Evernote. I would be totally willing to upgrade to premium for this service.

 

Thanks

Casey

[caseycu 2]

Or even combine the checkboxes/tasks from all the notes in each notebook.

[jbenson2 2,149]

When you ask a question, it is helpful to indicate what O/S you are using.

Here is my view for the Evernote Windows client.

 

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There is no easy way to extract checkbox details automatically into a single separate note. You could do a copy and paste but that would defeat most of the benefits of using Evernote.

A better method would be to search for what you are looking for.
You can use one of these three search term to find checked items

1.) to find all unfinished items - ones with unchecked checkbox

todo:false

2.) to find the finished items containing a checked checkbox

todo:true

3.) to find all the checkboxes (unfinished and finished)

todo:*

And you can narrow the results by adding additional keywords or tags to the above mentioned searches.

 

I have found Evernote to be much more powerful if I limit one checkbox per note. You might prefer multiple to do items in one note, just be aware there are some drawbacks. Just my opinion. Other people do this differently.

 

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Once you run the search you want, you can bulk copy the titles and paste them into a single note. It won't past the actual checkbox info, just the titles. The titles are hyperlinked back to the actual note. I seldom, if ever, resort to printing my information, so my preference would be to stick with the search terms mentioned above.

 

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How do you send your suggestion to Evernote?

Since you are brand new, I would suggest you get your feet wet and try working with the program for a another week or so, then go ahead with your suggestion.

 

Occasionally someone from Evernote staff might drop by to this User Forum and spot a suggestion. I have found the best way to communicate directly with Evernote is via the Support Page (link below). There is an option for General Feedback / Comments.  You will get a response from Evernote, usually a general thank you, but you can be assured that an employee from Evernote will see your request and it will be logged into their database for a period of time.
https://evernote.com/contact/support/

 

[Ariane L. 0]

Agree with Casey - Evernote you need this feature! I will need to go back to MSFT Notes (which would be a bummer) but I need this feature for work purposes!

Ariane L.

Hi All,

 

I am BRAND new to evernote and I was wondering if there was a way to have evernote copy all the checkboxes I make in a note and combine them into a separate note that I could use as a to-do list. That way I could have individual notes from separate meetings, but since all of my check boxes (or tasks) would be copied and combined into one easy access note. If this is not possible, how could I suggest this to Evernote. I would be totally willing to upgrade to premium for this service.

 

Thanks

Casey

[surfrank 1]

Having been a premium users of EN for years, I can only agree: Transferring checkboxed items in my notes into a ToDo list (perferably TodleDo, since it syncs with a lot of apps) woild be THE feature I'd put in the top spot of my wish list for EN.

 

I tend to put meeting notes into Evernote, marking the action items with check boxes as I type. I've recently started to highlight some keywords around the check box in a different color so that I can more easily find the various action items in a large note with meeting minutes (after having used the search features to filter the notes with un/completed tasks). But still, this is not really satisfactory.

 

I think there should be a way to extract the line following a defined character and move it someplace to be syncd or at least auto-label it in some fashion. Maybe with limitations, like only the next n characters or only up to the next CR/LF or no subtasks etc. , but still ...

[Frank.dg 1,385]

You should take a look at "Swipes", a 3rd-party iOS to-do app that harvests all your check-box items from any set of notes/ notebooks within your Evernote account... and then you can arrange/ group them any which way you want. Each check-box item becomes it's own individual task. Of course, this app didn't exist at the time of the OP way, way back in January of this year. But it's there now. It's a great option. 

[Andrés 1]

It's a pity that Evernote doesn't include this feature. Microsoft OneNote does have that option.

[schlicks 2]

I'd love to see a response from EN on this. Its SUCH on obvious feature and a huge fail that it cannot be done. I love EN, but the fact that I need to use a separate platform for do to lists is mad. I often have things i want to remember to do as they come up in meetings and discussions or just when I have some quiet time, and having two platforms is mad. 

PLEASE evernote PLEASE introduce a simple button where it creates a new note where I can either see only unchecked, only checked and both. 

I know I can find this in the notes using todo:false etc, but in lengthy notes and when you do this all the time that is just impractical. 

I'm literally begging. At very least tell us why it can't be done. 

[jefito 5,598]

14 hours ago, schlicks said:

I'd love to see a response from EN on this.

The response (based on my ~8 years of forum participation) would likely be something like: "Thanks for the suggestion. We read all posts, though we don't respond to all of them, and feature requests are evaluated for addition into Evernote's products. We do not usually comment on or release plans for future feature inclusion". 

Or, as it says at the top of the forum:

Quote

Use this forum to suggest great ideas for improving Evernote. It could be a little idea or a very big idea. Like someone else's idea? Vote on the idea, or provide a comment of your own. One thing to remember: popularity does not mean implementation. Our forums are one component of the decisions we make, and while a bunch of ideas have merit, we need to be selective and always balancing priorities. 

I see 0 votes for this feature currently. You should add yours.

[surfrank 1]

I actually posted a similar request more than two years ago and never received a response.

There are more and more attractive tools out there that were actually designed to solve different issues but also happen to store files/notes, structuring and/or tagging them. OneNote is actually not that bad once you got used to their approach to structuring the information and even tools like Trello can hold a reasonable amount of files that you can label, tag and structure as you prefer.

From my perspective, EN needs to pay attention to not getting obsolete pretty quickly - at least for people using it to collaborate and to increase their productivity.
Sharing notes with non-EN users and listing/scheduling/prioritizing ToDos are both lagging behind the current state-of-the-art quite a bit.

[robinlj 0]

People have been asking evernote for this functionality for years. This is the one reason I rarely use evernote. When I take notes, I create to-do's. To have to go back through hundreds of notes to find every little checkbox is insane. I just do not understand why they don 't add this feature. I think that if when you create a checkbox you had the ability to automatically add it to a to-do list, it would be magic.

 

[surfrank 1]

Never received a response to my original post, switched to OneNote and cancelled my Premium subscription ... Sorry, Evernote - you were actually great for a while!

[robinlj 0]

This is the single biggest and most obvious feature "win" that EN could add. Have been asking about this for YEARS now. I am finally going to consider a change to a new productivity tool. Things are starting to fall through the cracks because i have "to-do's" in multiple different notes and it is impossible to manage. I just don't get why EN hasn't tackled this. 

 

[DTLow 5,749]

24 minutes ago, robinlj said:

This is the single biggest and most obvious feature "win" that EN could add.

This request has 3 votes    
To indicate support, use the vote button at the top left corner of the discussion

Personally, I store my "to-dos" as individual notes, and produce lists as required   
I can also use an applescript to extract content within notes   
Third party Task Clone can also extract "to-dos" from within note contents