(Archived) How do I use Evernote?

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I've had Evernote for a few years, but haven't really used it. Someone shared scanned documents with me and I can see the value in being able to search for text in Evernote.

 

The question is, how do I put stuff into Evernote? By stuff, I mean my own scanned documents. Or do files not really exist in Evernote?

 

If I have some marriage records stored in different folders on my computer, do I have to gather them all up into one Evernote folder, or do I point to them somehow?

 

How does text get "searchable"? Do I have to OCR it or something? Or does Evernote do that magically on its own? That's really what I want to use it for, is to search for text in scanned documents.

 

Today I updated to the latest version of Evernote (free), 5.1.2 so am ready to see how this works. 

 

I don't know if I'm ready to learn about sync, but I did sign into sync. But I have no idea what is syncing, or if I want it to sync. Or how to stop it from syncing.

 

I won't be using Evernote with a phone or anything else fancy like that (no hand-held devices). I just have a couple of computers at home.

 

Using Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium.

 

Thanks

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One more series of questions:

 

Are the jpegs in the notebooks that someone shared with me stored somewhere on my computer? If so, at what path? Do I need to back them up should my computer break?

[jefito 5,598]

Evernote's basic unit of storage is a note. A note can contain your own content (things that you type) and / or attachments, which are external files, like Microsoft Word or Excel documents, PDF files, images, music files, etc. Evernote will do OCR on images and PDF files, but if you're generating PDF files, your scanner may do a better job, so if a PDF file that you attach to a note already has OCR data, Evernote will just use that instead.

You can add attachments to Evernote by dragging them into a note from Explorer, or you can create an import folder, which will pull any file placed there into Evernote (one note per file).

Syncing is a big part of the Evernote experience; all Evernote clients sync, by which I mean that all Evernote clients communicate with the Evernote servers that hold your note data. For the most part, that's a good idea, since you get an automatic backup for your notes for free (although on desktop clients like Windows and Mac, you can designate certain notebooks as "local", or unsynced, which means that there is no automatic backup for those notes). The desktop clients, also keep a local database of your notes on your hard drive (including local, unsynced notebooks) so you should back that database up periodically.

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Thanks, I dragged a file into a note. I still don't know if Evernote is "storing" that file in it's own database. For each item I drag into it, is that creating another instance of that file on my computer?

 

When I go here: C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Evernote\Evernote\Databases  - there is a file with my username and extension .exb - the size is 3.76 GB. Is that my Evernote database? Before my computer crashes, I'd like to backup the Evernote files. Is that the file that is most important?

 

I tried to drag a pdf that was 25.7 MB. A message popped up that "This file could not be added because it is too large. Free users have a maximum note size of 25MB." Then was offered to upgrade to Evernote premium. Is that maximum size only for files that are being synced? If I unsync, do I still have the maximum restriction?

 

How do I create an import folder?

 

At what point does Evernote do OCR? I dragged a jpeg image into a note. The jpeg is a scan of 2 pages of a book. I searched for text on the page. Evernote did not find the text. {EDIT: Hmmm, I guess I had somehow turned off sync. I can now search and find the text in the jpeg.}

[jefito 5,598]

Yes, Evernote stores a copy of each attachment in its note database. That's how it can make attachments available on other devices -- attachments are synced to the Evernote servers, and can then be synced down to a different device.

 

The .exb is your notes database, and that's the one that you'd back up.

 

There's no such thing as 'unsyncing'. You might try creating a local notebook, and putting it in there; those notebooks are by definition never synced to the Evernote servers.

 

You create an import folder via Tools / Import Folders....

 

Evernote does OCR on the servers. That can take some time; less for Premium users.

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Thanks Jeff.

 

I searched online for how to create a local notebook and didn't find directions, so am posting here:

File > New Notebook

Create Notebook window opens.

Type in a name.

Select "Local notebook"

Click OK

 

As I understand, the files in the local notebook are never synced, and so they are never OCR'd.

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/24636-offline-notebook-questions/

I'd need to buy Premium service for an "Offline" notebook in order to get them OCR'd.

 

I don't see a way to select and copy text after Evernote has found text I searched for.  Let me know if there is a way to do that.

 

Unfortunately, it's looking like Evernote will not fit my needs.

[jefito 5,598]

As I understand, the files in the local notebook are never synced, and so they are never OCR'd.

Correct.

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/24636-offline-notebook-questions/

I'd need to buy Premium service for an "Offline" notebook in order to get them OCR'd.

Incorrect. Evernote notebooks are synced to the Evernote servers by default, in all versions (free or premium). If notes are synced, then they'll get OCR'ed. There's no such thing as offline notebooks for desktop clients (Windows and Mac); that's only a concept used in the mobile clients (iOS, Android, etc.; it just means that notes in an offline notebook are cached on the device for use when you are offline).

 

I don't see a way to select and copy text after Evernote has found text I searched for.  Let me know if there is a way to do that.

Evernote OCR does not present a translated stream of text matching the words that you see. OCR is an imperfect process, and there can be multiple guesses for the same collection of letters. So selecting text that represents a given screen area doesn't make sense. For PDF files, you can always open them up in an external program, and make selections from that.

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Thanks for clarifying. Maybe I should work with it more to figure it all out and watch more Youtube videos. But I'm hoping not to mess up everything before knowing what I'm doing.

 

Do Evernote users commonly use Tools / Import Folders to import all the files on their computer? For instance, I have all my personal files on a D drive. It has 221 GB in used space. Can the free version of Evernote handle that? Is doing that recommended, or not?

 

Making sure to select "keep" the source (when importing), has anyone ever lost all their original data after a glitch that caused the source to become deleted?

[jefito 5,598]

Do Evernote users commonly use Tools / Import Folders to import all the files on their computer? For instance, I have all my personal files on a D drive. It has 221 GB in used space. Can the free version of Evernote handle that? Is doing that recommended, or not?

No! <Deity>, no! In the first place, you'll probably quickly run up against your monthly upload limits. And then you might run into your account limits. In the second place, you'd just wind up with a big pile of unorganized notes. Advice: take it slowly. Build up your use case and see how it feels. Learn how to organize your notes.

 

Making sure to select "keep" the source (when importing), has anyone ever lost all their original data after a glitch that caused the source to become deleted?

It's not beyond the realm of possibility that someone might delete an attachment from their note, and lose the only copy. Or that a software glitch might lose the file. If a document is important to you, then back it up in a safe location. You can use Evernote to view and search, but you should protect yourself too.

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Thanks for the advice. I'll take it slowly