Can I then delete file on local drive after adding to Evernote?

[orlando74 5]

If I add a local file (Word, PDF, etc) to a Note, can I then delete that attachment on my local drive to free room on my HDD?

I'm assuming the the desktop version of Evernote is only linking to the filed I dropped in the note and that therefore I should not remove it (?)

 

Can someone please clarify how this works....

THanks!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

If I add a local file (Word, PDF, etc) to a Note, can I then delete that attachment on my local drive to free room on my HDD?

I'm assuming the the desktop version of Evernote is only linking to the filed I dropped in the note and that therefore I should not remove it (?)

 

Can someone please clarify how this works....

THanks!

You can b/c Evernote puts a copy in its database. However, I prefer to keep a copy on my hard drive b/c I am of the belief that it's always good to have a backup of any important documents.

[orlando74 5]

Thx Burgers... but if I delete all these attachments that I'm adding to my notes (which are store in Evernote Local Files --> Database i believe), whenever I launch the Windows desktop version, it will have placeholders for all the attachments and will need to be synched everytime if I want all my attachments to show up? What is considered an attachment? Drag and dropping a PDF or image onto a note? How about copy and paste an image to inside a note? Still considerered an attachment?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Thx Burgers... but if I delete all these attachments that I'm adding to my notes (which are store in Evernote Local Files --> Database i believe), whenever I launch the Windows desktop version, it will have placeholders for all the attachments and will need to be synched everytime if I want all my attachments to show up? What is considered an attachment? Drag and dropping a PDF or image onto a note? How about copy and paste an image to inside a note? Still considerered an attachment?

When you add a file (any file) to an Evernote note via D&D or adding via a paperclip icon or an import folder (Windows desktop client only), as I said above, Evernote adds a copy of that file to its database. This is not the same as a link to a file on a hard drive. Attachments are pretty much anything excluding plain text. Images, PDFs, zip files, mp3 files, etc.

 

Additionally, when using either the Windows or Mac desktop clients (you download & install & you didn't mention which client you're using), the EN database is stored on your hard drive.  When using the web client (via a browser), in order to view the attachment (excluding a select few like images & PDFs), they need to be downloaded from the EN servers.  Same with mobile clients.  Again, this is not the same as a link to a file on a hard drive.

[orlando74 5]

I'm on Windows... reason I'm asking all this is because my C: drive is an SSD that is pretty close to being full, so I moved the EN database from that location to one on another drive (using EN preferences settings).  I guess I'll have to be very careful not to delete that folder... although my understanding from this is that worst case scenario everything can be re-downloaded from the EN servers to my local drive. Yes?  And since as you say the attachments added become COPIES of the original, then I guess it makes sense to delete the ORIGINAL file from its ORIGINAL folder once its been added to EN, otherwise I will have duplicates of all attachments on my hard drives (the original one + the copied one in the EN DB folder) and that will fill up my hard drives fast!

 

Hopefully, I've understood it correctly now?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I'm on Windows... reason I'm asking all this is because my C: drive is an SSD that is pretty close to being full, so I moved the EN database from that location to one on another drive (using EN preferences settings).  I guess I'll have to be very careful not to delete that folder... although my understanding from this is that worst case scenario everything can be re-downloaded from the EN servers to my local drive. Yes?  And since as you say the attachments added become COPIES of the original, then I guess it makes sense to delete the ORIGINAL file from its ORIGINAL folder once its been added to EN, otherwise I will have duplicates of all attachments on my hard drives (the original one + the copied one in the EN DB folder) and that will fill up my hard drives fast!

 

Hopefully, I've understood it correctly now?

 

You can delete the originals from your SSD, but I'd suggest keeping copies of them on another drive, somewhere.  As much as I love Evernote, I hesitate to have all my eggs in one basket. 

 

The way to confirm what happens is to create a test document on your hard drive.  Add it to Evernote.  Then modify the one on your hard drive & save it.  Now, open the copy in Evernote by double clicking the attachment icon in the note.  It will be the original note & not contain the revisions made to the copy on your hard drive. 

 

I prefer to keep docs that are modified often on my hard drive.  Once I'm done with it, I'll add it to Evernote & then retain the original on my hard drive as another form of a backup.

[tavor 668]

 

I'm on Windows... reason I'm asking all this is because my C: drive is an SSD that is pretty close to being full, so I moved the EN database from that location to one on another drive (using EN preferences settings).  I guess I'll have to be very careful not to delete that folder... although my understanding from this is that worst case scenario everything can be re-downloaded from the EN servers to my local drive. Yes?  And since as you say the attachments added become COPIES of the original, then I guess it makes sense to delete the ORIGINAL file from its ORIGINAL folder once its been added to EN, otherwise I will have duplicates of all attachments on my hard drives (the original one + the copied one in the EN DB folder) and that will fill up my hard drives fast!

 

Hopefully, I've understood it correctly now?

 

You can delete the originals from your SSD, but I'd suggest keeping copies of them on another drive, somewhere.  As much as I love Evernote, I hesitate to have all my eggs in one basket. 

 

The way to confirm what happens is to create a test document on your hard drive.  Add it to Evernote.  Then modify the one on your hard drive & save it.  Now, open the copy in Evernote by double clicking the attachment icon in the note.  It will be the original note & not contain the revisions made to the copy on your hard drive. 

 

I prefer to keep docs that are modified often on my hard drive.  Once I'm done with it, I'll add it to Evernote & then retain the original on my hard drive as another form of a backup.

 

Since OP is using the Windows Desktop app and attachments are being saved to the EN database both locally and online (online for synchronized notebooks), just backing up the local EN database should be sufficient, correct? 

 

In other words, OP will naturally want a backup of the EN database regardless of whether it had attachments in order to have a backup of the EN notes. Since the database also has the attachments, those will also be backed up, so there's no need to keep separate copies of the attachment files elsewhere, unless they are wanted as extra backups - and in that case, it seems like a second backup of the EN database would serve that purpose even better because it would provide a second backup of the attachments AND the notes, as well as being less confusing (not creating the potential to have different versions of the attached files on your computer).

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Since OP is using the Windows Desktop app and attachments are being saved to the EN database both locally and online (online for synchronized notebooks), just backing up the local EN database should be sufficient, correct? 

 

In other words, OP will naturally want a backup of the EN database regardless of whether it had attachments in order to have a backup of the EN notes. Since the database also has the attachments, those will also be backed up, so there's no need to keep separate copies of the attachment files elsewhere, unless they are wanted as extra backups - and in that case, it seems like a second backup of the EN database would serve that purpose even better because it would provide a second backup of the attachments AND the notes, as well as being less confusing (not creating the potential to have different versions of the attached files on your computer).

Yes, it's critical (IMO) to backup your EN database that's on your Mac or Windows desktop.  And in theory, that should be sufficient.  But I've been burned over the decades by "backups".  From five inch floppies to three inch floppies to HP Colorado Trakker tape drives to  Iomega Zip drives, etc, etc, etc.  I dislike having all my eggs in one basket b/c it's not been uncommon when a computer goes down & needs to be replaced or ports change (IE parallel & serial ports before USB ports) or hardware or software is no longer compatible with your OS (happens all the time) that your most recent backup may not be something that is compatible with your latest computer & therefore, unusable.  That's why if something is important, I still keep a copy of it on my hard drive, old school fashion.  Disk is cheap these days.  I'd rather have 10 backups I don't need than need one backup I don't have.