REQUEST: Evernote Archive

[patricksan 86]

Dear All,

 

I really would love to see a solution for archiving notes. I've been using for 4 years and now I have some notes that I want to keep in the system, but want to remove from my search. As time goes, my search are getting more difficult to separate valid information and archived information.

 

Like we have Notes, Notebook, Tags, Atlas, Market and Premium button on the Mac version, I dream with an Archive button. Every note I move to this icon will make it not searchable, unless I'm searching inside the Archive View. You could even move a completely Notebook.

 

 

I have many scenarios where this is valid, some of them here:

• You finished a graduation course full of notes and you want these notes in a place that you may need but normally it will not be part of your search or have a distract visual in All Notes View
• You closed a company and want all the notes in a special place
• You may not want to have this Archive notes in your local hard disk, unless you click "Download"
• You prepare for a vacation and suddenly canceled. You want to have this hide in some place but not displaying all the time.

 

I think it would be a great feature.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Patrick Santana

[tacobravo 47]

It seems to me that most of the people who have responded to this lenghty thread proposing workarounds do not understand the use case. The issue is not about searching through a large number of notes. It is about being able to ARCHIVE old information. Several people, including patricksan, understand the issue. We have clients, we take courses in universities, we work on projects--and when they're over, we don't need to see the information again except in rare circumstances. And if one is a consultant or does project work, chances are high that you have notes that are very similar, but which are unique to specific clients. An archive tag will not work (effectively) in those situations. 

I dont know the decision matrix that the Evernote people use to decide what features to build, but this thread has been going on for a year or two, and never once has anyone from the company interjected. Nor did the company respond to my emails.  

[LilMarauder 18]

I moved across country and have a new job in a different field. I do not need to see the dozens of notebooks of old notes and projects from my old job, unless I go looking for them specifically (as a favor to a former coworker). Web Clipper is constantly recommending that I place clips in these old notebooks - if I don't catch it (on mobile, for instance) I don't even know when the notes end up.

WHY is this thread so many years old? Every year that passes means that more people have a use-case scenario for this and, quite frankly, will look for other note-taking options. I'd be lying if I said that this lacking feature hasn't made me want to just start using OneNote so I could have a clean slate for my new job.

[LilMarauder 18]

I am disappointed that there's been absolutely no interest in this feature by anyone except those who have a use-case for it. Evernote seems more interested in creating new layers of paid features - and neglects this already popular feature request that I'm sure many of us would pay for.

DTLow - what you constantly post is not a "solution" - it is a patch or band aid or workaround...I spent hours implementing it...it doesn't work for me. I set a timer every time I'm notified of another reply to this thread just to see how fast you'll respond with the same exact thing. If someone scrolls through this thread looking for a solution and makes the decision to add their request to the thread - I can guarantee that they've seen how you handle it and thought of several reasons why it won't work for them. I don't intend to be rude and I hope you don't view me as such...

Evernote, give us a way to archive notes and entire notebooks to hide them from basic searches, offline sync. Bring Evernote into alignment with the architecture and functionality of Developer IDEs, Project Management philosophies, Enterprise Ticketing systems, Google Inbox (!) and more which all have archive features. It's not a foreign concept that will confuse people at this point. We're GIVING you ideas we'd pay for - and you've ignored them for years! At this point, I'd pay for a separate app that would integrate with Evernote if it gave me the functionality...

[jefito 5,598]

13 hours ago, amcolonjr said:

So, having an archive function similar to the delete is not much to ask.

 

5 hours ago, LilMarauder said:

Now if only EN would see that and realize that it's not inordinately complex to put in place!

So glad you all cleared that up. Now all that needs to be done is:

• Modify the Evernote server database schema to reflect this little change, including the code that interacts with it
• Modify the API to that applications can use the new stuff: http://dev.evernote.com/doc/reference/
• Modify the search language to allow searching the archives, probably (you will want to be able to search the archives)
• Modify all of the Evernote clients (and their respective database schemas/storages) to interact with those API changes, and add UI to allow the user to be able to use the new stuff
• Migrate over to the new stuff, and flip the switch (well, maybe test it a little bit behind the scenes; there's only 200 million or so Evernote users who'd be potentially affected)

Whaddya think? Couple of days? No problem!

Seriously, the parallels are compelling, though this particular iceberg has a lot of stuff that lives underwater than may seem apparent.

In the API, I suppose they'd probably start with the Note object (http://dev.evernote.com/doc/reference/Types.html#Struct_Note), which has a 'deleted' member (it's actually a date, empty if the note is not deleted), and add an 'archived' date member.So you could then archive a note. But you'd probably need to figure out how archiving an entire notebook works as well. And so on.

But I'm not Evernote; I'm sure it's not anywhere near as simple as what I laid out. I wouldn't expect this any time soon, though you never know...

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Patrick, I agree that having some type of system level "archive" flag/field would be really great.

Clearly, IF Evernote is actually thinking long-term about being the "100-year" company they claim they want to be, there are a number of issues they need to deal with.  Scope is one of them.  Scope is a term that has been used for a long time, and it simply means defining the scope, or range of activity you currently want to deal with.

 

There are lots of ways of implementing this, but for the here and now, we need to devise an approach that will work NOW.

 

I have thought of two approaches.  There may be more, but here they are:

1. Assign a Tag of "Archive" to ALL notes you don't want to include in Searches.
2. Move ALL Notes to a Notebook, or Stack, named "Archive" (for example) that you don't want to include in Searches.

I think the Tag approach (#1) has the most flexibility and ease of use.  You can ADD a Search term of "-tag:Archive" to any search you want to EXCLUDE those OLD Notes.  Unfortunately, this makes use of the Tag filer not very useful, because you can ONLY select one Tag to be filtered, AND you cannot exclude Tags.  So you have to use the general Search box for everything, and include the "-tag:archive".

 

Unfortunately, you cannot EXCLUDE a NB from the search.  But you can exclude Tags.

 

So, it's not perfect, but it's the best you can do for now.  I'd suggest that you and others so interested continue to request that Evernote provide a "Scope" filter that applies in addition to any other Search/filter that you might use.

 

Possible Future Enhancements

 

Instead of having a simple "Archive" flag, if we had a Scope filter, it would be much more powerful and flexible.

For example, you could dynamically set it to a date range, like "NOT (01/01/2007-12/31/2008)", and this would EXCLUDE all Notes in the years 2007-2008.  Another example is ">=01/01/2009" which would limit the scope to Notes created on Jan 1, 2009 or later.

 

IAC I hope I've given you some ideas about how you might make things work for you now.

[cedricm 5]

Too complicated on a quick search when working, or simply on mobile. Plus it does not prevent from seeing the notes in "all" list and notebooks in the dropdowns.

 

It needs to be a EN func.

[LilMarauder 18]

Quote

Might also find out how the old company feels about ex employees keeping company data.

Of course! The information I was referring to is based on process and organization - not company data...I get questions about how I personally did things or responded to requests - for the sake of precedent). I wasn't given the opportunity to train a replacement, so coworkers had come to me several times for that idiosyncratic information.

I understand the various workarounds provided through this thread, and I am investigating whether any of them would work for me -  including the process of exporting my data and establishing another account (which is a genuine user flight risk, I could just as easily start using OneNote since I already have a Skype/MS account). As someone who works in the technology sector (formerly as specialist support personnel), I am surprised that such a request - which has been rolling around for nearly four years (two-thirds of the time I've been paying for EN features) - has not received any response from an EN representative, even to say "this is not a feature request we can foresee adding based on a fundamental piece of code/fundamental part of our mission" 

My use-case is the same as others who have posted, my reason for posting is to add that the lack of this feature is actually having a crippling impact on the Web Clipper component of EN.

[#pacman 5]

After following this thread for over a year, and realizing the request has been here since 2014, I am fairly satisfied Evernote will not be providing a formal archive solution.  Even something as simple as a new top level node and hierarchy I can move old notes to would actually help.  The tag solutions promoted here over and over again are cumbersome to me. 

So I just exported over 1000 notes to HTML and enex files, and deleted the notes and notebooks so the hierarchy view is clean again.  I can search those folders in Windows and approximate an Evernote archive search.  I am also ready to experiment with other solutions.  Especially anything that provides a functional encryption option as well.  See the encryption thread for comments about that.

I am ready to try again should the feature set change, but right now it's actually counterproductive to use Evernote over time.

[Rpfc 17]

Have to agree with this request. 

 

Tags are a temporary, inconvenient and imo a short-term solution. Its doable, albeit annoying, having to add -tag:x to every search you make. Not so bad if you have 5 searches a day, more annoying when it's 50 or even more a day. 

 

And that's the desktop client, the mobile client is a lot worse. Having to type that in 5 times on a small keyboard (without text expander options) is annoying, 50 times is just a waste of time. 

 

There needs to be a default way of excluding notebooks, archives, or whatever you do not want to search in / for.  

[RobertJSawyer 167]

Some other ideas:

I don't believe Evernote ever empties your trash automatically -- my trash currently has 1,500 notes in it -- but so long as you put notes in the trash they are excluded from searching (and can easily be restored, if need be).

You can also merge multiple notes into one.  I do a lot of keynote addresses about futurism, and after each speech is finally given, I merge all the notes related to it -- correspondence, the actual speech, invoice, etc. -- into one note, to cut down on the number of separate notes found by a search.  (Use Ctrl-Left-Mouse-Click to select multiple notes for merging.)

You can also tag all your older data with the tag "Archive," and then do future searches to specifically exclude any note with that tag; this will find only unarchived notes that mention "orangutan":

-TAG:Archive orangutan

 

[Beer 0]

+1

[dloebs 7]

23 hours ago, DTLow said:

There are various archive solutions presented in this discussion.  My solution is to use an !Archive tag

Sorry, but in support of @tacobravo etc.al., I need to remind you (inter alia) that "workaround" does not equal "solution!"

[CalS 5,307]

3 hours ago, dloebs said:

Sorry, but in support of @tacobravo etc.al., I need to remind you (inter alia) that "workaround" does not equal "solution!"

Semantics aside, since native archive flagging does not exist in EN at this point workarounds are the only solution, unfortunate as it may be for those wanting to archive within EN.

[DTLow 5,744]

21 minutes ago, cmaryon said:

The point of archiving is that the archived material by default does not appear in the search.  You want it excluded unless you specifically include it.  

Missing in Evernote is the "by default".  The default is all material appears in the search.  You have to specifically exclude archived material

>>My workaround (and I'm sure others have probably mentioned it) is to move archived notes into an archived notebook.  It's not great, but it works for now.

Warning: you can't exclude archived notebooks from a search.  Exclusion works for tags (-tag:aaaa) but not for notebooks

[cmaryon 6]

48 minutes ago, DTLow said:

1 hour ago, cmaryon said:

The point of archiving is that the archived material by default does not appear in the search.  You want it excluded unless you specifically include it.  

Missing in Evernote is the "by default".  The default is all material appears in the search.  You have to specifically exclude archived material

When I used the word "archiving" I meant archiving, not Evernote archiving. When you archive something in the real world it is no longer a part of the main repository, and while it is still available when needed,, you do not have to specifically exclude it. That's what should happen in Evernote.

Glad the exclusion tag method works for you. Shouldn't have to remember to add that each time tho.

C

[clpa 0]

+1 

Such a simple and common feature should be supported. Most tools (Todoist, Favro etc.) have a function like this!

[CalS 5,307]

16 minutes ago, LilMarauder said:

I am disappointed that there's been absolutely no interest in this feature by anyone except those who have a use-case for it

I have an archive need, mostly for closed project notes.  My preferred method has been to move the notes to a second EN account, which is a Basic account with about 6000 notes in it to date.  Keeps these notes out of my searches for sure. 

Should I need to access the archived notes, I use the Add user function, then I have two EN windows, main and archive.  Works for me anyway.  Plus, any in line archive function would probably have some sort of yes/no switch which I would just as soon not have to mess with.  My use case anyway.

[tacobravo 47]

I've been waiting for this "feature" for several years and finally switched to OneNote. Admittedly there are a few things Evernote does better than OneNote, but on balance OneNote is better for me overall. But on this particular issue--archiving--and getting old ***** out of the way--OneNote does it extremely well. That was the deal breaker for me. I got tired of waiting for Evernote. Not only was there no action, but never even a single acknowledgement from the company despite what feels like hundreds of posts/comments about this issue. 

[LilMarauder 18]

22 minutes ago, DTLow said:

You also probably don't intend to violate the code of conduct.  @joconnell is new to the forum and has posted archive requirements.

9. Do not chastise new users/newbies for asking questions or posting comments that may already be answered elsewhere. We get new users in the forums every day.

I know it's repetitive and can understand if you don't wish to participate.

DTLow, I was agreeing with joconnell and even used his exact example of Developer IDE frameworks as a reason why Evernote should continue to consider this feature. Unfortunately, my original post has disappeared so there's no way for me to prove that I said nothing to disagree with or chastise him. Please don't patronize me...I also have under ten posts so, you could count me as a newbie too.

...I also saw you edit your post three times to add more detail to what you're alleging I did

I admit, that I should have anticipated that I could offend you when I pointed out (like I've seen others point out in this thread) that you have posted the same thing many times, over the course of two (plus) years, offering it as a solution, when it does not solve the issue that many of us still have. The beauty of forums is their memory (deleted posts, notwithstanding) and anyone who is interested in this feature enough to put in a feature request is going to read what you have said repeatedly. 

14 minutes ago, CalS said:

You are welcome.  Account has been reported???

My post got removed instead...we'll see my apologies in this post are accepted and allowed to remain.

I add to this post, my contribution to the feature request (resurrected, better than it was before the post was deleted.)
Dear Evernote, 
The Archive feature would be great if it worked similarly to Google Inbox and a myriad of other communication systems, like Customer Service Ticketing Systems: messages in these systems are tagged and sorted (much like our beloved notes get tags and live in notebooks), and once the communication in these messages is no longer valuable enough to require fast and easy access - they get archived. Archive searches have different user expectations - they're slower, turn up more results, etc...but they unburden the day-to-day search for recent and/or relevant information so it is faster and less bogged down with things that aren't valuable to day to day execution of processes.
Thank you, in advance for the time you take to consider this feature,
Me.

[rpg 2]

I'm definitely in favor of this idea, especially because of hiding items from "All Notes." I managed a family member's terminal illness, using Evernote to keep track of conversations with medical staff, etc.  I do not want to lose this information, but I really don't want Evernote rubbing my nose in it every time I open "All Notes."

I suppose I can just export the contents of the notebook in question, and then remove it, but it would be a lot more convenient not to have to do this.

[ODB 2]

For me and many other people this is such a sorely needed feature. I can forgive Evernote's other shortcomings but it's the closest product on the market I can see right now that meets my needs. I've been an Evernote user for many years now and although I'm not currently a paying customer, would gladly do so if this feature were implemented.

Evernote dev team, please roadmap Archiving (and let us know you've done so!).

[sjrixon 24]

1 hour ago, ODB said:

For me and many other people this is such a sorely needed feature. I can forgive Evernote's other shortcomings but it's the closest product on the market I can see right now that meets my needs. I've been an Evernote user for many years now and although I'm not currently a paying customer, would gladly do so if this feature were implemented.

Evernote dev team, please roadmap Archiving (and let us know you've done so!).

Well said! I don't like most of the solution proposed here, we need something more technical. I'm still an active premium user, but right now I won't be renewing in 5 months when it's due. This won't be tough to do!

[tacobravo 47]

I too got off of Evernote. It was mostly due to this issue, which became a show stopper for me, but also due to the instability in the company. I moved everything over to OneNote. As I might have predicted, OneNote is way better at some things (the archiving feature, for one), and not nearly as good as others. It was a trade-off. Still, it's free, has unlimited usage across platforms, and I'm not losing sleep about Microsoft's staying power. 

[LilMarauder 18]

7 hours ago, amcolonjr said:

I agree with an archive function it would be phenomenal. EN provides an option to delete a note or notebook, if I deleted that note by accident, I can go to EN trash and restore the note or deleted forever. So, having an archive function similar to the delete is not much to ask. I mean you already have the function to delete adding an archive will make a lot of users happy and allow us to have a clean slate. 

That's probably the most "native" way of describing the exact functionality we're looking for! Thank you! 

Now if only EN would see that and realize that it's not inordinately complex to put in place! I'm not sure I have much hope - but if I didn't have any hope I wouldn't pay for Premium!

[tacobravo 47]

13 hours ago, #pacman said:

After following this thread for over a year, and realizing the request has been here since 2014, I am fairly satisfied Evernote will not be providing a formal archive solution.  Even something as simple as a new top level node and hierarchy I can move old notes to would actually help.  The tag solutions promoted here over and over again are cumbersome to me. 

So I just exported over 1000 notes to HTML and enex files, and deleted the notes and notebooks so the hierarchy view is clean again.  I can search those folders in Windows and approximate an Evernote archive search.  I am also ready to experiment with other solutions.  Especially anything that provides a functional encryption option as well.  See the encryption thread for comments about that.

I am ready to try again should the feature set change, but right now it's actually counterproductive to use Evernote over time.

I completely switched to OneNote. While that may not be the right approach for everyone (OneNote has its pros and cons), for this scenario OneNote is great. You can get stuff out of Evernote, but it's still accessible...and one thing OneNote does very well is search (better IMHO then searching within Windows). Just my two cents. 

[dloebs 7]

20 minutes ago, tacobravo said:

I completely switched to OneNote. While that may not be the right approach for everyone (OneNote has its pros and cons), for this scenario OneNote is great. You can get stuff out of Evernote, but it's still accessible...and one thing OneNote does very well is search (better IMHO then searching within Windows). Just my two cents. 

I think many legacy users, like me, are inching closer to jumping off the EN platform. The value proposition gets weaker every day as competition sharpens and the EN team squanders scarce resources on window dressing like the recent "brand refresh." Evidently (AFAIK they haven't evenly publicly acknowledged this particular feature request, never mind act on it) management has decided to disconnect the user base from the dev team...never a wise decision IMO.

[gazumped 12,063]

Hi.  Start tagging unneeded notes with "xArchive" or some such keyword and routinely exclude them with -tag:xArchive from any search.  Or sort notes by created/ updated date to see the most recently actioned.

[cedricm 5]

I really want that too.

 

I'm using Evernote in my GTD system, so it's becoming vital for me to archive and make invisible some notebooks.

 

The perfect system, as I see it, would be to be able to mark a pile as "invisible" in search, dropdowns, and all notes list. Like a real desk : I have a day to day drawer in which I keep the current notebooks, and another one in which I keep old notebooks. An option on search box would allow to search in invisible items.

 

Same system for EN, just a visibility option for users. I personally (like many other users) don't use tags, so your solution is not viable for me JMichael.

 

What do you think ?

 

I hope Evernote is reading us.

[jbenson2 2,149]

For non-taggers:

Add a keyword such as xInvisible to each note you want invisible.

Use -xinvisible with your search and they will all be invisible.

 

Personally, I prefer to tag these notes with x  - it is so much more powerful.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Too complicated on a quick search when working, or simply on mobile.

 

I agree.

That is why I use tags.

[jbenson2 2,149]

 

There needs to be a default way of excluding notebooks, archives, or whatever you do not want to search in / for.  

 

Since there are already multiple ways to achieve the exclusion as mentioned above, it might not be a priority with Evernote. But you never know... they might offer the option sometime in the future.

[CalS 5,307]

Two cents.  I'm a tagger but, assuming you use stacks in general it would seem moving the notes to an archive notebook (with or without an archive stack) would be the simplest method.  Then you only have to invoke -tag logic when in an All Notes context.  

[patricksan 86]

I've been using Evernote since 2009 and now it is getting chaotic with all old information pop up in my search. It is sad. Using tag for that it is not the best solution for me.

Would love a strong feedback from Evernote.

[Metrodon 2,188]

Evernote don't often discuss their roadmap and actually this is something I don't imagine that they'd be interested - shame, I'd quite like it too.

[7tWoozy 1]

+1. Would really appreciate the archive feature.

[ronnyd 2]

I was going to chime in and say that we could solve the problem by exporting the unused/unneeded notes and store them somewhere else (which I've done once), but as I read through the thread, I think actually providing an archive capability would be the best option.  We could then focus on what's still relevant in our currently active notes, but not lose the power of evernote over the longhaul on the older and not frequently needed notes.

[jefito 5,598]

What sort of export capability did you have in mind? The Windows client can export to HTML and Evernote format (ENML).

 

If you export notes out of Evernote, then you do lose the ability to use Evernote to search them.

[ronnyd 2]

Sorry, I meant to type "archive" and not export.  I've corrected my post above, in bold.

[Sharon P 8]

+1 here, too. Only been using EN since March and already have over 1K notes. It's a lot of brain drain to have to see dead stuff when scanning.

[Michael Liston 2]

A big +1 to archiving!

 

I'd love to have notebooks used for previous jobs not appear in the web clipper or mobile app interfaces, for example — I'm almost certainly never again going to be adding something new to those collections, and space is at a premium in those interfaces. Furthermore, the web clipper's autosuggest feature is great when it's working-as-magically-intended, but it does have a way of frequently wanting to stick things in "past job" notebooks I haven't touched in months.

 

But, as others have said, I do want to be able to have those notebooks, their notes, and metadata still readily available for searches. Gmail's Archive behaviour would be a good starting point, although I'm sure it's hardly the definitive model.

[JohnDM 122]

Archiving is one of the biggest reasons the mega users recommend tags over a heavy reliance on Notebooks,   . . . .Just say-en

 

For me, tags tend to really cut the clutter of false positives, then if your looking at your snippet by "last updated", the older things -- presumably things that would be archived  are at the bottom.

 

For GTD -- saved searches in shortcuts for "Important+Urgent", "Important+Not Urgent" etc  - saved searches with  "Unfinished to-do- items" will automatically Archive  a note off the search when the last check box is checked

[Marticos 1]

Dear All,

 

I really would love to see a solution for archiving notes. I've been using for 4 years and now I have some notes that I want to keep in the system, but want to remove from my search. As time goes, my search are getting more difficult to separate valid information and archived information.

 

Like we have Notes, Notebook, Tags, Atlas, Market and Premium button on the Mac version, I dream with an Archive button. Every note I move to this icon will make it not searchable, unless I'm searching inside the Archive View. You could even move a completely Notebook.

 

 

I have many scenarios where this is valid, some of them here:

• You finished a graduation course full of notes and you want these notes in a place that you may need but normally it will not be part of your search or have a distract visual in All Notes View
• You closed a company and want all the notes in a special place
• You may not want to have this Archive notes in your local hard disk, unless you click "Download"
• You prepare for a vacation and suddenly canceled. You want to have this hide in some place but not displaying all the time.

 

I think it would be a great feature.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Patrick Santana

 

It would be great!

[Greg Colpitts 1]

I was looking at the functionality of the Trash Notebook.  It has some traits that are complementary to an Archive Notebook.  With the following enhancements it could be implemented with a beta status with additional functionality added later:

1. Add a button and shortcut to allow the customer to archive messages or include the Archive folder to the list of Move to Notebook in the multiple Note Selected pane.

2. Maintain Tag(s) when moving to Archive.

3. Provide a Restore Note button in Archived notes as is available in the Trash folder.

4. Allow the entire Archive notebook to be searched (very limited search functionality available in Trash).

 

From a business development point of view I would recommend limiting the number of notes that can be archived for free accounts but include "unlimited archive" to Premium users.

 

I would be pleased to provide additional details.  There is other functionality that would add value but that could be for another thread.

[ODB 2]

+1 for Archive

 

At the moment I have an 'Archive' notebook stack - but as most of my notes are structured within notebooks and stacks anyway I have to break them out of the stacks before I add them to the 'archive' stack. I also have to rename the notebooks with the original name of the stack they came from.

 

Would all be much easier for me if you could have a dedicated 'Archive' facility. To have notebooks with optional invisible/searchable flag would be very useful.

[mbnicolas 4]

having to tag with 'Archived' and then use the -tag:Archived when searching is cumbersome (especially on mobile device)

 

just put box we can click to "Archive" a note and then put a box on main interface desktop & mobile so that we can choose to view/or not view archived notes... very simple

[jefito 5,598]

having to tag with 'Archived' and then use the -tag:Archived when searching is cumbersome (especially on mobile device)

Works on Android if you use a search like "-tag:Archived". You'd make a saved search / shortcut for this,obviously.

[TJ8756 3]

+1 This is an important feature to me.   I want to hide notes from search by note or notebook (most important for me) so the default search does not include these items.  I would like to add a switch to search all notes when needed.

[tacobravo 47]

I have thousands of notes in Evernote, mostly about completed consulting projects. I don't want to delete them, but they also clutter up, to a significant degree, my ability to search and sort on the current, relevant stuff--specially because many of the topics and keywords overlap among clients. How do I "archive" or "hide" the old stuff, without deleting it, so that my current notes are easier to manage? I am very familiar with the concept of Notebooks, but what I really need is an entirely new database. I don't want to create a second account. Surely this issue has come up before. 

[gazumped 12,063]

Hi.  It has come up a few times - a quick search here for "archive notebook" turns up around 800 hits.  There are various alternatives,  including an Archive Stack and a second account with notebooks shared between the two.  Your preference may depend on how often you'll need to archive material,  and whether you'll need to search it again at a later date.  Have a look at some of the options - a web search for "Evernote archive notes" gets 800 thousand hits.

[jbenson2 2,149]

Putting archived notes (ones you will need in the future) into the trash is risky.

When there is a problem with sync'ing, data cap, or data integrity, Evernote Support often asks that the trash be emptied.

 

In my opinion, the best suggestion and most useful is to use the -tag:archive function.

[tacobravo 47]

These are all good suggestions and useful workarounds, but what is apparent is that this capability is not built into Evernote which is shocking. This seems like a very elementary requirement--even just a special tag that makes notes hidden would be sufficient. 

 

Evernote folks:  Please talk to your users. I suspect this is a high priority need. 

[tacobravo 47]

+1. This absence of this feature really limits the value I get from Evernote. 

[gazumped 12,063]

We never know what priority Evernote assign to a missing (or broken) feature - they're usually (I know of exactly one exception) completely close-mouthed about when or even if something will be added.  You may find something added to the next update - or not.  The company obviously do set priorities,  but the popularity of an issue here isn't necessarily a guide.  There also seems to be an underlying policy of keeping to a clean 'adaptable to anything' lego-brick stance - no features that are so specific that only a narrow subset of users would find them useful,  to avoid cluttering up the interface(s).

[CalS 5,307]

Perhaps a listing of the things you cannot do without the feature that really limits the value to you would help the EN developers understand the use case.

[Yvel 2]

Perhaps a listing of the things you cannot do without the feature that really limits the value to you would help the EN developers understand the use case.

 

I might be able to shed light on this topic cause I for one is unable to truly use this tool to store all my documents because it’d clog up my view and search. I’d like to store receipts, business card, old documents, but repel to do so because it’s going to do just that. I’ve a cabinet full of old documents dating back to 1997, I’d like to scan and store them on Evernote, but it would clog up my view and search and make this tool unusable for day-to-day tasks. However, if they could be archived within Evernote, it would make a life of different.

 

A great example of the usefulness of the archive feature is Gmail, I’m able to store all my emails (want and unwanted) but my inbox is clean until I visit the “All Mail” folder or search to view these old messages that have been archived.

 

Therefore, I think the developers know exactly what the users need to make this tool useful. I beg the question, why haven’t they implemented it? Instead, they focus on useless features such as Work Chat. I’ve been a Premium subscriber for the past 3 years and I have been reconsidering.

 

Thanks.

[CalS 5,307]

Yeah, can't argue with the Work Chat comments, cleaning up some bugs would make more sense to me.

 

It may be more use case or style, @Yvel, but I think I am doing what you mention above.  I have all of my receipts, statements, policies, tax returns and detail, manuals, reference materials, inventory pictures, etc. in EN.  Almost 30k notes worth, 40% in local notebooks, 8 notebooks total.  I don't have an archive tag nor an archived stack.  I use tags to shrink the search pool and then text.to get to the 20-25 notes that contain what I am seeking. 

 

Would an archive function be beneficial, sure it would.  I guess I react to statements like "really limits the value".  Just would like to understand what has been tried and doesn't work.  Inquiring mind kind of stuff.  But again, it could just be my use case.  FWIW.

[Kruncher 1]

I am new to Evernote and I'm loving it; although it is missing one fundamental option in my opinion.... the ability to archive notes that I no longer require.

 

I want to be able to do this without moving them to another notebook and without resorting to manually using tag filtering.

 

Example Use Case:

1. I create a note with some tasks.
2. I complete the tasks.
3. I click "Archive" button to quickly file the note away.
4. In future I may want to select "Archive View" of my notebook to see my archived notes.

At the moment it seems like the only option is to create 2 versions of each of my notebooks. "The Thing" and "The Thing - Archived".

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

An alternative would be to create a single archive, and upon archiving, tag the note with whichever notebook it was archived from. 

so a note in "The Thing" would be tagged with the tag "thething" and moved to an archive. When revisiting your archive, you can just filter your view by tag.

So you navigate to your archive notebook and you want to see all the archived stuff tome your "the thing" notebook so you select that tag from the little tag dropdown at the top of the note list. Perhaps you want to see them from "Project X". so you select the "project x" tag from the tag dropdown, etc. 

[mg10 1]

+1.  Would love to be notified if this feature becomes available or a better workaround thought up.  

[Martellalex 1]

+1 for archiving notebooks

[Shauna Lynn 1]

Any update on this?? It would be a great feature to be added - I too have been using the program for years, and I encourage everyone I meet to use it to organize their lives, but I feel that without the archive feature it is failing at it's most basic function of organizing information to increase productivity. 

[Ryqiem 1]

Agreed, evernote really needs this feature!

[mraacep 11]

+1 on this. 

[malcolm.b.anderson 13]

+10

 

I'm a relatively new user and already I'm running into situations where I would I'd like to tell evernote:

"please do not EVER these notes on a search, unless I specifically ask to see things in the archive"

 

I'd also like to do this with tags.  I've got event tags, some of them for event last year, and many upcoming events.  I'd like my "archived" tags to not show up in my tag list unless I select "show all tags"

 

I get that I can do a negative search, but I'd have to do that for all of my searches and the level of friction it adds in non-trivial.

[tacobravo 47]

This is a continued source of frustration, and with their new CEO, it seems as though they may start to listen to their users. I sent an email to Phil Libin (old CEO) a few months back about this very issue and never got a response. I don't know if that's because he was on his way out, didn't care, or possibly never saw it. Shortly after that it was announced that he was leaving. I intend to send a similar email to their new CEO shortly. 

[KenT~ 2]

definitely need archive function if you use evernote long enough with many excellent but not-currently-useful notes

[gazumped 12,063]

It's pretty easy to exclude notes from searches - see above.  I wouldn't imagine it's a high priority feature development.  There are a few other things to fix first,  anyway...

[dowen 3]

For notes that I want to archive, I put them in a folder and export the entire folder to Export as Multiple Web Pages (.html). The web pages look great and they have an index.html file. You can use the search function in Windows or OSX to search for text in these files. 

[Stuhrer 261]

I put notes that I want to archive in a special folder and additionally provide a tag (Archive). When I want to search for notes excluding the archived ones I use "-tag:Archive" in the search. It is not optimal but it works.

 

A special Evernote feature would be great.

[MiguelG 1]

+1. I would really love an archive option.

 

An archive option that would clone the path of the notes.

If a note is inside of a notebook or sub-notebook, those would be created inside the archive folder together with all the notes archived in that path.

 

This would really make sense in Evernote.

[Jazanne 2]

+1 for this feature. Using Evernote is becoming an increasing hassle with so many "old" notebooks I don't use anymore cluttering the UI. Would really like to see this feature.

[rwpritchett 6]

As an EN power user for a number of years now, I've got over 27,000 notes. I would LOVE an archive feature! Exporting older notes to an external database folder (and deleting them from EN) works, but it's cumbersome, especially when you want to add more notes to the archive. I just end up with multiple archive files, and there have been times when I had to import two or three of them back into Evernote to find the note(s) I was looking for. A true archive feature would be invaluable for those of us who use EN as both a working file cabinet, time management tool (GTD), and long-term reference storage.

[DTLow 5,744]

As an EN power user for a number of years now, I've got over 27,000 notes. I would LOVE an archive feature! Exporting older notes to an external database folder (and deleting them from EN) works, but it's cumbersome, especially when you want to add more notes to the archive. I just end up with multiple archive files, and there have been times when I had to import two or three of them back into Evernote to find the note(s) I was looking for. A true archive feature would be invaluable for those of us who use EN as both a working file cabinet, time management tool (GTD), and long-term reference storage.

I don't understand why you want a separate tagging system to flag your notes as Archived.

What is the problem with using the current system and using an Archive tag.

[tacobravo 47]

The problem is, and judging from this thread there seem to be many people with the same frustration, is that it should be very easy to suppress items from the active view of the Evernote database. Its not there aren't workarounds, but all of the workarounds are irritating, and the lack of this capability appears to be negatively affecting people's experience with Evernote. I know I can say that in my case that's for sure. 

 

I had emailed this requirement to Phil Libin, and got no response, but then he was gone shortly thereafter. I'm going to try again with the new CEO. 

[DTLow 5,744]

The problem is, and judging from this thread there seem to be many people with the same frustration, is that it should be very easy to suppress items from the active view of the Evernote database. Its not there aren't workarounds, but all of the workarounds are irritating, and the lack of this capability appears to be negatively affecting people's experience with Evernote. I know I can say that in my case that's for sure. 

 

I had emailed this requirement to Phil Libin, and got no response, but then he guiwas gone shortly thereafter. I'm going to try again with the new CEO.

I would certainly find it irritating and fustrating having to export my notes.

Using a tag would just be part of the process.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

I don't understand why you want a separate tagging system to flag your notes as Archived.

What is the problem with using the current system and using an Archive tag.

 

Using an "Archive" tag will work, but not very well.

 

The notion of archiving something is that you want to get it out of your way for almost all (95-99%) of your daily operations, while at the same time still having it readily available if/when you need it.

• While one can apply the -tag:Archive to the Search box, it means you have to do this manually every time for every search, which really slows you down.
• Also, you can't exclude a tag in the Tag Filter, only add multiple tags.
• Exporting Notes you want to archive to an external system isn't really practical nor useful.  How do you search these notes when needed?

[Spencer Leatham 3]

I would like to add my vote for this feature too.  Quite surprised it's not already an option.  My notes are getting cluttered already after using it for only 4 months.  I don't want to delete them but I don't want to see them on my main view either.  I may need to find another note app if it get's too clustered with old notes.

[tacobravo 47]

++1

[DTLow 5,744]

In the absence of an Evernote Archive feature, I see using an Archive tag as the best alternative.  

I agree that it is inconvenient having to add the -tag to searches, however if you use saved searches and the shortcut bar it means you only have to do it once for frequently used searches.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

6 hours ago, David_Low said:

I agree that it is inconvenient having to add the -tag to searches, however if you use saved searches and the shortcut bar it means you only have to do it once for frequently used searches.

To add to that notion, one approach is to create a Saved Search that is only -tag:Archive, and name it "! DEFAULT"   Then, whenever you want to do a search, click on this Saved Search, and just add to it in the Search box.  Using the "! " makes the Saved Search appear at the top of your Saved Search list.

[The Purple Girl 4]

I think that evernote needs to acknowledge that it's been a number of years now that people have been using the product. Initially there was no need for an archive function but now there definitely is.

For those of us that use it extensively (or those that like to simply use a de-cluttered workspace) it is a must.

[tacobravo 47]

+ ^ 10

I wish I knew whether anyone at Evernote was paying attention to this forum. I sent an email to their CEO...got no reply. 

[DTLow 5,744]

9 minutes ago, The Purple Girl said:

For those of us that use it extensively (or those that like to simply use a de-cluttered workspace) it is a must.

 

8 minutes ago, tacobravo said:

I wish I knew whether anyone at Evernote was paying attention to this forum. I sent an email to their CEO...got no reply. 

Did you try out the suggestions to make archiving work?  I'm satisfied using a !Archive tag

[tacobravo 47]

I'm aware of the workaround, but I don't want a workaround. I want the product to have the features that users are apparently clamoring for. 

[The Purple Girl 4]

I haven't as yet tried the work around. I will do that but prefer an actual feature as I don't believe the tag work around removes the stacks/notebooks from the front page view (which is what I am after so that only my current notebooks are showing).

[DTLow 5,744]

8 minutes ago, tacobravo said:

I'm aware of the workaround, but I don't want a workaround.

I saw it more as a solution, but then I'm into making things work

[The Purple Girl 4]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

I'm into making things work

DTLow, does the workaround that is suggested remove the stacks/notebooks from the page where you view all your stacks and notebooks? If so, I will def try it (I haven't had time yet today since this convo to implement).  If not, then it doesn't really make things work for the reason that I personally would like the feature.

[DTLow 5,744]

7 minutes ago, The Purple Girl said:

remove the stacks/notebooks <archiving>

I haven't seen any solutions being proposed for this.  Mostly, the discussion was about archiving notes.

[CalS 5,307]

@The Purple Girl

The archive tag only works on notes per se, ac cross all notebooks/stacks depending upon how you define the search.  You can't "minus out" notebooks or stacks in a search so an archive stack only works well if you have only one other stack, a current stack for example.  A -tag:archive search works across all notes, a stack or a notebook.  So if you have a lot of notebooks and you want to archive, the tag is the only viable solution, IMO.

If you move all your archived notes to specific notebooks/stacks and prefix those those notebooks/stacks with z, zz, or the like, they will appear at the bottom of the notebook list.

[sjrixon 24]

I'm tempted to export to OneNote.. I can then just open the OneNote database should I need to try and find something that is in the archive. 

[DTLow 5,744]

10 minutes ago, sjrixon said:

 

I'm tempted to export to OneNote.. I can then just open the OneNote database should I need to try and find something that is in the archive.

 

Can you explain further.  I'm not a OneNote user so I'm not familiar with the features.
I'm assuming the first requirement is that your notes would have to be flagged as Archival.
What does OneNote have to identify your search as Archive vs non-Archive.

[sjrixon 24]

Hi... 

I'm about to switch jobs and have as you would expect a couple of dedicated notebooks for my old role. I've marked the notes as Archive, moved them all into one notebook. Then my plan is to use Evernote2Onenote http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/Evernote2Onenote.html to export and then import.

The nice thing about OneNote is that it is easy to attach a notebook when you need it and drop it when you don't. As they are files they can just live in a cloud storage location.

If I didn't do this, my searches would keep bringing up old notes that I don't want to see. But I don't want to delete them and when someone asks for some old information, I can just load up the file. Simple!

[DTLow 5,744]

3 hours ago, sjrixon said:

The nice thing about OneNote is that it is easy to attach a notebook when you need it and drop it when you don't.

That's a nice feature.  
A flaw with my Evernote archive process is that the notes are always there.  You have to specifically exclude them from searches.
Thanks for sharing.
 

[patricksan 86]

Hey guys, when I created this requested I was moving from one country to another. That says how much files/notes I had at that moment.

When the move was done, I couldn't archive so I exported them and saved in my backup. I wish one day I can bring them back. So today I have around 10 exported notebooks that are all archives.

This is a very bad solution, but it is the only one that doesn't disturb my search. I don't want to specifically exclude it for every single search.

 

Very said to not have an official answer from Evernote since April/2014 (almost 2 years already). This is not a bad request. It is something very clear and important if Evernote want to have my content for a long time. 

 

OneNote is not an optional for me.

 

Kind regards,

Patrick

[sjrixon 24]

Would be much to ask to be able to flag a notebook as an 'archive' and then not be in the default searches. Make house keeping much, much easier. When I want to shutdown a project I'd like to move the content out of 'view' and you just can't.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

7 hours ago, sjrixon said:

Would be much to ask to be able to flag a notebook as an 'archive' and then not be in the default searches. Make house keeping much, much easier. When I want to shutdown a project I'd like to move the content out of 'view' and you just can't.

If you have read the rest of this thread (and the many other threads like it), you will see that this has been long-requested, but that Evernote has not shown any indication that they will provide it.

If you want to achieve an "archive" function with what Evernote currently has to offer, see the numerous workarounds suggested in this thread.

[DTLow 5,744]

On February 1, 2016 at 8:27 AM, sjrixon said:

Would be much to ask to be able to flag a notebook as an 'archive'

Welcome to the discussion.
So far, we haven't heard any response from Evernote on the Archiving issue.
An archive notebook is an idea, but people might not want to move their notes out of the current organization setup.  I'm not a notebook fan, but I have sync'd, local, and shared notebooks.
If you're looking for a work around, ideas have be discussed in this thread.  Personally, I use an !Archive flag, and exclude that in my saved searches. 

edited: An archive stack is another idea for hiding obsolete notebooks

[mkblaze 2]

Hi everyone!

First of all, Evernote it's a great and helpfull app. Thanks for that.

I don't know if anyone suggested this before, but, it would be great if we had an option to "archive" old notes.
I mean, with the pass of time, more and more notes accumulate. I erase some of them, but I would like to keep others saved, just in case, but not in the main menu.

I think it would be very helpfull, to keep everything more organized. And not a very difficult option to add.

Well, that's all!

[DTLow 5,744]

13 hours ago, mkblaze said:

I don't know if anyone suggested this before, but, it would be great if we had an option to "archive" old notes.

I mean, with the pass of time, more and more notes accumulate. I erase some of them, but I would like to keep others saved, just in case, but not in the main menu.

 

It's been discussed in the forums, but we've seen nothing from Evernote.

My process has been to apply an !Archive tag to notes,
and use -tag:!Archive in searches to exclude my archives.

There have been other suggestions but while I want to identify notes as archived, I  also want to keep them at hand.

[gazumped 12,063]

Yeah - low priority idea I think.  You can have an Archive tag,  a notebook,  or even use a separate free account (with a different email address) to keep your notes at half-arms' length.  See other threads for more details on those.