Password Protected Notebooks

[EvernoteLover9 162]

I love Evernote, but it's preventing me from putting in sensitive content. For example, I can't keep a personal journal notebook, because other people (i.e. girlfriend, family members, etc.) could one day be looking at those notes, especially since they know that I use Evernote often for many purposes.

 

Evernote already has the ability to encrypt single notes. This is useful for things like storing passwords or other temporary sensitive content. But it's not practical to encrypt many notes one by one.

 

I wish I could password-protect a whole notebook. This way, I can do a lot more with Evernote. If I can encrypt single notes, then why can't Evernote just allow me to encrypt entire notebooks? If reason behind this is because Evernote thinks one could lose a lot of data if a notebook password is forgotten, then perhaps Evernote can help recover the passwords through email.

 

In the meantime, I'm stuck with using other apps (i.e. Pages, Day One, etc) to password-protect my content.

 

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Shane D. 1,826]

Hi All,

You may have noticed that all threads requesting Password Protected Notebooks have been merged into this thread, regardless of platform specificity.

(This is a separate request from the ability password protect the Evernote App itself)

This was done in order to better enable us to quantify and qualify user requests, and amplify their voice.

While this does not mean this is a feature that will be coming, we certainly want to relay user feedback/sentiment to our various teams.

Moving forward, please put all commentary and votes for Password Protected Notebooks here!

[Luke67 17]

This is the number one feature enhancement I would want to see incorporated into Evernote. Add my vote. 

[RicJ 11]

Dear all,

I plan to migrate from OneNote to EN for my daily planning and for my private content and notes, I have upgraded to Premium.... but Password lack is a show stopper for me !

I do not need encryption, I'm not trying to protect from Hackers or terrible cyber criminals !!!!

 

I just want to avoid that my private thoughts and ideas pops up on my desktop or mobile while I am browsing my daily planning.

Same I do not want that my kids or other eyes gets access on my private things when they browse on my pc or mobile!

So a password protection (not encryption, encryption is not needed, just simple password!!!!) for notebook or sections or notes is what I am asking for.

I know I will limit search function, I know I will probably limit integration from other sources (like sending from Outlook to a password protected area), probably also more nice function will be restricted ...... but please, add the function !!!  I will decide whether to use it or not, why you decide for me? 

 

You are such great developers, why are you so reluctant to include this function...

if someone does not want the password, he just have to avoid to use it, isnt' that easy?

 

Hope you will change your mind soon

Cheers

Richard

 

[NedPG 17]

Well, it's interesting to see how some people are strongly rejecting certain ideas, and defending them/justifying lack of any action by EN as if this will have a negative effect on them personally. Really strange.

To support this request I have a simple explanation and if anyone (be it "guru" or just "member") can provide an explanation why this is not reasonable I am really looking forward to response:

I want to lock/encrypt/password protect a table and image inserted in a note. I'm listening.

Current text encryption can be used for things you use rarely. I mean, decrypting it, adding some text and then again SELECT ALL->encrypt->password.... this is almost "last resort" option. Again, I am not a person that keeps "life-altering" things in EN but sure would like to prevent anyone seeing a list of some table data, or my login passwords to random sites, loan management tracking etc.

I mean, notebook or note lock will do the job and it's kinda surprising to see that this topic is open for almost 5 years now and I haven't seen any NO, NOT NOW or MAYBE's from EN officials. Maybe there is but I missed it though....

[jyc23 36]

Just jumping on the bandwagon here. Would love to have the ability to password protect at a notebook level. Then have password protected notebooks be excluded from search unless you enter the password to unlock those notebooks. And heck, maybe even also have protected notebook results, even when unlocked, be available (optionally) after the click of a button or link. For example, let's say you have Notebook A, Notebook B, and Notebook C. B and C are protected with different passwords. Notebook A is unprotected. You run a search. Results look like this: 

Result 1, result 2, result 3, etc. (all from Notebook A).

[see results from locked Notebook B] -> click on this and you'll be prompted for a password to unlock notebook B.

[see results from locked Notebook C] -> click on this and you'll be prompted for a password to unlock notebook C. 

In the left column, in the notebooks view, you would see a little lock symbol (like a padlock) next to locked notebooks. When unlocked, the lock symbol padlock would look unlocked. Click on the padlock again and you lock that notebook. 

On mobile, the experience might be a little different. You might allow the use of a PIN instead of a password, or Touch ID (iOS), face unlock, pattern unlock, etc. 

[cybersurfer5000 1]

I would love to have the ability to password-protect individual notes and/or notebooks. I have been using Evernote for many years and accumulated data and taken notes, which is stored in Evernote. Some of it is sensitive information. If that feature will be added, I will become a happily paying premium user. Is there any plan to realize that function?

Thank you
 

[tavor 668]

Add me to the list of users who would like to see notebook level, zero knowledge, encryption. As we go down the path toward increasing surveillance (and a police state, all in the name of 'safety'), we cannot expect companies to resist government pressure to open the kimono, so zero knowledge encryption is a must. 

 

I'd still use local notebooks since we know that use of encryption itself is enough attract NSA surveillance and efforts to defeat your encryption. But it would be great to have the option to encrypt notebooks stored in the cloud that we need to access on a mobile device.

[junglejimisslim 3]

I see this topic was raised many years ago.  I use EN for personal, and managing multiple businesses.  Plus, others have access to my computer.  I encrypt my most personal content but its impractical for entire sets of notes (4k+ and counting).  It is also impractical to create multiple accounts because I bounce between all use cases all day long.  When can we please have the ability to lock a notebook and all underlying notebooks/notes so I could lock Business 1, Business 2, and Personal.  Unlocking each once per day and then knowing that if someone comes to my computer, I can lock down what I need to? 

[DTLow 5,744]

50 minutes ago, Pastor-Luke said:

I have seen this argument raised in the past against the need for this feature

I was advising @Zenaida on protecting personal journals from being read by a boyfriend

>>All we want is a simple password

A third password  
To indicate your support for this feature, use the vote button at the top left corner of the discussion

[jpete5 4]

Does staff even check the forum? This feature has been under discussion for so long, with so many users clearly requesting it, that either:

1 - there's essentially zero significant staff interaction on the forums, or

2 - The evernote team has decided that security/encryption/passwords are not important.

 

Either way, pretty discouraging...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

On 8/23/2018 at 7:20 AM, tRav525 said:

I am a huge Evernote user and have been waiting for encryption for years, along with everyone else.  It is incredibly disappointing that it is still not a base feature of this product.  I don't know the reasons why full notebook encryption (not just text) isn't available, but in this day and age it is irresponsible for a cloud service company of this size to not offer a way for their customers to protect their personal information.  There are other solutions out there, albeit not as feature rich as Evernote - but as soon as one of them catches up and offers encryption... AND should they have a streamlined process for transferring note content out of an Evernote account into their solution, I predict a mass exodus of Evernote users.

Hi. Competitors already provide (and have provided for several years) full database encryption without putting in any effort at all (you don't even know it's there). Nowadays, you also get password / fingerprint authentication to open apps and even syncing directly from device to device without involving the cloud at all (for the security sensitive among us). There's some amazing stuff out there.

But, Evernote's user base continues to grow, rather than flee. That's a good thing (because I like Evernote). I'd prefer that they implement better security features as a core commitment to user security / confidentiality (yes, we are all aware of the "three laws," but in practice, here we are with tiny, independent developers offering far superior security, so there seems to be a gap here between word and deed, or a difference of opinion about how to interpret those laws). But, they haven't so far.

Unfortunately, DT is correct. If this level of security is a requirement, then Evernote is probably not for you. As a longtime user (here since the launch), I can say that this is a longstanding request that Evernote is quite aware of, but (judging by their actions) isn't interested in pursuing. That is, of course, their right. It is Evernote's app, after all, and there is no law saying they have to do everything users ask of them (thank goodness). Still, even after a decade, I continue to hope they'll change their minds. I'm not into clicking on buttons to vote for things, though. I'd prefer they seriously consider the request based on its merits rather than quantifying our voices.

[tm87 58]

I'm currently having another look at Evernote for at least some of my files / notes.

(I used Evernote around 2011 but drifted over to OneNote and stayed there till now.)

To me, this seems pretty necessary as well.

If I wanted to switch all my notes over to Evernote some of them would be pretty personal. Sure, I could log out of Evernote, but in day-to-day life this isn't always practical (working and moving back and forth from the laptop, especially working with a group of people) and in my experience people often forget to lock even their screens.

Evernote even offers a presentation mode, only really useful with a beamer.

I wouldn't want to click the wrong notebook and have it open. I also want an extra layer of security on top of certain files / notes, if my device is ever stolen or somebody looks around as I left the table and forgot to lock the screen. Or even allow somebody to use it and forgot that the evernote-app isn't logged out. Stuff like that happens.

Simple fact: As long as this feature doens't exist, Evernote won't be able to become the single place for all my notes / writing / files that the company would probably like to be.

(And that I would like to have... It doesn't sound like fun to mix evernote for their search, OneNote for encrypted notebooks with many notes and attached files, and VeraCrypt-files for stuff that's just kept for documentation and doesn't need work.).

Apart from that, I consider the lack of comments about such a common customer-wish a horrible signal. After some scrolling in the forums, this seems to be pretty normal.

This information-void doesn't feel good. Any type of information would be better, in my opinion. As an old, former user looking back I really hope this changes with the new CEO.

Maybe Evernote wants to index everything and their image of a digital brain storage with strong search doesn't allow for this. Okay, then why not make an understanding but firm and eplaining statement about it?

(Edit, additional thought: Even though I wouldn't agree with this argument. Especially with sensitive files I know the things I filed away, and don't mind to browse a little while longer to find it manually.)

Or the database is just not structured for it and the necessary changes are too big? Okay, but why not let me know so I know what to expect / not to expect?

Edited June 12, 2019 by tm87
Added an additional thought.

[t - en power user 2]

Any Form of Security Feature (Password/ Fingerprint Authentication / PinCode, etc) is MUCH NEEDED for Notebooks And Notes!

A Huge number of E.Note users create shareable public links which MUST be protected for the privacy of the content (which is highly confidential or v.personal at times).

Thnx! 😊

[PinkElephant 8,740]

Hey guys, isn’t life too valuable to spend time discussing this / like this ?

Personally I think every user should have the chance to protect his data, including copies of it somewhere on the own system, in a backup or on the server. The only way to do this is to encrypt the notebook, the note or the content. The further down it goes, the more effort is needed by the user to have the protection applied.

1. Today we can only protect content, and only if it is plain text, by encrypting it individually.
2. Yes, one can encrypt anything outside of EN, and load the encrypted file as an attachment into a note. If you want to use the content, you have to move it out of EN, decrypt it, etc. Not really a workflow ...
3. The only other option for privacy are local notebooks, that are not encrypted, but will not sync.
4. Protection on a device level will not work for many, because devices may be shared, and especially in a business IT situation no device is really tamperproof, having admin access, controlled networks and other factors.

The current options obviously are only weak and laborious workarounds - to have encryption on a notebook or note level would make a huge difference in adjusting the privacy level of content for me. I would go to have encrypted notebooks as my preference.

[Barn_Owl 0]

On 4/3/2013 at 9:51 PM, EvernoteLover9 said:

So it looks like over a year since the last post to this. Seriously, how is this not implemented already? Password protection seems like a very basic feature to me. I'm surprised it hasn't kept Evernote from growing. 

 

[TRP_1234 0]

Agree that this would be a great feature. I am planning to use Evernote to replace my current password safe, but need notebook password protection before I can do this.

[ever_note_user 1]

Voting for this feature request

[Jake_Austin 2]

Add my vote to be able to lock down a notebook with a password.  My use case is my journal, which I'd like to lock down and keep from showing up in search.

[CalS 5,307]

21 hours ago, elefantecamp said:

This is clearly not a difficult feature to implement. Allow us to lock a specific notebook and that's it. It's pretty simple. If I want to use Evernote for thoughts, ideas, parenting stuff, etc. and my kids open my computer - they see everything. They won't hack it, just put in basic protection for notebooks. 

I think the original intent of this post from 7 years ago was to encrypt a notebook with password access.  I sense you are asking to block access to a notebook and its notes via a password.  A somewhat different request and probably not as difficult a change as encrypting a notebook.  But still with some effort required in the mechanics of it.  You might want to start a new feature request.

[DTLow 5,744]

2 hours ago, PieterG said:

I was looking for encrypting a table (with account/password data), but if password protection includes encryption, then I am fine with password protecting a Notebook

Evernote does not currently support encryption for tables (or Notebooks or Notes)
To indicate your support for this request, use the vote button at the top left corner of the discussion

In the meantime, I can use attachments for encrypted tables; spreadsheet or word processing
There's also more table options using these external editors

Office/iWork documents have a native encryption option

[npatel 1]

Let's all come together and celebrate the 10th anniversary of what we have been asking for this most basic feature. 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I love Evernote, but it's preventing me from putting in sensitive content. For example, I can't keep a personal journal notebook, because other people (i.e. girlfriend, family members, etc.) could one day be looking at those notes, especially since they know that I use Evernote often for many purposes.

 

Evernote already has the ability to encrypt single notes. This is useful for things like storing passwords or other temporary sensitive content. But it's not practical to encrypt many notes one by one.

 

I wish I could password-protect a whole notebook. This way, I can do a lot more with Evernote. If I can encrypt single notes, then why can't Evernote just allow me to encrypt entire notebooks? If reason behind this is because Evernote thinks one could lose a lot of data if a notebook password is forgotten, then perhaps Evernote can help recover the passwords through email.

 

In the meantime, I'm stuck with using other apps (i.e. Pages, Day One, etc) to password-protect my content.

 

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

This has been discussed a lot already. Please search the board for more info. Also, if something is truly/securely encrypted, the host does not have it. So if you forget your encryption password, the host cannot send it to you or help you recover it. IOW, your encrypted data is gone.

[Bill Butler 12]

Gees, this would be a great feature. I keep my employee review notes in Evernote and I find it hard to keep them encrypted and out of sight as a group.

[culmore 3]

BUMP yes please.

 

You can count my vote among those looking for a more serious approach to encryption in EverNote. In light of the recent NSA/PRISM surveillance scandal I simply cannot justify - as a non U.S. citizen - storing sensitive business information in EverNote, where it could be extracted at will by U.S. intelligence officials engaged in industrial espionage.

 

Very well put

 

This PRISM thing is at the very least a PR disaster for US tech. Its really making me think about what onlime services to use and from what countries.

[DTLow 5,744]

On 2016-11-27 at 9:04 PM, cpage said:

Like other users, I too am concerned about encryption of personal content in the journals.  I have been an avid Evernote user, but may switch to another service for this reason.  I have not found one with the features of Evernote or Onenote...

Add your vote to the request; voting buttons are in the upper left corner of the discussion

Personally, I encrypt any of my sensitive data
Evernote has a text encryption feature, and I use encrypted pdfs

[mncd 2]

And we should be able to password protect/encrypt individual notes in their entirety -- not just higher level notebooks.  (the encrypt text feature is not a worthy substitute).  I guess this an obvious extension of the original idea, but nevertheless...

 

 

[Joshow 16]

What a great point. Evernote really needs to get it together.

[SungkwanEJ 2]

BUMP This should be a premium feature.

[SWSL 83]

Yep, agreed, it would be a welcome feature. 

You probably already know that text passages within a note can be password protected.   Obviously, the developers recognize the value of having some protection within Evernote as well.  PW protection for entire notes or notebooks would be a logical extension, but may not be possible within the database design, I suspect.

[Uldis Z 4]

Same boat. Same problem. I love Evernote, and in general, I don't mind my children and wife snooping around but for say a personal diary folder, I'd prefer to have some sort of password protection. Anyone who's got a moment of access to any of my devices can see all my diary entries. It seems kind of a basic requirement to me.

[BrianTN1960 1]

I could not agree more. I am starting a personal journal notebook and I really would love to lock down just that one notebook for personal reasons 

[Lysistrata 0]

Just adding my vote here; I would really like the ability to lock and /or password protect individual notebooks.

[RadishBiscuit 0]

Totally agree, I use Evernote for both work and personal and data security is a key issue. I've gone down the multi factor authentication route but there is till a need for encryption at a notebook level, as a premium user option.

[tRav525 7]

I am a huge Evernote user and have been waiting for encryption for years, along with everyone else.  It is incredibly disappointing that it is still not a base feature of this product.  I don't know the reasons why full notebook encryption (not just text) isn't available, but in this day and age it is irresponsible for a cloud service company of this size to not offer a way for their customers to protect their personal information.  There are other solutions out there, albeit not as feature rich as Evernote - but as soon as one of them catches up and offers encryption... AND should they have a streamlined process for transferring note content out of an Evernote account into their solution, I predict a mass exodus of Evernote users.

[KKun 0]

This is really a needed feature for Premium accounts. Please add this feature.

 

As a premium user I would like to encrypt and decrypt my Notebooks and Notes as needed.

[Luke67 17]

25 minutes ago, DTLow said:

There is a festure request posted at the top for this, you can indicate your support using the voting buttons in the top left corner of the discussion.

Why is this your number 1 enhancement? 
I basically have a single filing notebook, but I'd want encryption for the entire database; not just individual notebooks.  I'm also not enthused by multiple password; my Evernote password should be sufficient.
Currently I have to protect sensitive data by encrypting at the note attachment level.

Thanks for the pointer to the vote button at the top. I noticed it after making the comment, and added my vote.

I want this feature for reasons similar to those already noted. Specifically to protect journal entries, but additionally to protect confedential notes. While I keep things pretty secure, this extra level would be appreciated. I use the encryption now to redact notes, but the folder level would be much more useful. I guess if you used the web client all the time, i would agree with the fact that the evernote password would be sufficient. But on dedicated clients that don't log out every time you close them the additional password is useful. 

[josowen 0]

I'm yet another Evernote user who would like to be able to password protect a specific notebook. I feel like people have been asking for this feature for about eight years.... It couldn't really be that hard.

[Yasutaka Ito 0]

Yes! Let's make Evernote even better by having this feature in. I'm pretty sure, you'll get a lot of new users just by adding this feature. If tomorrow, a competitor comes up with a similar app as Evernote and that new app comes with "password protection" feature as we're discussing, I'll move to that app. *Evernote Team*, it's that critical.

[Bassattacker 0]

I definitely need the ability to password protect individual notes or certain notebooks. I love Evernote for everything else and would use it s lot more if this feature was available. 

[dr5 0]

Password protecting individual notes is important to me and would be a VERY welcome feature. I work in a small office and Evernote contains a lot of important info for our team as well as my personal stuff. I'm not keen on creating a second separate account. Will Evernote listen? Or shall I just quit Evernote and start a Bear account?

[GroundhogDay 0]

Adding my vote for Password-Protected Notebooks. This feature is far, far more valuable than any sharing feature (which seems to be getting all the development time) in my opinion. 

[Em1 1]

As a paying evernote subscriber, I agree the ability to password protect a note or notebook should be added. Whether EN allows it to be free or premium, is their call. Looking around now for alternatives that will allow me to do this. 

After about 5yrs worth of requests in this thread, and effective silence on the part of Evernote, isn't really acceptable. Just say no. The minimum responsible thing to do is to put this in the FAQ so people like me won't keep spinning our wheels.

I'll take this under consideration when it's time to renew and review the product.

[John Smith Bobs 0]

This is a must have feature 

 

Evernote desktop client is useless at work at the moment. OneNote is becoming way better. 

 

Feature needed:

* full disk encryption 

* pin lock or third party double authentication 

* encrypted connection to Evernote cloud (I think this one is OK) 

 

Argument 1: use windows login instead and close computer with Ctrl + L

Obviously we lock our computer that is not the issue. 

You IT teams owns your computer, they can remote connect and reset your password 

They can potentially access the files on your disk also 

When Evernote is used for personal info, IT should not have access to it. 

Yes they can install a key logger or try to decrypt the files but this is very illegal and can be proven in court 

 

Argument 2: why reinvent the wheel 

Even OneNote has a feature to encrypt a whole notebook 

Why add a pin on Phone then? 

It adds a layer of security, delaying an attacker 

Is a double Authentification mechanism (simple yes) 

Even better, add a real third-party double Auth on the windows client? 

 

Argument 3: just login and logout of your Evernote client 

If note sync was instantaneous this would make sense. It is slow as hell.

We need file system encryption to store the cache of notes and a quick unlock with pin to access the notes quickly 

[inquirer_improveevernote 0]

Hi,

Is there an update to this? Would really love to password protect certain notebooks and notes (i.e. medical). Please let me know. Thank you! 

[adamallen 0]

Another vote for this functionality. As an executive using Evernote, I find this to be a significant gap in functionality. I cannot allow my admin access to my Evernote account (where I track my travel, itineraries, meetings, etc.) because they might see my private notes regarding strategic planning, staffing, journals, etc. Having to work around Evernote's limitation is forcing me to consider alternative solutions.

I find this shortcoming to be shocking quite frankly. Especially given how simple the solution appears to be.

[ArthurDent42 0]

Encrypting text within notes is great, but I know I would really enjoy being able to encrypt batches of notes at the notebook level.  Navigating between several encrypted notes can be clunky, and a notebook master password that unlocks 'x' number of notes within the notebook would simplify the process greatly. 

[RgaDawg 35]

On 4/3/2013 at 11:51 PM, EvernoteLover9 said:

I wish I could password-protect a whole notebook.

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to vote it up the scale.
Encrypting text is certainly useful, but clumsy
Encrypting an entire Notebook would be so very awesome

[Luke67 17]

24 minutes ago, DTLow said:

My computer is  secure
I use password protection for my computer login (each user)

Also password protection for my Evernote login

I have seen this argument raised in the past against the need for this feature, and clearly the majority of people who have asked repeatedly for this feature don't find it compelling. If you don't see the need to provide an additional level of client side security on certain notebooks then fine, but a lot of people do. If I step away from my computer for a few minutes and the screen lock doesn't kick in, I don't want others to gain access to this information. Sure, I could cut the screen-lock time down but then I end up unlocking it a million times a day. I also don't want to log out of Evernote every time I use it as most of the information that I keep isn't sensitive. I am also sure that I would forget to logout and again the information in left open. Computer login and Evernote login capabilities are possibilities but they certainly aren't convenient or realistic in my environment. All we want is a simple password, how hard can it be?

[#pacman 5]

This request has been here for years.  They have an an encryption feature but if your text has bullet points or other markup, Evernote won't encrypt it.  Evernote also doesn't ask you to type in the encryption password twice.  So mistype the password, your text is now unrecoverable.  So it's minimal.  With all the press regarding privacy, you would think this is an easy grab for Evernote.  But I'm tired of waiting for it and checking out other products.

[jefito 5,598]

On 3/1/2020 at 5:36 PM, AWS_solution_architect_DC said:

I estimate Evernote could more than double their subscriptions by adding this one feature to allow users the ability to encrypt their own Evernote databases.

Based on??

[elefantecamp 0]

This is clearly not a difficult feature to implement. Allow us to lock a specific notebook and that's it. It's pretty simple. If I want to use Evernote for thoughts, ideas, parenting stuff, etc. and my kids open my computer - they see everything. They won't hack it, just put in basic protection for notebooks. 

[JKST 5]

 

7 hours ago, DTLow said:

Security is important to me  
- My computer is password protected for each userid   
- My Evernote account is password protected

Instead of trotting out the same responses, that people could have read already, why not just accept that it is not an unreasonable request to have additional functionality so people may use the tool in the way they wish.  The volume, persistence, uniformity and age of these requests for additional password security for objects within the app is such that app level and OS level sign in obviously does not meet the wishes (which may not be the same as your perception of requirements) of Evernote's (paying) customers.

[NedPG 17]

1 hour ago, JKST said:

 

Instead of trotting out the same responses, that people could have read already, why not just accept that it is not an unreasonable request to have additional functionality so people may use the tool in the way they wish.  The volume, persistence, uniformity and age of these requests for additional password security for objects within the app is such that app level and OS level sign in obviously does not meet the wishes (which may not be the same as your perception of requirements) of Evernote's (paying) customers.

Well said! I often got the feeling that DTLow is an employee of EN since on many topics, posts or questions he answers in a "defensive" way as if he tries to convince us that our requests are unreasonable. I mean, let's face it, most of the people know how to password-protect the computer or to log out of EN but I simply don't want to do that as it is not practical to do so every time I leave my desk, even it's just to make a cup of coffee.

Again, the fact that this feature is 2nd most wanted and that people still demand it and discuss it after 7 years means only one thing - users really need it!

As for me, I gave up. I still pay premium subscription and ONLY because of the OCR feature but unfortunately I am now using EN only as a dump storage and I rely on its search function when I need something. That's it. I moved all my projects, my journals, logs, even my to-do list in OneNote. Sure, there are some disadvantages compared to EN especially after using the EN as my main platform for years but then there are some things which are better solved in OneNote and it works for me. 

Biggest issue with EN for me is that I really don't see the direction in which they are going. With new CEO and most of the management changed I expected more, a revolution,  but instead we mostly see new videos in which they are trying to justify what they are doing...or not doing. 

Sad, really sad because it was (I mean still is) a great idea, great app, great potential, but it seems as if they are stuck half way and can't seem to get over that...

[DTLow 5,744]

3 hours ago, JKST said:

Instead of trotting out the same responses, that people could have read already, why not just accept that it is not an unreasonable request to have additional functionality so people may use the tool in the way they wish. 

I made no comment on the request being unreasonable     
I was responding to @elefantecamp who is new to the forums and has expressed a security concern with children accessing Evernote data

>>The volume, persistence, uniformity and age of these requests

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

1 hour ago, NedPG said:

Well said! I often got the feeling that DTLow is an employee of EN since on many topics, posts or questions ...

Employees are clearly indicated in the sidebar    
I'm not an employee, just a an experienced user volunteering to help other users

>>I mean, let's face it, most of the people know how to password-protect the computer or to log out of EN but I simply don't want to do that ...

Another security method is a timeout password

>>Biggest issue with EN for me is that I really don't see the direction in which they are going.    

You should post as a new topic.     
This discussion is on password protected notebooks

[Wei Zheng 1]

On 4/4/2013 at 12:51 AM, EvernoteLover9 said:

I love Evernote, but it's preventing me from putting in sensitive content. For example, I can't keep a personal journal notebook, because other people (i.e. girlfriend, family members, etc.) could one day be looking at those notes, especially since they know that I use Evernote often for many purposes.

 

Evernote already has the ability to encrypt single notes. This is useful for things like storing passwords or other temporary sensitive content. But it's not practical to encrypt many notes one by one.

 

I wish I could password-protect a whole notebook. This way, I can do a lot more with Evernote. If I can encrypt single notes, then why can't Evernote just allow me to encrypt entire notebooks? If reason behind this is because Evernote thinks one could lose a lot of data if a notebook password is forgotten, then perhaps Evernote can help recover the passwords through email.

 

In the meantime, I'm stuck with using other apps (i.e. Pages, Day One, etc) to password-protect my content.

 

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

Totally agree! It's probably even better to have the option that when you search for a note, those in the password-protected notebook will not show up in the result, unless you go to the notebook, enter the password and activate the search. 

[himanshu219 0]

After 7 years since the thread is posted still there is no update, I don't know why Evernote is not taking privacy seriously(Hope it does not end up like Zoom)? Even the open sourced "standard notes" have this feature.  

[Luke67 17]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

Personally, I encrypt my "private notes"   
An Evernote feature would be nice, but I'm not going to let that stop me

DTLow why do you encrypt? I thought you were advocating that the Evernote password, and the system password were sufficient. Is it because you are concerned about cloud security? Perhaps I've misunderstood your earlier arguments. I'm glad to see that you see some value in this feature. Encrypting every note individually in a folder must be a hassle, both when you encrypt and when you have to decrypt each one. Do you ever forget to encrypt one? Have you ever forgotten or mistyped an encryption key? It would seem like it would be a very easy thing to do when you are encrypting a lot of notes. How does search work with encrypted notes? I haven't let the glaring absence of this feature stop me either but it certainly is a major dissatisfaction. The fact that Evernote won't even respond to this request makes it downright frustrating.

[Jay Starkey 12]

4 hours ago, DTLow said:

The Evernote password and device security provide a level of security, and is sufficient for most of my documents
I have a few documents that I believe require encryption

>>How does search work with encrypted notes?
I use sufficient keywords in the title to ensure the search feature functions

>>Have you ever forgotten or mistyped an encryption key?
I use an automated process with scripting on a Mac

Honestly all I need is a way to not have certain notes show up in the default logon view, because if I’m going to use my notes to present but have to login in front of an audience I don’t necessarily want them seeing my other notes.  Sounds like you have some deep integration there - I tend to use Evernote on the web most of the time on computers that are not mine, so scripts are not feasible.  Encryption sounds nice but the problem is that often even the titles are personal enough that I don’t want people seeing them.  I will just use google docs instead.  Oh well, not worth pulling my hair out over.

[M. Black 14]

On 4/13/2020 at 12:59 PM, DTLow said:

No indication from Evernote

Why are you "desperate"

Well, there seem to be several different feature requests here. 

There are various comments regarding security of our overall data and encryption, and cloud security, etc. I'm comfortable with the overall security of my Evernote data, even if that is a bit of ignorant bliss.

I am "desperate" for something far more basic, something that seems to have appealed to many, many users over the many years I've been a Premium EN user: An ability to password protect a notebook consisting of all the notes I don't want anyone to read or see and don't want to pop up in EN searches. This isn't because I want to keep passwords safe (though that is as good a reason as any), since I use 1Password. I just want a simple ability to keep personal journal entries, certain web clippings, photos and the like, separate and secure with an additional layer of password protection. 

I'll give you a couple of case scenarios: I am a college professor. Students often literally read over my shoulder while I show them documents or web pages on my screen. I would like to easily switch to Evernote to show them saved files of examples or articles. However, I don't want journal snippets -- or web clippings of gifts I'm eyeing for my family,  or recipes I've saved, or photos of my children's artwork or my brother's prized classic car -- showing up in that search. I've had the same usage concern with consulting clients, because I use EN to organize those materials, as well. 

Another case: Although I use a privacy screen on my devices, none is 100%. I do not want to have to worry about prying eyes next to me or behind me every time I perform a search on my Evernote in a public place. The note encryption is not sufficient, since it balks at my web clips and doesn't tolerate formatting or longer lengths.

Last example: The potentially horrifying default logon view.

The contents of Evernote's encrypted notes are excluded from search and have a box in place of the contents, which keep them out of snippet view. With an encrypted and password-protected notebook, I'd hope the titles, also, would be omitted from snippets and search. As it is, if I'm at work and decide to show someone an Evernote file, when I open EN, the left pane displays notes with such professional and non-confidential titles as, "Really Dirty Jokes to Tell Brother," "Easy Ways To Fire 50% of Staff THIS WEEK," "Quit To Become a Pro Butter Churner? Pros & Cons," and "June 18, Reflections: Today I realized WHY I hate this job. It's because of my useless coworkers, loathsome boss, petulant clients ..." (ADDED after original post. Thanks @Jay Starkey for the reminder of this predicament.) 

Of course, there are workarounds, most obviously, not having someone read over my shoulder. I can also try to pull things ahead of time, find other ways of working around nosey neighbors, etc. But I am an Evernote devotee. I use it for everything and I love its search functions and the ability to trip across related saved documents by searching a word or tag. There are times I like sharing my EN screen with individual students, clients or even a lecture hall. 

Other users share their EN with assistants or family and because of a need to share many things across many notebooks, find it impractical to give others only specific notebook access. Seems pretty easy to understand why they, too, would find it much easier to make one or more notebooks completely private only to them.

I understand the notion of using different apps and software for different things. But what made Evernote my Holy Grail of information control was following advice I read years ago: Put EVERYTHING in it, so you have one place to look. I have plenty of exceptions, such as not using it for passwords. But it works best for me if I use it for almost all notes and document storage, personally generated and web saved. Therefore, I don't really want another system for my journal, random web clips, and pictures I've taken of my children's artwork -- even though I don't want any of those things popping up in a search or along my sidebar. Having a private notebook, or several private notebooks, would solve my concerns as well as those of countless other paying EN customers.

Edited June 19, 2020 by M. Black
grammar fix, additional idea

[Jay Starkey 12]

4 minutes ago, M. Black said:

I am "desperate" for something far more basic, something that seems to have appealed to many, many users over the many years I've been a Premium EN user: An ability to password protect a notebook consisting of all the notes I don't want anyone to read or see and don't want to pop up in EN searches. This isn't because I want to keep passwords safe (though that is as good a reason as any), since I use 1Password. I just want a simple ability to keep personal journal entries, certain web clippings, photos and the like, separate and secure with an additional layer of password protection. 

THIS!!!!!!

[M. Black 14]

On 6/13/2020 at 7:38 PM, Jay Starkey said:

Honestly all I need is a way to not have certain notes show up in the default logon view, because if I’m going to use my notes to present but have to login in front of an audience I don’t necessarily want them seeing my other notes.  

Doh! How did I forget this part of the problem?!

I wrote about the potential for search embarrassment and completely forgot about default logon view humiliation!

Without a password-protected/encrypted notebook that is omitted from snippets and search, here's what happens. I'm at work, wanting to show someone a file. When I open EN, the left pane has snippets from notes with professional and non-confidential titles such as,

*  "Really Dirty Jokes to Tell Brother"

* "Easy Ways To Fire 50% of Staff THIS WEEK"

* "Fine Liquor & Cheap Booze To Try ASAP"

* "Quit & Become a Pro Butter Churner? Pros & Cons"

* "Dear Dad, Your granddaughter is a genius! Here's her last 10th-grade essay, "The Moon Landing Was Faked & Dinosaurs Could Have Made It To The Moon ..."

* "June 18, Reflections: Today I realized WHY I hate this job. It's because of my useless coworkers, loathsome boss, petulant clients ..."

Thanks, @Jay Starkey. I'm actually going to add this point to my post above explaining my desperation, so that I'll have allllll my reasons in one place the next time someone asks why people are desperate for this feature.

 

[Joserrita 0]

Oh man!! password protection / locking full notes, is something that needs to be implemented!!. That is the reason I rather use Mac OS Notes. Please implement it!!

[RW1255 4]

For the life of me, I can't imagine why Evernote hasn't done this yet. Is there a weakness in the programming itself? Is it a philosophical matter? This is on the level of OneNote not allowing for the sorting of notebooks (unless you use OneNote 2016 and add the Onetastic add-on). It's so obvious a need that it should have been implemented long ago. 

I just came back to Evernote because of the complexity of the OneNote/OneDrive relation, but it won't be long before I'll return (after I get my money's worth out of my subscription). 

[laelski 1]

Adding my vote to a simple password protection at the notebook level. It's not for state secrets, it's just for my journal. I would love SO much to just be able to password-protect my "Journal" notebook. It doesn't have to be anything fancy; the digital equivalent of the little teeny tiny lock on a physical diary kept under a teenager's bed. You know the one. It's not industrial strength, just a little barrier that says "hey, if you're not the owner of this, keep out". 

[dj_123 2]

Has Evernote ever commenting on why they won't add this feature?  It been getting hundreds of upvotes and comments since 2013!

Evernote has soooo many feature that most-likely have less than 1% adoption by users, yet this simply feature can't be enabled.  So frustrating!

[aburtch 3]

Bump. We still need the ability to password protect a specific notebook (or even an individual note) inside of Evernote. This would be in addition to the single login password. 

Please make this a new feature and a priority. Or at least tell us why you've been ignoring this since 2013...

[cut160 0]

+1 for encrypted notebooks !  

[Romeus 0]

 

Hi, put my vote in for password-protected notebooks, please.

I want to use Evernote for personal journaling, migrating from Penzu, and since I use Evernote for work and random notes it is often already open on my computer/phone. I don't particularly need encryption but definitely would like to keep my personal journal away from family and friends. thanks!

[Bignose38 1]

100% Would like the option to password protect a notebook be added to Evernote. 

[NedPG 17]

In 3 months it will be 8 years after this feature has been officially requested. I think we should not keep our hopes high and eventually opt to vote or hope for something more simple but important as well. I don't know, maybe the shape or the size of the ear on the elephant logo? This might be a game-changer...

[tRav525 7]

On 8/28/2018 at 1:38 PM, Shane D. said:

This was done in order to better enable us to quantify and qualify user requests, and amplify their voice.

This is at least an 8 year long request and on a very important topic nonetheless. 

What is Evernote's response to the request for the ability to encrypt notes (not just lines of plain text) or whole notebooks? 

I don't understand why after 8 years we still don't have it, but I'm sure there's a good reason. It might help to hear the explanation. 

Thank you. 

[searchwriter 2]

I find it patently absurd that conversations have gone on in this Forum for years about whether Evernote should add the capability to password-protect the information one chooses to store in it by creating a a password or PIN option.  Is Evernote not an archival resource for the collection of all forms of information?  The notion that all the data it helps manage should be publicly accessible by anyone who happens to have general access to one's Evernote account, such as an assistant, a spouse, a child or a co-worker, is utterly ridiculous.

Legal documents, personal reflections in a diary, medical information (otherwise protected under HIPAA), receipts for purchased items or gifts, confidential business reports or agreements, photos that may be personally or professionally sensitive?  Anything one wants to keep away from prying eyes. The list is truly endless. Especially since Evernote acquired Skitch and it is too easy to capture and automatically store a screenshot that could expose all sorts of sensitive data a user may wish to keep private.

If Evernote is worried about getting into the password retrieval or reset business, that problem is easily solved. For example, have a password management notebook with a separate login/pw in case you forget the pw for an individual notebook. Since content is synched online, Evernote could also ask for a secondary password to unlock an online password manager. One is not apt to forget 3 or 4 different passwords and there can be other fail-safe retrieval mechanisms or methods.  

It seems needlessly time-consuming and arcane to encrypt individual notes or sections of a note, and it is unclear whether this even applies to screenshots or other media.

So long as Evernote keeps reminding us of the various media formats we can synch with the application (from PDFs to audio and video files, besides text-based information), I find it insulting to be asked to store valuable  information in a file cabinet that cannot be locked. It diminishes the value of my digital assets? Can you imagine if file cabinets were sold that way?

Please expedite this feature request. It is way too long overdue!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[#pacman 5]

Quote

At what point in the "years" did you realize this deficiency

My solution to protect sensitive data is to use the native encryption of note attachment files; pdfs, office/iWork documents, ...

Since you are mod here, ridiculing long time customers is not a good look for the brand.  It doesn't make these forums a helpful place for discussion.

To answer your question, I was hoping Evernote would add zero knowledge encryption at some point.  I knew it wasn't there but liked other aspects of EN.  I am paying more attention than I had in the past to privacy aspects of services I pay for.  I switched to a zero knowledge encrypted backup for my PC for example,   I switched to Signal for messaging as it has better privacy.  A new note taking app is another step.

The suggestion of using other products encryption and attach it completely defeats the purpose of using Evernote.  That's not a good solution for me, just a workaround.

Be kind.  Rewind.

[Wonjoon 0]

Just to add one more comment.

It's August of 2021 and there's no password protection yet.

[PinkElephant 8,740]

This is not the case. There is password protection, currently for selected text only.

What we are missing is protection for a complete note, or even better for a complete notebook.

[Siberian 20]

I dream about this feature! I read this topic and see that many guys don't get it. They talk about encryption, hacker protection e. t.c. But we want it not to hide our sensitive information from Putin KGB officers

When I talking about sensitive information I mean notebook with my journal and reflection about how ***** company that i work, or notebook in which I collect articles about best ways to please your partner in bed. Or notebooks with gift ideas for girlfriend. There is nothing criminal or illegal in this notebooks. I just don't wanna that on a work meeting when I show marketing proposal somebody bt chance saw this personal notebook, cuz I use Evernote for all my note taking needs.

So all I need is ability to setup PIN code on personal Notebook

[Luke67 17]

47 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Log out of EN, and you need your password to open it again. You can even let the app running.

Why is it so darn hard to use what exists ?

The reason I do not prefer the approach you propose is because that most of my folders don't require special security, and therefore I don't need to enter a password. With your proposed work around I am required to type in a password every time, which I find very inconvenient. It also requires me to remember to log out, which I'm sure I would on occasion forget. Therefore the reason it is so "darn hard" to use what is there is because it doesn't provide me with the simple functionality that I and many others have been asking for forever, and which similar applications in the market possess.

 

[David GH 4]

Dear Evernote developers, first of all, thanks a lot for this amazing tool. I'm a software engineer myself and I've been using Evernote since 2016, happily paying for the subscription and using it as my "second brain".

I think having protected by password notes shouldn't be considered a "nice to have" feature but a "must have" at this point. I see some comments requesting this feature since 2013 and I honestly can't believe this hasn't already been implemented. We should be able to protect with password not only single text within the notes (which is not very useful IMO) but individual notes and even individual notebooks. Sometimes you want to protect your journals, sometimes you want to protect your "Finance" notebook.

I really hope this is finally implemented in 2022.

Thanks a lot and Happy New Year!

D

[OldManLarsson 0]

Please give us an update on this... sorely missed. Its so simple in OneNote. 

[sharrison 0]

Blows my mind that years later and thousands of requests, a basic password option isn't a function.

Beyond comprehension.,

[claynote 0]

I see a few comments suggesting this feature isn't really needed because you can already log out of the application and then your password is required to log back in. That might be a solution if there was a "Sign out on exit" option or if there was a timeout feature. Also, I'm not positive but I think even if you sign out of the application it wouldn't be too difficult to access the contents of the notebook through the locally stored files. 

The lack of basic security features makes using the desktop application a bad idea for anyone wanting to store sensitive data in the notebook. From a security standpoint the application is not a good place to store sensitive data. 

 

[NedPG 17]

44 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

If is beyond my comprehension why people use complex apps, but obviously do not know anything about how they work in first place. 

Sooo, if I understand correctly, your opinion is that if someone wants to use a "complex app" it should "know how they work"? Meaning, understand the technical side of it, that happens "behind"? If this is true, this migjt rank quite high in my "dumbest things written on internet" list. 

I, and probably a vast majority of the users, don't give a damn how the app works its magic, since we are paying, literally, people to think about that and do the job. 

After all, if it's impossible to perform this task, I would expect someone from EN to briefly write it here, sometime within past 9 years that this thread exists.... Or? 

[NedPG 17]

9 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

You don't give a damn, you don't know how it works, and in consequence you document your ignorance here.

.

Wow, thanks for the basic explanation but again, I am not interested in any of the services or activities that any software or app perform in the back. And I am sure, a 100% sure that 95% other users feel the same. 

For my work and life I use dozens of applications and software and no, not very interested to learn how they work their "magic". The same way most people don't care (or do they need to) on how a microwave works, or WiFi, or a chip in a computer or a phone, or high voltage electricity, or a TV.... I am sure you see where I am going with this. 

I mean, kudos to you, really, no pun intended. I know I could probably sometimes benefit from knowing such things, but then again so much to learn and read for little gain (as it's neither my job nor my interest) so I simply don't. 

To be honest, this is absolutely the only thread I am following on this forum, and for pure curiosity checking if this function (which I don't consider a rocket science but then again, we agreed that I don't know the principle on how this works) will ever be implemented . I have been a premium EN user for some 8 years but never was fully satisfied. I was hoping they will improve it but it didn't happen in my "active time" and finaly I simply gave up first time that EN lost my data. Won't go into details, but first time I thought maybe I did something wrong but then it happened again on several occasions so I decided I cannot trust a system like this.  2 years ago I spread activities I do in EN to other applications. I have to say I am still a premium user, still use it as a dump storage die to it's still really powerful (for my needs) search function,but as soon as I find a good alternative for it (and a time to transfer all the data) it will be my final goodbye. Truly disappointed on how they approached software development, the way their support responded. Too bad,because it was really a software for which I had my hopes high. Indeed, some things did improve within last year (again, I am checking it for curiosity as I still fuse it as dump filling cabinet) but for me it came too slow and too late. 

 

[JKST 5]

If Evernote’s issue is that encryption would prevent their server side functionality then I would be happy to share a common key with the application or allow some admin access some how.  My desire to password protect a notebook is mainly driven by a desire to prevent casual unauthorised observers, not hide my favourite recipes from the Secret Service.  And please, after years of following this thread, I have heard all the other suggestions on how to achieve similar but I would prefer to be able to add a password at this level of object. 
 

 

[JKST 5]

I did poiltely say don't bother with those kind of suggestions.  I understand well the concepts of encryption at rest and in transit and that is why I am not concerned about external threats.  Likewise, I manage my local data appropriately and I do best practice around password and locking my workstation (I really did not want to have to type those all again).  The "casual" observer is other scenarios and includes me wanting to allow people to look at some things but not all.

I would *like* this capability, I know I do not *need* it but, since when did I have to only request vital things rather than additions that I would just like?  This ask is not going away.

[SteveArch 1]

I also agree that it would be great to be able to password protect individual notebooks. I'm estate planning and thinking about how my family would access this if I were to pass. There are notebooks that I would like them to have access to, and others I'd prefer follow me to the great beyond.  It seems my only option is all or nothing, but please correct me if I'm wrong. 

Thanks!

Steve

[Stratos Nikolaidis 0]

So, nine (9) years now and this super important and dev-wise, super simple feature is not added yet. I don't see any reason on sharing more possible scenarios on why and how this is so important for people who want to use Evernote for serious reasons, but yeah... there are plenty more scenarios to share. But yet, after nine (9) years, we're still on step zero.

[SeanJ26 1]

Chiming in to what I hope will be a growing chorus of users requesting password protection at the notebook level. I can't have anybody get a looksee at my diary full of crushes. 

[hbtelltale 0]

For years I have kept checking back to see if Evernote has gotten around to adding a feature to lock/password protect individual notebooks.

But it never does.  Why is that?  What is the technical reason that Evernote chooses not to make that change?

I LOVE Evernote -- I haven't wanted to leave - but I've gotten to the point where I think I will have to migrate to a different app that has that feature. I can't believe more people are not requesting this.

I want everyone in my house to be able to access the recipes on my ipad Evernote -- but there are definitely other notebooks I do not want people to be able to access.

Sad about needing to leave.  A little annoyed too.

HB

[Vico 7]

The incredible reluctance of EN to introduce this highly requested feature is one of the reasons that made me abandon EN. The problem is that the same is with most of the requested features, not to speak about the absolute silence of tech support. Now a couple of much-desired features are finally there (like improved search syntax) after loooong years but why do they have to be so deaf and stubborn?

[NitexTina 0]

I fully support this request. Encrypting individual lines doesn't make sense to me. Moreover, if I highlight multiple paragraphs or the entire text, the Encryption feature disappears!

It is crucial to have the ability to create password-protected notebooks, similar to Apple Notes. This would make Evernote even more competitive in the app-market.

[sabina shelby 0]

this is precisely the same issue that I have with Evernote.  I need to password protect or encrypt a whole notebook!!

 

I'm an extremely devoted user.  I am an extremely long time user.  PLEASE

[Maxgee 3]

What we want is just simple password-controlled access to a notebook, a diary specifically. Not for protecting some sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers. Just a diary. No encryption - just an additional notebook parameter controlling its notes' visibility in the interface and in the search results. That's it. I don't think it's that complicated. 

And yes, I already have another pin-code-protected app for my diary, but I'd like to have all my thoughts in one place.

[pizazz 0]

Would like to add to this chorus of I WANT A PASSWORD PROTECTED NOTEBOOK.  I use evernote to hold my entire  professional and personal life and I just want one notebook that has a password to access, so I can have peace of mind about my journal. Please please please please. Thankyou.

[BERLINWOOD638 1]

I also would like an  enscrypted  notebook.

For private and sensentive contents.

[rstrazz 14]

I'm OK with my notebook being gone if I forget my encryption key... that is fine I need the ability to fully encrypt notebooks as well.... I realize you can encrypt pieces of individual notes but that's just not user-friendly enough.  This is a major dilemma for me in being able to migrate to Evernote... 

 

Also, I feel like the desktop client should be able to have a timeout where you are required to enter a PIN to get back in, just like the iPhone and iPad apps.  It's a great feature.

[Jpetrovski 8]

I use Evernote casually because there is no 'Zero Knowledge' encryption ala Spideroak.  Notebook level encryption as a premium feature would make me a paying customer.

[rstrazz 14]

Yeah... leaving the desktop app open is just way too dangerous.... I don't see why this would be so hard to make? I actually upgraded to premium before I realized I couldn't encrypt notebooks... (oops   It's still cool software but without being able to store sensitive information, it really isn't that useful as a one-stop place for all of my notes.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Yeah... leaving the desktop app open is just way too dangerous.... I don't see why this would be so hard to make? I actually upgraded to premium before I realized I couldn't encrypt notebooks... (oops   It's still cool software but without being able to store sensitive information, it really isn't that useful as a one-stop place for all of my notes.

 

 

It may not be that it's too hard.  It may simply be that it's not a priority, since EN's niche is collecting, organizing & retrieving info.  If the info is securely encrypted, EN would not have access to the encryption password & would not be able to index the data.  Please search the board on encryption, if you want more info.

[rstrazz 14]

Thanks for the reply BurgersNFries. Maybe it would become a priority if it was a small amount of extra money... I'd pay an extra $5/yr to be able to mark a notebook as encrypted.  It's OK if that encrypted data is not indexed... It can be made understood to users that anything in the encrypted notebooks will not show up in search results.  I would sit down and:

 

1. Tally up the number of Evernote premium subscribers.

 

2. Conservatively estimate the amount of development time, as well as time for updating help documentation, entering the extra password in the mobile apps, etc.

 

3. Run the numbers at 10% of Evernote Premium users paying the fee for "Evernote High Security Notebooks".

 

4. Also factor in the number of users who might be on the fence about paying for Evernote who will be pushed over the edge by this new feature.  I realize this is hard to calculate but I'm sure the number is greater than zero Actually, I know it's at least one from Jpetroski's post above!  These are brand new paying customers, this number can add up quickly.

 

I realize that you are an evangelist but to change priorities you have to show the business value.  Maybe it's not there?  Maybe they don't want to charge any "add-ons" to keep the pricing simple, in that case they need to put some serious effort into estimating #4 above.

 

At the end of the day, this feature will come to Evernote.  The question is, when will it come and how much money is it costing Evernote to not have this feature?