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Sharing Single Notes with Multiple Notebooks


Charlie Grapski

Idea

Hi - I have explored to see if this was a possibility - and have found that it does not appear so.  Although there were many suggestions of "workarounds" - some were new ideas to me but most were my initial intuitions - and it does not appear, at this time, that this is a suggestion being taken up by the developers.  

 

I do believe - from my own usage (and that others seem to often want the same feature) - that a solution OUGHT to be a PRIORITY in future upgrades.  I also believe that such an upgrade is fairly simple to implement - but would IMMENSELY expand the power of this wonderful program.

I think the title is self-explanatory.  But to be clear - let me just state it with a bit more clarity:

I have a note (actually I have many such - but for the sake of argument - let's keep it simple to a SINGLE example of usage).

I created the note in ONE particular notebook.

 

The note, however, is equally applicable and/or important to be part of ANOTHER notebook.

 

(Now I know that TAGS (an important and powerful feature) may be related to many such instances - but it is not ideal for all.  I am not interested in searching by tag for a particular set of notes - but specifically want to ensure that BOTH notebooks PROMINENTLY "contain" the same note.  (I use contain - because the other simple option is DUPLICATION (same note twice in two notebooks).  But of course this means changes in the note in one - is not a change in the note in the other.  So we are dealing effectively with TWO (independent - although initially identical - notes) not ONE (and the SAME (over time)).

And what I want - is the simple ability of adding that SAME NOTE to TWO DIFFERENT notebooks.  That, however, is not currently possible. (And as in the above paragraph - the key is the note REMAINS the same whichever notebook you happen to be accessing it from - even as it changes over time). 

That seems like a fairly simple feature to ADD to the program.  All that would be needed is an OPTION to ADD (NOTE) TO (NOTEBOOK).  The original note would remain stored in the same entry in the overall database - one single entry/location - but accessible, EASILY, from other notebooks it gets added to as a LINKED NOTE.

Thus the menus for adding a note or sharing a note would INCLUDE this add to or share with another notebook (now that I wrote that this way - I can see this taking on TWO forms (different but related) - if you want to distinguish "adding" and "sharing" (which also can have value - although there is nothing stopping the former (add) currently - just no "simple/quick" way of doing this: literally by creating two new notes (with the same thing) to two different notebooks (so clearly - even in this "secondary" case (this is not my main focus here - it just became clear as I wrote this paragraph that the distinction is meaningful) - is more "burdensome" than ought to be necessary (but still LESS OF A PRIORITY than the "sharing" issue that I am focusing on - for future updates).  "Share" - of course - being different, as I lay out above, because it REMAINS just the single, original, note - in the single original database entry - but most importantly CARRIES CHANGES across notebooks.  (What the "add" function would not do - and which is why I thought it important to go into this distinction - as this may be, in a particular case, the more desirable (having ONE ORIGINAL note - the same in TWO notebooks - be able to be amended ONLY in the particular notebook at hand and not "globally" - so the CHOICE of the two (which does not seem much more burdensome in terms of programming) ought to be considered IF (and as I hope) my GENERAL suggestion here is taken up.

Let me give a "real world" example of WHY this would be VALUABLE to a large number of users and thus make the program not just more user friendly but MUCH MORE POWERFUL (and "complete").  [Reasons I think - if the developers can notice and grasp - would go far to possibly putting this on a priority "to do" list.

Let's say I am doing HISTORICAL research and utilizing the amazing features of Evernote for this project (or actually "these" projectS (plural) - and this gets to the point - more usually for "historians" as such (as opposed to a one-time project for a more "amateur" or "casual" user) - for historians (and scholars utilizing history) usually have overlapping projects and categories.  I might find, for example, a particular article - in my work on project A.  But it may be equally applicable and indeed centrally important for one or more other projects (B, C, and Z).

So let's say I am working on a History of Spain (this is actually what I am doing at the moment and has brought this to the forefront of my mind (not the first time though) to take the time to go into this and propose the viability and desirability of this simple upgrade feature).

One significant feature of Spanish history - of course - is its early history within the sphere of the early expansion of Rome (and what would become the Roman Empire).

The Roman Republic (not yet transformed formally into the later Empire - but in this case - one of the early phases of that "transition") created a "province" of Hispania (the Spains).

So in that I want to add a note (perhaps a link to an article, or website or webpage, or a map, etc.) pertaining to the Roman "province" of Hispania (Spain).  That is easy enough.

At other times I am working on a History of Rome (and even the subcategories of the Roman Empire, or the Governance of the Empire, or the Punic Wars, etc. -- each of which may itself find that I have either created ONE general "History - Rome" notebook with these "tags" - or even, since they each are fairly large topics in themselves, perhaps a separate notebook for each).  

And I may have been working on that Roman project earlier - and thus already have a notebook for that particular subject (or know that I will - at a later time - make such a notebook).

So - my intuitive priority is to place this note (because I can see both its direct relevance to my current focus on Spain AND its more general - and more direct - relevance to when I am focused on Rome) to place this note FIRST AND FOREMOST in my Roman History notebook.  (Assuming I had never done so before - now is a good time to update that notebook).  Yet - at the moment - my immediate need is for it to appear in my Spanish History notebook.

So what do I do?

Clearly - if the FEATURE were available - what I would do is to create the ORIGINAL note, saving it to the Roman History notebook, and then LINKING that very same particular note to my Spanish History notebook. 

Now whether I am focusing on one or the other - the SAME information appears directly when I look at that notebook (even though, it is true, I could search for tags that I might have included on a note in another notebook - at some previous time - and FIND this and other "related" notes.  But that's just it - its not MERELY "related" to another topic/notebook - but DIRECTLY RELATED TO BOTH.

So what I would ENVISION as a UPDATED FEATURE - is that when I create that original note, and save it in the more general notebook on Roman History, I could then click the SHARE button - and it would ADD an additional (or even better TWO: "add" (a copy) or "share" (the same)) OPTION: 

SHARE TO OTHER NOTEBOOK 

And then let me select the notebook to share this particular note (or add a copy - the second option) to an additional notebook.  

 

Then - whether I access it from either notebook in the future (contrary to the "add a copy" option) - I can make changes to it that will also appear if I access it from a different notebook.

I can't stress how VITAL and FUNCTIONAL this feature would be - and how much "stronger/powerful" [useful] a program Evernote would become.

And while my computer programming skills are more than "amateur" - I am neither a professional nor an "advanced intermediary" (I engage in the practice so infrequently - that when and if I do tackle such a project - I often have to spend a great deal of time "reviewing" and "remembering" (even if not re-learning or learning anew) how to do it ... its not second nature or a "language" I have fully mastered - as it has become by those who have created this program) - I don't see any real OBSTACLES or even DIFFICULTIES in programming that would necessarily be entailed in this.

The secondary "add copy to another notebook" is simple and straightforward (although the benefit it would have beyond doing this two or more times when creating the original note are such as: it would also copy the note with its tags, etc. (so that would not have to be repeated) and would also not require you to change the primary notebook you are working with (such that if you are making several notes for one notebook - you can have it set to keep defaulting there - rather than changing notebooks back and forth); and additionally - as an added option (nice - but not as essential - although even this would seem fairly straightforward) - being able to click a checklist of more than one notebook to send a copy to.  [This same extra feature could also be used in the "share a note with another notebook" - the primary focus here.]

The "share note with another notebook" would not be as "simplistic" - but I think no less simple and straightforward - merely having to store the original notes location (in the database) in the second notebook - and then adding the language that could make it "appear" no different from notes exclusive to that notebook.  (Again - if I were doing this - I'd have a few other possible "design" features that come to mind - such as stated above the ability to share with multiple notebooks (not just one) in one command (with a checklist); and perhaps INDICATING on the page that "this" is a SHARED NOTE (in the sense of notebooks - much like I believe happens when you share a note currently (i.e. creating a link that is shared publicly to that particular note) - which would have to be distinguished from that obviously) - and even being able to pull down a dropdown list of what other notebooks it is shared in).

Oh well - this is my STRONGLY URGED suggestion for SERIOUS CONSIDERATION.  Both, to reiterate, because of the advantages of ease of use and expanded functionality to the user - and to thus make the program much more "powerful" as a whole.

I look forward to any feedback, suggestions, and comments.

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If you think of the Notebook metaphor, in the physical world a note (or piece of paper) with specific content/writing,  can be physically put into ONLY one Notebook.  If you want it in more than one Notebook, then you have to copy the Note.

 

I know you said that you don't want to use tags, but that is exactly what tags are designed for, to find the same Note by several subjects, categories, etc.

 

So, if you don't want to use Tags, the only work-around I can think of is to use Note links.

In one NB, which I'll call the "master" NB, put the actual Note.

In other NBs where you would like to refer to this Note, create a Note (could be same Title), and in the Note body put a link to the Note in the master NB.

 

I highly recommend use of Tags to achieve your objective here.

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If you think of the Notebook metaphor, in the physical world a note (or piece of paper) with specific content/writing,  can be physically put into ONLY one Notebook.  If you want it in more than one Notebook, then you have to copy the Note.

 

I know you said that you don't want to use tags, but that is exactly what tags are designed for, to find the same Note by several subjects, categories, etc.

 

So, if you don't want to use Tags, the only work-around I can think of is to use Note links.

In one NB, which I'll call the "master" NB, put the actual Note.

In other NBs where you would like to refer to this Note, create a Note (could be same Title), and in the Note body put a link to the Note in the master NB.

 

I highly recommend use of Tags to achieve your objective here.

 

Thread answered.

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Well I really can't go with using the metaphore of a physical notebook. We're not living in a physical notebook world anymore. Now we have all the splendid capabilities of the digital and virtual.

 

The problem with using the Tags method is that you can't share a Tag. I share Notebooks with collegues and sometimes I want to share with them a note that I have written in one of my personal notebooks. I don't want to copy it because if I ever choose to add something I need to add that text to both notes. I also don't want to move it because then my nicely organized personal notebook devaluates.

 

I would say that you could introduce 'aliase-notes' quite normal in any operating system. Make the titel a different colour of italic if you like.

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+ 1 for this, I have exactly the same problem. Alias notes sounds like a great solution. Then you can have a shared notebook that includes notes from your nicely organised notebook structure!!! Please!

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1 hour ago, idff said:

Alias notes sounds like a great solution. Then you can have a shared notebook that includes notes from your nicely organised notebook structure!!! Please!

You might want to check out the note link feature

Personally, my organization is done using the tag feature

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Thanks #DTLow but I think you miss the point. I use the link feature extensively by the way. The key here is the user can view the note in the Shared notebook without me having to manually share the note with them. For example if I have a Notebook for recipes, I then would like to have 'some' of them appear in a shared notebook I have with someone else. Does that make it clearer?

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54 minutes ago, idff said:

For example if I have a Notebook for recipes, I then would like to have 'some' of them appear in a shared notebook I have with someone else. Does that make it clearer?

Sorry, I did miss the point about a shared notebook. The tag/link solution wouldn't work; not sure if a note alias would work either

Regarding notes appearing in two different notebooks
This could be awkward if the original notebook has beed defined as Local

Another discussion proposed the sharing feature be based on Tags

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