Feature request: remember context when switching between notes

[pwarbeck 14]

Unlike many Evernote users, I make long notes.  My notes are highly interrelated, and I frequently switch back and forth between them.  

 

Say I'm in note A and I need some information from another note.  Since I'm not sure exactly which other note contains the information, I'll type a search string, find the note with the relevant information.  Once I've found the information I'm looking for, I want to return to where I left off in note A.  I use the back button, but it takes me to the BEGINNING of note A.  I must scroll down to the context where I began the search. Often that's a lot of scrolling because (as I said) my notes are long!  

 

My suggestion is that Evernote remember the current context (line number and cursor position) when you leave a note, so that if you return to the note using the back button you return to that context.

[CalS 5,280]

In the meantime, on a desktop version, you can open the first note in its own window and accomplish what you want.

[npp 1]

I just created an account specifically to request this feature. Please, let there be an option to remember my scroll position by default.

 

I too work with a lot of long notes. And it's frustrating to have to scroll around searching for my last position.

 

E.g. I write in a journal every morning. Every now and then I create a new note for a new month or whatever, but each morning's entry is about a screenfull, so the note quickly becomes dozens of screens long. I'm not going to keep the note open all day in its own window - it's a morning thing. But then the next morning I open it again and need to scroll to the bottom. But not *quite* the bottom, mind you. I have some reminders and things written down there. Just most of the way down. So I have to scroll down e.g. 17 out of 20 screen lengths down. It's a daily annoyance. And I have other notes likes this too.

 

Evernote is supposed to be a replacement for paper. Well, paper allows you to save your place doesn't it?

[CalS 5,280]

Only workarounds for this.  You can put a text marker in the note and use Ctrl-F to find it, for example _END as the last line or _Aug 02 for today (using underscore as a leading character since it is mostly unique in usage and is searchable).  If you use check boxes for reminders you can also use the underscore to start the text of the reminder and Ctrl-F to find those. 

 

But EN does not remember where you last were in the note, always opens at the top.  Workarounds only apply as far as I know.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Cal, very nice workaround for those who insist on writing up more than one day in a note.

Why not create a new note for each day's worth of journaling?... that way when you flip through notes - either in presentation mode or in the note list, you get them in bite-size, manageable chunks.

Also, there are some decent journaling apps that connect to their own dedicated stack in Evernote (vJournal on iOS). You write your entries within the app... and when your send it through to EN, it appends to the end of today's note... with or without a time and/ or location stamp - it's up to you. That way you take 100% of the admin out of Journaling and get to focus wholly on the content.

[CalS 5,280]

Frank,

 

One could do any of that for sure.  If you were looking for embedded reminders and/or continuing thoughts, a single note could be easier.  I could probably argue either way, and enjoy it. 

 

Anyway, OPs choice. 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Cal, only the first line of praise was directed at you :-) hehe.

[CalS 5,280]

And I did truly appreciate that.  I couldn't resist commenting on the remaining lines. 

[npp 1]

Cal, thanks for the suggestion re: inserting a text marker and using find.  I may resort to this.

 

Frank, appreciate your suggestion of journaling apps, I didn’t realize there were ones that are so integrated. 

 

As for creating a new note each day, I like being able to scan over the whole thing and see the continuity. Also, since this is a daily thing that plan would involve creating hundreds of additional notes. That just feels cluttered to me. 

 

I guess partly I’m just wondering why *shouldn’t* Evernote simply remember your place? Personally, doesn't it seem like returning the user to the note as they left it, rather than resetting to the top of the document, would be more advantageous in general? 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Presumably in the distant future one would want to read your journal entries... wouldn't it be a PITA to always be taken to the end of a note?... that goes for note revision/ reading in general...

[CalS 5,280]

@npp,

 

You are welcome.  Hope it gets you in the neighborhood of what you want.

 

EDIT:  And with something like phase express you can create a hot key so all you have to do is tap in the note and use the hot key to do the Ctrl-F_end.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Presumably in the distant future one would want to read your journal entries... wouldn't it be a PITA to always be taken to the end of a note?... that goes for note revision/ reading in general...

 

It just depends. 

Adobe Acrobat remembers exactly what page/location you were viewing when you close the document, whether or not you made any changes.

This is actually kind of nice for long documents that you may read over the course of time.

If I want to go to the top, I just hit the HOME key.   NBD.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Yep... I hadn't previously given this too much thought... but you're right in that it depends. I was thinking that if one wanted to get to the end of their note, they could easily do the reverse and hit Ctrl+End. But that wouldn't cover having left off somewhere mid-way in a note... thus the value of Cal's Ctrl+F & bookmark workaround combo. 

 

No doubt the proposed feature would be great for some use cases. No big deal, as you say... Just that in my case, I'd hate (maybe hate is too much of a strong word) to have to hit the home button every time I wanted to reference a note in its entirety from the beginning. Maybe we could have a configurable button in the note list toolbar (or sorting options menu), which when we hit will take you to the last cursor position previously seen in all notes globally. No doubt that would be super useful. It should be an optional on/off switch if ever implemented.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 Just that in my case, I'd hate (maybe hate is too much of a strong word) to have to hit the home button every time I wanted to reference a note in its entirety from the beginning. 

 

Considering the thousands of keystrokes you make each day, is it really any trouble just to hit one more on the occasions when you want to start at the top or bottom of a document? 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

No. It isn't. :-)

[pwarbeck 14]

Can you imagine what people would say if the back button on a browser took you to the the top of the last page visited?  Would users look for a "workaround?"  Or would they look for a different browser?  Unfortunately, in the case of Evernote, there is no alternative, so we are stuck with it.

 

Saying "for those who insist" implies that Evernote is designed for short notes.  Whoever said that?  Some of us think and write in more than "bite sized manageable chunks" and we're not going to change because of Evernote.  Evernote needs to change because of us.  

Cal, very nice workaround for those who insist on writing up more than one day in a note.

Why not create a new note for each day's worth of journaling?... that way when you flip through notes - either in presentation mode or in the note list, you get them in bite-size, manageable chunks.

Also, there are some decent journaling apps that connect to their own dedicated stack in Evernote (vJournal on iOS). You write your entries within the app... and when your send it through to EN, it appends to the end of today's note... with or without a time and/ or location stamp - it's up to you. That way you take 100% of the admin out of Journaling and get to focus wholly on the content.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

My post was focused on @npp's post about his journaling use case. Sometimes a thread becomes a tad bit broader than the OP.

But yes... The feature under discussion would be a useful one.