Automate labeling Evernote

[dw70 3]

Hello, I started using Evernote premium about a month ago and one of the thing I use it for is keeping track of my invoices. At the moment when an invoice comes in I label it with "not booked" and "not paid". When, once a week, I pay the invoices, I simply look at the "not paid" label and pay those bills. When I do that I have to change the label from "not paid" to "paid" and I add a timestamp in the note itself for future reference. For booking the invoices the same goes. I was wondering if there is a way to automate this, so when the invoice is paid, with one push of a button, the label is changed and the timestamp is added. For me this would be a huge timesaver. So maybe when somebody has had the issue and has a solution I would love to know it.

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Dennis

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Hi Dennis, 

 

Save for writing a script, your easiest option for now might be the following:

 

1. You probably knew this already... but there is a timestamp keyboard shortcut (Windows: Ctrl+
2. How about only tagging unpaid bills as such. That way, any bills that don't have a tag are already paid. Just delete the tag when you've paid.

Cheers!

[dw70 3]

Frank,

 

Thank you for your reply, but when I don't attach a label how do I separate the invoices from other notes? Then my time is spend looking for the right notes

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I see what you're saying. You're differentiating between 2 processes with the same invoice: booking and paying. Just isolating that part of your workflow... How about having your invoices in one dedicated notebook? That way, it does not matter whether a booked and/ or paid invoice has a tag. Only the unpaid and not-yet-booked invoices will have a tag. So everything starts out with a "not booked" and "not paid" tag, and from there, as they get paid and booked, you simply delete the tag instead of adding another one as well.

I guess it really depends on your system. If your system is a tag-based setup, I understand the reluctance to move certain notes into dedicated notebooks. Finding all notes through tags would be a must for you, no matter the status.

Adding a reminder and utilizing the reminder list wouldn't facilitate the process in distinguishing pending actions... because you have 2 actions per invoice... And anyways, it would be an extra step.

Depending on your setup, here is another suggestion for combining the tagging part and the timestamp part:

If you don't absolutely need tags (what you call labels), you could use "text tags" either in the body of the note or in the title. I would go for the title. The reasoning behind adding text anywhere is that you are, in effect, editing a part of the note, and the "Updated date" will be effected, thus eliminating the need for a time stamp. You would simply consult the updated date to see when an invoice was paid. Of course, it would complicate matters if you subsequently edited a note to indicate that it was booked. The updated date will not reflect the time it was paid. The updated date is not effected when one tags or deletes tags.

What you'd basically do with a text tag is place something like "xPaid" and "xBooked" into the note title. After you've paid or booked an invoice, you would delete one or both of these text tags. If you want to search for unpaid or not booked invoices, you would simply do a search for that keyword globally. You could also use the search syntax, "Intitle:xPaid". Every time you touch any text whatsoever in any note, this effects the updated date.

Having said that, it may just be easier to stick with your current modus operandi. Evernote doesn't currently have a native feature that will automate the process with the touch of a button. The one thing you can do is try to cut out at least a step or two. If you can spare a notebook for all invoices, these would not need to be tagged with "Paid" or "Booked" once those actions are taken. Simply the deletion of the original tags.

[dw70 3]

Frank, thank you for your elaborate answer, it's much appreciated. I will make a separate notebook for invoices (good idea) and take it from there. I also stumbled on autohotkey so I am going to look if that will offer an "automated" solution. Once I find it, I will post it here so others can also benefit from it.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

For sure AHK (For Mac) is a possible solution. It comes with a bit of a learning curve... but once you're over that hurdle you will not only have automated the workflow in question, but multiple others - both present and future use cases. Good luck!

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Hello, I started using Evernote premium about a month ago and one of the thing I use it for is keeping track of my invoices. 

 

Do yourself a huge favor, and get Quicken Business, or even better QuickBooks.

 

These are really inexpensive business tools, and, IMO, essential to any small-medium business.

[dw70 3]

JMichael, thank you for you suggestion. I am not looking for a bookkeeping program, I already have that covered. I am looking for a way to have a paperless bookkeeping and although I am not familiar with quicken, I suspect that there is no provision to incorporate scans of all invoices into the program. Even if it does it will not be sufficient since quicken is an American system and not approved and applicable in my country.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 I am looking for a way to have a paperless bookkeeping and although I am not familiar with quicken, I suspect that there is no provision to incorporate scans of all invoices into the program. Even if it does it will not be sufficient since quicken is an American system and not approved and applicable in my country.

 

Actually the latest versions of Quicken/QuickBooks allow you to upload/attach a PDF to any transaction record.

That's too bad Quicken is not approved in your country.  It's one of the all-time best apps I have ever used.

May I ask what country you are in?

---

 

EDIT:

Just for the record:

See Quickbooks International Versions

[chirmer 567]

I'm a huge advocate of apps like TextExpander (Mac) and PhraseExpress (Windows) that are text replacement apps. I have a shortcut set so when I type ;;pd it puts Paid: YYYYMMDD — wherever I typed the shortcode. It's generic enough that I use it for invoices, credit card bills, etc.

 

So, I have a tag titled invoice that everything gets scanned into, and when I go to pay I just click my invoice tag. If it doesn't have that Paid: YYYYMMDD — text in front of the note title, I haven't paid it. I work my way down the list, and every time I pay the invoice I click at the beginning of the title of the note, which for example might say "Google Apps May 2015". I'll put my cursor before the G in Google and type ;;pd and it'll change the title to say, "Paid: 20150601 — Google Apps May 2015". Once I have none left without that prepended text, I know I'm done.

 

Hmm, now that I think about it, you can even do a saved search like "tag:invoice -intitle:paid" and it'll pull up all invoices that don't have Paid in the title. Then, as you prepend from that search, they'll disappear until you have none left. I'm setting mine up like this now, in fact.

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention the great part: I have a saved search of "intitle:"Paid: 2015*"" that pulls up everything I paid within a given year. Great for taxes.

[CalS 5,280]

My setup is similar to Chirmer's.  I tag all invoices with Statement and when I pay them I have a hotkey which I use to add _Paid mm/yy/dd hh:mm xm at the front of the body of the note, above the PDF.  I use the underscore prefix to paid since it is searchable and produces a clean search for Tag:statement -_Paid.  FWIW.

[Morticia 193]

I tag all invoice Obetald (Unpaid) when I mail them to Evernote and when they are paid I tag them Betald (Paid) and delete the tag Obetald.

I have the tag Obetald as a shortcut so they are easy to find.

[Morticia 193]

I'm a huge advocate of apps like TextExpander (Mac) and PhraseExpress (Windows) that are text replacement apps. I have a shortcut set so when I type ;;pd it puts Paid: YYYYMMDD — wherever I typed the shortcode. It's generic enough that I use it for invoices, credit card bills, etc.

 

So, I have a tag titled invoice that everything gets scanned into, and when I go to pay I just click my invoice tag. If it doesn't have that Paid: YYYYMMDD — text in front of the note title, I haven't paid it. I work my way down the list, and every time I pay the invoice I click at the beginning of the title of the note, which for example might say "Google Apps May 2015". I'll put my cursor before the G in Google and type ;;pd and it'll change the title to say, "Paid: 20150601 — Google Apps May 2015". Once I have none left without that prepended text, I know I'm done.

 

Hmm, now that I think about it, you can even do a saved search like "tag:invoice -intitle:paid" and it'll pull up all invoices that don't have Paid in the title. Then, as you prepend from that search, they'll disappear until you have none left. I'm setting mine up like this now, in fact.

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention the great part: I have a saved search of "intitle:"Paid: 2015*"" that pulls up everything I paid within a given year. Great for taxes.

Clipped and saved!

Going start using PhraseExpress instead of my old, not available anymore program

[dw70 3]

All, thank you for your best practices I am going to check out PhraseExpress immediately and see how to change my workflow into a more efficient one. Greetings from Holland