Cool encryption tool for evernote

[eric99 1,090]

I just discovered an encryption tool that perfectly fits my evernote workflow:

 

"CryptSync is a small utility that synchronizes two folders while encrypting the contents in one folder. That means one of the two folders has all files unencrypted (the files you work with) and the other folder has all the files encrypted.

"

I use the encrypted folder as evernote import folder and drop all my documents into the cryptsync input folder instead.

 

The most important features are:

• fully transparent workflow
• standard 7 zip encryption, no risc to loose my data due to weird proprietary encryption format
• The tool doesn't require my evernote credentials

 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/cryptsync-sk/

http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/CryptSync.html

 

I think, we really should support this guy by trying/using his tool, this is a great solution for the missing evernote encryption !

 

 

[gazumped 12,217]

Hi.  There's also Saferoom which works across various platforms..  but since Cryptsync works like a combination of a file compression / encryption / import folder,  there's actually no reason why something similar shouldn't be cobbled together out of scripts and other individual apps.  Don't get me wrong,  I'm not criticising the app itself - it handles (I gather) folder syncing both ways without any external software.  But if you don't have a compatible OS it may not be the end of the world.

 

Beware using this with a Windows Import folder though - not only are you doubling (or at least increasing) the disk space used for the working file by saving a working copy plus a zipcrypted copy in the database,  you may find that edited copies of your file are building up in storage.  Each new edit may mean the file will be imported into Evernote as an addition,  rather than a replacement.  10 edits may equal 11 files.

 

(Not totally confident of this - I haven't tested this app specifically;  but import folders can seem to do odd things when you edit files there.)

 

Normally you'd delete the imported file and open the copy attached to the note to make any changes.

[eric99 1,090]

Hi.  There's also Saferoom which works across various platforms..  but since Cryptsync works like a combination of a file compression / encryption / import folder,  there's actually no reason why something similar shouldn't be cobbled together out of scripts and other individual apps.  Don't get me wrong,  I'm not criticising the app itself - it handles (I gather) folder syncing both ways without any external software.  But if you don't have a compatible OS it may not be the end of the world.

 

Beware using this with a Windows Import folder though - not only are you doubling (or at least increasing) the disk space used for the working file by saving a working copy plus a zipcrypted copy in the database,  you may find that edited copies of your file are building up in storage.  Each new edit may mean the file will be imported into Evernote as an addition,  rather than a replacement.  10 edits may equal 11 files.

 

(Not totally confident of this - I haven't tested this app specifically;  but import folders can seem to do odd things when you edit files there.)

 

Normally you'd delete the imported file and open the copy attached to the note to make any changes.

I'm also interested in SafeRoom, but there are a couple of problems that stop me from using it:

First, SafeRoom has a proprietary encryption format (I know, underneath it uses AES256 but it still needs special software to decypher)

Secondly, the encrypted data is plain ASCII in the note. Accidental change of a single character leads to full data loss.

Saferoom could easily solve these problems by encrypting in a standard file format, like 7-zip for instance and put that file into the note, instead of plain encrypted text.

 

My use case for cryptsync is not what you describe. I use it to send my document scanner output directly into evernote in encrypted zip format. These documents are never changed, so I don't have a file explosion problem in this use case. Also, I regularly cleanup my transient import folders.

[gazumped 12,217]

Sorry - never meant to suggest that it wasn't an interesting and potentially useful app,  but yours is a slightly specialised use case - most of my scanning is already printed or published material,  and I don't save medical or banking records online,  so encryption is academic.  Are you saying that you leave your scanned documents in the Import Folder for reference then?  They're presumably not available in Evernote for indexing or viewing,  you're just using your notes as backup storage - although strictly speaking that's against Evernote's user guidlines (https://evernote.com/legal/user_guidelines.php) but I won't tell..

 

If that's the process though you are missing out on all Evernote's search and index capabilities...

[eric99 1,090]

Sorry - never meant to suggest that it wasn't an interesting and potentially useful app,  but yours is a slightly specialised use case - most of my scanning is already printed or published material,  and I don't save medical or banking records online,  so encryption is academic.  Are you saying that you leave your scanned documents in the Import Folder for reference then?  They're presumably not available in Evernote for indexing or viewing,  you're just using your notes as backup storage - although strictly speaking that's against Evernote's user guidlines (https://evernote.com/legal/user_guidelines.php) but I won't tell..

 

If that's the process though you are missing out on all Evernote's search and index capabilities...

I  do save my sensitive data in Evernote in encrypted zip format (AES256) for quick access on all my devices at any place-time. Querying is possible by adding some unencrypted  text, keywords and tags. So, these notes are not different from other notes, except that some content is encrypted.

By the way, I don't believe in the artificial distinction between 'archive' notes and 'other' notes, do you mean that an evernote user needs to store his notes somewhere else in the cloud ? I backup my evernote  locally on different drives, but not on another cloud service. I'm  a premium user for years, I expect a reliable service in return (my current database size is 10 GByte in 4 years, I guess this isn't a misuse of evernote :-)

[ilia5101982 35]

 

Hi.  There's also Saferoom which works across various platforms..  but since Cryptsync works like a combination of a file compression / encryption / import folder,  there's actually no reason why something similar shouldn't be cobbled together out of scripts and other individual apps.  Don't get me wrong,  I'm not criticising the app itself - it handles (I gather) folder syncing both ways without any external software.  But if you don't have a compatible OS it may not be the end of the world.

 

Beware using this with a Windows Import folder though - not only are you doubling (or at least increasing) the disk space used for the working file by saving a working copy plus a zipcrypted copy in the database,  you may find that edited copies of your file are building up in storage.  Each new edit may mean the file will be imported into Evernote as an addition,  rather than a replacement.  10 edits may equal 11 files.

 

(Not totally confident of this - I haven't tested this app specifically;  but import folders can seem to do odd things when you edit files there.)

 

Normally you'd delete the imported file and open the copy attached to the note to make any changes.

I'm also interested in SafeRoom, but there are a couple of problems that stop me from using it:

First, SafeRoom has a proprietary encryption format (I know, underneath it uses AES256 but it still needs special software to decypher)

Secondly, the encrypted data is plain ASCII in the note. Accidental change of a single character leads to full data loss.

Saferoom could easily solve these problems by encrypting in a standard file format, like 7-zip for instance and put that file into the note, instead of plain encrypted text.

 

My use case for cryptsync is not what you describe. I use it to send my document scanner output directly into evernote in encrypted zip format. These documents are never changed, so I don't have a file explosion problem in this use case. Also, I regularly cleanup my transient import folders.

 

 

Hey, eric99,

 

You are right about plain ASCII, and we are looking forward to solve this. And your idea about zipping the content into attachment is very interesting - we might only meet some limitations inside mobile systems: not all of them support unzipping. 

 

However, I was wondering do you know about this feature of Evernote which is called Note history?

 

https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2010/04/14/new-premium-features-note-history-and-50mb-notes/

 

I am under impression that this feature is the solution for any content changes that you want to revert, isn't that so?

 

Thanks,

Ilia

[eric99 1,090]

 

 

Hi.  There's also Saferoom which works across various platforms..  but since Cryptsync works like a combination of a file compression / encryption / import folder,  there's actually no reason why something similar shouldn't be cobbled together out of scripts and other individual apps.  Don't get me wrong,  I'm not criticising the app itself - it handles (I gather) folder syncing both ways without any external software.  But if you don't have a compatible OS it may not be the end of the world.

 

Beware using this with a Windows Import folder though - not only are you doubling (or at least increasing) the disk space used for the working file by saving a working copy plus a zipcrypted copy in the database,  you may find that edited copies of your file are building up in storage.  Each new edit may mean the file will be imported into Evernote as an addition,  rather than a replacement.  10 edits may equal 11 files.

 

(Not totally confident of this - I haven't tested this app specifically;  but import folders can seem to do odd things when you edit files there.)

 

Normally you'd delete the imported file and open the copy attached to the note to make any changes.

I'm also interested in SafeRoom, but there are a couple of problems that stop me from using it:

First, SafeRoom has a proprietary encryption format (I know, underneath it uses AES256 but it still needs special software to decypher)

Secondly, the encrypted data is plain ASCII in the note. Accidental change of a single character leads to full data loss.

Saferoom could easily solve these problems by encrypting in a standard file format, like 7-zip for instance and put that file into the note, instead of plain encrypted text.

 

My use case for cryptsync is not what you describe. I use it to send my document scanner output directly into evernote in encrypted zip format. These documents are never changed, so I don't have a file explosion problem in this use case. Also, I regularly cleanup my transient import folders.

 

 

Hey, eric99,

 

You are right about plain ASCII, and we are looking forward to solve this. And your idea about zipping the content into attachment is very interesting - we might only meet some limitations inside mobile systems: not all of them support unzipping. 

 

However, I was wondering do you know about this feature of Evernote which is called Note history?

 

https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2010/04/14/new-premium-features-note-history-and-50mb-notes/

 

I am under impression that this feature is the solution for any content changes that you want to revert, isn't that so?

 

Thanks,

Ilia

 

Hi Ilia,

 

I agree that the note history may be helpfull te recover, but it would be much better if we can prevent it. I just realized that Evernote should solve the problem by implementing the long requested ReadOnly mode, see https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/26224-request-read-only-notes/page-2

Maybe you are in a better position to convince Evernote to implement it?

Thanks,Eric

[ilia5101982 35]

 

 

Hi Ilia,

 

I agree that the note history may be helpfull te recover, but it would be much better if we can prevent it. I just realized that Evernote should solve the problem by implementing the long requested ReadOnly mode, see https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/26224-request-read-only-notes/page-2

Maybe you are in a better position to convince Evernote to implement it?

Thanks,Eric

 

 

Sorry for a late reply, read-only mode is an awesome idea, and I would vote for it. 

 

We are not related to Evernote, and, of course, if Evernote would have asked our opinion we would love to help them in this.

 

A bit off topic:

I am convinced that Evernote guys are reading this forum, and also I am sure that no day goes by as they raise the same concerns as you in many product meetings. Based on my experience building huge products and organizing dispersed teams I can tell you that it is extremely difficult to prioritize which features go to product. I think Evernote lost a bit a direction what exactly they want to do, what is Evernote exactly? Usually, the core issue is in product management (or product owners) - Evernote needs a "feature diet", I hope that new leadership team will solve this (I bet they will). You need to have a little bit of patience, things are moving slowly in big companies, but they are moving.