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conejo23

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  1. I'm checking in to see where things are at with the planned release of an updated desktop app that simplifies the workflow. It would be great to have robust encryption functionality seemingly built in to the solution set. As of now, though, the only things I really need to encrypt are PDFs and I can do that outside of Evernote and then simply drag the encrypted PDF to the app and it's done. I'm intrigued by Saferoom, but it sounds like it has some miles to go before being truly usable. And a look at the app store reviews only has 2, and both say it's crashing on them repeatedly.
  2. I just downloaded the trial version of that PDF encryption product, will see how that goes. I like how it lets you create inbox/outbox folders for drag and drop encrypting. Nice. Preference window is horrible. Unfortunately, the interface is just terrible. I hate that it gives me "low/medium/high" security options without telling me what those actually are. Lame. But the folder functionality makes it easy to encrypt this stuff, much simpler than using Preview. So I'll likely buy it when the trial period ends. Thanks for the recommendation.
  3. thanks for the link to that app, I'll check it out. A question from someone who is not a security expert: what is the practical difference between a PDF you encrypt and one encrypted in Preview? What makes the latter "not adequate"? Is the concern there a real, practical one or more of a theoretical one? I may very well be naive but here's how I look at it, I guess: first, the odds that anyone other than the government wanting to look at my tax returns while they are in my Evernote account would seem pretty small. I'd guess that my biggest risk of exposure is not being directly targeted by someone, but by having my data exposed along with thousands of others in some kind of wide breach. If that were to happen and the hackers were going through files and found PDFs I had in evernote that were encrypted with the lower level of security, are they going to stop everything and focus on cracking those files or just plow through and see what other low hanging fruit is available? It seems like it could be similar to home security. Sure, I could invest $20,000 in an elite home security system for my modest home with infrared detection, motion pads outside the house, state of the art everything. Or I could keep my doors locked, keep shrubs away from the windows, lock everything up when I'm gone, have a couple big dogs with access to inside and out who bark their heads off if anyone approaches the house, and a basic security system that costs me a few hundred to install and $50/month to monitor. Does the former give me more protection? Sure, but do I NEED that level of protection? Probably not. Just trying to get a feel for how protected or exposed my Preview-encrypted files would be compared to more robust alternatives.
  4. one note: I'm (theoretically) familiar with the Mac process of using Disk Utility to created an encrypted disk image that kinda acts like a folder, but that has always seemed like a pain. If that's the solution, I'd rather just do the Preview method of encrypting individual files.
  5. So, what would be those tools? I figured out how to do it in Preview on my Mac but it would be cool to have a folder where if I drag anything into it, those files are automatically encrypted and then I can drag out of that folder into Evernote. How do I do that on a Mac?
  6. I played with encrypting the PDF and figured it out, that can absolutely work but is a bit of a pain to do. But I've no idea how to "redact" sections of a PDF. Let's say a form has our social security number on it and I just want to black that out, and it's in a PDF. Is that something I can do directly in evernote or do I need to figure out how to do it prior to putting the PDF into evernote?
  7. Candid....I'm presuming that the reason you advocate for a local notebook for this purpose is to keep sensitive, personal information confidential. The assumption implicit in your post is that this information would not be secured in a synced notebook because it would be also stored in the cloud. I know security of Evernote data is a serious concern with a lot of differing perspectives on it. Honestly, I wish Evernote would encrypt data at rest, but they do not. So, for me, the question is how much do I trust Evernote. One thing I've found is that Evernote is massively more valuable to me the more I put in it. And conversely, the more I keep data for which I search in multiple places, the less useful it is. So, I do have sensitive information in Evernote beyond just tax-type of information. But I do not store tax returns and such information there. For now, I'm ok putting things like 1099s, W2s, 1098s, charitable statements, property tax statements, etc...there. I have enabled 2-step authentication and I hope it's enough.
  8. Analyst444....that is a really interesting and (to me) innovate way to explain the organizational distinctions of notebooks vs tags, purpose vs type. I've been using this notebook-centered paradigm for a year now and it seems to be working fine, but the truth is that Evernote's search capability is so strong that I'm usually able to find everything instantly. The only time I peruse a notebook is when taking a trip down memory lane. For example, I'm a Springseen fan from way back (1975) and have been to a ton of shows. I created a notebook just for these shows where I've put setlists, media show reviews, pictures, etc..., and I enjoy revisiting those from time to time, or notebooks around a vacation. But the majority of the time when I look for a document, search just finds it. I try to use the title of my notes to be sort of a quasi-tagging system. I think about how I'd typically try to search for this document and then either title it accordingly or put in notes matching how I'd search for it. I've got about 3,000 notes in my system now (and am actively digitizing a lot of paper files, that will probably be at 5,000+ by the end of the year at least), and maybe a few hundred at the most with tags. I'm not sure why, but tags have always seemed to me like an extra layer of work, like an effort tax on using Evernote. So, I've resisted them. Title them in a way that makes sense, dump them in a notebook that makes sense, then forget about them until I need them. But this tax thing is my first foray into utilizing the app in a way that becomes an intrinsic part of a future methodological process where it isn't that I might need to find something, I HAVE to find it. And thus, I'm looking even closer at my organizational paradigm. Thanks for the perspectives to all who have contributed. Good stuff and gives me some things to ponder.
  9. Yep. ALL receipts go into one of two notebooks, those that affect taxes, and all others. That's it.
  10. But it doesn't match more than one notebook. It only matches one.
  11. Thanks for the response. How am I creating a filing problem? There's no ambiguity for me, if it's an item that affects my taxes in any way, it goes into that year's tax notebook. It can't go into one of several different notebooks, only one. It sounds like you have the approach of using notebooks as big buckets and then using tags to sort them out. That's not my paradigm, I'm less on tags and more on notebooks, and I'm not particularly interested in turning that on its head right now. But I do see this as a sound way to use tags to get a more granular view of what I'm putting into that notebook.
  12. So I went to a meetup presentation at the Evernote offices here in Austin in February, heard Stacey Harmon give an excellent talk on going paperless. Really good stuff. The gist of it was "I'm not against using paper, I just don't KEEP paper". And then, "have a strategy laid out ahead of time for how to deal with every kind of paper that enters your life." Simple, yet profound. I realized I didn't have all of that in place. Anyway, as part of my newfound zeal for going paperless, I want to start digitizing all my tax inputs through the year so I'm not cramming stuff into a file, instead it's all categorized in Evernote. Now, I know some people have elaborate notebook structures and don't use tagging at all, and some have like one or two basic notebooks and use tags and searches to find everything. I guess I'm kinda in the middle, more on the notebook side, I don't make a whole lot of use of tags. But for taxes, I'm thinking it makes sense. Here's my idea, I'd like comment on whether it's sound or should be revised. I'm going to make a Notebook Stack called "2016 Financial Documents". In it I'll have a few different notebook, one for "2016 Taxes", another for "2016 Misc Receipts" (into which things would go that are not tax deductible). Then probably another for misc documents, like insurance policies, etc... For the items I put into the 2016 Taxes notebook, I'm thinking about tagging them based on what kind of item it is. For example, if it's a W2 or a K1 it gets the "income" tag. If it's a charitable donation, I'm thinking the exquisitely creative tag of "charitable donation". Another for "schedule A deduction", "medical expenses", etc... Then at tax time I can do searches from that notebook by tag and find everything grouped together. Thoughts?
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