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Hello:

I have been using Evernote for years and recently upgraded my computer. I use the import folder tool  extensively to pull notes into Evernote from my document management program (Lucian File Center) because the document management program has much better scan/index/sort/etc functionality. [I use Evernote to access imported documents on my iPad since the iPad is easily transported and presentation is better.]

My problem is that during the period (a week) that I was upgrading my computer I had to continue to create/modify/manipulate documents that are now on the new computer and not in Evernote. The import tool does not keep track of what HAS ALREADY been imported so that if I now import a specific folder, Evernote will import ALL the files in that folder -  Including that files already in Evernote -. Some of the files that have ALREADY been imported into Evernote have been edited and I wish to KEEP those edits.

Is there a way to import the new files and not the existing files ?

Can I do this without overwriting the existing notes (made from the imported files) in Evernote?

I'm sure that this is an issue partly of my own making - please don't troll - If you have viable suggestions I'm looking forward to your reply. If you need more clarification please ask.

-Keith

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34 minutes ago, KWR said:

Is there a way to import the new files and not the existing files ?

How about deleting the existing files from Evernote and simply let the import tool do it's thing on the entire set of notes.  

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20 minutes ago, KWR said:

Yes....I have considered that but then I would loose all the tags and edits on the existing notes (@ 1500 notes)......I can't seem to find a way around that.

Oh, the master version is being stored in Evernote.  Then zap the import folder.

I'm on a Mac so the import function  is a little different.  
I can

  1. Turn off the import function.  
  2. Move "existing" files to the import folder
  3. Then turn on the import function.  It won't trigger for the "existing" files.
  4. Move the "new" files to the import folder.
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@KWR, what is the nature of your import folder? Is it used for permanent storage of these documents on your hard drive? If so, I'd suggest creating a folder purely for importing files into Evernote, and setting Evernote's options to delete the files after they're imported. That would avoid multiple imports of the same file; but it would leave it up to you to know which ones you'd already sent to the import folder. Perhaps not an ideal solution (and one you may already have considered and rejected).

Another idea: on my Windows 7 setup, I have an Evernote option when I right-click on a file and select Send To. This imports the note into the notebook that currently has focus in the EN program (or into the default notebook if you're viewing All Notes). This can be done with multiple notes selected; but of course again it involves manual intervention on your part.

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1 hour ago, KWR said:

pull notes into Evernote from my document management program (Lucian File Center) 

This is off topic but I was wondering about the editing in Evernote.  
How do you keep the Lucien File Center documents up to date?

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Thank you for your reply.

My primary program is a file management program and I keep the files (so I don't want EV to delete them after import).

I have used your suggestion of creating an import folder in EV  for 'new' files and then to move the new notes into the existing EV folder, but that is a bit cumbersome.

It would be nice if there was a way for EV to 'know' which files it has already imported and not import the same files again.

A side issue: When using the import folder function: If I change/edit a file that has already been imported EV will import the new version of the file as a NEW note. It would be great if

EV would just change the existing note to reflect the changes.

-Keith

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DTLow:

Since File Center is the center of my work product and a full featured document management system - it has all the functions built in to keep track of changes and file manipulations.

File Center has not ported its product to IOS so I use EV on my iPad for portability of work product (if I don't want to bring my laptop) EV also has better functionality to handle pictures/to do/lists/etc.

I have been happy using the two products and they have been working seamlessly......until I updated my computer and the 'sync' between the import folders was lost.

-Keith

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12 minutes ago, KWR said:

It would be great if EV would just change the existing note to reflect the changes.

On the Mac, the import function is controlled by a script.  I have complete control of the process.
This would require searching for the note
- if not found, create a new note
- if found, replace the file attachment
It's do-able.  Estimate 2 hours of work.

>>Since File Center is the center of my work product and a full featured document management system - it has all the functions built in to keep track of changes and file manipulations.

Even edits within Evernote?

 

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DTLow:

I just got a reply from gazumped  who told me (addressing another issue) that the Windows (which I use) and Mac versions use a different database and file system for storing their notes.

Perhaps I could do as you suggest with Win PowerShell, but as yet I haven't spent any time trying that method.

-Keith

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8 minutes ago, KWR said:

I just got a reply from gazumped  who told me (addressing another issue) that the Windows (which I use) and Mac versions use a different database and file system for storing their notes.

Perhaps I could do as you suggest with Win PowerShell, but as yet I haven't spent any time trying that method.

Do you want this discussion moved to the Windows forum?  It will cut out the cross-platform replies.

edit; moved to the Windows forum

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1 hour ago, KWR said:

Some of the files that have ALREADY been imported into Evernote have been edited and I wish to KEEP those edits.

I'm just catching up with this thread,  so excuse any dumb comments orquestions...  but when you edit an imported file,  which version do you edit?  The two files - the folder copy and the Evernote copy - are completely separate,  and changes to one will not result in changes to the other.  If you are editing one copy of the file,  I'd suggest it's not only pointless,  but it's rather dangerous,  to keep both versions around...

I'd certainly agree with the other suggestion here that it would be a good idea to have import folders separate from any storage folder on your device.  There are a number of Windows apps that will 'manage' files based on some criteria,  and if I understand this correctly it seems likely that you could set one such app to move files created (or updated) after a certain date,  from a storage folder to an Import Folder.  You might create a small number of duplicate files,  but most after the date on which your new computer became operational would be new to Evernote.

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....no dumb questions and your comments are always appreciated.

Abbreviation: DM = Document Management

The files that I edit are edited in a program called File Center - a DM. i.e. invoices that are stored and them marked (edited) as paid which contain a signature. Or a document that is under construction (collaboration project among multiple uses - my DM program does a great job of keeping track of changes and users, but if the file is in an EV watch folder I end up with multiple "notes" every time there is a change. ) Also as an aside - since my DM will convert scanned files to PDFs there is a lag between the time that EV imports the original file and the time that the file is processed. It is only a second or three, but EV will create two notes - one when the document is scanned and another after it has been converted to a PDF.

So....addressing your valid concern of two copies: I use EV as my portable platform for finding/reading/displaying document when I don't want to bring my my laptop. Also EV does a better job with other aspect of displaying files not to mention to do lists, pictures, web clips and other functions.

Your suggestion of moving files based on file date makes sense. It is not as straight forward as having a single folder for specific files, but as a work around I think that may work.

-Keith

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1 hour ago, KWR said:

Thank you for your reply.

My primary program is a file management program and I keep the files (so I don't want EV to delete them after import).

I have used your suggestion of creating an import folder in EV  for 'new' files and then to move the new notes into the existing EV folder, but that is a bit cumbersome.

It would be nice if there was a way for EV to 'know' which files it has already imported and not import the same files again.

A side issue: When using the import folder function: If I change/edit a file that has already been imported EV will import the new version of the file as a NEW note. It would be great if

EV would just change the existing note to reflect the changes.

-Keith

These are interesting considerations. I use Evernote mainly for note-taking, so I'm less familiar with the processes for using it for heavy-duty document storage and archiving. I'm trying to imagine how Evernote would know which files have been imported already, in the very wide diversity of situations in which users import files. Filename alone would not be adequate, filename + date modified would be better, but a check for identical size would probably also be needed. Even so, without something like a CRC check, it seems to me that at least on some occasions a file might be identified as already having been imported, even though it had not been imported. Similar considerations might even come into play with regard to importing an edited file to replace an existing file rather than creating a new note, when there might be the danger of unintentionally overwriting one file with a different one. But, as I say, I don't have any expertise here!

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My current go-to for moving files around in Windows is engagingly called DropIt! - http://www.dropitproject.com - and (you'll see from the website) it can

Quote

 

...eliminate much of the drudgery of searching and manually opening folders and moving files around.

Drop a group of different files and folders on the floating DropIt image and it sorts them to defined destination folders, compresses or extracts them, opens them with associated programs or performs other defined actions.

You can define how to filter your files (by name, directory, size, date, properties, content, regular expressions) and associate one of the 21 available actions to perform (Move, Copy, Compress, Extract, Rename, Delete, Split, Join, Encrypt, Decrypt, Open With, Print, Upload, Send by Mail, Create Gallery, Create List, Create Playlist, Create Shortcut, Copy to Clipboard, Change Properties and Ignore). You can also organize your associations in profiles and automatically scan monitored folders at a defined time interval to process included files.

 

Can't suggest how you could best identify and discriminate between files that definitely have,  and probably have not,  been uploaded,  but I'm using this to manage a huge list of folders on my hard drive and move files from my drag and drop input to whichever of those folders the file should be assigned,  based on variations in the file name.  It looks like you can relatively easily do something similar with file dates.

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Thanks - I'll try it out.

One more interesting twist that hearkens back to the good old days. If you restore files by means of copying them, then the create date is the date that you restored the files, not the date that they were originally written. Aggravating....and if for some reason you happen to open one of those files then the modified date is the date upon which, obviously, the file was opened. So.....using either one of those file parameters is not always perfect.

Perfection only exists in a vacuum.

-Keith

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17 hours ago, KWR said:

My problem is that during the period (a week) that I was upgrading my computer I had to continue to create/modify/manipulate documents that are now on the new computer and not in Evernote. The import tool does not keep track of what HAS ALREADY been imported so that if I now import a specific folder, Evernote will import ALL the files in that folder -  Including that files already in Evernote -. Some of the files that have ALREADY been imported into Evernote have been edited and I wish to KEEP those edits.

This import tool is exactly that -- a tool to facilitate importing of content into Evernote. It's not a tool for managing external files (i.e., it'a not a file management system). If you choose to retain imported content, then once you've imported into Evernote you have two copies to manage, one in Evernote and one in the file system. That's a whole set of functionality that Evernote has chosen not to solve. And there's no facility for updating specific notes via import, much less updating specific attachments to specific notes via import.

What they do offer is the ability to open documents from inside Evernote and save the edits back into Evernote. But short of manually copying files into / out of  a note, there's no way to automate this sort of stuff.

  BTW, last I knew, you should be careful with importing whole folders of content, as Evernote will only go one level deep -- so a folder and all of its sub-folders, but no sub-sub-folders.

17 hours ago, KWR said:

I have been happy using the two products and they have been working seamlessly......until I updated my computer and the 'sync' between the import folders was lost.

There is no 'sync' going on here. What goes into an import folder goes into Evernote, and Evernote can keep track of  unmodified files that stay in the import folder so that they don't get imported as duplicates, but once they change, they get reimported as a new note, That's not syncing, and it's not designed to be syncing. 

16 hours ago, KWR said:

Perhaps I could do as you suggest with Win PowerShell, but as yet I haven't spent any time trying that method.

Not sure how PowerShell works into this discussion. What sorts of things do you think that PowerShell would help with?

 

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Jeff:

Thank you for you response. Some of the issues you bring up have already been addressed in this thread. I understand the concepts related to syncing and the limits that EV has adopted related to tracking - or not - of file changes. I'm not looking to synchronize my files so much as I'm trying to keep an additional copy of the file in another format for portability since my document management system does not have a port to IOS.

Yes I understand that there is no sync function per se. So to address your last question regarding PowerShell:

I was asking if there was a way, based on the file metatdata (date/time), if I could write a script the would copy files created or modified in the last 24 hours to a new temp folder and import those into EV, then delete them from the temp folder. I'm sure its possible with Powershell and possibly enscript....but I'm not a very good coder.

I hope this clarifies my questions,  if not let me know. Perhaps I'm trying to solve the puzzle the wrong way.

 

Keith

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The answer is yes, I'm certain that you could implement it in PowerShell, and maybe even in CMD.exe for extra degree of difficulty. If you used ENScript, then you wouldn't even need to make separate copies of them in the file system, you could just import them into Evenote. I've only ever written a couple of non-trivial PowerShell scripts, nere's one (it doesn't do what you want, but it does use ENScript to produce backups, in Evernote format for each of your notebooks), so it might serve as an entree to your task: 

 

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