(Archived) Idea: work / private

[bourne7 2]

I came to this idea, as I use Evernote both for work and private notes. Stacking does a good job on grouping notes, I really love this new feature in the beta.

Still, there is one thing missing: the separation of private and work content (in one account). As there are no sub-stacks, this can not be solved using stacks.

I want to suggest a modification to Notebooks/Tags/Saved Search in the left pane: just make the Notebooks header clickable in three parts "Notebooks: All | Work | Private" and display notebooks according to the selection. The notebook preferences would just need an additional field to select work/private.

(Remark: One could also just replace Notebooks with three headers All Notebooks/Private/Work in addition Tags and Saved Search but in my opinion this is a waste of screen space)

[jefito 5,589]

Why not just have a Work stack and a Private stack?

~Jeff

[bourne7 2]

Therefore Stacks would have to be hierarchical:

Stack Work

Stack Client 1: Notebook 1, 2, 3, 4

Stack Client 2: Notebook 5, 6

...

With current Stacks, I need the Stacks for the Clients

[jefito 5,589]

That's only if you need to separate client information into individual notebooks (and I hope that you have < 100 clients). Why not separate clients using tags? E.g., "Client 1", "Client 2", etc.

~Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Therefore Stacks would have to be hierarchical:

Stack Work

Stack Client 1: Notebook 1, 2, 3, 4

Stack Client 2: Notebook 5, 6

...

With current Stacks, I need the Stacks for the Clients

That's why there are tags.

[bourne7 2]

It is more convenient to organize clients in stacks with notebooks inside than tagging them. Forget to tag one note and you'll have a hard time to find that note again or worse, you might not realize this note is missing when reviewing your data with respect to this client.

As one reader points out via pm, that work vs private idea is limited too and I have to agree. Stacks that can contain stacks are a more flexible solution, his example was Work/Private/Archive.

[jbenson2 2,147]

It is more convenient to organize clients in stacks with notebooks inside than tagging them. Forget to tag one note and you'll have a hard time to find that note again or worse, you might not realize this note is missing when reviewing your data with respect to this client.

As one reader points out via pm, that work vs private idea is limited too and I have to agree. Stacks that can contain stacks are a more flexible solution, his example was Work/Private/Archive.

Yes, if you forget to tag one note, it could be difficult to find it again.

Just as, if you put a note in the wrong folder, it could be difficult to find again.

My solution for the missing tag is to occasionally run some housekeeping searches specifically looking for notes that are missing tags.

• Obama -tag:"Obama"
  Afghanistan -tag:Afghanistan
  Obamacare -tag:"Universal Health"
  "Eric Holder" -tag:"Holder Eric"
  

They are in the saved search area, so all I do is click on one saved search, and then the next.

Regarding the concept of "Stacks that can contain stacks", a spin-off on the sub-notebook concept. It could be useful, but it also could impact on speed and scalability.

[jefito 5,589]

It is more convenient to organize clients in stacks with notebooks inside than tagging them.

It's even more convenient to work with what is actually implemented, rather than wait on something that probably won't happen any time soon, if at all, based on Phil Constantinou's statements here: http://forum.evernote.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=20762#p87399. It's nothing to do with your suggestion, which is fine; it's just the way it is today, which is really explicit implementations in two beta clients and obviously on the server.

~Jeff

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

It is more convenient to organize clients in stacks with notebooks inside than tagging them. Forget to tag one note and you'll have a hard time to find that note again or worse, you might not realize this note is missing when reviewing your data with respect to this client.

As one reader points out via pm, that work vs private idea is limited too and I have to agree. Stacks that can contain stacks are a more flexible solution, his example was Work/Private/Archive.

Yes, if you forget to tag one note, it could be difficult to find it again.

Just as, if you put a note in the wrong folder, it could be difficult to find again.

Another limitation of sub-notebooks vs tags is Jeff's example:

"Easy example. I have a red ball. Using a strictly hierarchical classification system, where does that ball go? In the tree under Toys? Under Things That Are Round? Or maybe under Things That Are Red? I don't think that this fits nicely into a tree structure, yet it seems perfectly suited for tags (e.g., "red", "round", "toy"). "

[mdave 1]

Another limitation of sub-notebooks vs tags is Jeff's example:

"Easy example. I have a red ball. Using a strictly hierarchical classification system, where does that ball go? In the tree under Toys? Under Things That Are Round? Or maybe under Things That Are Red? I don't think that this fits nicely into a tree structure, yet it seems perfectly suited for tags (e.g., "red", "round", "toy"). "

Okay, but having no overarching hierarchal containment option creates its own limitation. That's why I love notebooks... and tags. Not all of my items go into notebooks, but when possible, I try to find a notebook assignment. Yes, it could go into any number of notebooks, but I would likely have one that is relevant to my work, which would make it logical. And yes that could change over time, in which case I may want to move it at some point. And that's where tags come in. I can select tags in All Notebooks (BTW, I would rename that All Notes.) or I can work within the notebook. Best of both worlds.

[mdave 1]

I

Still, there is one thing missing: the separation of private and work content (in one account). As there are no sub-stacks, this can not be solved using stacks.

I want to suggest a modification to Notebooks/Tags/Saved Search in the left pane: just make the Notebooks header clickable in three parts "Notebooks: All | Work | Private" and display notebooks according to the selection. The notebook preferences would just need an additional field to select work/private.

(Remark: One could also just replace Notebooks with three headers All Notebooks/Private/Work in addition Tags and Saved Search but in my opinion this is a waste of screen space)

I would conceive of this as an entirely distinct organizational function—semantically, categories. I would like to have all of the Stack, Notebook, Tag functionality, but to be able to add a customizable category selection, perhaps with a tab interface, with drag n drop of Stacks and Notebooks to category tags.

[jefito 5,589]

I would conceive of this as an entirely distinct organizational function—semantically, categories.

I think in Evernote, categories are called 'tags", for at least some meaning of 'category' (they're like categories in MS Outlook, for example). But I may not understand how you mean them.

~Jeff

[mdave 1]

I see categories as broad divisions of everything—an entirely different type of level of organization, almost as if you have a separate database. If you select your Personal category tab, you only have the stacks, notebooks, tags, and saved searches you have created or moved to that category. It's a macro filter. Many PIMs use categories as distinct from, say, projects, folders, tags, etc.

[jefito 5,589]

Hmmm, thinking about that. My initial reaction is that categories as you describe them might be useful, but I can see some possibilities for confusion, particularly as tags and categories have similar meanings. I can't see that partitioning the tag space into separate categories would be a great help to me, since I have some generic tags that apply to both work and personal notes (my '_Todo' tag would be an obvious example: it's applicable in both areas). I might be convinced on the notebook front, though I initially started out with a Work notebook and a Personal notebook, I combined them awhile back, and just use tags. And I sure don't need categories to partition up my meager 3 saved searches.

Dunno, it's not something that I'd really use, I guess, but that's just me. Tags and Notebooks seem enough for now, though I don't depend on elaborate workflows in Evernote -- it's just a place where stuff I am interested in keeping resides, and so long as I can find it, and do something with it, I'm pretty happy.

~Jeff

[mdave 1]

Categories is an interface enhancement. If I am using tags to manage this, then I either have to select multiple tags (one being for the category) or use searches. In the same manner as being able to select a notebook and then feel free to play with tags, I would like to be able to select a category (filter level 1), select a notebook (filter level 2), then play with tags. It seems easier than having to make sure the level 1 tag (in place of the category) and the level 2 tag (in place of the notebook) are always selected. I hope that isn't too vague a description.