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[ajschmidt 250]

Feature Request: Add Outlining Capabilities to Evernote

Evernote is great, but it's dying for the ability to create Notes that contain Outlines which are easily collapsed and expanded during creation and in use.

One way to implement it would be a switchable editing mode, between standard formatting or outline mode.

In outline mode, pressing the Enter key creates a new outline item, and pressing the Tab key changes the current item into a sub-item.

Clicking on an item's action icon causes its sub-items to collapse out of, or expand into view. That's the way the Ecco Pro PIM did it, and something simple like that would be a good start for Evernote.

The name Evernote implies a product that takes notes -and collapsible/expandable outlines are a huge part of note taking.

[Bill C 45]

I think it could be just as useful if portions of notes could be collapsed under headings.  Maybe doing that for headings instead of bullets would make the challenges related to synchronization, which is speculated about in earlier replies, a bit easier to deal with on the development side if a note were broken up into pieces based on headings on the backend for synchronization purposes. That might help improve the duplicated notes I occasionally get due to synchronization conflicts too, especially with longer notes.

Even though this thread is in the Windows client forum, it's a feature I'd like for the Mac client, and I suspect if it were developed it would not be Windows specific.

So it is less likely to get lost, here's another thread on this topic in the General Feature request forum:

 

[NWEvern 1]

Come on. A request was made 12 years ago, and Bending spoons will be ignoring this request for how long more ? Just any toggle list will be fine. Doesn't have to be like in Notion. We are OK even the one in OneNote where you just indent and the parent bullet point can be clickable and collapsible. 

[agsteele 2,946]

Hi @Frédéric Sagaer, welcome to the forums.

The request for outlining function in Evernote long pre-dates Bending Spoons which has declared firmly that its current aim is to tackle the speed and stability problems. So adding outlining isn't on its agenda at the moment.

This is obviously one of the more requested features but for whatever reason it hasn't been implemented in over a decade - long before the Bending Spoons purchase of the business. Whether there are millions of users asking for this I doubt

Those of us who lurk around the forums offering assistance often find ourselves stuck with confirming that some requested feature isn't available and then offering ways of achieving the desired ends by other means.  It isn't, generally, a put down but rather offering a way to achieve what is requested using another tool linked into Evernote because that's all that is available.

By all means advocate for this feature. I hope you have voted for this thread, submitted feedback@evernote.com or even opened a support ticket.  In the meantime all we can do is say that while it isn't available an external application such as Workflowy is all that is available.

[Ray Chiu 2]

Hi Bending Spoon, are we going to have this feature rollout within this year? This is a 12-years feature request posts. This fundamental feature is essential for lengthy notes!

[cpchang 12]

I second this request! Collapsible bullets would be very helpful.

+1

from an old user of DOS ThinkTank, GrandView, Tornado Notes, and recently Windows InfoSelect.

CP

[lenarr 27]

+1 too!

Lena

[Mayanja 0]

+100

~F~

[May 268]

That'd be awesome but you can just use a separate app for outlines and still organize them in evernote. The same goes for mind maps or any other files.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Not to poo poo this topic, but whatever the usefulness of having this kind of outline functionality, I think it's pretty unlikely that this kind of functionality would work across platforms, so I don't see it happening. Anyhow, I think it is fair to say that a lot of people want Evernote to do outlining

[May 268]

@grumpyMonkey, yeah that's true. I can't imagine this implemented in near future.

Well actually I can imagine but it's not going to happen LOL !

Still you can have this functionality by using additional tools - no need to wait for evernote team to implement it... Separate tools would also be better because they are focused on just one thing and do it great.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Still you can have this functionality by using additional tools - no need to wait for evernote team to implement it... Separate tools would also be better because they are focused on just one thing and do it great.

I totally agree. One of the things I like about Evernote is that it doesn't have feature bloat and it does what it does well.

[May 268]

Note links are essential imho, I always wanted to use them before they were added but didn't expect evernote team to implement them. So yeah, it's true - you never know. Outlining could be done with a separate app so it doesn't matter to me if they add it or not. If they do it'd be awesome, if not - that's fine too..

I really like all the features they added to windows client over the past year or so - note links, tabs to search for tags. It's exactly what was missing for me.

Looks like they know what they are doing ! LOL

Only problem is iPad client at the moment...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

It is not clear how a new feature gets approved inside of Evernote.

It seems unpredictable.

I have watched feature requests like "Note Links" be requested for several years by many users, all the while the usual reasons for NOT implementing the feature were repeatedly given by Evernote and some of the evangelists.

Then one day, boom! An EN Blog was published releasing Note Links. The marketing made it sound like Evernote had just discovered/implemented one of key features of all time. :-)

So while no one should count on a new feature request, it never hurts, IMO, for users to keep on making the request for it.

yep. you never know, and it never hurts to ask.

links, though, are pretty widely supported across platforms inside apps and, of course, in browsers. this is just a guess, but i think outlining is tricky beyond the basics that you can get with something like <ul> or <li> in html. nevermind any of the evernote app-specific obstacles that might exist.

if evernote can pull it off, it will put them well ahead of a lot of competitors. if not, i'll be ok. as suggested above, there is always copy / paste from other apps if complicated outliing is really necessary.

[tomtakt 2]

I would really like to see a collapsible tap feature because some of my notes get a little too long to be able to scroll through them easily.

Sometimes I make secondary notes and link to them, or I try to make my details smaller and my headers bigger to provide the easy visual scanning of my note content that I'd like. However, it would be great if there were collapsible bullets, such as [+] and [-] type of symbol, that would function just like the checkbox--with a single click on any platform.

[harveydarvey 1]

Yes, some kind of collapsible region (think visual studio style), or collapsible zone will be highly useful for me and many people I know that use evernote too.

 

Sometimes I copy and paste HTML / programming codes into evernote, but I don't want to see it all the time. I only need it when I want to refer to it and expand to view it. +1

[Yardov 0]

I'm very close to move to:

http://www.circusponies.com/downloads

 

Just because it has this feature.

 

Regards,

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I'm very close to move to:

http://www.circusponies.com/downloads

 

Just because it has this feature.

 

Regards,

 

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

 

Circus Ponies is a very good app, and it arguably does a better job than Evernote with outlines. To be honest, a lot of other applications do this or that better than Evernote. In the end, you have to choose the application that best fits your use case, so you should make sure to look around at your options.

 

There are trade-offs to be made with each application, and in the case of Evernote, it often has fewer features / less powerful features than apps designed to work on a single platform.

 

On the other hand, Circus Ponies only works on a single platform, and Evernote works pretty much everywhere. This thread is for Windows users, and as far as I know, Circus Ponies has no app for Windows. 

 

In short, I think if you want an app that will work no matter what platform you are using, then Evernote is the best solution. If you know that you are only going to be using a single platform, then you may have more options, though even then, things like shared notebooks, powerful searching, etc. will be out of your reach. 

[pferenc 4]

+1 for collapsible outlining

(representing users grown up using microsoft word outline view and microsoft onenote bullets)

[ZZZ 135]

+1

[Knotty 0]

After almost 10 years of using OneNote under Windows, I just received my new MacBook Pro, and I chose Evernote (over read-only Outline) to be its replacement.

 

One feature I'm really missing is the ability to collapse indented text with a simple click to the left of its parent.

 

Is this in the works or at least on the radar?

 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

After almost 10 years of using OneNote under Windows, I just received my new MacBook Pro, and I chose Evernote (over read-only Outline) to be its replacement.

 

One feature I'm really missing is the ability to collapse indented text with a simple click to the left of its parent.

 

Is this in the works or at least on the radar?

Hi. Welcome to the forums! Your suggestion has been made before, I am sure the developers have seen it, but no one is commenting, and they have a policy not to comment on anything behind the scenes, so you are unlikely to hear anything.

My guess would be that this will not come to Evernote in the near future. Evernote has to work across platforms and it is based on a kind of website code called .enex, which isn't terribly adept with this kind of stuff (in my experience). It is probably possible to do, but unlikely.

More importantly, I'd design your workflow around the app that is, not the app you want it to be, or the app it may become in the future. It's great to make suggestions (I do it on a daily basis!), but you never know if or when something will get implemented, and even if it comes to the app, it may not appear quite the way you want it. Basically, there are tradeoffs with any app (as I am sure you know), and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches adapting yourself to what's available. In this case, I'd say goodbye to collapsible outlines. Have you tried a Table of Contents (internal note links)? These can be a handy way of tying together a bunch of notes into one so that it functions much like a collapsible outline.

[gazumped 11,664]

Following on from Grumpy's comments - we're good with workaround suggestions here..  coming from a Wiki background I'm also a fan of collapsing paragraphs,  and my alternative here has been inter-note links.  Not as elegant as having the information available on the page,  but it's pretty easy to highlight a paragraph,  copy it to another note,  and replace the original content with a link to that note. The drawback (apart from the mechanics) being that your links can either be local - which basically works on one computer only,  or URL based,  which means you've shared that note publicly.

[Egholm 2]

+1

[talk2pj 0]

Couldn't agree more: Expandable/collapsible paragraphs would make my notes a lot easier to navigate.

 

I'd love that feature, and am considering changing to other apps that have it.

[gazumped 11,664]

Couldn't agree more: Expandable/collapsible paragraphs would make my notes a lot easier to navigate.

 

I'd love that feature, and am considering changing to other apps that have it.

 

Hi - welcome to the forums.  If you do find a better alternative please let us know here - there's no bar to using apps with or instead of Evernote if they do a better job.

 

PS - I now know I lied in a previous post.  Inter-note links are 'portable' (though I'm not sure they're universally so) in that they use a UID which will find your note in any Evernote client including the web version.

[Philip A 30]

Hey,

 

 

I would like to make a feature request for evernote to implement a text collapse, as seen in coding software such as Dreamweaver.

The idea is to make it a little bit easier to organise long lists.

Simply mark the desired text, collapse it and then you're able to toggle on and off and eventually remove the collapse when you don't need it anymore.

 

Here's a picture I found: 

http://www.creativepro.com/files/story_images/20050926_expand.jpg

 

It's a really simple feature, but it would make my Evernote life easier!

 

 

 

 

Philip A

 

[RobF 1]

+1

[Evernote Dutchman 13]

Think of how useful this feature becomes when using Evernote's presentation mode: it clearly helps to make information in notes easier to digest when looking at the main headlines, whereas you could focus only on the collapsed details in case the appropriate audience needs to know. Among the huge benefits of this functionality is time saving as you will not need to rework the information every time your audience changes, as is usually required in the case of standard document and presentation apps such as text editors, PowerPoint and Keynote. Collapsable bullet points bring the best of both worlds of bullet lists, mind maps and/or OPML applications to the fore.

 

For the sake of getting a better understanding of how well this concept works and to get a grasp of its usefulness, please, take a look at http://www.workflowy.com or their instructional videos.

 

Evernote coding team, I have every faith in your ability to bring this about and I am genuinely grateful for it. Keep up that excellent work you have been doing and feel proud of what you have achieved

[s2sailor 2,193]

For the sake of getting a better understanding of how well this concept works and to get a grasp of its usefulness, please, take a look at http://www.workflowy.com or their instructional videos.

This is one of the nicest features of workflowy and the main reason why I still use it on occasion.  I would also like to see this come to Evernote and I agree that it would be particularly useful in presentation mode.

[Axor 2]

I would like to see this feature. Anyways I give my support! +1

[Gangun 29]

+1

for 2 reasons or usages:

 

- Long Notes simpler to handle

 

- A privacy feature: no, I'm not talking about hiding sensitive data where encryption is used, but it requires typing a password, waiting several seconds EN to decrypt (on my Android device) and type password any time I open the note.

 

I'm a sales agent;

I keep quotations with me on the road on different EN notes; when a client hasn't the printed quotation with him, I can (must) show it on my EN app.

 

But where can I save quotation discounts, notes, known competitors, ...  not to show them to my customer?

 

• I can create a linked note: not so easy to handle (especially on mobile devices), duplicated notes for same subject, waste of time and space
• I can create an attachment and put this notes inside it (solution I'm using right now): waste of time, handling external apps to manage attachment (especially on mobile devices where attachments are harder to handle)

 

With a dropdown feature, all this would be much easier and faster to achieve

Cheers.

G

[shosch 0]

+1!

 

Just switched from Notepad++. Clearly the functionality in Evernote is much greater, but being able to quickly add collapsible regions/folds to notes (preferably with the option to use some text signifier for the start and end of the fold . . .) would be killer. 

[HDD 0]

+1

[Kintaro 0]

I think that in some situation have the possibility to collapsible portion of text will make more readable our notes... something like SPOILER buttons on forums.

 

Example: I have a ToDo note like this:

[ ] Install software X[ ] Configure software XSome text about software X Documentation:Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse tortor mi, blandit in gravida sit amet, pharetra quis diam. Cras varius sodales porttitor. Morbi nec aliquam massa, eget laoreet nunc. Integer finibus leo ut convallis vestibulum. Integer feugiat auctor eros pellentesque volutpat. In consequat lacus eu metus venenatis consectetur. Donec nec ornare tellus, non sodales elit. Maecenas quis lacus aliquam, bibendum dolor in, placerat purus. Donec eleifend mi a ante congue, a aliquet elit convallis. Fusce dui massa, suscipit eget facilisis id, tempor a turpis. Quisque non dui non orci finibus pulvinar non at ante. Ut maximus nec mauris accumsan sodales.[ ] Install software Y[ ] Configure software YSame text about the Configuration of software Y:Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse tortor mi, blandit in gravida sit amet, pharetra quis diam. Cras varius sodales porttitor. Morbi nec aliquam massa, eget laoreet nunc. Integer finibus leo ut convallis vestibulum. Integer feugiat auctor eros pellentesque volutpat. In consequat lacus eu metus venenatis consectetur. Donec nec ornare tellus, non sodales elit. Maecenas quis lacus aliquam, bibendum dolor in, placerat purus. Donec eleifend mi a ante congue, a aliquet elit convallis. Fusce dui massa, suscipit eget facilisis id, tempor a turpis. Quisque non dui non orci finibus pulvinar non at ante. Ut maximus nec mauris accumsan sodales.[ ] Do some other work ZSame text about what I done and what I have to do to finish this step:Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse tortor mi, blandit in gravida sit amet, pharetra quis diam. Cras varius sodales porttitor. Morbi nec aliquam massa, eget laoreet nunc. Integer finibus leo ut convallis vestibulum. Integer feugiat auctor eros pellentesque volutpat. In consequat lacus eu metus venenatis consectetur. Donec nec ornare tellus, non sodales elit. Maecenas quis lacus aliquam, bibendum dolor in, placerat purus. Donec eleifend mi a ante congue, a aliquet elit convallis. Fusce dui massa, suscipit eget facilisis id, tempor a turpis. Quisque non dui non orci finibus pulvinar non at ante. Ut maximus nec mauris accumsan sodales.etc

Imagine it 4/5 times that!

Now, imagine with collapsible block text. We are going to see only the text we need in that moment and hide it when we are going to the next step.

 

For example I'm at the Configure Software Y step so I SHOW only that block text and I HIDE "Documentation about Software X" and the text about "work Z" and the note will look like this. SHOW and HIDE are clickable off course.

[ ] Install software X[ ] Configure software XSHOW - Some text about software X Documentation:[ ] Install software Y[ ] Configure software YHIDE - Same text about the Configuration of software Y:Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse tortor mi, blandit in gravida sit amet, pharetra quis diam. Cras varius sodales porttitor. Morbi nec aliquam massa, eget laoreet nunc. Integer finibus leo ut convallis vestibulum. Integer feugiat auctor eros pellentesque volutpat. In consequat lacus eu metus venenatis consectetur. Donec nec ornare tellus, non sodales elit. Maecenas quis lacus aliquam, bibendum dolor in, placerat purus. Donec eleifend mi a ante congue, a aliquet elit convallis. Fusce dui massa, suscipit eget facilisis id, tempor a turpis. Quisque non dui non orci finibus pulvinar non at ante. Ut maximus nec mauris accumsan sodales.[ ] Do some other work ZSHOW - Same text about what I done and what I have to do to finish this step:

Some ideas/inspirations:

Something like SPOILER buttons on forum

http://www.foldingtext.com (GREAT!)

http://snippets.wikidot.com/code:collapsible-text-block

 

[Metrodon 2,184]

It's called outlining and has been discussed on here a lot.

Given that the Mac app has the latest editor and does not include this functionality I'm guessing it won't be happening in the short to medium term (if ever).

[Dulani 0]

+1,

 

 

-- And while we're at it, how about making collapsible tables too (kind of like Excel's Outlining feature)?

[SudsDev 0]

I would absolutely love this feature. +1

[noahkareus 0]

Feature Request: Add Outlining Capabilities to Evernote

Evernote is great, but it's dying for the ability to create Notes that contain Outlines which are easily collapsed and expanded during creation and in use.

One way to implement it would be a switchable editing mode, between standard formatting or outline mode.

In outline mode, pressing the Enter key creates a new outline item, and pressing the Tab key changes the current item into a sub-item.

Clicking on an item's action icon causes its sub-items to collapse out of, or expand into view. That's the way the Ecco Pro PIM did it, and something simple like that would be a good start for Evernote.

The name Evernote implies a product that takes notes -and collapsible/expandable outlines are a huge part of note taking.

Any status on this?

[Wordsgood 526]

Afraid not. It's a much requested feature on this Forum, but there's no way to know when, or if, they will implement it. But, if folks keep asking it might, eventually happen.

In the meantime, you'd be better off looking at apps like Workflowly, which I believe intergrateds well with Evernote.

Feature Request: Add Outlining Capabilities to Evernote

Evernote is great, but it's dying for the ability to create Notes that contain Outlines which are easily collapsed and expanded during creation and in use.

One way to implement it would be a switchable editing mode, between standard formatting or outline mode.

In outline mode, pressing the Enter key creates a new outline item, and pressing the Tab key changes the current item into a sub-item.

Clicking on an item's action icon causes its sub-items to collapse out of, or expand into view. That's the way the Ecco Pro PIM did it, and something simple like that would be a good start for Evernote.

The name Evernote implies a product that takes notes -and collapsible/expandable outlines are a huge part of note taking.

Any status on this?

[mstankus 0]

+1 on collapsable lists

 

Also an "outline" mode would be nice. It would just change the keyboard shortcuts within a small part of a document
(so that tab indents lists in the way you expect)

[jbenson2 2,147]

I use WorkFlowy.com for my master outline of Collapsible / Expandable tasks and reminders.

When needed, I export the open items into Evernote or OneNote for reference. 

[DmitryZ 1]

+100500

[LeoTM 3]

+1, I love Evernote, but just saw WorkFlowy has this.

[Alokito 1]

+1, this would be very handy for large outlines.

[Olala! 0]

I created an account just to search for this keyword and I found this topic!

+1 for this!

[mmattosltd 1]

Definitely! +1 on this feature.

Evernote MUST have collapsible items as it already has listitems and checkboxes...!

I had to create an account on Workflowy to try their alternative 

[robanero 9]

 

  +1

 

 

[Infinite Identity 8]

Hi everyone! I had an idea, and I was curious what you think.

 

Sometimes my notes start to get a bit messy because I have multiple sections. For example, my Daily To-Do list has a section for today, this week, this month, 3 months, and also a section to keep track of my progress.

 

What if Evernote included a simple option -- you could highlight text and click "hide", which would take away the selection and create a little sideways arrow in its place. When you click on the arrow, it could flip downwards, as the selection gets toggled to "show".

This could be a nice, easy way to keep tabs on everything -- and to keep our notes cleaner / more accessible.

Thanks,

Michael

[DTLow 5,736]

Sounds complicated. There are also people asking for outlining features like collapsible/expandable bullet features.

In the meantime, have you considered dividing your list into separate notes,and including links so you can go from between sections.

[Infinite Identity 8]

Thanks for your reply! I don't think it would be very complicated. Separate notes is a potential workaround, but seems a bit more inconvenient.

[tavor 668]

Internal note links is another way to handle this type of situation (in this case, at the very top of the note, you'd have internal note links: "Today", "This Week", "This Month", etc.), and is something that has been requested for years.

[Avron 0]

+1

[Metrodon 2,184]

This is primarily a user forum, if you have a direct question and would like a direct answer then you should open a support ticket.

[ericpeters0n 0]

+1

I would pay for this feature.

[holventure 1]

++++++++1 For business people must!

 

Thank you so much for such a great product. I use it every day.

 

I have a business plan as a list of milestones, but I also want to write down more details/subgoals/todos for each milestone. Would be awesome to have an ability to expand and collapse these todos, so I can easily switch between whole and detailed picture quickly.

 

Evernote has everything what I need to be efficient with task planning activities, except this feature. 

 

Let’s make it the best Goal management tool!

[Paul Merrett 5]

+1

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Hey guys, I just moved this thread to the Windows Feedback forum so we can vote on it.

If you want this feature, then you need to go to the top of this page and click on the UpVote arrow:

[gazumped 11,664]

Hope,  I believe they say,  springs eternal - which is just as well because that's also the way Evernote's development schedule seems to work sometimes...  meantime there are lots of useful outliners around that will do a similar job - like Workflowy.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Here is a thread with essentially the same request, but since it is in the Windows Feedback forum, you can vote for it:

Collapsible / Expandable Outlines within Notes 

If you want this feature, then you may want to go to the top of the page of that thread, and click the Up Vote button:

Unfortunately, we still cannot vote in the General Discussion forum.

[Matthewzzz 1]

Of course 1000000 x !

really love Evenote but have to use Omnifocus in parallel because of this gap ! I think we really need a Collapsible / Expandable outlines within Notes, & the same for notebooks, having the possibility to make sub notebooks !

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

13 hours ago, Matthewzzz said:

Of course 1000000 x !

Don't know what that means.  Did you vote?

[JL 0]

Did anyone find any note taking app that does this since it seems like Evernote may not come out with this feature anytime soon (it's been 3 years).

[Axor 2]

21 hours ago, JL said:

Did anyone find any note taking app that does this since it seems like Evernote may not come out with this feature anytime soon (it's been 3 years).

It has been a while, but no. Recently I tried OneNote by MIcrosoft, but there is no tag system in the app. Also it's kinda weird since they are trying to make it as actual notebook. Anyway, I finished getting back to Evernote. I really wish that Evernote team clarify if this proposed feature can be done or not.

[Axor 2]

On 3/9/2016 at 6:41 PM, JMichaelTX said:

Hey guys, I just moved this thread to the Windows Feedback forum so we can vote on it.

If you want this feature, then you need to go to the top of this page and click on the UpVote arrow:

lol I didn't know that. It's been a while since I have read this threat again. Voted!

[bdesilva 4]

We have numbering and bullets. It would be way cool to be able to collapse, expand, and move around branches of information a la an outline.

[DTLow 5,736]

Its an idea discussed before in the forums.
You might want to go this post in the product feedback area and up-vote it. 
https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/16567-collapsible-expandable-outlines-within-notes/?do=findComment&comment=82070
(voting buttons are at the top left corner)

[bdesilva 4]

Thanks. Done.

Wow. People asking since 2011. Guess it's not on the roadmap.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Cloud Outliner connects and interfaces with Evernote. What you shuffle around in one affects changes in the other. So you'll want to do your shuffling around in Cloud Outliner. 

There's now a 3rd-party WorkFlowy app called HandyFlowy, which exports outlines to Evernote... But it's a one-way deal... and it only exports visible/ expanded lists.

[bdesilva 4]

1 hour ago, Frank.dg said:

Cloud Outliner connects and interfaces with Evernote. What you shuffle around in one affects changes in the other. So you'll want to do your shuffling around in Cloud Outliner. 

There's now a 3rd-party WorkFlowy app called HandyFlowy, which exports outlines to Evernote... But it's a one-way deal... and it only exports visible/ expanded lists.

Interesting that Cloud Outliner doesn't work in the cloud! I don't have a Mac but it looks pretty nice. I'd really much rather it just be embedded in Evernote though!

Thanks,

[Cani_rat 1]

+1 Please add this feature so I do not have to use OneNote when taking notes on more complex topics. This single fearture has caused me to consider moving fully to Onenote multiple times over the years and so far the paucity of the Onenote iPhone app as stopping me from fully switching. Thank You

[Neil Marston 1]

I too:

1. Would love this feature

2. Am surprised that, some five years after this request was first mentioned on the thread mentioned by Guru above, the feature is not yet available

[Matthew Stroh 0]

+1 for me. I've really come to like how Evernote keeps me on track with my projects. But having too many details that are important, but aren't required to be visible all the time can complicate my workflow. 

I could create separate notes for each and every item that I would like to collapse and create links to them from one main/master note, but I get weary about creating so many micro-notes that they get lost in the shuffle. Expand/Collapse sections would be super handy to keep major themes in one, core note.

[builder245 1]

If we were able to collapse parts of a note, especially in long notes, would be very useful.

Doesnt any one agree?

is it possible to add that to Evernote?

[s2sailor 2,193]

Others, including me, agree.  FWIW you can vote on the feature request here.

[jbenson2 2,147]

I prefer to stick with short notes.

Long notes are more difficult to search. First I have to do a standard Evernote search for the term, then a 2nd search inside the long note using Ctrl F. Short notes are much more efficient and easier to use.

If I need a collapsible format, I use WorkFlowy.com

[Jammer 0]

+1

Love it!

[s2sailor 2,193]

1 hour ago, jbenson2 said:

Long notes are more difficult to search

I have not found search for these longer notes to be much of an issue.  A few times I have needed to use Ctrl F but I can usually scan the note pretty quick to find what I need.

Notes do not need to be that long for this to be a useful feature.  My main use case is for a development meeting that I run.  I have one note per meeting that is projected to a group.  It would be impractical, even with note links, to break this into smaller notes.  Each note includes the history of the prior meetings and each entry is date coded.  I would use this feature to collapse all sections of the note that do not pertain to the current meeting.  It would allow us to better focus on what is most important that meeting.  I would also use it in other notes to temporarily hide information that may not be of primary importance.  Again, a way to focus on the main points. 

Workflowy is a great tool.  I've used it as well but would still prefer to see the function built into Evernote.  At least into the desktop clients.

This post describes it better than I just did.

Edited June 14, 2016 by s2sailor

[HerbyDE 101]

+1 !!!

[gustavgi 308]

I would also love this feature! Probably my top request at this point. There are so many potential uses for it.

[sevenspirals 0]

What Neil said. It's pretty surprising that this feature is not yet available. The number of posts in this thread is also weird.

I suppose that since people aren't exactly clamoring for this feature it's not at the top of the Evernote team's priority list, but it would be immensely useful.

[Aseem Bansal 19]

Seems like a very good idea.

[MagicMarc 1]

+1 

Evernote, PLEASE add this feature.  

[MagicMarc 1]

I started using Workflowy for this exact reason as well.  I'm using Evernote less now because of this.  And I'm having to pay for two services.  Really frustrating.  Would highly prefer that Evernote would implement collapsible lists.  

[gazumped 11,664]

OK - I moved this to a Feature Request thread  so we can collect votes.  I agree collapsible text would be a nice feature,  but there are already dozens of apps that do this just fine,  and I use Workflowy which works for me.  I don't see this as being a high priority though,  unless it falls in with Evernote's ongoing project to make the editor better...

Edit:  Apologies in advance that this sits in the Windows area - there isn't a general 'all OS' option yet,  but I'm taking it that everyone wants this to apply to ALL Evernote clients.

[s2sailor 2,193]

5 hours ago, gazumped said:

I agree collapsible text would be a nice feature,  but there are already dozens of apps that do this just fine

and adding one more would be even finer 

I believe there is another feature request thread out there for this and as I recall it was one of the higher voted ones.  Another reason why it would be nice to have a central location for these client independent requests.

[Sipai 1]

Thanks, gazumped. This is great news! I heart this feature and see it giving me an option to organize notes in an awesome way.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

18 hours ago, gazumped said:

but there are already dozens of apps that do this just fine,

Perhaps so, but having other apps that do this but are NOT tightly integrated with Evernote is if little, actually, no, help.
We don't want just this one feature.  We want it along with all of the other Evernote features.

Having this feature directly in Evernote would be a huge benefit.

[t0d0r 4]

+1 from me

[JayPii81 1]

Hey evernote team,

during working for my mainjob i had to use everday lotus notes.
i got a lots of ToDo-List. for giving the users a better overview in their lists, the developers inlcuded "sections"
now i could create headlines where its possible to subordinate the text below. with a klick this text is poping up or fade out.

the tables in evernote are really great, but with an long list i have to scroll to many to find the information i need at this moment.
with "sections" i could display me only the important headlines and by clicking on it the text below pops up.

for better understanding i put you some pictures als attachmend.

hope you could unterstand my german-english
im open for question - just send me an mail or answer here.

 

[Mike P 2,641]

Here's two possible workarounds:

1. Have each section as a separate note and then pull the whole thing together by creating a table of contents note. It's not exactly what you wanted and the main disadvantage is that you need to recreate the TOC note each time you add a new note. 
2. Another similar approach is to have separate notes again and tag each one with the same tag. Searching for that tag (I suggest saving the search to make it just one click) would pull up all the notes. You could then easily click the one you wanted, especially if you organise notes alphabetically by title. This would be my preferred option. 

I think Evernote works best when you have notes which are just little chunks of information and then create the hierarchy though tags, notebooks or tables of contents. It doesn't really create structures within a note.

[gustavgi 308]

Add your vote to the thread above, which discusses the same request

[Candid 167]

Notelinks are the way to go to replicate this sort of organization. Yes, in Evernote that will mean separate notes, but the effect will be the same.

[s2sailor 2,193]

6 hours ago, Candid said:

but the effect will be the same.

Not necessarity, It depends on your use case.  As an example, I have a weekly status note where I keep track of different topics and provide dated entries in each.  This note gets presented to a group of people.  I would love to be able to collapse any entries that are not important for that particular meeting to help provide focus on the issues that do need to be discussed.  This could be duplicated with many separate notes and links but manuevering through that live in front of a group would be very messy.  Much similar to be able to just collapse or expand sections as needed.

[Analyst444 182]

It strikes me that @JayPii81's request is very close to an "outlining" function much like MS Word's for Evernote. It's not there, yet.

Here's another approach with the current version of Evernote:

• Convert your "section" names to Evernote Note Titles.
• Place (or leave) your information below the "section" names in the body of the Notes.

Then, you can look at a "Note List" to see what you call "sections" and then click on the name of one and see the subordinate information in the "Note Panel".

If you need another level in the hierarchy of your information, then put the Notes in 2 or more Evernote "Notebooks". 

 

@s2sailor - The same approach might work for you.

Or how about this? Change the structure of your Evernote Notes so one "Note" is one and only one of your "topics". Put the name of the "topic" in the title of the "Note" and details about the "topic" in the body of the "Note".

Then, give an Evernote "Tag" to each "topic" Note that indicates what meeting (or meetings) it applies to. Give each Note another Tag that indicates how "important" it is.

Then, when the meeting starts, have Evernote search for the appropriate meeting "Tag" and those "Notes" which meet your "importance: criteria. 

A side-benefit of this structure is that you could easily develop a list with Evernote that shows all the high "importance" topics, regardless of the meetings they apply to.

[s2sailor 2,193]

@Analyst444, some good ideas thanks, but this would require much more managing of the meeting notes than I currently do.  If I wasn't presenting the note or needing to occasionally jump around to different date entries depending on the discussion flow then I would consider it.  As it is, having it all in one note is better for my workflow.  I appreciate the ideas though.

[Candid 167]

19 hours ago, s2sailor said:

Not necessarity, It depends on your use case.  As an example, I have a weekly status note where I keep track of different topics and provide dated entries in each.  This note gets presented to a group of people.  I would love to be able to collapse any entries that are not important for that particular meeting to help provide focus on the issues that do need to be discussed.  This could be duplicated with many separate notes and links but manuevering through that live in front of a group would be very messy.  Much similar to be able to just collapse or expand sections as needed.

I'm not sure it is that different.

In your version each project has a name and some kind of button or open arrow beside it. You present the note and for each project you wish to discuss, you click the arrow and it opens that project in the note. If each project only has a few lines as you show above then your use case might prove more slightly more effective.

However if you have less than a screen's worth of projects with only a few lines each project, the most effective thing to do in that case might be not to have any hide or drop down or link at all, with a screen's worth of projects, just list everything out.

But if you have a project with more than a few lines of material underneath it or say meeting notes with third parties then I think the Evernote linking system is similar to the collapse feature. 

Let's look at the steps you'd go through in each system with a large project system.

In your version, you click the project and it opens several screens worth or material or even more sections that you click open to reach whatever section or sections you want to discuss with the group. To move onto another project cleanly, you'll need to scroll up and close up each of these opens OR at least close the big one  up. Or you could continue to scroll down in the note until you reach the next project.

In the current Evernote situation, you open a similar note and click on a project. Instead of opening in that note you are taken to a new note where you may have more sub-projects that you may click to jump to. So far this is similar in ease to your version. How about going back? Use the back arrow button which you've added to your toolbar. This is the one place where your system might have an advantage because in your system if you arr close to the top of a section, you could just close the whole section in one click. On the other hand if you have scrolled down quite a bit the Evernote system will get you back quicker since you don't have to scroll back to the top. 

And the Evernote system has an advantage of opening each project away from other projects which might help with focus and possibly confidentiality. 

[Candid 167]

One more overall thought. This might be a case where having a small dedicated notebook would be the way to go.Then each project could have its own note and the list of projects is always accessible at the note book level. 

[s2sailor 2,193]

48 minutes ago, Candid said:

I'm not sure it is that different.

In your version each project has a name and some kind of button or open arrow beside it.

It is.  The note is for one project and let's say this project has 10 sections.  In every section there are dated entries.  Typically a new entry for each week.  The weekly discussion may involve only some or all sections and may include only the most recent dated entries or some from weeks before may need discussion.  Using links to jump around from topic to topic and to different dated entries real time would be very messy.  Much simpler to just have it in one note and collapse the sections, and/or dated entries not needed for that day.  Also, and I neglected to mention this earlier, each week I post the status to a wiki for archive and having everything in one note I can quickly just copy and paste.  If the information was spread across multiple notes it would require more steps to first collect the information for posting.

[Analyst444 182]

@s2sailor - Unless you are the low man on the totem pole in these meetings, why not consider suggesting to everyone else that they get their own copy of Evernote and then you can share a Notebook (or two) with each of them that has all the potentially relevant information. - - - During a meeting they can look up the information to discuss as well as you can.

If that doesn't work for you, then consider reading up on doing "date" searches with Evernote. Between "Create Dates", "Update Dates", befores and afters, Evernote offers a lot of different search variations.

[s2sailor 2,193]

@Analyst444, I realize that you are trying to help, so thanks for that.  I've very familiar with the search syntax and saved searches but that really doesn't help here.  Let's just leave it at, IMO, links though useful for many situations, don't work for all situations and collapsible sections would be much better.  I've voted this one up even though there is another similar thread out there.