REQUEST: Password-protect notebooks

[Toontje 1]

I'm going to ask it again: Are there any plans to implement password protection for individual notebooks?

I know it's been asked many times before, but maybe if I ask again someone will wake up and spend some time building it. After all, it's been asked enough times now.

Thanks,

Ton.

[Danny Lin 9]

I could hardly catch your point, jefito. Did you mean that "Evernote is now perfect", "Evernote has nothing to be improved", "Evernote should simply get rid of users' wishes and suggestions"?

[jefito 5,589]

Not at all. Feature requests and suggestions are always welcome, and a lot of them lead to changes. I have a number outstanding, myself.

What I do find odd is when people outside the company try to second-guess Evernote's aims in working on feature 'X', because they don't find it useful to them, or whatever reason; often it's part of some assumption that Evernote would then have time to work on feature 'Y' instead (I understood your comment in this light -- if that's not what you meant, then I apologize for the misunderstanding). But generally speaking, most non-Evernoters don't have good-enough information to make reasoned judgments on the subject, which turns it into conjecture as far as I am concerned, and not much different than say, sports talk in a bar. It can be fun and interesting, but probably not much substantive comes out in the end.

Along the lines of what I said before, I believe that the current Evernote encryption system is meant to be a lightweight, easy-to-use system that satisfies most people's needs (if they even need encryption at all) without degrading Evernote's overall aim of making your notes searchable. For people who have more stringent needs, there are ways for individual users to implement more comprehensive encryption, but they're just part of Evernote's general attachment facility.

[Danny Lin 9]

...I believe that the current Evernote encryption system is meant to be a lightweight, easy-to-use system that satisfies most people's needs (if they even need encryption at all) without degrading Evernote's overall aim of making your notes searchable.

Fair. So did it contradict with my suggestion?

Something more important than encryption of objects may be to make Evernote Web, Evernote Mobile Web, and other apps fully able to encrypt and decrypt (securely of course).

When I said that, I was complaining about the fact that Evernote Mobile Web can not view encrypted content, and the fact that Evernote Web cannot add or edit encrypted content, and was requesting a new feature.

Don't you think that portable is important? Don't you know that sometimes we have to put up with Evernote Mobile Web for our notes with IE6 on public computers or with old-style phones? Do you know that sometimes we have the need to add or edit encrypted data while not wanting to install Evernote Windows on public computers?

[jefito 5,589]

Danny: You've asked several questions. My comments on the nature of Evernote's current encryption facilities were directed at your following posts:

That's strange. If password protection is meant to be up to the user, why does Evernote develop the encryption function? Why not just save the time and make productive things?

and also

I just don't know what was the purpose and the target of this function. Why cost time to develop a function with a plenty of alternatives?

As to the 'portable' question, I'm not really sure what to say. I do believe that being able to access your Evernotes wherever you are is desirable, and I think that Evernote is continuing to add those facilities over time. What I don't believe is that 'portable' should mean 'universally available', and I also don't believe that Evernote needs to support every platform that's ever existed under the sun. I sure don't expect to access my notes on my old-style basic phone.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

on the mac, at least, evernote forgets the password every time i close the program. when i reopen it and try to enter a password, i have the option to uncheck the box so that it will not remember the password during the current session. perhaps windows works in a similar way.

[hostricity 12]

i think security is actually a big concern for lots of people. it comes up on the forums a lot, it is discussed on the internet especially in terms of privacy for third-party info in evernote, and security concerns are something anyone with multiple users on their computer deals with on a daily basis (multiple user accounts).

as you said, a well thought out interface will avoid any problems.

Yea, that's the software designer coming out in you by providing a simpler to program and use feature that fulfills the purpose.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Regarding the 3rd party access, we do have access controls for 3rd party (OAuth tokens). We can limit access to create only, read, update, delete anything but notes, delete notes, and read user information. These permissions are displayed when you grant OAuth access and can be view and managed within the Applications tab within Setting.

This is distinct from 3rd party applications like, for example, a iOS app the integrates with the Evernote service. If you give a 3rd party application your username and password then, from a security perspective they have full access.

If you've got questions or requests about this it would be great to bring them up in the Evernote Developers forum. Evernote has a group dedicated to partners. I'm not an expert on this area.

hi philip. thanks for weighing in.

my understanding is that third parties can see everything. for example, if they receive read access, it gives them access to every single one of our notes. it is true that they do not have full access, and they cannot, for example, delete all of my information. but, one of the concerns i have is that they find out exactly how quotidian my life is, have a copy of all this on their servers, where it is out of my hands, and beyond the reach of evernote as well.

personally, i am really uncomfortable with this. no matter how banal my notes are, i prefer to keep them private and in my control. it is a real shame, because i would like to use so many of these services. if only there were a way to wall off my information. i am not talking about encryption here. it would be great if we could restrict permissions to a single notebook.

i'll stop by the developer's forum and bring this up there, but i would think this is entirely out of the developers' hands. it seems that it would be up to evernote to set the rules by which permissions are given. in this case, by defining permissions not on the account level, but on the notebook one.

i think security is actually a big concern for lots of people. it comes up on the forums a lot, it is discussed on the internet especially in terms of privacy for third-party info in evernote, and security concerns are something anyone with multiple users on their computer deals with on a daily basis (multiple user accounts).

as you said, a well thought out interface will avoid any problems.

Yea, that's the software designer coming out in you by providing a simpler to program and use feature that fulfills the purpose.

i wish i had the skills to write a program like evernote. unfortunately, i am stuck at the level of armchair quarterbacking. i talk a good game, but until they let me into their offices to wreak havoc, there's no way to know if my interface ideas would be "better" or not

[massili 0]

There`s an option to set a separate password for a single notebook?

I`d like to use a notebook to take note of all my passwords, so i could check it later if i forget one and don`t risk security, any possibility on doing that?

[tardis 87]

No, not at this time. The only option is to encrypt the text within the note itself.

[Metrodon 2,184]

This has been discussed a lot (a really really really really lot) and no, it's not currently supported.

[box0505 0]

this would be a really useful feature aswell as i too have sensitive information stored in my evernote and would really like to protect certain notebooks.

[anitann 0]

I'm new to this so bear with me. Other family members use my laptop. I want to use evernote as a diary, so I don't want a family member to click the elephant icon and Viola there it is---my private thoughts. I was just wondering if there was a feature that when you click the icon a password request would show up. You'd enter it and be in. I purchased Evernote because it syncs with other devices for exampleI could post a thought on my iphone on the fly and later at home pursue that thought on my laptop.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I'm new to this so bear with me. Other family members use my laptop. I want to use evernote as a diary, so I don't want a family member to click the elephant icon and Viola there it is---my private thoughts. I was just wondering if there was a feature that when you click the icon a password request would show up. You'd enter it and be in. I purchased Evernote because it syncs with other devices for exampleI could post a thought on my iphone on the fly and later at home pursue that thought on my laptop.

Hi. Welcome to the forums!

There are two solutions to the problem at the moment. You could logout of your account when you are done using it. This will prevent casual access. Your notes, though, will still be visible if someone searches through the Library folders on your drive, and a simple Spotlight search will find them.

You could create a user account for everyone else and one for yourself on the mac. This is the best method, in my opinion, because you establish a clear boundary between all of our data (browser histories, regular files, etc.) and others. It is the same amount of work as a password on a notebook in Evernote, but offers much better protection.

[donelson 0]

I have one note that I want to encrypt (since apparently we cannot password protect some notes - true? )

How do I do this with the Web client? The iPhone client?

If I can only encrypt on the Mac application client, can I decrypt via the Web client or iPhone client?

Thanks

[jefito 5,589]

I have one note that I want to encrypt (since apparently we cannot password protect some notes - true? )

As far as I know, you can only encrypt a selection of text in a note (could be the whole note, if it's all text). But you can't encrypt, using Evernote facilities, an attachment, or an embedded image or the like. On the other hand, you could encrypt any ot those before you attached it to the note.

How do I do this with the Web client? The iPhone client?

Again, as far as I know, you cannot encrypt using the web client. Dunno about iPhone.

If I can only encrypt on the Mac application client, can I decrypt via the Web client or iPhone client?

Yes, you can decrypt using the web client. Dunno about iPhone.

[donelson 0]

Answers:

You can encrypt ONLY in the Evernote full application on the Mac

You can decrypt in the application and in the Web client

WARNING: Encrypted notes are SHOWN CLEAR TEXT not encrypted at all (Grrrrrr!) on the iPhone. Very Very BAD FORM.

Updated: You can decrypt in the application and in the Web client AND the iPhone Client

Previous error: iPhone app was showing old data. It took 4 tries to get the note to update EVEN THOUGH "SYNC COMPLETED" it said 3 times, something slow/broken about servers.

[Simon1804 0]

Hi

I have started using EN extensively and would find the ability to password protect individual notes and notebooks really useful. Can anyone from Evernote confirm if this is something they are looking at? Reading through the forums it seems to be something that a lot of users would like.

Thanks

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Hi

I have started using EN extensively and would find the ability to password protect individual notes and notebooks really useful. Can anyone from Evernote confirm if this is something they are looking at? Reading through the forums it seems to be something that a lot of users would like.

Thanks

I'm pretty sure this has been addressed in the message board and even in this thread.

[donelson 0]

Current Evernote has the ability to lock any portion of a note via the App, and to temp unlock for viewing via web app and iphone app.

In the Mac app, you just highlight the bit you want to encrypt, then right click etc.

[BenG 0]

+1 for a PIN/Password accessible notebook on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android

Each time selected it promps you for a code to display it's notes contents.

Thanks,

[richardonthego 1]

Seriously, this password protection needs to be a feature on my Macbook app ASAP!! I will pay for this, just make it happen!

 

And I'd love to be able to password protect a notebook and not just the whole app.

[Dgolf 1]

I'm stuck on Windows for the next six months. Android, too. Please give us the ability to password encrypt entire notebooks across all platforms. Think of it: "Evernote for Password Protection!" I want to keep my login information for various sites inside of Evernote, the best platform for such a task, minus the password protection we're calling for. 

[rhubarb 1]

I would like to be +1 added for this request as well! This feature will solve a lot of things.

[Thorsten B. 1]

+1, Password Proection in the desktop app would be great!