My Evernote system

[chicoelnino 4]

Since I'm new to this digital method of storage via evernote I thought I'd let people know how I'm going about my organising!

After a lot of research here and excellent advice I started out by using tags/keywords along with notebooks.

Overkill I know, but after only a week at using this system it's not that hard to change over.

So that's what I've done. Instead of tagging everything, I just use the popular method of Date, keyword keyword, keyword in the title. Already I can see the big advantage of using simple "intitle:" searches and not bothering about loads of tags.

In saying that, I still have loads of pointless tags which I'll get around to deleting as I clean up.

Notebooks are also plentiful in my evernote account which I will soon narrow down to just 3/4 instead of the current 24!!!

I'm using a system from now on which has been talked about a lot both here and on the net.

I've a "!inbox" notebook where all new notes are sent to be default. After I process/title/date the notes I'm current sending them into a "@notes" notebook which is like a general archive notebook for all my processed notes.

I also have a "!Need to do" notebook which I've changed the created date to 31/12/2012 so that it stays up on top of all the notes. This way I can use this note as a todo list or for stuff that needs action soon.

So in time I aim to have just the following notebooks:

1. !inbox - processing all new notes

2. @notes - general archive for processed notes

3. !need to do - for todo lists/tasks needing action

Originally I created notebooks for receipts, statements, money owed to me, books, internet websites, and appointments among others. I still have these notebooks but once I'm finished my massive batch of scanning materials I'll put the notes in these folders into the "@notes" notebook.

I do have one worry about using this system in that I might forget what I actually have in storage. I know it will be easy to find the required notes but I'm just anxious in case I may forget what I'm filed away simply because I don't see the relevant notebook on the left hand side of evernote.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or tips for my above system.

Thanks.

[Anubha 10]

I have it organinzed in pretty much the same order...Maybe just different names for the notebooks but having everything under those three major heads removes the clutter for me, in general. I use one notebook for my mails which is my default notebook. Second for my general notes - whether clipped from the web, pasted or typed.The third one which I use is for a quick check on the inspirational stuff I read across the web or the one that's emailed to me. The only diference in the system you quoted above and the one I use is that of 'Tags' which I use quite heavily! It might get difficult to skim through them when looking through a bunch of them, and you are likely to miss one or two, but I find 'em useful as far as my workflow is concerned.

Would be nice to see how other users have stuff arranged for them in Evernote...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Since I'm new to this digital method of storage via evernote I thought I'd let people know how I'm going about my organising!

After a lot of research here and excellent advice I started out by using tags/keywords along with notebooks.

Overkill I know, but after only a week at using this system it's not that hard to change over.

So that's what I've done. Instead of tagging everything, I just use the popular method of Date, keyword keyword, keyword in the title. Already I can see the big advantage of using simple "intitle:" searches and not bothering about loads of tags.

In saying that, I still have loads of pointless tags which I'll get around to deleting as I clean up.

Notebooks are also plentiful in my evernote account which I will soon narrow down to just 3/4 instead of the current 24!!!

I'm using a system from now on which has been talked about a lot both here and on the net.

I've a "!inbox" notebook where all new notes are sent to be default. After I process/title/date the notes I'm current sending them into a "@notes" notebook which is like a general archive notebook for all my processed notes.

I also have a "!Need to do" notebook which I've changed the created date to 31/12/2012 so that it stays up on top of all the notes. This way I can use this note as a todo list or for stuff that needs action soon.

So in time I aim to have just the following notebooks:

1. !inbox - processing all new notes

2. @notes - general archive for processed notes

3. !need to do - for todo lists/tasks needing action

Originally I created notebooks for receipts, statements, money owed to me, books, internet websites, and appointments among others. I still have these notebooks but once I'm finished my massive batch of scanning materials I'll put the notes in these folders into the "@notes" notebook.

I do have one worry about using this system in that I might forget what I actually have in storage. I know it will be easy to find the required notes but I'm just anxious in case I may forget what I'm filed away simply because I don't see the relevant notebook on the left hand side of evernote.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or tips for my above system.

Thanks.

thanks for sharing your system! it sounds like you have a good mix of stuff that works for you.

a couple ideas for keeping track of those notes. before moving the notes out of your notebooks, make an empty note, select them all, and drag them into the empty note. this will create note links to all of the notes. so, if you are ever worried about losing them, they are all there together.

alternatively, you can tag them all before getting rid of the notebook. this has the added benefit of making it possible for you to sort by that tag if you are using windows. i definitely wouldn't keep the notebooks

or, you can do both. it only takes a few seconds.

[chicoelnino 4]

Since I'm new to this digital method of storage via evernote I thought I'd let people know how I'm going about my organising!

After a lot of research here and excellent advice I started out by using tags/keywords along with notebooks.

Overkill I know, but after only a week at using this system it's not that hard to change over.

So that's what I've done. Instead of tagging everything, I just use the popular method of Date, keyword keyword, keyword in the title. Already I can see the big advantage of using simple "intitle:" searches and not bothering about loads of tags.

In saying that, I still have loads of pointless tags which I'll get around to deleting as I clean up.

Notebooks are also plentiful in my evernote account which I will soon narrow down to just 3/4 instead of the current 24!!!

I'm using a system from now on which has been talked about a lot both here and on the net.

I've a "!inbox" notebook where all new notes are sent to be default. After I process/title/date the notes I'm current sending them into a "@notes" notebook which is like a general archive notebook for all my processed notes.

I also have a "!Need to do" notebook which I've changed the created date to 31/12/2012 so that it stays up on top of all the notes. This way I can use this note as a todo list or for stuff that needs action soon.

So in time I aim to have just the following notebooks:

1. !inbox - processing all new notes

2. @notes - general archive for processed notes

3. !need to do - for todo lists/tasks needing action

Originally I created notebooks for receipts, statements, money owed to me, books, internet websites, and appointments among others. I still have these notebooks but once I'm finished my massive batch of scanning materials I'll put the notes in these folders into the "@notes" notebook.

I do have one worry about using this system in that I might forget what I actually have in storage. I know it will be easy to find the required notes but I'm just anxious in case I may forget what I'm filed away simply because I don't see the relevant notebook on the left hand side of evernote.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or tips for my above system.

Thanks.

thanks for sharing your system! it sounds like you have a good mix of stuff that works for you.

a couple ideas for keeping track of those notes. before moving the notes out of your notebooks, make an empty note, select them all, and drag them into the empty note. this will create note links to all of the notes. so, if you are ever worried about losing them, they are all there together.

alternatively, you can tag them all before getting rid of the notebook. this has the added benefit of making it possible for you to sort by that tag if you are using windows. i definitely wouldn't keep the notebooks

or, you can do both. it only takes a few seconds.

Excellent stuff!!! Never knew about note links! I'll definitely be doing that asap! Brilliant tip thanks.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I've written a little bit about the note links and have a screen shot here.

https://www.princeton.edu/~cmayo/evernote-organization.html

I like them a lot, because they are an easy way to clump notes together. You just drag them in. The note links also enable you to arrange notes in a certain order.

They are a little bit less flexible than tags, because (for example) you cannot browse through the notes all at once. But, of course, tags won't let you arrange / re-arrange them (unless you mess around with the metadata or change the titles). So, it is nice to have both options.

[peterfmartin 221]

They are a little bit less flexible than tags, because (for example) you cannot browse through the notes all at once. But, of course, tags won't let you arrange / re-arrange them (unless you mess around with the metadata or change the titles). So, it is nice to have both options.

Note links also break if, for example, you merge notes together. They're still very helpful, but they have a couple drawbacks to be aware of.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

They are a little bit less flexible than tags, because (for example) you cannot browse through the notes all at once. But, of course, tags won't let you arrange / re-arrange them (unless you mess around with the metadata or change the titles). So, it is nice to have both options.

Note links also break if, for example, you merge notes together. They're still very helpful, but they have a couple drawbacks to be aware of.

yes. they also do not work in shared notebooks on ios (ones others share with you), they break when you mess around with them on ios, and they stay the same, even if you change the name of the note they link to. in other words, they are very far from perfect! so, use with care.