(Archived) Is it possible to just keep data in the cloud for Android and is it a problem if not?

[PaperToss 1]

I am at the early stages of putting many of the papers of my life into EN via a scanner. I like the idea of being able to view it all via Android but it appears that if you don't store your notebooks locally - so that they are backed up to the cloud - that it all gets downloaded to the Android app. By my basic testing, I estimate a single page PDF to be ~200k when compressed / optimized well. At that size it would take 5,000 pages of PDFs per GB. I guess that many could justify allocating a GB of data on a 16 or 32 GB smart phone card, and the cards will certainly get bigger with time. Do those of you that scan a LOT of stuff and also access EN via Android find this to be a problem to where your are adding Gigs of storage? I'm curious how much data some of you heavy scanner/EN users have accumulated in EN.

Tell me about your experience, please!

[gazumped 11,652]

I currently have around 9,000 notes, representing a lot of pages (one note has a PDF of 300 pages forinstance). I use a Windows client and an Android smartphone. My main notebook (8,000 notes or so) is selected on the 'phone for 'offline searching' which means it is stored locally because I can afford the space. If it were not marked as offline there would would only be a minimal overhead on the phone - notes would be downloaded as and when they are required. I keep the main database on the Window 'puter where it is easier to manage and there's a faster (and cheaper) pipeline to back it up to the Evernote cloud. There are security considerations, and for that reason I have some offline notebooks that are local storage only, plus there are some (fairly wide) limits on what I'll put into Evernote. Another good reason for the laptop-based client is regular backups, because (due respect) you'd be nuts to put your lifetime into a cloud database without some disaster control.

The main thing to avoid with going paperless is too much planning - if you wait to get things perfect, you'll wait forever. Try things out, and expect to change your methods from time to time while you work out exactly how you're going to proceed. Eventually you'll get a method that works for you.

Search the Forum too, because there's an amazing amount of useful information scattered around - I continue to lurk here because there's still stuff I can learn after 2 years or so of scanning madly. Good luck with your search, and don't be afraid to stop back with any incidental queries that come up along the way..

[jefito 5,589]

Trying to understand this post:

* Notes are always backed up to the 'cloud' (that's the Evernote servers), unless you are storing them in a local notebook on either of the Mac or Windows clients. Local notebooks are, by definition, never synced to the Evernote cloud.

* Note content is downloaded to mobile devices (like the Android) from the cloud as needed, only when you're online, except if those notes are stored in offline notebooks, which you can only do if you're a premium subscriber. You don't need to worry about filling up your mobile device if you have a lot of notes (though you might if all of those notes are in offline notebooks).

[PaperToss 1]

* Note content is downloaded to mobile devices (like the Android) from the cloud as needed, only when you're online, except if those notes are stored in offline notebooks, which you can only do if you're a premium subscriber. You don't need to worry about filling up your mobile device if you have a lot of notes (though you might if all of those notes are in offline notebooks).

This is encouraging to me but different from what I understood. On my Android phone under settings/sync notes I have three options: "Sync automatically" (where I can choose either No Background Sync or a 15, 30, 60 minutes or one day interval - mine was set at 60 minutes), "Wi-Fi Sync only" and "Sync data on power up". Under Evernote settings/search and Storage I have an option for "offline search" (which I just noticed was checked). Apparently that is why my scanned documents (from EN on my Windows PC) were showing up in EN on my Android. So, how does it work with "Offline search" unchecked and "Sync Automatically" has some time interval selected? Is it just syncing a thumbnail image, perhaps, or the full document? What exactly is being "synced"? If I see a small thumbnail of an image on my phone, how do I know if it is the full image or a thumbnail that, where selected, will download the full document.

Your clarification on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

What exactly is being "synced"? If I see a small thumbnail of an image on my phone, how do I know if it is the full image or a thumbnail that, where selected, will download the full document.

IDK about the offline search. But sync'ing on mobile devices is only syncing the header information of the notes UNLESS, as Jeff said, you have a premium account & have certain notebooks set up as offline notebooks. Only then will the full contents of the notes be downloaded to your mobile device. (Or unless you call up the note, when you have an internet connection.)

[jefito 5,589]

Offline search evidently keeps search indexes for your notes on the device at all times, is my guess -- how else could you search offline otherwise?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Offline search evidently keeps search indexes for your notes on the device at all times, is my guess -- how else could you search offline otherwise?

OTOH, what good does an offline search do, if you are offline & can't download the notes? I guess it could/would make searching faster? Also reduce bandwidth usage?

[gazumped 11,652]

I use offline search and I get the full content of a note even when unable to connect. I also have my 'droid set up so that syncing will only be via wifi and not via my mobile carrier. That way it saves my bandwidth - and it's cheaper. I believe that offline search means your database is downloaded to your 'phone (although mine occupies a lot less space on the phone than it does on my laptop.) When you don't select for offline searches I believe you still have an index - that's how your phone shows you a list of notes and icons and knows which notes to download. Having an icon in snippet view however doesn't necessarily mean that you have the full copy locally.