(Archived) File storage in local notebooks

[Milli 2]

I'm using Mac os 10.6.8, I have Evernote 5. If I drag and drop a file from my desktop into a local (non-synced) notebook, can I delete the original file? Does Evernote make a copy of it in a local database or just build a link to the original file? Thanks for your help.

[gazumped 11,667]

Evernote includes a copy of  your file in its local database.  I always recommend keeping a local backup just in case,  but yes,  you can (and probably should) delete your original file to save space and avoid confusion.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Evernote includes a copy of  your file in its local database. 

That is not my understanding. I thought any file in a local non-synced notebook is invisible to Evernote and is 100% the responsibility of the user to back it up.

 

Of course, if the original file was stored in a sync'd notebook for a period of time and eventually deleted, the file would still be stored in one of Evernote's archival backups.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

That is not my understanding. I thought any file in a local non-synced notebook is invisible to Evernote and is 100% the responsibility of the user to back it up.

Of course, if the original file was stored in a sync'd notebook for a period of time and eventually deleted, the file would still be stored in one of Evernote's archival backups.

You are confusing the Evernote local database with the Evernote servers. In the Windows client, yes, files dropped into Evernote are stored in the local database (exb file) just as all notes in all local notebooks & any notes in sync'd notebooks that have not yet been sync'd to the EN servers.

Having said that, since OP states he/she is using the Mac client, I'm pretty sure the Mac client functions similarly (stores a copy of the file in the Mac's local database). But cannot say for sure or how, since the exb file is strictly Windows.

[gazumped 11,667]

Can't find a reference for it,  but I was sure I'd seen a comment about 'local' file storage on a Mac - and apologies; that word 'local' can have special meanings in Evernote,  as in a notebook that isn't synced with the servers but is merely kept on a hard drive.  If the OP has any doubts it should be fairly easy to test out.  Create a test file,  drop it into a note,  then delete the original and see if you can still open it from the note.

 

But also see 'backups'!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

(moved to Mac section.)