(Archived) Notebook Tagless

[rockky 32]

Read a while back about organizing Evernote notebook and tag free (or close to it) and managing by search predominantly. Quite Intriguing.

Going to give this a go by Jan 1!Have 6300+ notes, and 17 Notebooks.

So looking for a devil's advocate positioning regarding this.

Has anyone given this an informed go, and reverted BACK to Notebook/Tag organization? And why?

What were the major downsides for you?

Thanks

[jbenson2 2,147]

The downsides for me in one word: accuracy.

 

In my opinion, it comes down how accurate do you want your search results.

 

Using Evernote search without tags can find many of the notes you want. If a partially accurate search result is sufficient, then go with no tags. There are people who are perfectly happy with their general search results.

 

But if you want near close to perfection, then you will have to use additional search parameters, including stuff such as:

 

1.) Well structured consistent titles

2.) YYYYMMDD prefix in titles

3.) Tags

4.) Keywords

5.) A few broad based notebooks (employment, home, leisure, miscellaneous)

 

And keep in mind that once you stop using tags, it will be tedious if you decide to start adding them again. There is the search -tag:* to find untagged notes. You will need to analyze each untagged note to decide what tags are needed. It can be done, but it time consuming and best done over a series of days or weeks.

[jefito 5,589]

And keep in mind that once you stop using tags, it will be tedious if you decide to start adding them again. There is the search -tag:* to find untagged notes. You will need to analyze each untagged note to decide what tags are needed. It can be done, but it time consuming and best done over a series of days or weeks.

You can stop using tags without deleting existing tags: just don't use tag searches. Might be a good interim step for someone wanting to try 'going commando' in Evernote...

[gazumped 11,667]

I'll add one word: curating.  (Actually I still prefer 'gardening' but curating is more businesslike...)

 

I don't use tags when setting notes up - I concentrate on my standard detailed title layout.  I still have more than 1,000 tags from when I did go crazy,  and one of these days I might kill the unnecessary ones.  But at the moment I cant tell which ones I use and which are just legacy items.  What I do is concentrate on everyday use.  If I look for something once,  I'll likely want to find it again.  If a search came up with only relevant hits,  I would be very happy - but that rarely happens.  I now have so much stuff in my notes that almost any search comes up with a bunch of extra finds I really don't want to see again.  (But annoyingly there can be surprising relevant ones too!)

 

So I'll tag the ones I want to find with my search term(s) - or edit the titles - or delete outdated stuff - or change the other hits so they won't come up.  That's an ongoing task in any large database,  and its just like curating a collection,  tidying the exhibits and changing the display cards.  Or getting out there and pruning the roses for the best display.