What to do with project notebook when project is done?

[SahilC 13]

Hello EN Community!

 

Say you have a notebook for Project 1. When Project 1 is done, where would you put the notebook?

 

(i)Would you put it as is, into a stack called "Archive", and let it sit there?

(ii)Or would it be better to have a notebook called "Archive", take out all the notes from "Project 1", tag them "Project1", and dump them into Archive?

 

This question could also apply to, say, a college course. You probably wouldn't want last year's course notebooks in your face at all times, right?

 

 

The second method (ii) seems to cause less clutter eventually. What do you say?

[Wordsgood 526]

Might I suggest doing both?

Also, have read through this (below) thread? There's a ton of really helpful suggestions for organizing in it.

[gazumped 11,652]

Not sure if this is in the thread that @Wordsgood referenced,  but its where a few more experienced users are heading.  If you are or can stretch to a Premium membership,  you'll find it easy to swop between two accounts - let's say your WIP and Archive accounts.  You can also share a notebook from WIP to Archive.  When you decide you no longer want some search results to show up in your WIP account,  move the notes to the shared notebook,  and when they appear in the Archive account move them to permanent storage there.  You can then delete the original notes secure in the knowledge that if you ever do need to refer to them,  a quick switch between accounts will get you there.  That also saves your working account from unnecessary bloat,  which may preserve better speed and syncing.

[SahilC 13]

Might I suggest doing both?

Also, have read through this (below) thread? There's a ton of really helpful suggestions for organizing in it.

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/57740-the-benefit-of-using-tags/page-4#entry289633

 

Hello EN Community!

Say you have a notebook for Project 1. When Project 1 is done, where would you put the notebook?

(i)Would you put it as is, into a stack called "Archive", and let it sit there?

(ii)Or would it be better to have a notebook called "Archive", take out all the notes from "Project 1", tag them "Project1", and dump them into Archive?

This question could also apply to, say, a college course. You probably wouldn't want last year's course notebooks in your face at all times, right?

The second method (ii) seems to cause less clutter eventually. What do you say?

 

 

Yeah, this is an awesome thread! I read it around when it was created, but I think I'll follow the thread now.

Both? What exactly do you mean by that? Keep the notes in the "Project1" notebook, put the notebook in the "Archive" stack, as well as tag the notes "project1"?

 

Not sure if this is in the thread that @Wordsgood referenced,  but its where a few more experienced users are heading.  If you are or can stretch to a Premium membership,  you'll find it easy to swop between two accounts - let's say your WIP and Archive accounts.  You can also share a notebook from WIP to Archive.  When you decide you no longer want some search results to show up in your WIP account,  move the notes to the shared notebook,  and when they appear in the Archive account move them to permanent storage there.  You can then delete the original notes secure in the knowledge that if you ever do need to refer to them,  a quick switch between accounts will get you there.  That also saves your working account from unnecessary bloat,  which may preserve better speed and syncing.

 

Wow, thanks! This sounds like a really clever solution. I'm curious though - what does this have to do with a Premium membership? Can't anyone create another account and share notebooks?

[gazumped 11,652]

Not sure if this is in the thread that @Wordsgood referenced,  but its where a few more experienced users are heading.  If you are or can stretch to a Premium membership,  you'll find it easy to swop between two accounts - let's say your WIP and Archive accounts.  You can also share a notebook from WIP to Archive.  When you decide you no longer want some search results to show up in your WIP account,  move the notes to the shared notebook,  and when they appear in the Archive account move them to permanent storage there.  You can then delete the original notes secure in the knowledge that if you ever do need to refer to them,  a quick switch between accounts will get you there.  That also saves your working account from unnecessary bloat,  which may preserve better speed and syncing.

 

Wow, thanks! This sounds like a really clever solution. I'm curious though - what does this have to do with a Premium membership? Can't anyone create another account and share notebooks?

 

 

It may be that you don't need Premium - have a look in your File menu (on a desktop) - do you have an option to switch to another account or add another user?  If so,  then you don't need Premium.  But I did think this option was a Premium only feature.

 

=And of course this easy switch only works on desktop - if you're on a mobile client it's rather harder to switch accounts.  That may or may not be an issue however...

[SahilC 13]

 

Not sure if this is in the thread that @Wordsgood referenced,  but its where a few more experienced users are heading.  If you are or can stretch to a Premium membership,  you'll find it easy to swop between two accounts - let's say your WIP and Archive accounts.  You can also share a notebook from WIP to Archive.  When you decide you no longer want some search results to show up in your WIP account,  move the notes to the shared notebook,  and when they appear in the Archive account move them to permanent storage there.  You can then delete the original notes secure in the knowledge that if you ever do need to refer to them,  a quick switch between accounts will get you there.  That also saves your working account from unnecessary bloat,  which may preserve better speed and syncing.

 

Wow, thanks! This sounds like a really clever solution. I'm curious though - what does this have to do with a Premium membership? Can't anyone create another account and share notebooks?

 

 

It may be that you don't need Premium - have a look in your File menu (on a desktop) - do you have an option to switch to another account or add another user?  If so,  then you don't need Premium.  But I did think this option was a Premium only feature.

 

=And of course this easy switch only works on desktop - if you're on a mobile client it's rather harder to switch accounts.  That may or may not be an issue however...

 

 

Yep, I can add another user. And switch between them. 

 

But the "Archive: notes will only be for reference, correct? And anyways, even on mobile can't you search through Shared Notebooks?

[Wordsgood 526]

Sahil, I mean why not put all notes related to a finished project into a folder you could create to use as an archive and tag each note you're moving to it, with an "Archive" tag? If you really want to go all out, you could even date the archive tags. For example, you finished Project XYZ on September 30, 2014, and are moving all notes related to it into your Archive Folder. But before you do that, you select (highlight) all relevent notes and add the following Tag:

30/09/14 Archived

Then move them to your Archive Folder.

[gazumped 11,652]

It's up to you what you use your notes for (as in: reference only or maybe as templates for something..) and whether you might need to switch accounts - best thing to do - as with any development - is set up the alternate account and try it out with a few files.  If everything works as expected,  you can move everything across.  If not,  there's not much work involved in getting back to your current setup.

[C6REW 416]

I archive in many different ways.

As an Evernote Business user I use Evernote as a diary, creating a new Diary Note for each task. Once the task is completed it goes to the 'Diary 2014 Completed Notebook'. I have these for the last few years and beyond that they go to a larger Notebook for all previous years.

When I complete a Project the Notes are first of all tagged with a suitable name. Perhaps the project was deciding on a new car for Claire my Wife. The tag could be 'Claire - Car - 2014'. All the Notes would then go in a generic Archive Notebook.

This allows me to easily search for whatever I want with or without tags.

Regards

Chris

[SahilC 13]

Thanks everyone!

 

It seems like C6REW and Wordsgood have similar suggestions - tag appropriately, and then file in Archive notebook. 

One problem with this (and let me know if it's not a problem!) is that after many projects are done, it could slow down search, correct? How would you manage that?

 

gazumped's method of creating another account, sharing the notebook, and potentially unsharing when you don't want it to be in search results would solve that problem. What do you think? I frankly barely have any notes yet (192, wow) compared to most of your thousands. But I can imagine that it'll continue to grow as I use things like the web clipper.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

How I avoid clutter:

1) If I think the resources and information associated with that project may be helpful in the very near future, I will do as C6REW and Wordsgood do, and place the notes in an archive notebook. 

Or more often:

2) I export all the notes associated with the completed project into an .enex file with tags included. I name the resulting .enex file after the project, then I zip the .enex file (to ensure I don't accidentally just re-add all the notes!) and add the zipped .enex file to a note in a notebook called "zarchive" (z- prefix keeps this notebook at the bottom of the list since I rarely touch it) in Evernote so it looks something like this:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s25/sh/736f6de9-8e3b-40c5-82a0-733d1437fd48/16abae0ce2c740694d2243e8b2ff1a67

 

This way I still have the potential to access those notes and their attachments in the future in the unlikely event they are needed, but this way they don't clutter searches or anything like that. 

 

The one downside is that this takes a bit of a toll on your quota at the time of archiving, since the .enex file can be large (as you can see, mine range from <1mb to over 70mb). Might be worth doing this near the end of your quota cycle. 

 

 

I also try and keep reference material (in my case, generally, academic literature and notes on academic literature) in its own location that is separate from any given project. This way, in general, it will always available regardless of the status of a given project. I use tags to associate a particular reference material with a particular project if needed. So, for example, if I took notes on a bunch of governmentality literature a few years ago during my Master's thesis, and now, several years later I am writing a manuscript that is also related to governmentality, those notes are still in that central reference repository and I don't have to dig through my thesis archive. 

[SahilC 13]

How I avoid clutter:

1) If I think the resources and information associated with that project may be helpful in the very near future, I will do as C6REW and Wordsgood do, and place the notes in an archive notebook. 

Or more often:

2) I export all the notes associated with the completed project into an .enex file with tags included. I name the resulting .enex file after the project, then I zip the .enex file (to ensure I don't accidentally just re-add all the notes!) and add the zipped .enex file to a note in a notebook called "zarchive" (z- prefix keeps this notebook at the bottom of the list since I rarely touch it) in Evernote so it looks something like this:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s25/sh/736f6de9-8e3b-40c5-82a0-733d1437fd48/16abae0ce2c740694d2243e8b2ff1a67

 

This way I still have the potential to access those notes and their attachments in the future in the unlikely event they are needed, but this way they don't clutter searches or anything like that. 

 

The one downside is that this takes a bit of a toll on your quota at the time of archiving, since the .enex file can be large (as you can see, mine range from <1mb to over 70mb). Might be worth doing this near the end of your quota cycle. 

 

 

I also try and keep reference material (in my case, generally, academic literature and notes on academic literature) in its own location that is separate from any given project. This way, in general, it will always available regardless of the status of a given project. I use tags to associate a particular reference material with a particular project if needed. So, for example, if I took notes on a bunch of governmentality literature a few years ago during my Master's thesis, and now, several years later I am writing a manuscript that is also related to governmentality, those notes are still in that central reference repository and I don't have to dig through my thesis archive. 

 

Thanks! Another amazing idea!

 

What do you think about your method (exporting to .enex) vs gazumped's (creating a separate "archive" account, and sharing the notebooks)?

 

So basically, if I may need the project sometime soon (lecture notes from last year) I'll tag them with CS187 and dump it in archive, but if it's a project that I probably won't need for a long time, I'll do either the .enex export method, or gazumped's shared notebook method. What do you say?

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

 

How I avoid clutter:

1) If I think the resources and information associated with that project may be helpful in the very near future, I will do as C6REW and Wordsgood do, and place the notes in an archive notebook. 

Or more often:

2) I export all the notes associated with the completed project into an .enex file with tags included. I name the resulting .enex file after the project, then I zip the .enex file (to ensure I don't accidentally just re-add all the notes!) and add the zipped .enex file to a note in a notebook called "zarchive" (z- prefix keeps this notebook at the bottom of the list since I rarely touch it) in Evernote so it looks something like this:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s25/sh/736f6de9-8e3b-40c5-82a0-733d1437fd48/16abae0ce2c740694d2243e8b2ff1a67

 

This way I still have the potential to access those notes and their attachments in the future in the unlikely event they are needed, but this way they don't clutter searches or anything like that. 

 

The one downside is that this takes a bit of a toll on your quota at the time of archiving, since the .enex file can be large (as you can see, mine range from <1mb to over 70mb). Might be worth doing this near the end of your quota cycle. 

 

 

I also try and keep reference material (in my case, generally, academic literature and notes on academic literature) in its own location that is separate from any given project. This way, in general, it will always available regardless of the status of a given project. I use tags to associate a particular reference material with a particular project if needed. So, for example, if I took notes on a bunch of governmentality literature a few years ago during my Master's thesis, and now, several years later I am writing a manuscript that is also related to governmentality, those notes are still in that central reference repository and I don't have to dig through my thesis archive. 

 

Thanks! Another amazing idea!

 

What do you think about your method (exporting to .enex) vs gazumped's (creating a separate "archive" account, and sharing the notebooks)?

 

So basically, if I may need the project sometime soon (lecture notes from last year) I'll tag them with CS187 and dump it in archive, but if it's a project that I probably won't need for a long time, I'll do either the .enex export method, or gazumped's shared notebook method. What do you say?

 

Both methods work rather well I imagine! Gazumped's idea is a great one, and actually may be superior in some respects. The only hiccup I personally might encounter is archiving a 70mb notebook to a free account, though this is a rare case and could easily be overcome by doing half at the end of a cycle and half at the beginning of the next cycle. 

 

Either way I think both systems work very well, Gazumped's has the advantage of allowing fairly rapid access to archived notes simply by sharing that notebook when you need it, and leaving it when you don't, which is much better than my system. My system involves re-importing the .enex file, which will use up a portion quota, and you may only need one or two notes from that whole bundle bit you are obligated from adding all of them. 

 

So it depends. Since most of my reference material is centralized and never archived, whatever I actually archive is very unlikely to be needed. Nevertheless, I might adopt Gaz's suggestion as my main option now that I know about it!

[SahilC 13]

 

 

How I avoid clutter:

1) If I think the resources and information associated with that project may be helpful in the very near future, I will do as C6REW and Wordsgood do, and place the notes in an archive notebook. 

Or more often:

2) I export all the notes associated with the completed project into an .enex file with tags included. I name the resulting .enex file after the project, then I zip the .enex file (to ensure I don't accidentally just re-add all the notes!) and add the zipped .enex file to a note in a notebook called "zarchive" (z- prefix keeps this notebook at the bottom of the list since I rarely touch it) in Evernote so it looks something like this:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s25/sh/736f6de9-8e3b-40c5-82a0-733d1437fd48/16abae0ce2c740694d2243e8b2ff1a67

 

This way I still have the potential to access those notes and their attachments in the future in the unlikely event they are needed, but this way they don't clutter searches or anything like that. 

 

The one downside is that this takes a bit of a toll on your quota at the time of archiving, since the .enex file can be large (as you can see, mine range from <1mb to over 70mb). Might be worth doing this near the end of your quota cycle. 

 

 

I also try and keep reference material (in my case, generally, academic literature and notes on academic literature) in its own location that is separate from any given project. This way, in general, it will always available regardless of the status of a given project. I use tags to associate a particular reference material with a particular project if needed. So, for example, if I took notes on a bunch of governmentality literature a few years ago during my Master's thesis, and now, several years later I am writing a manuscript that is also related to governmentality, those notes are still in that central reference repository and I don't have to dig through my thesis archive. 

 

Thanks! Another amazing idea!

 

What do you think about your method (exporting to .enex) vs gazumped's (creating a separate "archive" account, and sharing the notebooks)?

 

So basically, if I may need the project sometime soon (lecture notes from last year) I'll tag them with CS187 and dump it in archive, but if it's a project that I probably won't need for a long time, I'll do either the .enex export method, or gazumped's shared notebook method. What do you say?

 

Both methods work rather well I imagine! Gazumped's idea is a great one, and actually may be superior in some respects. The only hiccup I personally might encounter is archiving a 70mb notebook to a free account, though this is a rare case and could easily be overcome by doing half at the end of a cycle and half at the beginning of the next cycle. 

 

Either way I think both systems work very well, Gazumped's has the advantage of allowing fairly rapid access to archived notes simply by sharing that notebook when you need it, and leaving it when you don't, which is much better than my system. My system involves re-importing the .enex file, which will use up a portion quota, and you may only need one or two notes from that whole bundle bit you are obligated from adding all of them. 

 

So it depends. Since most of my reference material is centralized and never archived, whatever I actually archive is very unlikely to be needed. Nevertheless, I might adopt Gaz's suggestion as my main option now that I know about it!

 

 

Sounds good, thanks!

 

Are shared notes and notebooks searchable, though, from all devices?

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Yes they are. Though I have found that if you are in "all notes" view on an iOS devices, it seems like notes in notebooks you don't own may not show up, but I haven't thoroughly tested that yet (I own all of my shared notebooks so I only get the chance to see it if I am assisting someone I share with). 

[Wordsgood 526]

And don't forget to Sync before AND after creating or editing notes, on EACH device - every single time.

[SahilC 13]

Thanks guys!

 

And no, Wordsgood, I didn't

[Wordsgood 526]

Hmm. I'll try resending it now.

Thanks guys!

And no, Wordsgood, I didn't