I Gave Up Evernote Notebooks: Can Search REALLY Replace Them?

I decided to go for it. I'm no longer organizing my #Evernote. Everything is going into a single notebook, and I'll use search and AI-Powered Search to find what I need. A video explaining my strategy is on the way.
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[@christiandevos9468]

I always come back to Evernote because of the web clipper, the EN email address, the search function with tags (better that notebooks) but I still miss the presentation mode. Not happy that they abandoned it years ago

[@vladcampos]

I also miss the presentation mode 😭

[@jbumgarn]

If another platform had as good of a web clipper and an email address, I would be there.

[@robincorbett2754]

I tried doing this a few months ago, but got scared, and reverted back to my usual system. However after watching your video I am going to give it another go. The idea of using tags as a recovery method is good. I also intend to spend time improving my search methods.

[@vladcampos]

@robincorbett2754 I was also pretty scared, but after some days using this new system, I can say that I'm thrilled 💚

[@snsokstan]

There is no best way for everyone. My way after 15 years of EN: one notebook for personal, one for work. I make a notebook for each new project just so I can see all the notes at one glance (and the project master note pinned to the top). These get archived when the project is over. I use tags religiously and also use search grammar in my saved searches.
I was anti-notebook for some but now if I know I need to see multiple notes again and again, a notebook is quicker than clicking a saved search each time.

[@matheusrodrigues6816]

I've tried to leave Evernote several times, but I came back and in a short time I was immersed in a very good flow and with a feeling of productivity lol. I'm liking the new innovations, everything is very recent, but I would like some things, for example, the widgets back and new widgets, another thing is the mobile home edition, and a more important role for PDFs in the app, the current edition has features very good arrows but you can't zoom without breaking the app, on mobile it doesn't even work properly, so editing can be improved with a close-up view of the PDF editing sideways (open the PDF on the side), or a new app to open the pdf and that the edits are saved in the app, I need more of this on mobile, I hope they focus on this part

[@vladcampos]

I agree with you on the PDFs. It needs a lot of improvement!

[@alepecchio]

I use 4 notebooks.
INBOX (DEFAULT)
GTD (NEXT ACTIONS)
REFERENCE
SOME DAY MAYBE
In my opinion, if you don't follow a method, it's virtually imposible to have a sustainable system ready an up to date. Thus a mees of a system can get updated an current if you dedicate some time every week. Always around a system that resonates with you.

[@vladcampos]

Never liked GTD. I'm an Agile person, and that's what I meant by making the 7 notebooks as my backlogs. However, I really would like to test the search as my primary system. At least for a while.
I know it's possible to make it work because my wife is super efficient on everything she does and she uses search everywhere: Mac, Gmail, Evernote etc.

[@martinewski]

I like the ideia. But moving those legacy notes on the "new" Evernote is painful. Selecting 100 notes at a time was a really bad move by Evernote (let alone 50 at a time as in the beginning). There's no way to automate anything. Can you imagine moving 6 thousand notes between notebooks? Crazy!

[@vladcampos]

Imagine 14K 🤣.

[@mauricioflores3732]

I gave up on Evernote entirely because of that pricing 😂😂

[@vladcampos]

Fair point 😉

[@IAmSam_TheMan]

I think the AI search is pretty good!

[@JeffRutherford]

I've been using Evernote for at least 10 years. I stopped notebooks years ago. I use tags for everything.

[@vladcampos]

I know that I can do it with tags. They are very powerful. However, I really would like to test the search as a primary way to do things. Let's see for how long I'll last 🤣

[@JeffRutherford]

@@vladcampos Oh I understand. I'll watch to see how search works for you. I moved to the one notebook and extensive tagging based on some Evernote guru/expert from 5-6 years ago.

[@ghoffman007]

I also use tags for everything, with the exception of a couple of notebooks that were an experiment. For me, it's much easier and more powerful. Let's say you want to have a note in multiple notebooks. If you're using notebooks, you have to copy the note to each notebook. If you change the note, you have to change them all. Yuck! If instead you use tags, one note can effectively be in multiple notebooks - just add the tags to each note.

[@IdeationInvestigation]

It's pathetic that decades after Evernote was initially developed, thought leaders and users alike still struggle to organize their notes! Come on, Evernote… give us unlimited notebook (folder) nesting! And develop a way to mirror notebooks into other stacks, as is available in Workflowy.