How to Organize Evernote With a Better Tagging System

Introduction
Recap of previous episode: Comparing Evernote and Notion tagging.
Importance of filtering information to find what's needed at the time.
In today's episode, we delve deeper into the topic of Evernote tags.
Segment 1: Notebooks vs. Tags
The ongoing debate in the Evernote community regarding organization methods.
The host's preference: Using both notebooks and tags.
Segment 2: Evernote Sidebar Overview
Description of the Evernote sidebar layout.
Inbox as a temporary holding place for notes until they are categorized.
Introduction to the "Current Projects" stack for works in progress.
Utilizing digital task manager "Remember The Milk" for project-related tasks.
Segment 3: Reference Notebooks
Exploring the list of reference notebooks.
Highlighting the stack for completed projects turned into reference material.
Segment 4: Sharing and Collaboration
The ability to share notebooks with others.
Limitations of sharing tags.
Segment 5: Benefits and Strategy of Using Tags
Primary use of tags as dividers within notebooks.
Creating tags corresponding to each notebook as placeholders.
Demonstrating nested tags for organizing subcategories.
Tag naming strategy: Prefixes for efficient tagging.
Importance of avoiding spaces in tag and notebook names for effective searching.
Segment 6: Evernote Organization Tips
Step-by-step guide to getting organized with Evernote:
1. Creating an Inbox for temporary note storage.
2. Establishing a stack for current projects.
3. Creating tags that mirror notebook categories.
4. Prefixing subtags for improved clarity.
The benefits of a well-planned system for finding and rediscovering information.
Encouragement to add "clean up Evernote tags" to the personal to-do list.
For more, visit the blog post: frankbuck.org/...
Recap of the main points discussed.
Importance of creating an efficient organization system in Evernote.
Acknowledgment of the value in investing time to clean up and maintain tags.
Encouragement to visit frankbuck.org for more information on Evernote tags.

[@drfrankbuck]

Don't forget to go to frankbuck.org to join the email list. Two free gifts come as a part of the first 2 emails. 😎

[@shyannebennett6084]

Thank you for the advice!

[@drfrankbuck]

You are welcome! So few people use tags, but they are so helpful.

[@YoungoneNL]

Thank you kindly Doctor, great tips! Greetings from the Netherlands

[@drfrankbuck]

Thank you for the comment! Glad this one helped.

[@laurenceglazier]

Thanks for the very useful insight of using tags to categorise within notebooks. It's like adding an extra dimension. I have added it to my practice and my tags are gaining structure.

[@drfrankbuck]

Laurence, thanks. Tagging is one of the things that separates Evernote traditional files & folders organization. I have heard statistics that say that only about 3% of Evernote users use tags. I'm glad to provide something I hoped would be easy to understand and make a difference.

[@laurenceglazier]

@@drfrankbuck 3% - that is a very interesting statistic. Perhaps I had to grow in my use of notebooks before I could appreciate the nuances of tags applied in a disciplined way. My tags have been a mess and your method works well with my notebook structure (an extension of Tiago Forte's PARA method).

[@cbbcbb6803]

I'll give it a try.

[@dalestanley11]

Is the only reason for using notebooks and stacks so you can share? If I don't want to share groups of notes, why even use notebooks at all? Why not just use one huge notebook (ie Inbox) and just use nested tags for everything?

[@drfrankbuck]

You're thinking is on target. The way I have my tagging system structured... using prefixes... would allow me to use tags only. Being able to nest tags gives us the same capability as having folders inside folders inside folders, etc. As you point out, sharing groups of notes is much easier by using a notebook and sharing the entire notebook. Also, I would suggest having two notebooks. One would be the inbox. The other could be called something like organized. That way, throughout the day, you could trap information inside Evernote without the additional pressure of having to have all information in a pristine form, with all tasks identified, and the correct tags applied. For example, if you are in a store and see what you think would be the perfect gift for a friend, you could snap a picture in Evernote and go on. Later in the day, you examine the inbox notebook, and seeing the picture reminds you that it's a gift idea. At that point, you could add a task to that note instructing you to research that gift on Amazon and apply a tag such as gift_ideas. At one time, I thought about using just such a system. One reason I use stacks and notebooks is because I also teach Evernote and need to be able to help people with good strategies for these concepts. A surprisingly few number of people use tags. When I hear people wanting to be able to nest notebooks within other notebooks, my position is they don't need it. As I am sure you will understand, we all have those times when we're torn between classifying a note in two different buckets. A note can only live in one notebook, but it can have more than one tag. Someone who is organizing with notebooks could move to a tag only system in one sitting. By electing all notes in a notebook and mass applying the appropriate tag, a new organizational system would be up and going quickly. Thanks so much for a very insightful and very important question.