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April 7, 2014

More Ways to Use Evernote to Create Virtual Genealogy Binders

Ready to send files from Frank Simpson folder on my computer
As a followup to my last post on using Evernote to create virtual Genealogy Binders I have continued playing with organizing my genealogy files using Evernote. There are a few more features I've discovered along the way which I want to share with my readers.

First, a caveat - be careful using the "Merge" feature! Once you merge notes, this action cannot be undone. Supposedly you can retrieve the original notes from your Trash and restore them to Evernote as individual notes but I am using a Mac and the notes I accidentally merged are not in my Trash.  

UPDATE! I found the trashed notes. They are not in the computer Trash bin but in the Evernote Trash. If you choose to view all notebooks, the Trash bin is displayed and opening it will show you the original notes. You can easily restore them to your binder or notebook so that you don't have to redo them.

Merging notes is something I do want to play with as I can choose PRINT in Evernote and then save the merged notes as a PDF file. That would allow me to more easily share or print the merged file for a hardcopy binder if I choose to do so.


Right click option to Send to Evernote
Next, a nice little feature I discovered this morning is a much easier way to insert notes into a binder (notebook). I have been creating a notebook (Frank Simpson) then within Evernote choosing the option "New Note in Frank Simpson". An empty note window opens and I then select "File>Attach Files" and search for whatever picture or document I wish to add. Then I give the new note a title and it's done.


The original notes restored and the merged notes still in the notebook/binder
This morning I found that I could do this in a different way. I open my Finder window (in a Windows computer that is the same as Explore) which shows all the folders and files on my computer. I go to where I know I have photos and docs for Frank Simpson. Yes I actually have some of my genealogy files organized so that I can choose a folder which contains all the documents and photos I have for an individual. 

Once I see the files for Frank I select the first one, right click and choose "Add to Evernote". The photo or document pops up in my default Evernote Notebook. It isn't in Frank's notebook but that's okay. I rename the note using the year as the first word in the title. I could also rename each note with surname then first name then description. Whatever I use as my renaming convention it needs to be consistent. 

I  continue sending all the photos and documents to Evernote. They are all in my default notebook. Now I make sure I am in that notebook and choose View>Expanded Card View. That pops up all the notes in that default notebook and because I have chosen alphabetical order for my notes, I can easily see all the notes I just added for Frank.

Next I highlight all the notes for Frank, right click and choose "Move to Notebook...." There is a small arrow which allows you to choose the notebook you want for those notes. I choose SIMPSON FRANK and bingo, all the notes I inserted from my hard drive are now in Frank's virtual binder. 

This method appeals to me as a more efficient way for me to put all my genealogy photos and documents into Evernote. Some of you might be asking "Who is this Frank Simpson?" Well he was my grandmother's younger brother. He came to Canada from England at the age of 15 to live with his older brother, but sadly died of appendicitis in Toronto in 1908 shortly before his 19th birthday. My grandmother often spoke of him and how much she missed him. I have the book he won at the age of 12 which is inscribed to him, and also the receipt for his funeral and burial plot so I feel very connected to him.


7 comments:

Claudia said...

Is your "send to Evernote" the same as send to the Evernote Web clipper?

I love the program and I have to start sorting things that are scattered in various notes and notebooks.

Olive Tree Genealogy said...

Claudia, I don't know. But I doubt it, as the files are on my computer, not on the internet.

Is "Evernote web clipper" what you see when you right click on a file on your hard drive???

Shelley Crawford said...

On my PC there's an option to have Evernote to monitor a hard drive folder and automatically add new content to whatever notebook I choose. You might also be able to find a feature like that on your version?

Unknown said...

Evernote Web Clipper is a special feature of Evernote that sits on top of my screen (a widget?) that when I click on it allows me to take a screenshot and save it to my preferred notebook in Evernote. You can actually specify what part of the screen you want to copy.

Olive Tree Genealogy said...

Evernote Web Clipper is for saving (clipping) from a website. It isn't used for inserting images or documents from your computer hard drive into Evernote.

It's a fantastic feature though and I use the Web Clipper every day for saving recipes I find online

Lorine

Olive Tree Genealogy said...

Shelley I love what you are describing but so far Ive not found anything like that on my Mac.

Can you elaborate on exactly where this feature is on your computer (i.e,, walk me through the steps you take to set it up)?

Jana Iverson Last said...

Lorine,

I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/04/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-april-11.html

Have a wonderful weekend!