Evernote tags or NO Evernote tags. Chaos or no chaos.
I have 4 tags. Well, I did have 6 when I looked five minutes ago but I deleted two because I never used them.
Do you use tags in Evernote or not?
For me tags equal chaos!
The thought of having notes all spread around different notebooks with the same tag sends shivers down my organisational spine.
I would need to get up in the middle of the night and sort them out.
I’ve seen some YouTube videos where folks have tags for receipts and expenses where one receipt could have multiple tags for dates, locations or purpose. I think this is metadata and it should go in the note.
The few tags I do use relate to my marketing podcast and my automation flow (more on that another week).
I can see what I need to edit, record or publish. That’s it. I use them as a status.
Searching for stuff
The folks who love tags may ask; How do you find anything?
I tend to use a very simple naming convention. I say what it is in the title.
For example, my Evernote receipts are called “Evernote September 2022” and they are in my “Receipts 2022” notebook.
If I need to find a receipt I just search the notebook for it. I don’t need tags.
Keep things simple
My main argument against using lots of tags is that it makes the whole system complicated. You can spend more time managing your tasks and notes than acting on them. I’ve been there.
If you search Google Images for Evernote Tags you’ll find some terrifying screen shots of Tag City! This can’t possibly make you more efficient.
I have always thought that productivity systems should be simple and match your own workflow. If you micromanage or hoard notes, then your productivity will suffer because the whole process becomes more complicated.
Defend yourself if you’re a tagger or agree with me if you like a simple life.
All the best,
Jon
Thanks Jon, I've just finishing "vaporising" 100 odd labels that I have been accumulating / hoarding since 2015 EEEK! Very liberating & cathartic. During this process I was wondering why I assigned such frothy tags? Possibly early onset Diogenes syndrome.
I'm a tagger, and it's one of my favorite features of Evernote. I like the one-to-many organizational structure of tags, rather than the one-to-one nature of notebooks. I use two notebooks: one with notes that I'd like to be downloaded for offline use - and then everything else. I otherwise don't have much use for notebooks, personally.
It is true, though, that sometimes my tag system can get unwieldy. I will occasionally cull or merge my tags if I find they are not serving me.