Do you keep a jar of screws in Evernote? Plus Web Clipper Update!

Newsletter Housekeeping: There's been a big influx of new subscribers over the last week so I wanted to quickly say thank you. I hope you find the issues useful and I have plenty planned including a few podcast interviews!

I really don't do DIY but I used to have a jar of screws in the garage. One of those collections that very slowly grows over 20+ years, you know, just in case you might need a specific screw one day.

The thing is I never had the need for that half-inch bevelled flathead screw that I found 15 years ago and kept.

When I moved house 5 years ago I threw my jar of screws out. It's gone and I've never needed it once.

About 2 years ago my dad passed away and when I was going through his things I found his jar of screws. Now some of these screws were probably 60+ years old and the jar was crammed full.

You know what, I kept it. Once again I have a jar of screws in the bottom of a cupboard.

This got me thinking about the notes we keep in Evernote. One of the great things about going paperless and storing things digitally is that you don't need any physical space so notes stay there gathering silicon dust.

Do you suffer from digital clutter?

Two or three times a year I set aside an afternoon to go through my Evernote and archive or delete notes that I don't need anymore.

Do you need that coffee shop receipt from 8 years ago?

Do you need the notes about a new bathroom you had fitted in a house you no longer live in?

These are the types of notes I get rid of. If I haven't needed to look at them for at least 5 years I delete them or archive them.

Archiving your notes

I do this in a couple of different ways.

The first is using an Archive notebook where I keep the things that I really need to keep and get hold of quickly. This includes notes like my car registration number (can never remember it for parking meters!), my kids addresses and a list of my hourly retainer fees for clients.

They are the notes I look at on a semi-regular basis.

I keep other notes like receipts and project information inside other notebooks and stacks.

As you can see, I don't have many notes in the main archive because I keep it decluttered.

The second way I archive notes is to create an 'Archive <date>' notebook, move the notes I want to archive into said folder and then export it as an ENEX file.

I then store this exported notebook in my cloud drive, just in case I need something.

Evernote de-cluttered!

Delete or archive?

When I clear things out I try to be brutal so things like that coffee shop receipt get deleted but business receipts from 10 years ago get archived, I won't really need them but they are good to keep in an ENEX file.

Be honest with yourself and ask the question; When will I need this note again?

If the answer is never then delete it. If the answer is probably never then archive it or export it.

A clean and tidy Evernote makes managing and finding notes much easier!

But then there's always that note you're emotionally attached to, just like my Dad's jar of screws. Keep it even if you don't need it because it's important.

How often do you have a clear-out?

Web Clipper update

The Evernote web clipper has been updated and they've added a new feature.

You can now add a task to the note when you clip an article!

Just write down what you have to do with the note like this:

And then clip the note into Evernote.

The task will be added to the top of the note like this:

You can then add a due date, flag or whatever you want to the task.

It would be nice in the future to have a way to set dates and stuff directly from the clipper but for now, this is a great new feature.

I'm was seeing this in version 7.29 which was a limited roll-out but version 7.30 is the version where everyone gets it. Give it a few days to roll out.

Have a great weekend,

Best wishes,

Jon