GTD Setup with Evernote Reference System - How to Organize

With the amount of notes building up in my Evernote database it’s time to reorganize and I need some input on how to best structure Evernote as a comprehensive filing system and project reference repository. Which serves as a crucial part of my larger GTD system.

Most articles that exist on the subject focus on using Evernote as a comprehensive GTD system where they actually create checkbox lists for next actions and then have a system of tags and/or saved searches for contexts, projects, etc.

I’m not interested in using Evernote to handle next actions at all, instead I want use Evernote for what it does best, capturing and storing content in a central location that can be accessed from any device with Evernote on it and in my main GTD tool, Nozbe.

The core of my personal GTD system consists of:

Nozbe – Action and project management
Evernote – Note taking, capturing, filing system and reference materials
iCal – Calendar/scheduling (this includes full MobileMe service)

I do not use pencil and paper for anything. The above applications are synced on my iPhone, iPad, and desktop applications on all my computers. Each application I use has a full featured web app that I can access from any computer.

I put everything in Evernote… EVERYTHING... I’ve tried to reduce as much clutter in my life as possible and completely get rid of any paper. So far the system is working quite well. I use a document scanner or the camera on my iPhone to capture every piece of paper that is in my physical inbox. Bills, prescriptions, reports, airline tickets, receipts, wine labels, etc. I’m now starting to input all digital project related reference materials as well, such as: spreadsheets, images and of course any notes I take.

Since I don’t go anywhere without at least my iPhone I can capture and/or access my entire filing system from anywhere in the world. Though, the iPad is probably what I’m using the most lately. The Evernote and Nozbe iPad app interfaces are relatively well designed, clean, intuitive and calming which is important in any app that you have to spend a lot of time in. Although Nozbe does need to use higher resolution icons and textures in the ipad app to make the presentation a little crisper. I like Nozbe quite a bit but the sickening green UI of the web interface and the iphone app do not make me feel better about having a ton of stuff I need to do. If I am spending all my time in an app and it contains everything in my life that needs action it should be enjoyable on all levels. A beautiful, anxiety free environment that creates order out of the chaos of life. Being forced to look at an unnessacary amount of faded green screen space to see what I need to do next does not make my day more enjoyable or productive. The Nozbe web and iPhone apps desperately need to be changed.

Getting back to topic, my current Evernote setup consists of several hundred notes of every file type in a single notebook in Evernote. It is sorted by date because more often than not I need to see more recent notes than an alphabetical listing but an alphabetical listing would be my second most used view. I simply do a search for what I need when I need it. I use tags sometimes but there is really no system other than I’ve been trying to put the Project names from Nozbe in as tags so they integrate into the appropriate Nozbe projects.

With so much content in Evernote and now with the integration into Nozbe it’s time to build a more organized structure I’m just not sure how to attack it. What should tags be used for? What should Saved Searches be use for? What should Notebooks be used? Should contexts be accounted for? Should project reference materials be organized exactly like my Projects, Contexts and Labels in Nozbe? And with Nozbe needing specific tags added to every relevant note to properly integrate, implementing an effective organizational structure becomes even more important.

I would really appreciate if everyone could post explanations and screenshots of how they are organizing all the content in Evernote both to optimize the Evernote/Nozbe workflow of reference materials and how a sort of filing system is setup for everything else.

I look forward to seeing some of the methods you are using in evernote and how fits in to your larger GTD System

Thanks,
Jason Arend
www.jasonarend.com