Joplin-Evernote Migration Policy

about
llm
LLM’s offer advice on maintaining historical notes.
Author

Stephen J. Mildenhall

Published

2024-05-08

Introduction

This post is another comparison of LLMs. I asked for advice on maintaining a historical archive of notes.

Question

I have a large archive of Evernote notes. I have just migrated these to Joplin (much better - markdown rules!). I want to formulate a reasonable and consistent personal “policy” for old notes. Keep them unchanged, edit them to make more usable, delete old useless notes altogether etc. Pls outline some relevant considerations and draft a reasonable straw-person policy for me. There are no “right” answers here; I’m looking for different POVs. Thanks.

Responses

The Claude response edited newlines so Markdown lists render. The Gemini response adjusted the title level to be consistent with GPT.

GPT

When migrating a large archive of notes, it’s important to establish a personal policy that aligns with your goals for using Joplin and managing information efficiently. Here’s an outline of considerations and a draft policy to help guide your decisions:

Considerations for Archiving Notes

  1. Usage Patterns:
    • How frequently do you refer to old notes?
    • Are there recurring themes in the old notes that remain relevant?
  2. Categorization and Tags:
    • Do the tags and categories in the notes still align with your current organizational structure?
    • Are there tags that could be consolidated, removed, or reorganized for clarity?
  3. Content Quality:
    • Are some notes outdated or no longer useful?
    • Do some notes require updates for better clarity or relevance?
  4. Sentimental Value:
    • Are there notes of personal significance, like journal entries, travel logs, or significant projects?
  5. Consistency:
    • Are your notes consistent in terms of naming, formatting, and structure?
    • Would standardizing formats make them easier to search and refer to?
  6. Retention Policy:
    • Is it worth maintaining certain notes for legal, compliance, or historical purposes?
    • Do you have duplicates that could be removed?

Straw-Person Policy for Archiving

  1. Categorization:
    • Re-tag and reorganize notes to fit a clear, updated categorization scheme.
    • Consolidate similar tags into broader categories for easier searching.
  2. Retention Guidelines:
    • Unchanged Archive: Move all notes older than a certain period (e.g., 5 years) to a dedicated “Archive” folder. Keep these notes unchanged but accessible if needed.
    • Active Notes: Keep notes that are under active use in their current form, within appropriate categories and tags.
  3. Content Cleanup:
    • Review and edit notes that are occasionally referenced but could be improved in clarity, structure, or relevance.
    • Delete irrelevant or redundant notes. For instance, outdated meeting notes or duplicate entries could be safely removed.
  4. Standardization:
    • Apply a consistent naming scheme and format to all notes where feasible.
    • Add metadata, references, or tags to make searching easier.
  5. Periodic Review:
    • Schedule an annual or biannual review of archived notes to reassess relevance and maintain a manageable volume of data.
    • Mark notes that should be considered for deletion at the next review.
  6. Sentimental Notes:
    • Preserve personal journal entries or notes of historical significance separately.
    • Consider exporting these to a separate archive if they’re not needed in Joplin.

Implementation Tips

  • Automation: Leverage Joplin’s search and tag features to batch-move or edit notes where possible.
  • Backup: Maintain regular backups of your entire archive before implementing changes to avoid accidental data loss.
  • Documentation: Write down your policy clearly and reference it during periodic reviews to maintain consistency.

These considerations and guidelines will help you maintain an organized, purposeful collection of notes in Joplin while keeping flexibility for adjustments in the future.

Claude 3

When formulating a personal policy for managing old notes after migrating from Evernote to Joplin, there are several considerations to keep in mind. Here are some relevant factors and a potential straw-person policy for you to consider:

Considerations:

  1. Relevance: Assess whether the content of each note is still relevant to your current interests, projects, or knowledge base.
  2. Usability: Evaluate the clarity, organization, and formatting of each note to determine if it is easily readable and usable in its current state.
  3. Redundancy: Check if the information in the notes is duplicated elsewhere or if it has been superseded by more recent or comprehensive notes.
  4. Sentimental or historical value: Consider whether certain notes hold personal or historical significance, even if they may not be directly useful for current projects.
  5. Time and effort: Estimate the time and effort required to review, edit, or update old notes and weigh it against the potential benefits.

Straw-person policy:

  1. Conduct a quick initial review of all migrated notes, focusing on relevance and usability.
  2. Delete notes that are clearly outdated, irrelevant, or contain information that is easily accessible elsewhere.
  3. For notes that are still relevant but require updating or reformatting, prioritize them based on their importance and urgency. Set aside dedicated time each week to work on updating these notes, starting with the highest priority ones.
  4. If a note holds sentimental or historical value but is not directly useful, consider creating a separate folder or tag for such notes to keep them organized and easily accessible without cluttering your main workspace.
  5. For notes that are still relevant and usable in their current state, leave them unchanged to save time and effort. However, if you come across these notes in the future and find that they need updating, do so as needed.
  6. Establish a regular review process (e.g., every 6 months) to reassess the relevance and usability of your notes, making updates or deletions as necessary to keep your note collection lean and efficient.

Remember, this is a straw-person policy, and you should adapt it based on your specific needs and preferences. The key is to find a balance between keeping your notes organized and useful while not spending too much time on updating or maintaining old notes that may have limited value. It’s also important to be comfortable with the idea of deleting notes that are no longer serving you, as this can help keep your note collection manageable and focused on your current priorities.

Gemini Advanced

Considerations for Your Old Evernote Notes in Joplin

Here are some key factors to think about when deciding what to do with your migrated Evernote notes:

  • Relevance: Do the notes still contain information you need or use frequently?
  • Time-sensitivity: Is the information outdated or no longer relevant (e.g., old meeting notes, shopping lists)?
  • Usability: Are the notes well-formatted and easy to find with Joplin’s search function?
  • Effort: How much time and effort would it take to edit and improve the notes?

Straw-Person Policy Options:

Here are three different policy approaches you can consider, depending on your needs:

Policy 1: Minimal Touch

  • Focus: Maintain accessibility with minimal effort.
  • Action: Migrate all notes as-is. Use Joplin’s powerful search function and tagging system to locate information.
  • Benefit: Quick and easy migration. Information remains readily available.
  • Drawback: Notes might be cluttered or disorganized, potentially impacting searchability.

Policy 2: Light Curation

  • Focus: Improve searchability and usability with moderate effort.
  • Action: Migrate all notes. Briefly review each one. Archive notes with outdated information but potential future use. Tag relevant notes and add clear titles for better organization.
  • Benefit: Balances ease of migration with improved organization for active notes.
  • Drawback: Requires some time investment but less effort than a full overhaul.

Policy 3: Deep Clean

  • Focus: Create a lean and efficient information archive.
  • Action: Migrate only relevant notes. Delete outdated or useless information. Edit remaining notes for clarity and searchability with markdown formatting and tags.
  • Benefit: Creates a highly organized and streamlined knowledge base.
  • Drawback: Most time-consuming option. Requires careful evaluation of each note.

Additional Considerations:

  • Version History: Joplin keeps version history, so you can revert edits if needed.
  • Exported Notes: Consider exporting a copy of your Evernote archive before migrating in case you want to revisit any notes later.

Ultimately, the best policy depends on your personal needs and how you use your note-taking system.

I hope this helps you develop a strategy for managing your old Evernote notes in Joplin!