Evernote and Google Drive Integration Using Multiple Accounts
A quick preamble: This article is intended for readers who are familiar with Evernote as well as Google Drive and are looking for advanced tips and techniques to enhance their productivity.
If you aren’t familiar with the integration feature between Evernote and Google Drive, then head over to this article for a primer.
Still here? Ok so if you’re neither familiar nor unfamiliar with Evernote + Google Drive integration (which is helluva confusing) then that leaves two possibilities… you’re either nosy or curious. Don’t let me stop you. Welcome!
SCENARIO
You’ve set up Google Drive accounts to manage both work and personal files. Given that Evernote only allows you to link one Google account, you’re now faced with the realization that you’ll either
a) have to decide which Google Drive account contains most of the content you’d want to include inside your Evernote notes, or
b) you’ll be forced to duplicate files and deal with the inevitable headache of trying to maintain independent versions of several files and/or documents. Pain.
I’m here to tell you that neither of those two options need be your fate. There is a third option…. take advantage of a little-known Google Drive feature to share files and documents across accounts while maintaining a ‘master’ instance of the file or document (pft… and they say you can’t have your cake and eat it?! Clearly ”they” aren’t readers of That Sorted Life)
HOW GOOGLE DRIVE INTEGRATION WORKS INSIDE EVERNOTE
When you paste a Google Drive link into an Evernote note, the Google Drive link appears as a well-designed, clickable object presenting useful ‘at-a-glance’ information like file type, filename, last modified date and (in the case of images) a preview of the file.
If you happen to paste a Google Drive link from a disconnected Google Drive account, Evernote will still allow you to access the file by clicking on it, however the filename will be virtually indiscernible and a prompt that reads “Click to request access” will appear beneath the filename.
A LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT GOOGLE DRIVE’S FILE HANDLING
Google Drive uses folders as an organising system to contain various file formats. Most Google Drive users assume that a file which exists in one folder cannot simultaneously exist in another. Most users, I’m pleased to report, stand corrected.
There is a technique that allows you to place a file inside one or more folders without having to create multiple copies of that file. If you make any changes to the file, all the other instances of that file are automatically updated as well as they are essentially one and the same file.
There is a technique that allows you to place a file inside one or more folders without having to create multiple copies of that file.
