Add option to disable auto-archive for notes assigned with specific tags

111 votes

There may be some use cases where auto-archiving is undesirable (e.g. using Amplenote as a repo of evergreen notes), and the current process to prevent notes from being auto-archived is laborious without the ability to assign this status in bulk.

I suggest a system to allow users to specify that notes that are tagged with specific tags to not be auto-archived, in order to enable this use case in a targeted and purposeful way. From a UX perspective, this could be effected by enabling a user to click on tag settings option in the sidebar and toggling a sub-option to "prevent auto-archive of all notes under this tag".

Under consideration effort-low notes Suggested by: Colin Chan (14 Nov, '22) • Upvoted: 03 May • Comments: 13

Comments: 13

11 Aug, '21
Alex Merged
Instead of automatically archiving notes after certain period of time, allow user to decide with an on/off option if they want their notes automatically archived or not. Also could add option of archiving after X number of days, decided by user.
4
19 Oct, '21
Isaiah Merged
I agree, I dislike the automatic archiving personally
1
15 Dec, '22
Andrew
I upvoted this request also, although there is potentially another feature request.

The use case I would reference is related to 'personal CRM' Amplenote video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDth3xs6QFA&themeRefresh=1

If you have notes for specific people under under the 'people' tag. And you don't look them up in a while or reference them, as a result the people notes get archived, it means that you can no longer link to them using the [[ method in a daily jot.

If it would be possible to keep the people tag toggled as 'prevent auto-archive' it means you could keep linking to them without having to un-archive them first then linking to them.

Alternatively if there was a global toggle to link enable using the [[ method for archived notes would solve this issue also for this use case.

Appreciate the consideration. =]
23 Apr, '23
Sean Merged
Agreed! Allow us to turn off auto-archive on all notes.
23 Apr, '23
Sean
Yes agreed this is a great idea.
24 Apr, '23
Lucian Admin
"Make automatic archival of notes optional" (suggested by Alex on 2021-08-11), including upvotes (11) and comments (2), was merged into this suggestion.
31 Jul, '23
Dietrich
Agree with this. The auto-archiving feature is kinda disruptive to my workflow. Hope a disable feature is in the works!
15 Aug, '23
Kayla
Very frustrating that you can't turn this feature off, it makes Amplenote essentially unusable for me right now, which is a shame because it's the best note-taking app I've found so far.
1
28 Aug, '23
William Butchart
This would be very good. I’m a bit concerned with this auto-archive concept - the only person who should be messing with my notes and tags structure is me. I will see how this plays out but if my tags start losing notes because the system is messing with them, that’s a deal breaker for me.
05 Sep, '23
Alex W.
Absolutely, wholeheartedly & emphatically agree. To a *global* option to disable auto-archiving, that is. This "feature" is the single reason the whole app is unusable for me. Auto-archiving runs completely counter the idea of using the app as a knowledge base. Per-note opt-out is not a solution, but a nuisance and a desaster waiting to happen. Auto-archiving should have been opt-in from the start.
2
23 Jan
Dean
Completely agree that this is an absolute necessity.

Most of your users do not treat notes as tasks which, once "completed", are no longer needed and can be filed away by auto-archiving.

I have thousands of notes (imported from EN) and none of them - NOT ONE - is "done". I will need to access any of these at any given time.

I was struggling to find a replacement for EN. I dismissed Amplenote because of the use of tags instead of folders. After reading some Reddit posts I decided to give it a try, and actually I am completely used to it now.

However, the auto-archiving is a major issue. I literally cannot think of any positive use for this feature. It is like a solution in search of a problem.
1
03 May
Darshan
Workaround (or, how to remove the auto-archived tag from existing notes):

1. Look for auto-archived notes: https://www.amplenote.com/notes?tag=auto-archived
2. Select the first note (you can do this by hovering over the note icon, which changes to a radio selection, and clicking on that radio button)
3. Go alllll the way to the bottom, and shift+click on the last note. This will select all the Auto-archived notes.
4. In the three dots menu that appears, click "Apply or Remove Tag", and shift+click on 'auto-archived'

I had around 200 notes auto-archived (without my notice, which was weird behavior to find) which were auto-archived.

For now, I have simply added doing the above in my Weekly Review checklist (I do GTD, so that's the best place for me to keep an eye)

Having said that, I 100% agree that auto-archival should be an optional function. I shouldn't have to do a manual cleanup weekly.
1
2 days ago
Dean
Thanks for this. It's probably a more viable solution for people who don't already have 5K+ notes.

Another issue is that editing the notes to remove auto-archive tag has the effect of altering the properties of the note and therefore messes up the chronology. For example if I remove the tag from a note last edited in, say 2018, then it will move the note chronology forwards as it is considered an edit to the note.

Unfortunately there is no way around this major issue without there being an option to disable this terrible function that literally nobody wants.