I keep thinking about file vs note management across Apple plattforms. Do you guys have separate systems for files and notes? If so, how do you do the distinction and why do you keep them separate?
Currently, I use Keep It and mix both in Keep It. I keep wondering, whether AN + iCloud folders could not achieve the same thing. But then, I have notes relating to a project which has files attached. So it becomes “messy” and I have two systems.
The intersection between “notes” and “files” depends on your personal uses of both. If all of your notes were individual files and most of your files were notes, then surely managing both with the same app or database would make sense. If most of your files were not notes then a unified approach to managing both would be more a matter of taste and appetite for effort.
Personally, 95% of more my files are not “notes”, so I keep files in folders in the old-school hierarchical manner and manage the most commonly used or most needed files with DEVONthink. Notes are kept elsewhere. (I have too many note-making apps – because I love software – to make a useful recommendation about what’s “best” for notes.)
In the case where a note is associated with one or more files, I either place the note next to the file, in a folder, or link the file to the note with Hookmark or other techniques. I try not to embed files into notes because that, for me, makes discovering the file a bit more difficult.
Most important: it doesn’t matter what other people do, what matters is what makes your work or leisure easier. If you posted the question because something is not working for you, then maybe your could share that?
Katie
I generally keep files in a folder (iCloud) and notes in an app (UpNote). If I have files that are directly relevant to a note that I’m unlikely to need to file long term (such as papers for a meeting) I’ll often drag them into the note for that meeting so everything is in one place.
I also use HookMark to link to files and emails from notes for easy reference.
Thanks you both for your answers. Looks like a 2:0 for separation. Take with me for team together that makes 2:1.
@KVZ I would not really say anything does not work. My main issue is that the grass is always greener at the other site and play around too much with software 
. My question is more out of curiosity. I thought a few people here in the forum might ponder about this question, too.
Generally speaking, my needs are spread between files (mostly PDFs) and notes. But I had a job application recently where I found it annoying to have my Finder files and my AN note in separate systems. But with Keep It I also had a few petty pet peeves.
I use the same system for both in that I use folders. I do use a carefully curated set of tags in my notes because it’s easy but I do not tag files. Many files I need access to regularly are migrating to my notes app even though they remain in their original file formats.
I struggled with this distinction for years in my Evernote days. I gave up on “everything bucket” apps and trying to store notes and files together. In my experience, it doesn’t work well.
Files, including pdfs, spreadsheets, presentations, docs, assets etc go into the file system
Notes, weblinks, screenshots, annotations, etc go into Notes app
Both are searchable with Spotlight.
If I’m working on a project or need quick access to a file or PDF that is related to a note, I’ll include it as an attachment in Apple Notes.