Evernote: keep track of notes, ideas, numbers, websites and more
Great Finds, Organization, SoftwareWritten By Amy
Add comments
Evernote is one of my favorite freeware apps EVER. Do you spend a lot of time searching for that business card someone gave you, hunting down login information for your website, shuffling through papers to find those meeting notes from two weeks ago, rummaging around your desk to find an important number you wrote on the back of an envelope, or scouring the web to find a site that you forgot to bookmark? Then you need Evernote.
Billed as "Your External Brain," Evernote is the best way to keep up with all the details that tend to get misplaced in our overloaded world. Think of it as a free-form, never ending roll of paper than you just keep adding to, with an instantaneous search and excellent category tagging features. You can type, scribble ink notes with a stylus or mouse. You can send a web page directly to Evernote from your browser with the click of a button. You can add photos to it. You can snap photos of business cards and it will search for the text inside the image (yes, you heard me!). If you put it in Evernote, you’ll always be able to find it later.
The newest version of Evernote also has a web client, which means that your Evernote database on your computer is always in sync with the one on the web. So if you’re away from your computer, you can access your database on the web to see all your notes! You can even see all your notes from your phone, or snap a photo with your phone and email it to your Evernote database. When you get back to your computer, you’ll see your photo there too. Be still, my beating heart!
I have been using Evernote for several years. I have two different Evernote databases in constant use: the first one is my Daily Journal. I use it just like a paper journal to write about projects I am working on, random observations, my workouts, blog ideas, etc. It is also full of photos, doodles, scribbles, email clips, web clips and brainstorms.
My second Evernote database is used primarily for work. I use it to jot down phone numbers, temporary passwords, write down notes during a meeting, web clips, voicemail notes, etc.– anything that doesn’t warrant going into a more permanent location like Outlook, but is something I might need to refer to again. Instead of bookmarking websites the old fashioned way, I will often clip them to Evernote instead– that way, they’re available off-line and I can also make comments on them.
I can’t tell you how much I love and rely on this program. Basically, if you live in the 21st century, then you need to use Evernote.
December 25th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Yes, I’m falling in love with Evernote too – I just love the little “dok” sound it makes when it clips something. I’ve recently rediscovered it and am finding it really is an electronic external brain. I’m even compiling a tape of notes in Evernote on ideas for using Evernote (obsessive, who me?).
ps I just found your site through your Evernote comment on cranking widgets…
August 26th, 2009 at 9:40 am
I like how you use Evernote. I find myself keeping track of work-related projects along with my personal stuff, but now I want to keep them separate.
How do you use two databases on one computer? Did you have to create two accounts? Could you please walk me through the process?
Thanks!
August 26th, 2009 at 10:13 am
The way I separate them is through notebooks. Just create a new notebook, and add your notes to that. All the notebooks will sync under your single account name.
There are many different ways to sort your Evernote notes. If you don’t want to use different notebooks, you could leave everything in a single notebook, and use tags instead.
I am not disciplined about tagging my notes, especially since the search feature is so fast and good, so you can always find anything you drop in there– as long as you are looking for the right keyword. I tend to use note titles almost like tags. Instead, I just dump work notes under my “Work” notebook, and personal under my “Personal” notebook, and use Search to retrieve them.
I also upgraded to the paid version of Evernote (about $4/month) which will allow you to attach any kind of file to your note. I am now using Evernote to store things like client logos, final delivered job files, etc. so that I can easily put my hands on them later. Of course, you’d want to avoid storing TOO many attachments in Evernote because your database could get pretty unwieldy. It’s best for small, often-used things like logo files or other small job files that you need to edit often or retrieve quickly on a regular basis.
I’ve even thought of creating a shared notebook for clients and work colleagues. (I’m debating using Evernote vs. Google Docs for this purpose). This would be a great way to share files or documents with someone. The ridiculously powerful search feature is what makes it so killer over something like Google Docs or most other storage solutions.
September 21st, 2009 at 12:17 am
Hello
thanks forth the informations.
I have to keep a running journal tracking a number of things. Photos will need to be included.
Could you please mind telling me how you structure it?
I assume you have one note for every day?
Or do you use a number of different notes for per day?
I’ll be adding to it probably a few times per day.
I’d like to be able to make ordered sense of it down the road!
Thanks
tim
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 am
You can structure it in whatever makes the most sense for your purposes. I tend to structure my daily journal by subject matter (one note per subject) rather than putting all assorted observations from the day in a single note. I title notes by their subject rather than by their date. That makes it easier for me to scan through my writings to see what was going on, without having to open up each note.
However, if you were interested in something more traditionally diary-like, you could title each note by its date, and keep adding to it throughout the day.
Also, I don’t necessarily always write one note per day. I may go for days without a single note, and then write a bunch of notes on a single day.
And sometimes, I’ll go back into a note I had, and add to it at the bottom (titled at the top with a date) if I have further thoughts on a particular subject.
There’s really not a wrong way to use Evernote. The ability to search for anything easily means that you have a lot of flexibility in structuring it.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Thank you!
I know I’m a bit anal about it all…but I assume you have one notebook entitled ‘Journal’ and the rest are tagged entries?
Thanks
tim
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I have one notebook called “Journal” and one called “Work”. The first is for anything personal, and the second is for anything related to work projects, computer issues, meeting notes, etc. I don’t really use tags because the search is so robust; when I need something, I either search for it by typing in a word in the search, or else scanning it by title.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Thanks!
I’d love to dispense with notebooks and or tags. Your note indicates it almost makes it more combersome.
I’ll look into it
One more question…I SWEAR!
Regarding that searching without tags…….what’s the search order of priorities…know what I mean.
Is it notebooks first, tag second, titles then message content?
I have 1000 plus notes imported…, with say 20-30 in a cerebral palsey tag (I assess disabled for education placement)
So without tags (I like the idea, have a ton of tags!) I guess I’d need to assume that C.P. would be in the note somewhere and subsequently listed.
Thus the question: what are the search engine priorities.
No more ?’s . Look forward to response.
Sincerely
tim
September 22nd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Since I don’t use tags at all, but tend to find everything through the Search field, my order of searching is:
1) Search box (type in any word that I know I used anywhere in the note, and let it search through everything in Evernote)
2) by Notebook: Work vs. Personal
3) by Title: scan through the titles of notes
I truly have NEVER had a problem retrieving anything I’ve ever dumped in Evernote, despite my lack of official organization, thanks to the excellent Search feature. If you don’t want to use tags (as I don’t), then I would recommend:
a) making your titles meaningful, and
b) making sure you put your notes in the proper notebook.
You might want to make a totally separate notebook for Cerebral Palsy if that will be a growing category of notes. That way, you won’t have to remember to individually tag anything.
Feel free to ask any more questions if you have them! I am a huge fan of Evernote and I think it’s one of the most flexible and useful notetaking tools available.
(The ONLY thing I wish it would do differently is allow for ink notes in combination with Text notes, like Microsoft OneNote, one of my other beloved programs which is not free.)