My 7 Favorite Evernote Features
Yup, this is another post about my favorite application, Evernote.
I’ve been using the app since it was new on the market in 2008. The first presentation I ever gave in public was on Evernote at the Memphis Social Expedition Breakfast in September 2009. By then, Evernote was already my electronic brain.
Here’s that presentation, but you’ll have to promise to ignore my dorky lovely light-blue/white gradient color scheme, OK?
The thing is, the main cool things about Evernote haven’t changed that much, although the company has added new features over the years. The price for a Premium account only recently jumped to $70/year and it’s still well worth it.
I’ve also used it as a GTD (Get Things Done, a productivity system by David Allen) application, as I wrote about here, and a document scanner.
Here are my seven favorite Evernote features.
- Ease of sync. With my Premium account, I can sync between my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Free accounts allow two devices, and the web interface doesn’t count as a device; so technically you could have a phone, computer, and the web interface. Data syncs very quickly, so what I add to my iPhone will be almost instantly visible on my Mac and iPad.
- Searchable text in images. It’s not exactly OCR (optical character recognition), but it’s still handy. Snap a photo of the whiteboard in your meeting, and, after a bit of processing time, the words in your photo will be searchable.
- Organization through tags and notebooks. Everyone does this differently; there’s no one organization method that is right for all. I use a few notebooks: an Inbox for my default, where I initially dump everything until I have a chance to read and tag the note. Then I move it to the Cabinet notebook, and tag it with either work or personal. I have separate notebooks for special projects or online courses I take, which I archive after they are complete. The system is so flexible you can change your organization structure at any time.
- Saved searches. I save searches then add them to the sidebar. For example, I have a tag called read, for things I want to read later and one called reference for things I’ve read but want to keep and refer to later. I’ve saved both of those searches and have added them to the sidebar, so I can instantly find something to read.
- PDF storage. If you’re like me, you download free PDFs all the time. But where do you store them all? @Evernote. I’ve started adding them to Evernote and tagging them accordingly, so I don’t stash them away in a folder and forget to read them. And I have one place to go for all of my reading.
- Shared notebooks. I created a notebook for things I wanted to share with my husband, who has a free account. Now I can add articles I want him to read — home improvement ideas (which always get such an enthusiastic response), receipts for business expenses (he keeps my books), and anything else I want to share. It’s better than emailing him because the information is right in front of him, not behind an email link.
- The web clipper. This free browser extension allows you to clip all or part of a web page with a single click. A dialog box lets you choose the notebook you want to save the article to, and the tags you’d like to apply. When you’re ready to read, it’s right there where you put it.
I love Evernote so much that I recently became an Evernote community leader, although my photo isn’t up on the site yet. Last week I was accepted as an Evernote expert and help answer support questions.
If you want to upgrade to a Premium account, this link will get you a free month. It is an affiliate link, which means I get a few points toward my own Premium account if you sign up. However, I only post affiliate links to services that I would use — and have used — without compensation.
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