Wouldn’t it be great to consolidate and coordinate all your files, notes, bookmarks and digital information across various platforms?
Now, with an app named Evernote you can.
At it’s simplest, Evernote is a digital application to capture all your digital thoughts and notes. It can serve as your basic digital information repository. It has options that allow you to store documents, pictures or even audio recordings with your notes. Its flexible structure is cross-platform making it accessible no matter where you are and the basic app provides most of the functionality you will need. Evernote’s tagline is “Remember Everything” and the app can certainly live up to that promise if used correctly. At it’s most basic, it can be used as a simple digital notebook or journal. When you create a new note in Evernote, it stamps the note automatically with the date created and, if you allow it, will geotag the note as well so you can sort by location (this can be particularly useful if you are searching for notes taking at specific locations such as on vacations or restaurants while you travel).
Each note also gives you the option to take snapshots right into the note as well as record audio or attach files directly. Separate notes can be arranged into related “notebooks” that hold similar information together by category and each note can be individually tagged for ease of search. One of the best features is the search function. It can search images, documents, hand written notes, wine labels and almost anything with a recognizable character. One example, I recently was at the grocery store and could not remember what a wine looked like but I did remember it had the word “cellar” on the label. I typed in the word “cellar” and the image came up. As an example of how this can be used, I am currently working on some renovations to my home. I created a ‘Renovations’ notebook. In this notebook, I have included the pdf estimates for certain repairs the home needs, I have also taken pictures at different home improvement stores of items I might need to purchase and clipped web pages with relevant items and review. Each of these can be individual notes and all can be bundled into a notebook where all the information is available together. Any time I need to refer to anything related to the project I can pull up the notebook or use Evernote’s robust search engine to find the information. The flexibility of the system is the key to its success. Additionally, Evernote is available on a variety of platforms so it’s always at your fingertips. You can download the app on the Android phone, iPhone or iPad as well as Mac or Windows machines. You can even download browser extensions that will allow you to clip content directly from the Web and send to your Evernote folder. Evernote is also compatible with a number of third party applications and apps that extend Evernote’s utility, application such as Skitch (captures, annotates and shares images), Penultimate (Ipad handwriting app) LiveMinutes (meeting minutes app that can synch audio of a meeting with your written notes) and such popular apps as Pocket and Instapaper. Evernote is by no means the only note-taking app out there (Microsoft OneNote and Google Keep are two of the more well-known competitors) but it’s flexibility and third party apps make it one of the most powerful and flexible depending on your needs. One short blog post is not enough to even begin to so this app justice. Below we have included a number of links to get you started and give you a deeper dive if this article has piqued your interest. Still not convinced?
This Lifehacker article provides a good overview as to why you should use Evernote. Click to make the jump. So you want a 4.5 star rating before you’ll try it? Not a problem, PC Magazine gave it just that! Read the review.