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The 5 Best Ways to Use Evernote (That I Haven’t Tried Yet) 1. One of the ways Evernote Essentials author Brett Kelly uses Evernote is for building and updating a book. Organizing Your Life. Nancy Messieh uses Evernote templates to organize her life. She offers 6 template ideas. In this video, I share the best basic structure to your Evernote notes. Get yourself enrolled in my FREE Beginners Guide To C.O.D online course and start us. One of the best ways is the power of notebook stacks. As Evernote productivity consultant Stacey Harmon notes, stacks are the building blocks to success within Evernote: Notebooks and stacks provide human friendly organization to your data in Evernote. You can visually group notes and projects together in any way that suits you.
Evernote’s Notebooks
Source: MakeUseOf
You’ve been using Evernote for years , with your entire life stored on your account.
Everything used to work so well. But that meticulous notebook structure is now nothing more than a blight on your existence.
Trying to find a specific note? You may as well try to find a fart in a windstorm.
But remember, the problem doesn’t rest with Evernote here. Evernote is actually an incredible tool . You’re just organizing your notes in a way that can’t be scaled. There is a solution, though. And it’s a solution that can work for anyone, no matter how many notes you’re trying to keep on top of.
The Problem With Evernote’s Notebooks
Evernote has three layers to its organizational structure. It’s pretty simple, but you need to understand it to get the most out of the app.
First off are notebooks . These are like “folders”, where you save individual notes.
Next are stacks . These are like parent folders to help better organize your notebooks.
When most people start using Evernote, they fixate on these notebooks and stacks. It’s probably a hangover from organizing your files on Windows in the same way.
But Evernote’s notebooks and stacks have two main problems.
Notebooks can’t be nested. This means your organizational structure can only be one level deep.
In other words, you can have a child folder within a parent folder. But you can’t have a child folder within another child folder.
Second (and most frustrating) is that you can only place each note in one Notebook . If you have a note that’s relevant to two notebooks… tough. You can only choose one .
As your library of notes grows, these problems are almost guaranteed to turn your otherwise organized notes into a complete mess.
Luckily, Evernote has a third organizational tool: tags . You can assign descriptive, searchable tags to each note to help granularly organize your notes.
You can also nest these tags, and assigned several tags to each note. Problem solved.
Fixing Your Notebook Problem If you have a complex system of notebooks, your first challenge is to narrow these down to as few as possible.
Before I reorganized my own account, I had over 40 individual notebooks. Now I have five. You, however, might choose to have only two or three. These new notebooks are simply a way to organize everything extremely broadly. The real organization comes later.
Your Collection Box The most important of your few notebooks should be the initial notebook created for you when you set up your Evernote account. By default, this is named “[Username]’s Notebook”. Rename this to something like “-Inbox” or “-CollectionBox” to make it more descriptive.
Tip: Placing a symbol like “-” before the notebook name keeps the notebook at the top of your notebook list.
This notebook is where you’ll save pretty much all your new notes by default. When you create a new note through the mobile app, or grab a screenshot with Evernote’s Web Clipper , these should all be dumped into your “CollectionBox”. This saves you the hassle of tagging each and every note as soon as you create it.
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It’s far more productive to batch process that tagging every week (or month). Having all these new notes in a single notebook like this makes tagging quick and simple.
A Limited Number of Other Notebooks You should create any other notebooks sparingly. The more notebooks you create, the longer it will take you to decide where each note belongs. And the harder it’ll be for you to locate notes later on.
Since this new system relies so heavily on tags for organizing notes, notebooks are barely needed. If you take this to the extreme, you could create just one other notebook called “FilingCabinet”.
Tip: Avoid placing spaces in your notebook names and tags. This makes searching a lot easier.
After you tag each note in your “CollectionBox”, just move it over to your “Filing Cabinet”. This way, you’ll always know where you’re up to. And if you have a decent tagging system, it’s easy to keep a huge number of notes organized with just two notebooks. More on this later.
I chose to create a few other notebooks, however.
Ideas — Any notes detailing ideas I want to save, including article ideas, places I’m hoping to travel to, etc.
Personal — Where I store non-work related notes.
Reference — Where saved articles, book notes, screenshots, quotes, PDFs, receipts etc. are stored. Basically, any “knowledge” I might want to find in the future. This is by far my largest notebook.
Work — Where I store any work-related notes.
Your own notebook structure will be different to this, for sure. Just be mindful of creating notebooks sparingly. The more notebooks you have, the harder it is to keep everything organized.
Getting Serious With Tagging As I said, your notebooks should just be the broad foundation of your Evernote structure. The essence of your system should rely on tags .
The unscalable option here is to tag notes with a couple of rough topics, and hope you remember these tags in the future. Good luck with that!
The scalable option (a small sample of my own tags is below) is far more elegant.
Essentially, when tagging each note you want to know a few things about it:
What area it relates to, broadly speaking; preceded by “1”.
What type of content it is; preceded by “2”.
What theme(s) it covers, more specifically; preceded by “3”.
The system I’m advocating does just this. When I tag each note using this system, I know I want to tag these three specific things about it. Each note should have at least one tag that relates to each of these three points. This makes it very easy to sort and find notes on a granular level.
For example, when I review the below highlight from Jack Kerouac’s book On The Road , I can see at a glance that I’ve tagged all three points. This is a personal note (meaning it’s not work related), it’s a book note, and it’s on the topic of life and travel.
Your own individual tagging taxonomy will be different to mine. But a relatively similar structure is an extremely scalable way of organizing your notes. It takes some time to get used to this, but it’ll soon become second nature.
Finding Specific Notes When it comes to finding notes in the future, there are two features that are especially useful: the search bar and saved searches.
When using the search bar, you can search multiple tags to find exactly what you’re looking for. Let’s say you remember saving a note from a conversation you had with a friend about traveling to Brazil. If you tagged this note properly, the following search would pull up that specific conversation.
This is the real beauty of using this kind of tagging system. Searching for a quote about politics? No problem.
Tip: Placing numbers before tags like this helps you to know that you’ve assigned tags for each of the three areas relating to each note. This ensures you cover all angles to help you find the notes in the future.
For searches you find yourself performing routinely, set up a saved search . To do this, set up your search. At the bottom of the search box, you can also add other parameters such as notebooks, tags, keywords, etc.. Below, I’ve set up a saved search for ideas relating to work.
When your search is complete, on Windows click File > Save Search , On Mac click Edit > Find > Save Search , and name your search. From now on, when you click the search box, you’ll see a link to that saved search to pull up the results instantly. You can also drag the saved search over to the shortcuts widget for even easier access.
Automate Where Possible There’s no point spending more time tagging your notes than is necessary. Luckily, you can automate this in a few areas. The main way of doing this is by using the automation platform IFTTT (if this, then that).
You can use IFTTT to connect different services to your Evernote account. You can then tell the platform to save certain kinds of notes to certain notebooks. It can even assign specific tags.
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I have this set up to save all my Instagram posts to my Reference notebook, and tag these 1personal, 2instagram, 3travel.
I’m also addicted to reading articles on Instapaper , and take a ton of notes on what I read. It therefore makes sense to have another automation set up that saves all of my Instapaper highlights to my CollectionBox notebook, with the tag “2contentnotes”. This saves me some time when it comes to tagging everything in my CollectionBox each week.
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To see a more comprehensive list of how else IFTTT can work with Evernote, see here .
Could This Work for You? This method may not seem quite as simple as just dragging and dropping your notes into vague notebooks. But it is far more scalable. In short:
Save pretty much all of your notes to a “CollectionBox” notebook.
Routinely tag each of your notes, using a taxonomy that works for you. This should explain:
1 What the note relates to.
2 What type of content it is.
3 What themes it covers.
Move the note to one of the few notebooks you’ve set up.
Use these tags to find specific notes in the future.
This tagging system (or something like it) can help you locate specific notes in flash. It keeps everything far more organized than most other systems out there. And it stays organized no matter how many notes you have.
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If you decide to go ahead with a system like this, it will take some time to re-organize your Evernote library. But once you’ve got into the routine of tagging your notes like this, you’ll start to realize just how useful Evernote can be.
Is this a system you think could work for you? If not, how come?
Image Credit: Antonio Guillem via Shutterstock.com
If you’ve been looking for a tool to help manage your digital life, you’ve probably come across Evernote. This note-taking app has been around since 2004. Since then, it has become one of the most popular productivity tools on the market.
Evernote is pretty straightforward to use. But the app doesn’t always do a great job of demonstrating how to use its most useful features. That’s why we’ve put together this Evernote tutorial for beginners. We’ve covered many of the most commonly used features, as well as some hints and tips to get even more out of Evernote.
First, let’s get Evernote installed.
How to Install Evernote
Installing Evernote on mobile or desktop is simple.
To install Evernote’s desktop client, first visit Evernote’s download page. The download should begin automatically. If it doesn’t, click the link to download the installer. You’ll need to agree to the License Agreement to continue.
If you’re on a Mac, simply drag the Evernote app icon from the disk image to your Applications folder. If you’re using Windows, double-click the Evernote executable and follow the prompts.
Installing Evernote on mobile is even easier. Simply navigate to the Evernote app in either the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, depending on the kind of device you’re using. Then, allow your device to install the app. If you’re a Windows Phone user, grab Evernote from the Microsoft Store.
Once you’ve installed the app, you’ll need an Evernote account before you can start using it. This is necessary because Evernote can sync across multiple devices and operating systems. Saved items are synced to your Evernote account, not your device.
Once you’ve installed Evernote and created your account, you’re ready to go. You can also log into the Evernote web app in your browser now, too.
How to Install the Evernote Web Clipper
While you’re getting set up, it’s worth installing the Evernote Web Clipper. This handy browser extension allows you to “clip” almost any item you find online: blog posts, videos, social media posts, even entire web pages, and sync them with your primary Evernote account.
If you’re a Google Chrome user, navigate to the Evernote Web Clipper page in the Chrome Web Store. Then, simply click “Add to Chrome” to install the extension:
The process is very similar for Mozilla Firefox. First, head to the Evernote Web Clipper page in the Firefox Add-Ons library. Then click “Add to Firefox” to install the extension:
Fortunately, using the Evernote Web Clipper is almost as easy as installing it.
How Do I Use Evernote
Once you’ve installed the Web Clipper in either Chrome or Firefox, you’ll notice an elephant icon in the space to the right of your browser’s address bar. When you want to clip something, click on that elephant icon to open the Web Clipper.
Before the Web Clipper can save anything, you need to tell it what it should clip. The Web Clipper defaults to the “Article” setting. As you can see in the screenshot below, you can select other clipping options, depending on how much of the source material you want to save.
For example, the “Simplified articles” option clips all the text on a page but doesn’t preserve the page’s formatting or typefaces. The “Full page” option clips the entire page, including images and ads. You can also save pages as bookmarks or take a screenshot.
You can also create new Notebooks directly from within the Web Clipper. This handy feature means you don’t have to log into the web app or launch the Evernote app to create a new Notebook, then go back to the Clipper to save the item—you can do it all at the same time. It’s also possible to add tags and comments to clipped items as you clip them, which helps keep things organized.
Now that you’ve installed Evernote and the Web Clipper, let’s dive in and see what Evernote can do.
Creating Your First Note in Evernote
As a note-taking app, Evernote’s primary function is to help you take notes quickly. To do this, Evernote relies on an organizational system based on real-world, pen-and-paper notebooks. Notes are stored inside Notebooks, and Notebooks can be organized into Notebook Stacks.
There are a few different ways of taking notes in Evernote. To create a new Note on desktop, simply click the “New Note” button in the upper-left of the screen. You can also use familiar keyboard shortcut to create new Notes. Use ⌘ + “n” to create new Notes on OS X, and Ctrl + “n” to create new Notes on Windows. You can also use ⌘ + Shift + “n” (or Ctrl + Shift + “n” on Windows) to quickly create new Notebooks.
One of the biggest drawbacks with Evernote’s note-taking functionality is that Evernote doesn’t categorize or name new Notes automatically. As you can see in the screenshot above, I created three new Notes using Evernote’s keyboard shortcuts—but Evernote doesn’t know what to do with them. It just leaves them as Untitled Notes and doesn’t categorize them at all. This can get out of hand quickly, so bear this in mind if you’re a prolific note-taker.
Fortunately, creating new notes is a lot more intuitive on mobile. Simply open the Evernote app and click the central green “+” button to create a new Note:
Once you click the green “+” icon to create a new Note, you’ll be presented with a familiar composition interface. You can choose from one of Evernote’s Templates or simply start typing. Note that if you want to use Evernote’s Templates on desktop, your system will open the Template Gallery in a separate browser window.
If you minimize the virtual keyboard, you’ll notice a series of icons running along the bottom of the app’s UI. These are Evernote’s advanced note-taking tools.
The camera icon does exactly what you’d expect it to do. Tapping this icon gives Evernote access to your mobile device’s camera, allowing you to take pictures and save them as Notes. Need to preserve a schematic diagram your colleague sketched out on a whiteboard? Create a new Note, take a picture, then save it.
Similarly, the microphone icon to the right of the camera icon allows Evernote to access your device’s microphone. Doing so means that you can save audio files as Notes. This can be a great time-saver for instances when you’ve got a great idea but don’t have time to write it down.
Next up is the handwriting icon. This function allows you to create handwritten notes directly within Evernote, annotate images, and more. Simply choose your input mode, select a brush size and color, then start writing. There can be a little variance in line weight, depending on the angle of your stroke, but it’s generally pretty accurate.
Finally, the paper-clip icon allows you to attach files to Notes and Notebooks. This is a really handy feature for organizing documents associated with specific Notes in one place. For example, you could create a new Note reminding yourself to check in with a company’s accounting department about the status of an invoice. You could then attach a copy of your company’s most recent invoice so you have everything you need when you’re ready to follow up on that task later.
Organizing Notes and Notebooks in Evernote
Now that you’ve created your first few notes in Evernote, it’s time to start organizing them.
On desktop, you can drag and drop notes directly into a Notebook by clicking and dragging on the note you want to move. This approach feels a little clunky, but it gets the job done. If the Notebook or Stack you’re moving a Note into is collapsed, it will expand after hovering over it for a second or so. To expand or collapse Notebooks and Notebook Stacks manually, simply click the caret to the left of the Notebook or Stack you want to expand or collapse.
For whatever reason, Evernote doesn’t always adhere to conventions from other software programs. For example, you can share Notes and manage Note permissions from the right-click contextual menu, but not rename them. This can be frustrating, but it’s not the end of the world.
Organizing Notes and Notebooks in Evernote can be very flexible. It all depends on how intricate your personal organizational system is.
On desktop, you can rearrange and sort Notebooks by a wide range of criteria. You can sort by Date Updated, Date Created, Title, Size, and Source URL. Each of these options has various sub-options. If you choose to sort Notebooks by Title, for example, you can then tell Evernote whether it should arrange the Notebooks in alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order. This flexibility can be really helpful if you have lots of Notebooks.
To change how your Notebooks are displayed, click the View button to the right of the organizational options. This brings up a contextual menu, from which you can choose several different views:
Finally, the ellipsis icon gives you the option to rename, move, or delete Notebooks.
How to Search in Evernote
Once you’ve been using Evernote for a while, it probably won’t be long before you need to find something you saved weeks or even months ago. Fortunately, Evernote’s search functionality is very powerful.
What Does Evernote Do
On desktop, you can start searching for something by typing in the search field in the upper-right. You can search all of your Notes or within specific Notebooks. You can also add a number of search modifiers, such as Tag, Date Created, and Date Modified.
On mobile, tap the magnifying-glass icon to the left of the New Note button to access Evernote’s search function. Start typing in the search field and Evernote will return results that include that search term. Evernote will return results from individual Notes first, then Notebooks, then Notebook Stacks.
If you’re using Evernote’s desktop app on a Mac, you can also take advantage of Evernote’s descriptive search feature. This allows you to describe what you’re looking for to Evernote, rather than use specific keywords. For example, you could enter “notes from Sweden” to search for all Notes created during your trip to Sweden. Similarly, you could search for “Notes with PDFs” to surface all saved Notes with PDF attachments.
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Remember Everything
Evernote is a remarkably powerful tool that can handle a surprising range of tasks. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a great introduction to note-taking apps. As one of the oldest note-taking tools on the market, Evernote is also fully integrated with many other popular productivity tools, such as Google Drive, Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce, and Slack. This makes Evernote even easier to use as part of your existing workflow.
Hopefully, this tutorial has given you an idea of what’s possible with Evernote. Whether you’re looking for a tool to help organize a major research project or a digital alternative to pen-and-paper notebooks, Evernote is a solid organizational tool with some cool features. It’s far from the only tool of its kind, but it’s a solid starting point for newcomers to digital note-taking.