In today’s world, one of the biggest challenges is keeping up with the fire hose of information and being able to access what you want when you want it.
Most of us take notes as a way to track information (and those who don’t might if it were easy). Some do this in a systematized, sometimes online way, while others have a flurry of sticky notes, scrawls in margins, and napkin scraps surrounding them.
I personally tend to more of organized, file-folder methods. I’ve used various notetaking schemes over time – spiral notebooks (before computers), Palm handhelds, wikis, etc. Now I use Evernote, and I can say without qualification that it is the best notetaking tool I’ve ever used.
At its most basic, Evernote is a word processor. Beyond that, it is much more. I’m still learning all the things you can do with it. Here are some of my favorite features:
- Evernote is web-based and can sync to nearly every device. I have it on my desktop, laptop, mobile, and tablet. That means I can access, record, or edit info wherever I am.
- The foldering and tagging capabilities of Evernote mean that you can easily organize and then find info when you need it.
- You can forward email to your Evernote account. That one feature has greatly simplified my life. Instead of keeping folders of old emails that I might someday need (but probably will have difficulty finding), I just forward it to Evernote, categorize and tag it, and forget it…until I need it again later.
- You can clip a web page right to Evernote, making it a great way to grab articles for later reading.
- Evernote supports many file types. That means you can include pictures, web pages, maps, and even audio and video in a note.
- It’s free! (There are some extra features available through a $45/year premium package, well worth it in my mind, but many will find the free version does everything they need.)
Here are some of the things I use Evernote for:
Work/School Uses
- Meeting notes
- Project information
- Tech tips (especially the “how to” things I am likely to need again someday but will probably forget how to do)
- Conference info
- Lesson ideas
Obviously, there are many student uses for this as well.
Personal Uses
- Shopping lists
- Recipes
- Lists (of everything, books to read, movies to watch, gift ideas, prescriptions, etc.)
- Writing ideas
- Priorities
- Model and serial #s
- Ideas
Another great thing about Evernote is that it’s very easy to get started using it. If you could use some organization in your life, give it a try, and before you know it, you might be singing the praises of Evernote.