How To Use Evernote to Remember Everything - Part 1 of 2

Use Evernote To Remember Everything - Part 1 of 2

by Michael E. Callahan aka Dr. File Finder

Awhile back I started working on a review of Evernote version 2. I was about halfway through the program when I was asked to participate in the beta test of Evernote 3. As it turned out, Evernote 3 was even more portable than Evernote 2 so it fit in even better as part of this continuing series on "going portable." So, today I'm starting a two-part series on how to use Evernote to remember everything. And I do mean everything!

See It, Grab It!

Evernote has always been a handy program for keeping track of information, but this new version gives you even more flexibility. For one it's available for Windows XP and Vista, Macintosh OS X Leopard, and Windows Mobile. Now with Evernote 3 you can also access all your information from the Web. In Evernote you create notebooks that help you to organize all the information that's part of your life. You'll note in the screen shot that there's text, photos, and much more. I have notebooks that are family-related, work-related, a notebook for program registration codes, and so on. You don't have to tell Evernote to save your data, it does that automatically. The program also indexes all of your notes so you can find things based on a wide range of criteria. For example, each note has attributes you can search for like date created, last modified, text it contains, and so on. Notes also can be examined by their source which means you could group items that came from the Internet, from email, from your mobile device, and from your desktop applications. Evernote also makes it incredibly easy to clip things you want from the Web, documents, and many other places.

So Many Sources

One of the real benefits of Evernote 3 is that all your data is completely synchronized no matter what the source. Add things from your desktop, your phone, or the Internet and Evernote keeps everything up-to-date. Another real benefit is that the program can obtain data from so many different sources. For example, you can scan data into the program. You can include audio in Evernote 3 whether it's notes to yourself or a song you like. You can drag things to Evernote and then just drop them into place. Now, here's something that will blow you away. Evernotelet's you search all your notes and I do mean all! I have a fair number of notes and I searched for the word "triple". In the screen shot you can see that Evernote is able to find the text even in a picture! In the picture the word triple is highlighted in yellow. Wow! That's a powerful feature that will let you find exactly what you want whether it's from the Internet, a Word document, or a picture you took.

You Can Even Draw!

The last feature I'll cover this week is the ability of Evernote 3 to let you draw and write with pen effects. What's really cool is that you can write freehand or you can have the program convert what you write. For example, in testing it out I did some geometric shapes and to be quite honest they were pretty lame. Then I told Evernote to recognize the stuff I was drawing as shapes and I started over. My "lame" circle became a perfect circle and all the other shapes I drew also cleaned right up. This feature comes with a full range of tools for you to use. For example, you can select the color of ink you'd like to use. You can also select the width of the pen. You can pick a pen, a pencil, or if you make a mistake you can pick the cutter tool to remove your error. You can select an area, undo a mistake, or redo something you did well. Evernote 3 gives you the ability to edit, refine, and manage the things you do in this mode, which is a great feature. The more I use it the more I find that Evernote 3 can really be the depository for all the miscellaneous things I find in the course of my day, or my week, or my year. When in doubt I send it to Evernote and I can sort it out later. My youngest daughter came to visit recently and she could do all her work from here because the things she needed to know where all in her Evernote 3 account online. Slick.

That's all for this week. Next week I'll be back to tell you about tags, time-lines, to-do lists, and more. I hope you'll join me.

Visit the Evernote Web Site

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