Evernote is one of my favorite programs / web services of all time. If I had to define Evernote simply and easily, I would call it “A way to organize every digital thing.” Really that describes it quite perfectly. You can use Evernote to organize your notes, ideas, receipts, pictures, web clippings, PDF’s, audio clips, and just about anything else you can think of.
Evernote is accessible from any computer – just go to their website, log in, and your entire “notebook” is available to you, easily searchable. Of course, this isn’t the *best* way to access Evernote, but it’s good to know that you’ll never be without your information. Evernote offers a desktop application for Mac OS X, Windows, and they even have an iPhone version. No matter where you are, your information is quite simple to get to.
Search is the killer feature
After uploading months of notes, receipts, clippings, and various text files, even tags have their limits on organization. Enter the killer feature of Evernote: search. The search function looks at the title, tags, and even *inside* the file. If you have text in your images, Evernote looks in there too. Yep, it does OCR. Premium users get an additional level of search – all PDF’s are searchable. Absolutely incredible.
Get the desktop app
Anytime I buy something online these days, I CMD P to print, then click on the PDF drop-down box, and “Save PDF to Evernote”. Automagically, my receipt / page / whatever is saved into Evernote, and is completely searchable. No more trying to remember where I put the printout, or trying to find the email. Search for a word or two, and Evernote will find what I’m looking for.
Try it out for free
The basic Evernote service is completely free. You get to upload as much as 40 MB per month, with no total storage limit. For all but the most ardent users, that’s plenty. If you choose to upgrade, it’s $5 per month, or $45 per year. For your support, you get an absurd monthly upload limit of 500 MB, and the killer PDF search feature. Easily worth the price, many times over.
Unclutter your hard drive, organize your life
Forget hundreds of text files, PDF’s, and receipts littering your Documents folder. Upload them to Evernote and delete them from your hard drive. Organize and simplify.
Disclaimer: I use Evernote daily to keep organized. I do not work for, nor have I ever received payment from Evernote. There will never be sponsored posts / reviews here at The Simple Llama. If a tool / service is useful to me, and I think might be useful to you, I will write about it and recommend it.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Simple,
I’ve liked Evernote since it first came out. What’s not to like about it? You can put several kinds of things in it. It’s got ubiquitous access, it does OCR, it serves as a backup for whatever you feed it, it’s got a great reputation for service and customer feedback…
I could go on.
But I land on Evernote the way you used to land on Omnifocus. I can’t stand Evernote’s interface. Primarily, I hate the lack of any kind of thoughful export option. It bothers me that even simple text notes I’ve attempted to store in Evernote for the long haul end up wacked.
Again, I could go on.
So I’ve landed on Together by Reinvented Software. Steve has provided the best service I’ve ever experienced from a dev. I like that whatever I throw at Together, it takes – I repeat, whatever I propose it eat, it does so immediately. There are no limitations in the files it can handle. I like that all that I put into Together lives on my ‘puter. I know this goes against the whole “must-have-ubiquitous-access-to all-my-info-at-all-times-cool-kids-mantra” that’s out there. But since I spend most of my time away from my home at work, I should be working and not surfing through all my stuff that is at home…
Just a thought.
I’m not trying to proselytize by any means. I have just found that for my purposes, Together offers all that Evernote offers that is necessary for me. Done. End of story.
PS – Found your site a few days ago. En. Joy. It.
js
Howdy James.
I love alternative ideas. The one I hear most is Yojimbo, though I’ve seen Together’s name pop up in the anything bucket discussions.
One of my biggest uses for Evernote these days is to store receipts, and it’s awfully handy to have them anywhere.
But, yes, the interface leaves something to be desired. It’s not necessarily *awful*… but it could be *so* much cleaner.
Thanks for reading