Evernote
Dec 29, 11:09 PM by Eric Allen
I really can’t say enough good things about Evernote, the online note-taking application I ran into a few weeks ago. It’s not just online, it’s on my iPhone, my Mac, my other Mac, the PC I rarely use, and I can even send notes in via email! I’ve finally found a place I can keep all of my random thoughts and notes that organizes them well and is accessible from anywhere. Oh, and as a bonus I can record audio and photo notes, and it even searches for text inside the photos! I can take a snapshot of a whiteboard from my iPhone, and have it searchable within minutes. Evernote does everything I could ask for, and more.
Let’s start with basic text notes. When I have an idea, a thought about a project, or some notes I need to take about what I’m working on, I launch the Evernote application. Command+N gets me to a new note, I throw a title and a few tags in, and I’m immediately writing a note with rich text formatting and checklists! The tags are a huge plus for me: I can organize all of my notes and index them without even thinking about it. When I want to go back and review notes about a specific project, I just click on its tag and instantly I have a list of what I want to see. I can select multiple tags at once to narrow the field even tighter. If Evernote just handled text notes and synchronization with multiple computers, I would be sold.
Nothing’s cooler than having an iPhone app, right? Well, Evernote’s app delivers exceptionally well. I hadn’t bothered to purchase a voice recording application yet, and boy was that a good move! Now, when I’m on the go, I can whip out my iPhone and be recording a voice note straight into Evernote in seconds. I can add tags and textual notes to make the audio easier to find in the future, and I’m on my way. I can’t believe how awesome this feature is. But wait, there’s more! In addition to handling text nearly as well as the desktop version, and making audio recording a snap, Evernote for the iPhone lets you take pictures of things as notes and search them later! It did an impressive job on a few of my whiteboard snapshots, and my handwriting isn’t very good. Evernote for the iPhone on its own is worth a few bucks in the App Store, but even it is free!
Last but not least, the synchronization is perfect. No matter where I am, I have all of my notes at my fingertips, and the interface is optimized for the device I’m using. The Mac client is a beautiful piece of software, the iPhone app is well optimized, and the web version seems almost as good as the Mac! Now I never have to think about where my notes are—they’re with me wherever I go. Awesome.
Evernote is already an amazing product, and I think it’s clear that it will only get better. They just launched document synchronization, so you can keep your documents with you everywhere, too! I’m already very happy with this free product, and I will have no qualms about upgrading to their $5/month plan if and when I need it. Thank you Evernote for making my life easier!
