Evernote Never Forgets

My first meeting with Evernote took place some years ago (as listed in my 'Note’), and I have been using it continually, often several times a day.

Before that when I need to remember some information, I used to reach for my pen and trusty note pad in my shirt pocket, and write a name, phone number, and email address.
This notepad system was not efficient; information became difficult to find, it would become full, and I'd have to replace it. If I hadn't transferred the information to my computer at home, I'd be out of luck.
I needed a small program that could receive, store and retrieve my items.
Evernote has not disappointed.
Most people use it to save ideas, articles, tasks, or photos, sync. them on all their computers, then manage and retrieve them when needed.
Here are a couple of examples from my ‘early days’ with Evernote:
- - I was in a panic: my printer cartridge had given up its last drop of ink, and I didn't remember the steps to insert a new one, which I had. The printer manual could not be found, so I had to visit the user forum for my printer model, to find the procedure.
I couldn't believe my luck, when I saw the list had a YouTube presentation, which I clicked on, and found it was exactly what I was looking for!
I changed the cartridge and completed my printing task.
However, I had forgotten ONE important step: I had not noted and saved the title and URL of the procedure.
Next time, Dear Reader, after repeating all the steps (panic, user forum, YouTube), I saved that vital information in Evernote, and have had to refer to it on many occasions!
- - Last year, I was reading about trends in using computers in education on the 'BBC News' site. The Ministry of Education in the U-K had just mandated that all students — from elementary to University — would receive instruction in Coding, beginning the next Fall semester. (Remember BASIC?)
Because of the sweeping nature of this announcement, there was a lot of discussion among techies, educators, parents, and older students. I wanted to read as much as I could, so I clipped several stories (and their URLs) and listed them in Evernote.
- - I needed to prepare notes on a book I was reading for a class. My fingers do not operate properly, and my typing skills are poor. I located the chapter I had read, turned on my iPhone, and using the ’Siri’ system, began reviewing the material and dictating my notes.
(I am composing this blog using the same process.)
I then saved my notes in Evernote, which were automatically synchronized to my iMac and iPod touch.
Evernote is organized on three levels: Notebooks, Tags, and Notes. I have not done detailed work on Notebooks, except for Learning that many people use for major subdivisions, such as Home, Business, Hobbies.
I use Tags to store information on such topics as: computers, food, books, music, prayers, Skype, vehicle, web design, and even seniors.
In music, for example, I save the title and URL of my favorite songs, most of which are out of print, but are available on YouTube. I can play trhem on demand.
My vital information on web design is available instantly, and my favourite prayers and Bible passages are with me all the time.
There are literally hundreds of sources to learn about Evernote, from basics to advanced levels, and I cite a few:
- - ‘Getting Started with Evernote’ - where you can select the name of your platform (mine is for the Mac);
- - ‘Dotto Demo - Introduction to Evernote’ - the first of Steve Dotto’s series of excellent presentations and seminars, from Vancouver.
I invite you to try Evernote!
Hope you find it useful.
My next project is to install and learn the Evernote ‘Web Clipper’ to carry out that task quickly and efficiently, then learn to draw using ‘Skitch.’