I've been using Evernote for more than a year now and it's become an increasingly important part of my work routine.
Evernote software allows you to type notes, copy text, save screen shots and store photos. You can even store voice recordings and "handwritten" notes. It's available as a free, easy-to-install download.
All the information your store with the Evernote software can be backed-up on their servers and accessed via virtually any web browser. Versions of the software are also available for a very wide range of mobile phone operating systems, which again can automatically synchronise with your data storage on the Evernote servers.
But will you use it?
That was the question I first asked myself. I quickly found out the answer was yes. The primary reason being is that it makes it so quick and easy to save useful items of information. Just those sort of items that in the past you may have written on a sheet of paper or saved in a folder, then never have been able to find again.
Evernote allows you to quickly store information in "notebooks" that you can create to suit your particular needs. All this information is also searchable, you can even search for text within images.
How do I use Evernote?
There are four key areas where Evernote has really helped me:
1) Preparing articles like this one. You can quickly "clip" related information from web pages and documents. Start sketching out the structure of your article. Write individual paragraphs. Even complete the whole article. All the information is in one secure, easy to access place. Which is especially useful if you want to develop the article over an extended period of time.
2) Saving key sections from emails and letters. How many times have you rewritten virtually the same paragraph because you couldn't find the place you originally used it? Evernote has allowed me to quickly save and retrieve those those treasured snippets. A massive time saver.
3) Have you every searched through a PC or software user guide to find a vital piece of advice and then have to repeat the process again a couple of months later? With Evernote, I've found it really easy to store and retrieve the particular instructions that are useful to me.
4) Inspirational thoughts, neat ideas, great quotations. I couldn't begin to count the number I've come across then lost track of. Evernote has helped me to build up a store of little inspirational gems.
I'm sure there must be dozens of other ways in which people use Evernote. If your already an Evernote user, please let us know about your favourite application below.
What Does It Cost?
There is no cost to download the software and the free Evernote subscription allows you to upload up to 60MB of data to their servers every month. The $5 per month Premium version extends that to 1GB per month.
Conclusion
The thing that has really made Evernote important to me, is the speed with which you can save, organise and retrieve, even the smallest items of information.
Evernote have just passed 8 million users. In the next few weeks that could hit 10 million users, I'd strongly recommend that you're one of them.
