About 3 years ago I found the first tool that truly comes close to delivering on a paper free life. The application,
called "Evernote", has since become my favorite tool for keeping my life organized. Evernote captures every type of thing that we might want to access anytime in the future. Webpages, emails, notes, pictures, videos, recordings, and documents become available everywhere I go, in my home office, on my cell phone, tablet, or any computer with access to the web anywhere in the world. Email and calendars have been used for a very long time to try to accomplish these organizational tasks. While this was helpful, they are adapted to doing things that they are principally not designed for.
Organization is nothing with out the ability to find something later.
Over the years I have always had trouble finding things months or even years into the future from when I actually received them. I received the final invoice from the installer who put in our tile floors. Normally, I might put that into a file folder and into my file cabinet but did I put that under the house address or under vendors or .... Evernote allows me to scan that document, store it in a folder and tag it with several different tags depending on how I might search for it.
I have nearly emptied my file cabinet as I have been scanning recently received paper like receipts, warranties, product manuals, insurance documents, tax source documents, etc. You know how receipts that you keep for awhile can fade but if you scan them they will be kept forever in that original, legible, condition. Once they are scanned into an Evernote Folder and tagged with various different terms you might search for them they become easy to retrieve later.
A Project Notebook
or physical (like materials). I was shopping for a video security system for my house. I went to Home Depot. With my Evernote App on my phone I took a picture of their options including price tags and it was automatically stored in my default folder in Evernote that I call "inbox". Then I went to Lowe's, Sam's and BJ's doing the same thing. When I returned home I logged on to my computer, to Evernote and found that those pictures with the information were already synchronized there. I created a folder called "Home Security" and moved them all there until I had time to review and make a choice. I then read some reviews on each system online clipping the web pages with the info and storing them in the same folder with the pictures I had taken. I can do this with all kinds of projects and all kinds of notes.
Collecting ideas.
I get ideas all the time. While I'm walking or driving or having a meal, etc. I don't want to lose that idea
even though I cannot act on it just now. I could write it down on a piece of paper, if I had one and a pen and could find that paper later. Or I can, click a single button on my phone and make an audio note to review later. I can even add an alert for later to remind me to review it and add one or more tags so I know what may be in that audio note before I listen to it. My phone has a voice to text option in the keyboard so that I can dictate the note instead of recording it.
I hate finding ways to store warranties and product Manuals
I recently bought a new sound system for my TV. It came with two different manuals. One for the receiver itself and one for the speakers. Even the size/form factor of these two manuals didn't align with each other for storage. I was dreading the idea of scanning each one of these. Fortunately, most manufacturing companies store their manuals online. I was able to visit their site and download the two manuals in PDF format and store them in Evernote for easy retrieval. I have been able to do the same with nearly everything that I have purchased in recent years.
Clipping
Evernote allows me to clip web pages and store them for future reading and retrieval. I have a read later folder in Evernote. They also have plugins for Gmail and Outlook that allow me to clip email messages to Evernote for easy retrieval and grouping with other items of similar themes.
Embedding
As I collect things I sometimes want to share them with others. Since Evernote works both locally on my machine and on the cloud, I can embed a link in an email or a Facebook post that can be accessed by others with a special public link provided by Evernote, on demand.
Document syncing
Fewest steps is the road to organization. Similar to Drop Box, Google Drive and Sky Drive, with Evernote you can designate one or more folders on your desktop hard drive to sync with folders in Evernote. I have only one, that I call "Inbox" where all of my documents are saved to. These are automatically saved to my Inbox folder in Evernote for me to view and sort later.
Cross platform and always available
As noted above Evernote has a desktop app for both Windows and Apple laptops as well as for tablets and smartphones for Android and IOS. Each of these sync to a web server and are available through any web browser.
Comparisons
I compared Evernote to the above named cloud file storage systems as well as other note collecting and storage systems such as "Springboard" and "OneNote" and still found the features that I wanted of simplicity, multiple note types and multiple means for capturing notes and cross platform retrieval to be far better with Evernote. Springboard and OneNote do have nicer screens but are not as flexible or as powerful as Evernote.
No more...
I find that I have saved enormous time in not having to search for things or request copies of things. I have no more papers on my desk. Any business card, document, note, list or idea that comes across is immediately stored in Evernote. Retrieval is a snap.
Free and Pro
I started with the free version and quickly went pro when I found out how much value I was getting out of it.
Check out Evernote.com and let me know what you think.
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