Hello friends! Just a quick post today to explain a little more about my very favorite app. It’s called Evernote, and I literally use it at least 10-20 times a day. Here are a few details on when I use it, how I organize it into sections, and how I would recommend you get started–if you’d like to give it a try.
1) When I Use Evernote
I think of Evernote as my digital filing cabinet…. It holds things like screen shots, PDFs, photos I want to tag/label/keep for a specific reason, drafts or notes for projects, scans of important documents, ideas, etc.
A lot of our community members have asked me whether they should use Asana or Evernote, and this is part of the reason I’m writing this post. I believe you need BOTH.
Asana is for project and task management.
Evernote is for project and task support materials.
They work in tandem, and I’ll explain a little more below!
(2) How I Organize Evernote into Sections
When I first created my free Evernote account, I had one notebook called “April’s General Notes,” and everything went in there.
I didn’t know why I would need it or what kinds of things would find their way into my notes, so I just kept it simple.
After a few months, I realized that some categories were naturally starting to develop, so I created a few additional notebooks and moved some things around.
Now, after more than 5 years inside Evernote (as a Premium user), this is what my notebooks look like:
The labels that have a little book icon next to them are “notebooks,” and the ones that have the three stacked lines are “notebook stacks”—which contain a few notebooks inside.
Each time I hit that little green plus sign and add a note, I decide which notebook will hold it. Notebook stacks simply add an additional level of categorization.
The beautiful part about this is that I can create notes throughout the day with very little effort, and I can find them easily whenever I need them. Plus, they can hold audio files, photos, videos, text, etc. Ahhh, I love it!
(3) How You Could Get Started
There are other apps out there that you can use, besides Evernote, manage all your digital resources, so obviously you’ll need to decide which one is best for you, but if you wanted to give this a shot, here’s what I recommend:
- Create a free Evernote account (This is our affiliate link, if you’d like to support LearnDoBecome in the process…but that’s not why I’m writing this 🙂).
- Start using Evernote instead of your “notes” app to hold pieces of information you want/need to access in the near future—especially things like screen shots that can easily get lost in your camera roll.
- Try the audio, photo, video, PDF features, etc. and then try searching for notes, rearranging them, creating new notebooks, etc.
- If you love it, upgrade to the Premium version and start using it in a bigger way.
I don’t use a lot of apps because I like to keep my life/phone simple, but this is one that has CONSISTENTLY served me for years, and I highly, highly recommend it!
If you have more questions, please put them here in the comments, and I can write another post in the future to help out as much as I can!
Enjoy, good luck, and happy organizing!!
-April
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Super helpful! Thanks! I tired Evernote in the past and got confused but this is starting to make sense. Will try it again. Thanks, April!
On youtube Carl Pullian has many many video from very beginning on very simple and clear teaching
I have Evernot and have not been able to get into it it really seems like another time suck! how do you you learn to use it so it is not just another place to stick things that ypu then Say” Where is that I know I put it some where” ?
Great question, Lois–The key is to have it work WITH your STEP Command Central. Have you had the chance to build yours yet?
I have had Evernote for awhile — I even have Premium — and I even have a lot of notes/notebooks/stacks in it. But I wanted it to be all the things. The one, the only. So, I have tried too hard to use it as a todo list tool as well. That did not work for me — so I moved on to something(s) else (I’m just terrible at sticking to one thing).
But, this simple overview spoke to me:
Asana is for project and task management.
Evernote is for project and task support materials.
Yes. This^.
Ok, I’m giving it another go now.
Thank you!
Yay!! Awesome, Renee. 🙂
Hi, I have Evernote Premium but I know I don’t know how to use it with all it’s capabilities. I’ve even taken some online Evernote trainings – but I need more training.
I totally get it, and we’d love to help! This is a comment I just left here earlier for another “Rita.” 🙂 I’ll paste it again: I am doing a live training soon inside our STEP Mastery Facebook group. Are you in there, by chance? If you’re not yet a member, you can search “Asana” and “Evernote” in the search bar at the top of the website and see the other podcasts, videos, etc. we have for you there! (There are lots of helpful resources we’ve created over the years…) Enjoy!!
Can you explain more about how you use Asana and Evernote together as a system, ie, when do you use Asana? Thanks!
Hi Rita! I am doing a live training soon inside our STEP Mastery Facebook group. Are you in there, by chance? If you’re not yet a member, you can search “Asana” and “Evernote” in the search bar at the top of the website and see the other podcasts, videos, etc. we have for you there! (There are lots of helpful resources we’ve created over the years…) Enjoy!!
It has been a game changer for me. I’m in the midst of my Doctoral Dissertation and have so many irons in the fire. I see something of interest and don’t have time for it now and have a place to click and save it. I have about 8 notebooks with various categories and you have a tag feature so you can cross reference across your notebooks. Love it and Thanks!
Love it, Sandy!! Good luck with your dissertation! Huge project. 🙂 Glad you have things organized to support your work!
If you are already in the Office 365 environment, then consider OneNote as an alternative to Evernote. Your O365 subscription gives you access to the full OneNote product, which gives you all of the functionality of the premium/paid Evernote subscription levels.
I used both programs for a while, until Evernote moved many of the features I used from their free product over to paid. That pushed me to consolidate everything into OneNote, and I’ve since found OneNote to be more powerful, and it doesn’t cost me anything extra. OneNote is also fairly well integrated into other Microsoft products, like Outlook, Planner, Teams, etc, and they are improving the integrations more and more over time. That makes it simply work better for me than Evernote did.
Awesome, Michael! I’ve heard great things about OneNote, but I don’t use Office 365 and don’t have experience with it. Love that OneNote is working beautifully for you!
I love One Note because I am also a Microsoft user. One feature I really like is that now I can access it across all my devices: PC, phone, tablet even they are 3 different operating systems! So my notes are always with me.
Started using it for work as well and went from a 3 ring binder that I had to carry around with me to a One Note notebook. So handy.
I can still use some of the concepts that April shares for Evernote when she does the training. And Evernote users probably benefit from all the features I mentioned above.
Fantastic!! Love this, Susan!
Michael or April,
I also use Office 365 and started using OneNote because it looked very similar to Evernote as April was describing it. How is OneNote/Evernote used differently than OneDrive? It seems like Stacks/Notebooks are like another form of folders/files with more functionality to add things. Is there a specific thought process to distinguish what kinds of items go into *Note vs OneDrive?
I just signed up for Evernote. Can you please create a training for using it?
I started using Evernote over the summer. Then, when school started I decided to start adding things that I may need to refer to in the future, articles I come across, class lists, bus lists, etc. The search feature is amazing. I can take a photo of a paper and if I search “bus” or a child’s name- it finds it! This means less paper, and finding everything easily – and it is always with me! Game changer and we are only in week 2!
Yay!!! So awesome, Julie!!
How would compare this to just using Google Drives along with Sheets ?
Great question! I do have Google Drive on my phone, and I use it occasionally, but I’ve found that it’s really difficult to add multiple photos/PDFs, etc., and it’s clunky to edit on a phone. Google Drive is amazing on my computer, and we use it in our business a lot, but the mobile element (up to this point) is why I’ve been using Evernote. That being said, if Google Drive is managing all your notes/details without stress, keep it up!
April, have you looked closely at Remember the Milk?
I used it for two years until four years ago. I was finding it limiting, so I looked around, for example, at Todoist.
I switched to Trello for a few years and then concluded it wasn’t offering me the flexibility I wanted, especially in tasks and subtasks.
I looked around again — just this past June. With assistance from a friend in reviewing the options out there, and ultimately his strong recommendation, I wound up returning to Remember the Milk.
I don’t know to what degree I wasn’t using it to my advantage four years ago — or to what degree they improved it. But this time, I find it … phenomenal. Entering tasks and subtasks, using both single categories and multiple tags, and reminders, and incredible flexibility in sorting .. it blows me away how incredible it is. And the best part, for me, as someone who can add tasks, more tasks, and many more tasks and subtasks, the app presents my entries in a way that really helps to avoid making it *look overwhelming.
Hi Dennis! I have heard awesome things about “Remember the Milk”! I personally haven’t used it because I haven’t had a pain point that my current system isn’t handling, but I love that it’s working for you! I think when you find an app that you love (and that lights you up when you open it), you’ve got a winner. 🙂 Thanks for sharing this!
I have a similar organization in the Notes app on my iPhone. Can you cover how Evernote would make this better for me in the training? Thanks.
Awesome, Betsy! A few questions, if you don’t mind…
(1) Are you able to add PDFs, photos, voice memos, etc. to your current notes app?
(2) Do you create notebooks/notebook stacks?
(3) Does it let you tag the notes?
(4) Can you share the notes with people–by creating a public link?
Those are some of the main reasons I switched to Evernote–plus being able to sync to multiple devices. But they keep improving the apps each year, so if your current system is already working, I would stick with it! 🙂
I have the free Evernote, but I immediately ran up against a wall, both with what it could handle in the free version and understanding what the heck was happening to my info! The learning curve seems pretty steep, but thanks for talking on this today, as they have a deal running right now for upgrading, and I need to decide soon! I kind of want to use what you are using, because you are so spot on in every way in which you handle communication with us! I trust you! I just don’t trust myself (especially when I have to pay into infinity for it)!
You are not alone, Kathie! 🙂 Deciding on the “right” app is an important decision. Some others have left great comments on this post discussing OneNote and the native Apple Notes app that lets you create folders/organize it like Evernote on your phone. If you’re just getting started with STEP, you may want to take some time to really get the Command Central and the processing down, and then you can figure out how much you want to digitize. The idea is that Evernote (or whatever you decide to use) will save you so much time and money–and give you the bandwidth to grow in your profession/management of money that it will pay for itself many times over. But I’m guessing Evernote will have periodic sales, so I would just start with what feels “good” and then grow from there into what feels exciting/helpful for you. Sending you a huge hug!!
Hi April!
Every week I look forward to receiving your weekly emails. Hope everything is going well with you!
I signed up for the Premium version of Evernote during the summer (after having Evernote since 2013) and have some notebooks in there, but I have been pretty happy with the Apple Notes on my iPhone and laptop and decided to stick with Apple Notes. Even more after the IOS13 update last year. I will not renew my premium subscription with Evernote next year.
As a self-employed person, I don’t need to share anything with any team, so the minimalistic aspect of the folders in Apple Notes is more than enough for me. There are a lot of extras in Evernote, that I don’t need so it just looks a bit crowded in my opinion. Same thing with Waze over Google Maps. Google Maps looks cleaner to me and has just what I need. 🙂
I have everything organized in Folders, indented accordingly, and the quick access, search, etc. works great. For quick notes, I don’t use voice memo, but use dictation on my “quick jot down” note.
Thank you so much for all you do for us. I love your ideas and my Command Central is working really well!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Karina!! And I love that the Apple Notes is working well for you! I think the way they have folders set up–and the features they’ve added–make this an awesome solution. We appreciate you sharing your success!!
Karina, can you share how you add sub folders in Notes ? I couldn’t figure it out.
Hi Gini! This link show how to create a subfolder on an iPad https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/search-and-organize-notes-ipadc44c8c4a/ipados. I think the process would be similar on the iPhone. Hopefully that helps!
Hello! I’m new to the STEP program and I am loving it❣️ I’ve started with Evernote, the free version, but I can’t figure out how to make stacks. Also, I made an account with Asana that I want to use for my personal lists, but it said that my email sounded like it was a personal account (which it is) and that I should be using this for business!? I want to play by the rules, lol 😆 I’m moving slowly through the STEP program but it’s already helped me a lot❤️
Thank you 😊
Great question–if you drag one notebook onto another one, it will create a stack, which you can then name as you’d like. I think you need to do this on a desktop, but I’m sure there’s a mobile way, too…. I think Asana is fine if you use a personal email, but they’re trying to make the process as user-friendly as possible. A business account lets you do “teams,” I believe. Those kinds of questions should hopefully be able to be answered on the Asana site/knowledgebase, though, as I’m not an expert on all of that. 🙂 Good luck!!!
I was able to convert my Asana account to a business account by going to the instructions right in Asana itself. (I have the free version). This was a few months ago and I can’t quite remember how I did it but the instructions are there. I do remember they were a bit odd and I couldn’t see where they were going but it worked!! I am a self employed bookkeeper and so far I am the only person on my “team”.
I like evernote but have not found a way to share what i store/write like i can in apple notes so I have gone back to notes for things i want to share/text/email to people.
Also the checklists I make in Evernote don’t look like that in another form if I copy and paste them somewhere else (since I can’t share them) Is there something I’m missing?
Hi Sarah! I’m not 100% sure on the checklist copy/paste feature. I’ve found it’s similar if I send an Apple Note to Evernote…. The checkboxes lose their form. I’ve started using anything checkmark related inside Asana, and that’s solved it for me. Hope that helps!
I am learning Evernote and really like it. I had hoped it would work for “project management” as well. Do you recommend Asana for team project management or would you also recommend it for “one-person” project management?
Hi Alta! I think Asana is awesome for individual or group project management. I didn’t use it until I had a team, but then I quickly set up our children with accounts, and it’s been a game changer. 🙂 And their free version is great!
I identify with Renee. I can get excited over implied simplicity and overwhelmed by follow through. I don’t quite get the Asana/ Evernote difference, but I want to. So, I like your description about simply opening an account and tossing everything into Evernote and waiting a while before i try to sort things into categories.
One unrelated inquiry please April? What is an associate link?
I’m happy to credit and support LearnDoBecome, but I’m not sure what that means. Thank you for mentioning this, as I am always eager to offer true support where its deserved.
Thanks Lisa! Our affiliate link just means that our company’s information is attached to that link, and a small percentage of your purchase (if you purchase) goes to LearnDoBecome (paid to us a few times a year from Evernote). We don’t do a lot of affiliate work, but some links, like Amazon, other online programs, etc. are tied to us and provide us an affiliate payment, and by law we make sure we disclose that up front so no one thinks we’re trying to trick them in order to earn money. We just believe in certain products and occasionally help market them via the website.
Hi April,
Getting started in your STEP several months ago, I got the free version of Evernote. I downloaded all the notebooks format that you had. From there whenever I would try to use it, I ended up with everything still in “my notebook”. Seems I have to know go individually to each item and figure out how to move it.
Seems I need more a basic training on how to use it. I did put some receipts and photos and notes, but now there is no organization. I download Asana but don’t think I have used it from a day or 2 of download. I think I just didn’t know what I would use it for.
With moving and getting married, I got stumped and haven’t really got my command center started yet. I have a skeleton of it, but it isn’t in use yet. My plan was kind of get notes started in evernote for priorities and projects that I have, and then I could transfer to my paper command when I got it going properly.
So I have a lot of room for growth. Looking forward to any new training on evernote that you do.
Also I want to use it primarily with my phone. At my day job (if I ever get back to working in the office) many sites that save info are blocked on our internet bec I work in healthcare and they have to make sure no data gets out. So I have to access from my phone and outside of wifi.
Hi Elizabeth! So glad you’re here! It sounds like you’ve had a ton going on. 🙂 I would recommend starting with your Command Central in an Hour (Module 1 of the program) and going through the basic STEP program before jumping into Evernote and Asana. But then when you do, Evernote will let you select and move/label bulk messages, so you could go through and do a quick sort and put things into the proper notebooks. I’ve done that a couple of times. Asana and Evernote are both awesome on your phone, so those would work with your internet limitations at work. Soooo grateful you’re here!!
Hi April! The one thing I do not like about Evernote is that the items do not stay in any particular order as they do on my computer once in a folder. Is there a way to fix that? (I have Premium, if that makes a difference.)
For instance, the downloads you gave us to set up our CC are downloaded and being used, but I’d like them to stay put in a particular order when I open that folder so I don’t have to search for what I’m looking for. I know I can search by using the tags, but it seems a waste of time – unless I can’t find where I put it.
I’ve tried looking online but haven’t found the answer, and none of my friends use Evernote, so I’d love some help with that please!
Thank you in advance. Also, much gratitude for taking the time to answer our questions. I trust you are feeling better. 🙂
Hey Marilyn! For notes that you want in order, you could number them and then select “sort alphabetically.” I’m not super familiar with this, as most of my notes don’t need to be in a certain order, but mine usually are sorted by the most recently updated. That can be changed, though. 🙂
Evernote defaults to sorting by the order notes were updated. You can change it to sort by creation date, note title, tags, and a few others. You’ll have to poke around in the program or app to find the sort option, it’s in a different place in the desktop version than in the app, and than in the web interface. When I have a group of notes that need to be in a certain order, I usually give them names that sort easily (like “Topic Blog 01,” “Topic Blog 02,” etc. E.g “Homeschool Math – Abeka 01” I’ll often put the numbering at the beginning, especially if my note titles are all different. Adding zeros in front of single digits helps things to sort in the correct order, (this applies to Microsoft Windows folder and document organization, too). I also create a unique tag for that particular series of notes so that I can search that tag, then see only the notes in that series, then I sort by title. I actually use tags very heavily.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
What about One note?
Yes! We’ve had a few others comment on this post saying they love it. 🙂 I haven’t personally used OneNote, but I believe it has many similar features and can do the job beautifully for you!
Thank you for this handy tip on notes organization. I use Notes but wow is it overloaded and finding things is a bear. My question about Evernote, is about its storage and Cloud access. I know that my notes in Note are all on the Cloud, but I want to know if saving things on Evernote is automatically saved with the usual phone backup, or if there is an additional step as there is sometimes with other apps. I always want to know that a phone glitch or malfunction will not delete everything I organize. 🙂
Great question, Danielle! Evernote does back up to the cloud, so it is instantly available on any devices connected to Evernote. If I were to lose my phone, I wouldn’t lose any of my synced notes (and they sync automatically….).
I love Evernote I screenshot a lot so then I can forward it to a specific category and it isn’t lost on my photo feed
Yes!! So awesome. Way to go!
Dear April,
thanks very much for this post!
“Asana is for project and task management.
Evernote is for project and task support materials.”
Made it crystal clear, how these two go together!
I have one question similar to the one stated before on the different usage of google drive and Evernote. Could you detail this a little more? would you agree, that things kept in evernote are support materials that are “completed”, that you want to keep/work with but not work on? Something you are working on, as for example an article you are writing, would be kept in google drive?
thanks in advance! Christine
Thanks Christine! Great question. I personally only keep something in Google Drive if multiple people are editing it. For my articles and things that are “in progress” in Evernote, I have a folder for all creative content marketing, and then I have an “archive” folder where I can move it when it’s done. However, I’ve found that I don’t really need the archive folder because I can sort by date created, and the folders don’t feel overwhelming to me. You can obviously set this up however it works for you, but that’s the current working plan over here. 🙂
I am wondering about a calendar in Evernote. I am just looking at this.
Evernote does not have a calendar built-in, but there are alarms or reminders you can link to notes so that alerts will pop up to remind you to check the note. Hope that helps!
I would love to have another post like this about Asana. I use Evernote and I love it but I think I need to start using Asana too instead of keeping my projects listed in Evernote.
Thanks,
Cassie
Hi, Cassie! Thanks for the suggestion! In the meantime, we have some great resources here on the website for Asana. You can see them here, https://learndobecome.com/?s=asana. If you’re part of our Mastery program, you can also see a recent video where April shares more in depth about how she uses Evernote and Asana together. We’d love to support you there if it’s a good fit for you. Thanks for being with us here at LearnDoBecome!
I have downloaded Evernote on my phone. Unfortunately I have not found a simple tutorial on how to use it. Where do you suggest I look for simple easy to useWhere do you suggest I look for simple easy to use training? I am retired and only need it for personal use and appointments. I am retired and only need it for personal use and appointments. Do you think another type of notetaking organizer would be better Do you think another type of notetaking organizer would be better for me ? I recently ordered your step Program and not quite sure where to start. It is very challenging for me to get motivated. I really enjoy your podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your kind assistance. Diane
Hi Diane! Thanks for reaching out to us. There are some great tutorials on the Evernote website as well as on YouTube. (https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/categories/10681-Using-Evernote or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJRZ-mZMFqg) Inside your STEP program there is a tutorial and some premade templates that can help you get started. It can take a little time to get used to but there are other options available if this one doesn’t seem like a good fit.
As for getting started, do you have your login details? We’re happy to resend them if it’s helpful. Send a message to email(at)learndobecome(dot)com and we’ll take care of you. Once you’re logged in, there a short welcome video from April as well as an audio overview. Scroll down from there to see the first step. Please let us know if you have any questions along the way. We’re so glad you’re here!
Hi, April & team!
I really appreciate all your support, as I’m faltering with just getting started with this new system.
I toyed with EverNote for a while several years ago, at my son’s suggestion, but never really got into using it extensively. Now, with your recommendation, I’m trying it again, even though I have an extensive library of information built up in Notes. However, I’ve run into a few snags that are holding me back from a full-on conversion:
> Every time the screen on my phone turns off (like, after 1 minute) I get kicked out of Evernote, so I can’t just tap my screen and pick up where I left off. I have to re-open the app every time and wait for it to load AGAIN before I can get back to what I was doing. SOOO annoying! (And it ALWAYS takes a LONG time to load!)
> I’ve created a few Stacks, but since I’m still developing my system, the organization of it is ever-changing. However, I have NOT been able to figure out how to simply change the name of a Stack! It seems like it should be obvious, right?
> Is there any way to create folders within Notebooks, or is it just the 3 levels: Notes, Notebooks & Stacks?
> Can I modify the default format of numbered & bulleted lists? (eg, I don’t like to have them indented, because it wastes too much space.)
> I sent a note from Notes, but it lost all my formatting!! (NOT a checklist – just bolds and indents, etc) 😟 Is there any way to avoid that? As I said, I have an extensive library of information in Notes and if I have to go back and reformat everything after I move it over, that’s a HUGE job!
Thanks for any help you can give. I just want to see if anyone else has run into these kinds of challenges.
Thanks for this detailed info April. I love all your life info. Maybe if I would create my notebooks in Evernote I wouldn’t lose them, like what just happened when my phone updated and deleted everything from the general notes app on my phone. Super frustrating. Alllll gone!
Like others have commented above, I found this nugget of wisdom *extremely* helpful:
Asana is for project and task management.
Evernote is for project and task support materials.
I have long been trying to figure out what to use for what. Thank you!
Beth, we’re so glad to hear that this was helpful to you! Thanks for being with us!