#ever123: how to use evernote to organize your life

#ever123 :How To Use Evernote

to Totally Transform Organize Your Life

a delightful presentation by @laughtercrystal

Evernote&

@laughtercrystal:a love story

Prologue

Like all modern romances,

this one started with an app:

An Annotation App.

Skitch was incredibly intuitive, so I followed their brand.

Shortly thereafter, they hooked up with Evernote, and I immediately knew that this was

the start of a beautiful friendship.

Skitch!

Evernote

Evernote to the Rescue!

a video introductionhttp://bit.ly/everRescue

I was born in 1983

That puts me right at the beginning of “Gen Y.”

I think technology should be able to do anything!

How can we NOT KNOWif Nessie exists?

How have we NOT BEEN to the bottom of the Mariana Trench?*

*Pre-James Cameron’s tweet****Also pre-Twitter

How can Windows NOT SEARCHwithin my Excel Spreadsheets?

How do we NOT KNOW where sharks go in the winter?

I had questions.

Evernote is what I was looking for.

Evernote is for everybody!

It’ll work with any pre-established productivity/organizationsystems you may already follow...

...or no system at all!

Two fundamentals of Evernote:

Input/Output

Deposit/Withdrawal

Collect/Select

Gather/Retrieve

Add/Search File/Find

Two fundamentals of Evernote:

1. Putting stuff in via many methods

2. Quickly finding exactly what you want

aha!

Adding stuff to Evernote:

- Email- Text (SMS)

- Tweet (@myEN)- Evernote Desktop Application (Mac, Windows)

- Evernote Mobile App (iPhone, Android)- Website (evernote.com)

- Web clipper (Browser extension/bookmarklet)- ifttt recipe (ifttt.com/evernote)

- etc. (trunk.evernote.com)Pro Tip: Create an easy-to-remember email account thatauto-forwards to your evernote email (which has lots ofnumbers), in case you’re ever without your saved contacts.

Adding stuff to Evernote:

Accumulative storage is unlimited*—only new uploads count towards your monthly limit

Evernote Basic: 60MB.

Evernote Premium: 1G

* Okay, there are limits, but they're REALLY high.

Evernote Basic Evernote Premium

Pro Tip: When nearing month's endwith a large upload allowance left, take advantage by uploading referencematerial, add photos to recipes, etc.

Finding stuff in Evernote

The search function is what makes Evernote amazing!

- All text (obviously)- Tags, Notebooks, etc.

- Even searches text in photos/PDFs!

I knew it was possible!

Finding stuff in Evernote

Have faith in the search—don’t go crazy with the tags!

Anything that is a word in your note is already searchable as a keyword, so a tag would be superfluous.

No need to tag all the things!

The Three Levels of Organizers

Chances are, you fall into one of three categories:

- Level One Organizer

- Level Two Organizer

- Level Three Organizer (aka “Monica”)

Which one are you?

Level One Organizer

“It is while trying to get everything straight in my head that I get confused.”

― Mary Virginia Micka

Level One Organizer

You hate organizing, you don’t have time for organizing,

and the only reason you ever even consider doing anything about organizing is because your disorganization

is causing big problems for your work or your life in general.

Level One Organizer

Evernote behavior:

Dump everything in, one notebook, no tags

- All your info is available on all your devices- All stuff can be instantly searched and retrieved- No confusing keyword/tag/notebook hierarchy

Level Two Organizer

You’ve got to think of the big things while you’re doing small things,

so that all the small things go in the right direction.

—Alvin Toffler

Level Two Organizer

You have one of these at home:

You probably have to hunt around a bit when you are lookingfor something important, but at least you know that it’s there,

and if you start from one end go all the way back, you’ll eventually stumble upon whatever label

jogs your memory to say, “Oh, that’s totally the file I’d have put my

dog rabies vaccination certificate in!”

And you’re almost always right.

Level Two Organizer

Evernote Behavior:

- Create multiple Notebooks! - Tag stuff and things!

Pro Tip: Start small, then go big—better toadd “brain dump” searchable keywordsand phrases within your notes than to endup with dozens of notebooks and no wayof cross-referencing between them.

Level Two Organizer

Separate Notebook IF:

- You’d never want to see those notes in same context- You want to share more than one note with someone else

Pro Tip: Use short, obvious names tomake it easy to email notes quicklyusing subject line codes (e.g.: “@work”instead of “@Brown & Company).

You can organize notebooks into stacks

Tag IF:

- It’s not a KEYWORD—think genre!- You will use that same tag in same context on other notes

Level Two Organizer

Possible Tags:- Action- Movie

- Christmas

Already keywords:- Awesome- Die Hard

Pro Tip: Use short, obvious names tomake it easy to email notes quickly usingsubject line codes (e.g.: “#movie” insteadof “#top movie recommendations”).

Level Three Organizer

Rule your mind or it will rule you.

—Horace

Level Three Organizer

You’re an organization junkie!You’ve experimented with all manner of organization andproductivity methods, mantras, and philosophies, and you

probably have combined elements of many of them into Your Own System!

Evernote is your BatBelt.

Level Three Organizer

Level Threes, you’re going to have the mobile app, so take advantage of all of its features—like Page Camera!

Pro Tip: Put white pages against dark surfaceto help Page Camera find the edge, or it maycrop white space until it finds text (possiblycropping handwritten notes in margins).

Level Three Organizer

To the Level Threes out there, I give you this:

-tag:*“Inbox” saved search

- Anything that hasn’t been processed/tagged yet

It ONLY works if you check it regularly! (Like, every day.)

Pro tip: If you are using Inbox, you’llwant a “reference” tag to get things outof your inbox that don’t necessarily require attention or categorization, butthat you want on file if needed.

Evernote Everyday

The constant, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer

of time and energy.

—Kerry Gleeson

Types of Notes

A note can contain:

- Text- Hyperlinks

- Photos- Voice notes/recordings

- Attachments (PDF, .doc, .xls, etc.)- Checklists, numbered lists, bullet lists

*Note size limit: Basic accounts—25MB / Premium accounts—100MB

Searching

Just start typing!

For more advanced searches,you can narrow your search

by adding more options.

Saved Searches

- Edit > Find > Save Search- Name the search

Find saved searches by clicking in search bar(drag to shortcut bar for one-click access!)

Shortcuts

Drag notes, tags, or notebooks (or saved searches!)to Shortcuts for 1-click access

Sharing

Another fundamentally awesome thing about Evernoteis the ability to share select info with others.

Sharing

A single note:

- directions- an interesting article

- recommended book list

Share socially, via email, orcopy the public link

How: http://bit.ly/ever1note

Sharing

Notebooks:- checklists, docs, meeting notes for group projects

- passwords or product renewals for company clients- Frequently used photos, docs, reference material

Invite collaborators via email*

*only Premium users can allow others to edit notes in the notebook; Basic userscan only share read-only notebooks/notes.

How: http://bit.ly/ever1book

Fave Evernote Lifehack:

Trade bulky/elusive instruction manuals for QR codes!:

- Scan manual into Evernote- Make QR code link to Evernote note

- Tape QR code to device!

(scanning will open note with manual!)How: http://bit.ly/QRmanuals

More great resources for Evernote organization goodness:

Official Evernote Blog:http://bit.ly/everBlog

Darren Crawford: My Simple GTD & Evernote Combo: http://bit.ly/DarrenGTD

31 Ninja Tricks for Making Evernote More Awesome:http://bit.ly/everNinja

Jamie Todd Rubin: Going Paperless:http://bit.ly/everJTR

Remember Everything!

There is no reason, ever, to have the same thought twice,unless you like having that thought.—David Allen, Getting Things Done

The End!

I hope you found this delightful!— @laughtercrystal

http://laughtercrystal.com