When I was reading through the comments on this Happiness Project post about note-taking last week, I realized that I need to write about Evernote.
It’s basically a website, a desktop program, and a mobile app that all sync so you can access your info anywhere anytime.
And it’s free! Up to a certain amount of space.
I’ve been using it for…
1. Song lyrics. I tag all of them “lyrics” and then tag the recognizable ones by their original artist. The songs Kevin and/or I wrote, I tag “originals.” Oh, and I ‘ve also been attaching audio clips of what I call my pieces, those lines, verses, choruses that are still forming. (If I don’t record them, either the melody or words will sometimes evaporate before I’m back to them. :()
2. Recipes. When I find I’d maybe like to try cooking sometime on GoodHousekeeping.com or Pinterest or Facebook, I can click on a little Evernote button on my browser toolbar and add the link, a highlighted section of the page, or the whole page to one of Evernote folders. I tag them “recipes,” “main courses,” “desserts,” etc. so I can access them easily, even from an aisle in Walmart!
True story: The other week I was running late and hadn’t added the ingredients to “my” “famous” Mexican Shells to my shopping list yet. So I picked up my phone and took a picture of the page in the cookbook. Then I went to my Evernote in Walmart and zoomed in on the picture to purchase those ingredients.
3. Trip planning. If I come across a website or picture or anything that looks like something we may want to explore sometime, I save it to Evernote. You can set up “notebooks” (like folders on your computer) to hold notes on specific trips and add text files (like a list of your planned itinerary or things you want to do) to your notebooks.
In my “NYC 2012” notebook, for example, I have 14 files right now. One is an itinerary that lists each day and what we were planning to do. Another is a “Things we want to do” file where we brainstormed the activities we most wanted to experience. There are three websites for Broadway shows saved (Porgy and Bess, Once the Musical, and Spider-Man on Broadway). There’s a link to my NYC Google Map, where I’ve pinpointed landmarks, places we’ve been and want to go, and subway stops over our years of exploring the city. And there are assorted websites, links, and details on concerts in the area when we planned to be there, and churches, museums, and other places we wanted to visit.
I’m sure we’re just scratching the Evernote usability surface.
Have you used Evernote? Tell us what else we’re missing!