13 replies to this topic

[~Adam]

Evernote just got real! Well, I've been using it for some time, but never fully until this year. I still have MANY, MANY STACKS of old papers (mine, and my ancestors') to scan in, but, for now...

I'm simply scanning in daily documents. Items that come to me in the mail or items I acquire in my daily dealings. All of it gets scanned. I figure if I truly don't need it, I can delete it later on.

So, we recently bought a house. The previous owner, a friend of mine, sent me an email this afternoon asking me if I had received my tax assessment for this year yet. Well, hooray for me (and Evernote)! I had not only received it in the mail a few weeks ago, but I scanned it that day!

So, I hopped into Evernote, did a quick tag search, and there it was! I grabbed the link for sharing, replied to his email so he could view it, and there you go! He now is giving me some tips and tricks for dealing with the local property tax assessments.

Without Evernote, I would have been searching PILES OF PAPERS (because I'm a horribly DISORGANIZED person) and there would have been a chance that I wouldn't have found the document at all.

Thanks again Evernote, you rock!

[ClutterBGone]

Let the magic begin!!

[~Adam]

Let the magic begin!!

Yes, the magic has definitely begun.

In fact, the above transaction becomes all the more awesome when I realize that the whole process took seconds and I didn't even have to leave my chair or even stretch across my desk for a stack of papers.

[deanouellette]

And wait until you do a search for a word and in the results comes a hand note you took a picture of.... Then the love affair grows even more.

[Brandie]

This is awesome! Isn't it fun to find what you need in less than five minutes (seconds?) So, I wanted to suggest to look into using Shoeboxed to get all those piles of paper scanned in FOR you. Oh yeah, that is a beautiful thing. Here's the info, since Shoeboxed is in the Evernote Trunk:

http://evernote.com/...ult&source=home

Hope that helps!

[~Adam]

This is awesome! Isn't it fun to find what you need in less than five minutes (seconds?) So, I wanted to suggest to look into using Shoeboxed to get all those piles of paper scanned in FOR you. Oh yeah, that is a beautiful thing. Here's the info, since Shoeboxed is in the Evernote Trunk:

http://evernote.com/...ult&source=home

Hope that helps!

Brandie, thanks. I have considered using shoeboxed, but have very low funds.

Here is a picture of what I'm dealing with paperwise. This is probably about 1/3 of what needs scanned.

http://www.evernote....27ed2c4eee70cb1

[GrumpyMonkey]

This is awesome! Isn't it fun to find what you need in less than five minutes (seconds?) So, I wanted to suggest to look into using Shoeboxed to get all those piles of paper scanned in FOR you. Oh yeah, that is a beautiful thing. Here's the info, since Shoeboxed is in the Evernote Trunk:

http://evernote.com/...ult&source=home

Hope that helps!

Brandie, thanks. I have considered using shoeboxed, but have very low funds.

Here is a picture of what I'm dealing with paperwise. This is probably about 1/3 of what needs scanned.

http://www.evernote....27ed2c4eee70cb1

That's nothing

I had many, many times that amount before I went paperless a few years ago. It took a while (slow and steady wins the race!), but it got done, and I was able to get rid of many bookcases, filing cabinets, and plastic file boxes. In the coming years, I ought to be able to reduce my personal library to just a few books, and get rid of the last, lingering holdouts from a bygone age

You'll get that done before you know it, and be able to enjoy freedom from the un-dead trees!

[~Adam]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my wife and daughter have since signed up and both have Evernote accounts now.

[Brandie]

So, the consultant in me has to ask:

How much of that is actually needed? Are you overcomplicating your life by scanning it all?

[~Adam]

Had to pay a bill this morning. It required logging into a website that I rarely log in to.

Evernote to the rescue again. Searched my "account info" folder, grabbed the username and password, and away I went.

[peterfmartin]

Had to pay a bill this morning. It required logging into a website that I rarely log in to.

Evernote to the rescue again. Searched my "account info" folder, grabbed the username and password, and away I went.

Was the password encrypted? I'd be nervous to keep any passwords in Evernote unencrypted. I have a few in Evernote (encrypted), but for almost all sites I find LastPass far better for storing passwords.

[Don Sakers]

Brandie asks:

> How much of that is actually needed? Are you overcomplicating your life by scanning it all?

Honestly, "scan everything" is the UNcomplicated course.

I recently had this epiphany as I was scanning some old notebooks. I spent 30 minutes on the first tenth of the job, examining each item and asking myself, "Should I scan this or not? Am I liable to need it in the future? Can I throw it away unscanned without regret?" Several times I changed my mind and dug through the discard pile to find a particular item.

Then I gave up pondering each item and started scanning everything. It took another 30 minutes to finish the other nine-tenths of the job.

I will probably never need to look at more than a few things from those notebooks. But I don't know WHICH "few things." So now I have them all.

[psionmark]

Awesome when you reach that moment, isn't it?

I work away from home, so I'm not there 4-5 days per week. With Evernote, if my accountant (or anyone else) asks for something, it's always with me, which saves the "I'll try and find it at the weekend" response.

I've also started to scan absolutely everything (except junk mail!). I work on the basis that if I throw it away without scanning it, I'll probably need it in a couple of weeks! Also removes the requirement to think about whether I really need to scan it or not.

For me, Evernote transformed from something very useful to something essential in my life when I finally bought myself the portable ScanSnap.

[Don Sakers]

psionmark, I've been lusting after a portable ScanSnapRight now I content myself with a bright red folder that says "SCAN THIS," which I carry just about everywhere. The folder collects stuff to scan when I get home to my ScanSnap. On a weekend trip (I just took one) that folder comes back bulging, and it takes a while to get everything scanned.

So far I haven't been able to justify the expense for the portable. Maybe if someone twisted my arm with stories of how wonderful it is...(hint, hint)....