Evernote for Unorganized People

[Analyst444 182]

Evernote has long been promoted as a tool that helps a person get and stay organized. While that is all well and good, there are a lot of people who are unorganized. That's their style. Whenever they come into their home, they drop whatever they are carrying anywhere and there's a mess of "things" inside their car. They'd much rather spend time looking for things when they need them than going to the trouble of putting everything in its place. Their mantra is "A messy work space is a sign of an uncluttered mind!" - - - Many of these people do not make handwritten notes and, therefore, don't know of or perceive the value of taking notes with a computer. - - - What they aren't likely aware of is that with Evernote, "you don't have to make the notes!"

 

Evernote can still be very useful for these people, too. Below is a description of an approach for an unorganized person to use Evernote. It is focused on 2 things: (A) How to get things into Evernote without typing and (B) How to find it later.

 

You may have heard or read about methods for organizing your Notebooks inside Evernote and how to use Evernote Tags. Those are just tools for "organizing". As you are an unorganized-type of person, ignore them. You can make great use of Evernote by using just the one Notebook that will be automatically created for you when you set up your Evernote account.

 

There are a few places below in which you may need additional instructions and some 1-time set-up work. I have marked these with an asterisk (*). You can get those additional instructions at the Evernote web site (www.evernote.com) or YouTube (www.youtube.com). 

 

 

(A) How to Get Things into Evernote without Typing

 

Once you have Evernote installed on your computer and hand-held device(s) (*), here are 10 ways you can add stuff to Evernote without typing.

 

On your Windows or Macintosh computer:

1. Copy information from any other app, switch over to Evernote, and paste the information in an existing or new Note.
2. Open an Evernote Note and attach a document that is somewhere else on your computer. (Here's how. - - - On the Note's tool bar, there is an icon that looks like a paper clip. Click on it to navigate to files on your computer and select one to add to the Note.)
3. Using your file management app on your computer, locate a file you want in Evernote and drag and drop it to a Note in Evernote.
4. Forward an email that you have received via your mail app to Evernote. (*)
5. When browsing the Internet, copy anything you see into Evernote by clicking on the elephant head on the tool bar of your web browser. (*)
6. Make an audio recording. (Here's how. - - - In a Note, click on the icon on the Note tool bar that looks like a microphone. A little window will pop up allowing you to start and end the recording.)
7. Have IFTTT automatically send information to Evernote. (Go to www.ifttt.com to learn how to use it. *)

 

On you hand-held device (smart phone or tablet):

8. Take a picture of anything. (Here's how. - - - Start up Evernote. In a Note, click on the icon that looks like a camera. - - - You can even take a picture with handwritten notes on it.)
9. In an Evernote Note, tap anywhere to activate the keyboard, click on the microphone, and start talking. (Your smart phone will convert what you say into text.)
10. Get a scanner that is designed to load paper documents into Evernote and fill it up.

 

 

(B) How to Find Stuff in Evernote

 

Evernote has a powerful "search" function. To use it, you need to be able to see a list of your Notes. If it isn't showing on main Evernote screen, then click on the "View" menu, and click on "Note List". Then, a "search" box will appear above the list of Notes. To see the "search" box on your hand-held device, click on the magnifying glass on the home screen of the Evernote app.

 

In the search box, type in one or more words for something that you want to find in your Evernote database. Evernote will search your Notes and make a list of all Notes which have all of the words that you specified. (On a Windows or Macintosh computer, you will also have the option to search for Notes which have "any" of the words you specify.)

 

When you search for a word, Evernote will examine pictures/images and handwriting, looking for the word.

 

That's it. Enjoy. I hope you find this information to be useful.

[DTLow 5,736]

4 hours ago, Analyst444 said:

Below is a description of an approach for an unorganized person to use Evernote. It is focused on 2 things: (A) How to get things into Evernote without typing and (B) How to find it later.

You're preaching to the choir here

>>You can make great use of Evernote by using just the one Notebook that will be automatically created for you when you set up your Evernote account.

I would recommend using an @Inbox notebook before notes disappear into your filing notebook(s)

>>When you search for a word, Evernote will examine pictures/images and handwriting, looking for the word.

Users might want to look at  Evernote Search Grammar to find out the extended options for a search

For example the intitle: and date parameters