Would like to be able to change the notebook colors

[d1xpix 5]

It would be nice to be able to change the color of the notebooks individually. I organize this way in another iOS app and have found it very useful.

Any chance of adding this to the final Mac version 5?

[kapilipono 1]

Oh! Yes - me too! I vote for color feature - would be super awesome. 

In the meantime -- THANK HEAVENS for @CheeseNightmare - the suggestion of using Emoji works great. 

[Emmeso 2]

I'll put my vote in here for this ability. In fact, I'm currently looking for an Evernote alternative, as I find my pile of all-brown notebooks incredibly hard to navigate visually. Come on folks, this is a visual medium and this is a UI issue, not just an aesthetic one. With lots of different projects to manage, I need something besides a title or tags for organization. Looking at Apple's app store as I write.... considering OneNote.

[Craftwhack 2]

I would kill to be able to have this feature. This is actually the only thing that is keeping me from loving Evernote- seriously, just as a visual aid it would be a million times more helpful to be able to color code our notebooks- this was the sole reason I used Springpad over Evernote previously. 

[circumbendibus 7]

Another vote for changing notebook colors in Evernote desktop! Although they may be just focusing on getting everybody onto the web app at this point.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

....Although they may be just focusing on getting everybody onto the web app at this point.

Highly doubtful. They've just announced a slew of desktop-exclusive features. Not the kind of thing I'd expect if they are retiring the desktop apps. 

[jaypm55 2]

I'm hanging out for colo(u)rs. I work better with colours to separate my notebooks to make them more visual. Let's hope Evernote have something planned very soon.

[LovedSkitch 2]

Since this topic has been resurrected, I'll add my voice for colors as well.  I am still amazed that more apps don't allow you to use color, one of the easiest ways for humans to differentiate information.  And now, with the crazy Yosemite color scheme, it would be even more valuable.

 

EN folks, please look at doing this.  Give me one good reason to hang around... after almost a decade of use. 

[circumbendibus 7]

Seems like it would be pretty easy (quick, cheap) to do and pretty useful... Can there be any positive reason not to do it? The Moleskine tie-in, really?

[SamSreka 0]

New Evernote user, I am a college student and was planning on using it to go completely digital. Actually purchased the premium version. Not having the ability to customize the colors of the stacks is a deal breaker. 

[cheesenightmare 9]

Here's my workaround for this: 

 

 

Essentially it's using Emoji to "Colour Code" notebooks and notebook stacks. If you're on Mac and iOS it works a treat and for me it makes Evernote infinitely more useful.

[DevourChef 3]

FEATURE REQUEST So... I am new to evernote and am switching over from my notability app. I am a private chef and caterer, and I color code my client files accordion to their status( inquiry, upcoming event, past event). I need the differentation  to keep it organized  in my mind. I notice a lot of juvenile,  angry, and rude back and forth on  this forum. I really want to use evernote, but I am hoping you will allow color coding very soon, Thank you!

[at0micbunnygirl 0]

Thank you so much @CheeseNightmare! I also have started using Emoji to visually distinguish my folders at a glance. Very useful!!! Thanks for putting together that video on it!

[SeniorDeveloper 1]

This is dilema.

It strongly depends on the way, how you are notes using, what kind of notes.

Simple yellow sticks are different of evernote powerfull tool. Both are useful its way.

Many comments here are right saying about GUI, importace of graphic and color power in information technology. It is really contemporary general stream everyvhere.

But to design such GUI need a lot of effort and fresh new ideas. It is not easy.

EVERNOTE is more tradicional, without graphic and colors, but its logical structure is realy simple and powerfull.

But not visual.

Its multiple tag system is only one of main complications hinder to color individual notes.

You need to sacrifice something to obtain the other.

For quick simple and temporary notes Im using Google Keep. It has some qualities which Evernote has not. Visuality, colors, graphic organisation. User friendly, ie intuitively quick. BUT!

Everything(!) has but.

- not easy to manage big number of notes

- it has not structure, folders, tags

- with biger amounth of notes becoming slow

So Iam using Evernote for sorting and orgsnising my store room of tons of different kind of notes, projects, library, lectures, informations while

Keep for quick notes at fly, and "yellow stick" - not forget to do, and quickly find often use data, info.

It is my solutions of colors.

[Pedrum 7]

I love Evernote but I can't stand the hospital white color scheme. It drives me crazy. Recently I found http://alternoteapp.com/. You can make the F'ing background dark, it has a super simple interface AND it syncs with Evernote! Go get it!! Free of charge.

[Laura P. 1]

I just want to add my voice to the request to color-code notebooks. This would be a deciding factor to me purchasing the paid version. 

The product has almost all the features I could ever hope for, but there's just one that's missing - the ability to color-code the different notebooks.  I would love an option to color-code the different notebooks. It can be basic options, but visually, would be so much easier to manage the different notebooks I manage. 

[C.J. 4]

mark in yellow

[Frank Blome 12]

I've played around with the Emojis. You can see the results here: https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/85847-notebook-names-are-changeable-after-publishing/

 

Question to C.J.: How do you get your notebook name marked?

 

Thanks

Frank

[Paris Texas 0]

Evernote offer a good enough platform for basic info storage but the lack of creative ways to organize the files means we are reduced to a dull monochrome format of lowest common denominator style. Can't you guys hire a designer who gets that storing information is a visual process too? This is a 20th century package at this point and needs some serious overhaul on the look and options if you want people to like more than just the basic file storing function. Within 12 months I guarantee someone will have come out with a programme that is a major step forward in this area. It is all so dry bones and lifeless and uncreative at present. I wouldn't get excited or recommend people to use this as there is nothing special about it. 

 

 

[Paris Texas 0]

This is what needs to happen (for product/image storage files) :

 

1. Fantastic opening index page with major categories cleanly navigable (should be possible to have block colours/selected category image or gifs if desired). An option for this would be every file visible but shown within major category headings. So for example, furniture would be a big pizza with the sub categories (tables, chairs etc) shown as pizza slices. I would make the pizza hard edged (octagon, not round) and have a nice jewel movement to the different 'pizzas'. So for instance as your cursor moves over one pizza it enlarges to the sub-cats can be clearly seen. This gives a dynamic, highly visual and organized presentation for this level. 

2. Drill down to category A and this category only is shown on full page (with colour etc options as above). 

3. Choose any file and this opens as it does now - this is a good enough look now

4. If one presses 'Notebooks' button then it clicks back to page 1 (I would call it HOME) with all sub-files closed (press arrows for back to previous page - or better still you have a single arrow and a double arrow) or back to pizza look (could be rubix cubes or other nice graphic forms such as triangles that are sewn together)

5. All files can have bold/italic etc and have great colour range including good tone-on-tone for major/sub categorys (all furniture in Navy/Tables in blue/Side tables in pale blue etc

 

Some ideas

[laura3148 1]

Thank you for the emoji work around!  Now Evernote, let's get to work on coloring the folders!  

[Color the Notebooks 3]

I see it has been addressed before, but I will address it again.  Evernote is cool because of obvious reasons.  My only request so far (as a 2-year user) is to allow us the option to color our notebooks.  Call it OCD or whatever else you like, but I say it is simply necessary if you want to really reach out to those users (such as myself) who cannot let go of Springpad because of it's lack of colorful UI.  It's visually more attractive and easier for the eye to follow.  My request is across the board (Windows, Android, iOS, etc.).

 

If I take an opposite approach, I would say why NOT have color an option.  I won't criticize EN for this because it is a really awesome app as-is, but it is my request to add the option.  It's been in the forum since 2011 that I could find.  The option couldn't hurt anything, right?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

It would be nice to be able to change the color of the notebooks individually. I organize this way in another iOS app and have found it very useful.

Any chance of adding this to the final Mac version 5?

Hi. Welcome to the forums. This has been requested before, so I'd say it is probably something a lot of people would like. You might have noticed that the Mac team is into gray, and they've removed a lot of color from the app over the years. I think it is a statement of some kind. Personally, I'm a fan of gray myself, but it is difficult to deny the usefulness of color on occasion

My guess (and it is only a guess) is that we are unlikely to see color anywhere for a while, and almost certainly not the ability to customize the colors of notebooks, tags, or any other design elements. You can spice up your notes a bit in snippet / card view, but that is about the extent of things right now. See this page for templates:

http://www.princeton...o/template.html

[trukurt65 6]

I think if Springpad allows users to change their colors of their notebooks, I would think Evernote could allow this as well. Not particularly fond of the brown notebooks in EN5..... Also would like the ability to add icons to the covers!

[DYC 2]

This is honestly the most disappointing things about Evernote on Mac so far, being one of my first impressions after having left Evernote for a few years. I agree with trukurt65 on their competitor. Springpad, as a webapp, is no where near as smooth as Evernote, but at the same time it benefits from a gorgeous and colourful interface. It thoroughly confuses me when developers choose to create beautiful colourful iPhone apps but choose not to exercise the same care in the design of mac apps. Even Microsoft got it right with the Courier demo and subsequently the Paper iPad app, as far as being able to customize the covers of notebooks.

 

Really now, I'm not even asking for that level of customisation with photos and whatnot. At least give us a little colour. Believe it or not, notebooks in real life do not come exclusively with kraft paper covers

[<actus 10]

Hi there,

 

I'd like to give this topic and upvote and bump it back to the surface.

 

You can't change the appearance of the notebooks can you?

 

I'm wondering what the thinking behind this design decision is? All of the notebooks have tan colour that sort of reminds me of cardboard. Giving people some options to choose the colour (and texture) of the appearance of the notebooks would help with visual differentiation. Also it would let users personalise their Evernote files. For instance someone who was keeping knitting patterns might like to have a tartan cover on that notebook.... someone else is keeping notes for a novel and has a cover on the notebook that reminds you of black leather.... etc. etc.

 

As it is only an aesthetic change (the ability to sort of "reskin" the appearance of the note books) you'd think it would be a fairly easy change to make, right?

 

Or is there some good reason that I'm missing that everybody should have only tan coloured cardboard notebooks...?

 

[Metrodon 2,188]

Given that there have been major releases of the OS X, iOS and Android clients in the last few months without the option to make this kind of configuration change, it seems unlikely that it is high on Evernote's list.

 

Whether it is an easy change or not is really not relevant, Evernote have made a design decision to not support multiple options in the UI. This has been discussed previously, but in the end I believe it comes down to their desire to have a product with few user options that is simple to support and maintain. I've seen no indication that this belief is changing.

[<actus 10]

Given that there have been major releases of the OS X, iOS and Android clients in the last few months without the option to make this kind of configuration change, it seems unlikely that it is high on Evernote's list.

 

Whether it is an easy change or not is really not relevant, Evernote have made a design decision to not support multiple options in the UI. This has been discussed previously, but in the end I believe it comes down to their desire to have a product with few user options that is simple to support and maintain. I've seen no indication that this belief is changing.

Well.... that fact that it wasn't changed in the recent updates (and the fact it has been discussed previously) does not necessarily mean it is a bad idea. I think the idea has some merit and is worth advocating for.

I know that design that mimics real life is currently falling out of fashion so tartan notebooks might not be popular with the user interface designers at Evernote. But being able to easily visually differentiate between your notebooks is a significant useability issue at least for some people. And as a side note Evernote is clearly interested in producing a professional looking UI and with the tan coloured cardboard look they have not yet achieved that IMO.

You say in your post that Evernote have made the decision not to support multiple options in the UI.... do you actually know this or are you just surmising it from the fact that it has not yet been implemented? Is there some official word from Evernote on this issue? Reference?

If multiple options in the UI is something that Evernote have definitely decided the will not support you are right that the ease or otherwise of implementing it is of little relevance. If it is an option that is potentially still on the table but not currently implemented how easy the change would be to implement is potentially highly relevant.

Apologies for any grammatical errors or if I've misquoted you.... I'm typing this from my phone....

[DYC 2]

I fail to understand how improving product usability would result in difficulty in maintenance, so perhaps you can enlighten me on this. At worst, if the issue is brand compliance, then give the option to change the colours of the notebooks following the Evernote corporate colour scheme.

 

Evernote claims to be a product that allows users to capture all information in their lives, but without making it easier to quickly seek the notebook they need, Evernote is just slowing down how quickly users can access that information and ultimately reducing how useful the app is for quick note taking and referencing.

 

If this was a decision they made, then it needs to be reversed. This is a basic option even Google Keep has implemented from the get go. 

[<actus 10]

To me it is really about wanting to see something I like (Evernote) being is good as it can be.

I really like Evernote. It is clear that lots of time and thought and effort have already gone into getting it as good as it is now.... but I don't think that means no further improvement is possible.

I agree with the previous poster: I don't understand how being able to change the appearance of notebooks would make a significant difference to the amount of support and maintenance required. And it is not even clear to me that Evernote has got a stand against limiting user choice - I mean Evernote supports multiple different ways to view notes within notebooks,right (list view etc. etc.)?

Another thought: Evernote is happy for third party developers and partners to develop apps that tie in and add to Evernote's functionality. I wonder why no app developers have come up with apps that change the appearance of notebooks or Evernote more broadly. I guess there must be some rules against it (but why?) or some enterprising individuals would be doing it already, right?

[Metrodon 2,188]

I'm not saying whether it's a good or bad idea - what I am pointing out as a long term user is that Evernote do have a pretty clear design philosophy based around providing little user configuration of the clients.

 

Again, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying that this has been the pattern that they have (pretty successfully) built a business around and so I'm not saying it will never change, but I can't see it changing in the near future.

 

As for the maintenance and support issue, every time you add a new feature or new option you add new test cases, multiply your test cases by the number of clients that Evernote currently supports (with more coming...fridges....) then you end up with an increased workload.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

FEATURE REQUEST So... I am new to evernote and am switching over from my notability app. I am a private chef and caterer, and I color code my client files accordion to their status( inquiry, upcoming event, past event). I need the differentation  to keep it organized  in my mind. I notice a lot of juvenile,  angry, and rude back and forth on  this forum. I really want to use evernote, but I am hoping you will allow color coding very soon, Thank you!

I think in Evernote-land, Tags would be one Evernote tool you could use to differentiate between inquiry/upcoming/event/past event, etc. You could have tags of exactly those words and you could bring up any note tagged as "inquiry" to see all inquiries. Or you can drill down further using additional criteria. when an inquiry turns into an event (YAY!) you can just switch out the tags. 

 

While certainly not as visual as colour coding, it is definitely more flexible.

 

Not suggesting this as a solution, because it isn't, just suggesting this as a workaround using the tools Evernote has given us.  I, for one, am not confident that Evernote will implement colour-coding or customization of notebooks, so I'm not holding my breath! Not saying it couldn't happen, but just saying, I have my doubts!

 

Lots of discussion around here about how to effectively use/manage tags, if you need some suggestions or inspiration. 

[GQBD 0]

Hi All

 

I just wanted to add something to the discussion, that might be relevant.

 

@<actus You said: "Another thought: Evernote is happy for third party developers and partners to develop apps that tie in and add to Evernote's functionality. I wonder why no app developers have come up with apps that change the appearance of notebooks or Evernote more broadly. I guess there must be some rules against it (but why?) or some enterprising individuals would be doing it already, right?"

 

Well I recently got the Blackberry Z10 and Evernote is completely integrated in the BBOS. This means that the Evernote notes and notebooks are part of the native "Remeber" app, allowing the user to change the color of the notebooks. (http://tinypic.com/r/6gdcbb/4)

So yeah, I agree with you all (for the most part).

 

P.S. I would like to attach an image of how it looks like, but I cannot figure out how to. The link in brackets is where I uploaded the image.

[<actus 10]

Interesting....

 

I was originally thinking of something a bit like Meernotes (haven't used it, just seen pictures) but I guessing that is probably too skeuomorphic for many peoples taste....

[jefito 5,598]

@<actus You said: "Another thought: Evernote is happy for third party developers and partners to develop apps that tie in and add to Evernote's functionality. I wonder why no app developers have come up with apps that change the appearance of notebooks or Evernote more broadly. I guess there must be some rules against it (but why?) or some enterprising individuals would be doing it already, right?"

As far as I know, Evernote has no plug-in capabilities on any platform that would allow a third-party to change the appearance or UI of an Evernote application (though I'd guess that it could be done on the web). That being said, there's nothing stopping a third-party developer from making an alternative Evernote client that can have colored notebooks.

[omegabeth 0]

I actually went to Trunk to poke around, hoping that there was some small developer out there who had figured out a way to add some color into the notebooks or notes, but no luck so far. The place I really want it now is in my reminders~

[anneginkgo 3]

MAC user. I love Evernote and use it every day. I like the file system of notebooks and sub-notebooks. But I would like to add to the request for the ability to change notebook colors. As a "visual" person I find I can navigate collections of files much quicker if they are color coded. Aside from the fact that the tan cardboard look is really pretty awful.

 

Anne S

[Kirby Krieger 72]

the tan cardboard look is really pretty awful.

 

Hi Anne,

 

If you know what you are doing, you can overwrite the default notebook cover "notebooks-cover.tiff".

 

Fwiw, the default seems to be modeled after one of Evernote's "Market" partners — Moleskine.  I happen to like the color and find it's inability to distract me commendable.  Nevertheless, I use Notebooks List View rather than Notebooks Grid View as I find it much easier to navigate.  Grid view is, imho, a kind of marketing elevator speech for skeuomorph self-amusement, and an excellent example of why such an approach succeeds as marketing (marketers, of course, have their own measurements of productivity) and fails to enhance user productivity.

[Ettelaiv 0]

I would really love to see this happen!I use evernote both on my android phone and on windows. As a "visual person" this would be of great help to organize my notebooks. 
Another idea would to have an option (once the notebooks have a color) that would enable you to give that same color to all the notes in the notebook!

I think the Evernote team should have a look at how gmail works with its folders and colored labels, SO useful!

[Katrina 0]

Is anyone from Apple listening? We would like to personalise Evernote. As a teacher I know that my students would really appreciate making this amazing tool look pretty.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Is anyone from Apple listening? We would like to personalise Evernote. As a teacher I know that my students would really appreciate making this amazing tool look pretty.

People fromEvernote are listening. People from Apple are undoubtably NOT listening, as they are not in any way involved with Evernote.

Evernote is famously tight lipped about their development so it is hard to tell whether this is on their agenda or not. We'll have to wait and see, unfortunately (that being said, I'm not certain this particular feature is likely to be high on their list, but that's just my speculation!).