Evernote real-world example

[jbenson2 2,147]

Occasionally, I see a post on other forums asking why people use Evernote.

 

Here is an example of how I used Evernote this morning. I had a problem with a Christmas shipment. Before making the call to cancel the shipping service, I had the following individual Evernote notes on my screen for fast access.

• Date and confirmation # for my original on-line order
• Past phone call details chasing down the late shipment
• Actual delivery date info
• Their survey on my opinion of their service
• Today's phone call to cancel the service
• Email with confirmation # of my cancellation (a few minutes later)

There is one more note that I will complete at the end of the month when I verify the credit is posted on my credit card statement.

If there are any issues in the future, I have everything in one program for easy access.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Great example, JB.

 

I do something similar, but with fewer notes.

 

What key to you use to find all of the related notes for a specific order?

[jbenson2 2,147]

Great example, JB.

 

I do something similar, but with fewer notes.

 

What key to you use to find all of the related notes for a specific order?

 

Because it was my first time using the service, I searched for the shipping service company name.

 

If I had stuck with them for a longer period of time with multiple shipments, I probably would have used one of my random generated 6 digit codes to tie the specific product notes together.

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/24390-using-random-codes-in-notes-as-an-aggregation-tool/page-2#entry128235

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Here's what I do to quickly track and find orders. 

 

I use 3 Tags:

• Orders           -- all order related notes get this tag
• ST.Ordered   -- ONLY the initial order email
• ST.Delivered  -- Add this tag to original order Note when I receive it

When I receive my email confirmation of an order, I forward it to EN with this as the Subject, which becomes the Note Title:

ORDER: <Primary Item> +<Add'l Items> -- <Vendor> #Orders #ST.Ordered

 

I use the keyword ORDER: just to make visual identification of the order notes easier.

So, you can use or not use this keyword in the title according to your own needs/preferences.

The "+<Add'l Items> is to indicate the number of additional items in the order.

All vendors I use today provide a confirmation email.  If your vendor does not, then you may want to capture the web page confirmation with EN Clipper.

 

EXAMPLE:

ORDER: LaCie 4TB External Hard Drive +2 -- Amazon #Orders #ST.Ordered

 

Usually I'll get another email when the item is shipped, providing the expected delivery date

• Forward to EN with tag #Orders #ST.Shipped

When I receive the order, ADD the tag ST.Delivered to all Notes for that order.

 

I have a Saved Search named "!Open Orders", defined as "tag:orders -tag:ST.Delivered", which will list all orders I have not received.  After I run this Saved Search I can enter the Vendor in the Search block if desired to further filter the list to order from a specific vendor.  So, if my Open Orders list was too big, I might enter "Amazon" into the search block.

 

This is easy to setup, use, and maintain.  After I have received an order, I just run the !Open Orders saved search, select the Notes by CTRL/CMD clicking, and apply the tag "ST.Delivered" to all of these notes.

 

BTW, the prefix "ST" in the tag name stands for "Status".  I have a number of status tags I use for a variety of purposes.  Anytime I want to apply a status tag, I just type "ST." and Evernote displays a nice drop-down list of available status tags.

 

This process may or may not work for you.  Feel free to adapt as needed.