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(Archived) I have the program - now what do I do with it?


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I've also looked at the tips/tricks and get nothing. Why use Evernote - I don't have a Blackberry/iPad/iPod/Palm, etc., so what good would it do me to take a photo of something? Does Evernote function with my Motorola Razr? It's easier for me to carry a paper grocery list, or call my wife from the commissary, than to access an electronic storage somewhere in the cloud on a phone that can't do it.

Can this program help me organize my lecture notes, etc?

Just call me - A Growing Skeptic :shock:

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Whoa!

Errr,

Ummm.

I'm kind of speechless.

Based on the results from your enthusiastic attempt to investigate the program, I think your best option would be to stay with more user-friendly programs like Word and PowerPoint.

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Can this program help me organize my lecture notes, etc?

Yes, it can. But like any organizational tool, it requires that you understand what the tool's capabilities are, and that you plan, and make the effort to use the tool. You don't just wave it around and everything snaps into place, as in a Harry Potter movie. If you just come into the forum and ask vague questions that don't show that you've taken many pains to understand what Evernote is and can do, then you'll likely receive, well, vague, bemused and quizzical responses.

Just call me - A Growing Skeptic :shock:

A true skeptic is usually someone who understands something of the nature of skepticism's target. If you're referring to Evernote, then you really don't seem to have much grounds.

~Jeff

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So, I guess the main question is - what are this tool's capabilities? I've looked on the website, through the tips and tricks, and tried to play the videos (which won't play on my computer - I don't know why). I'm trying to be open minded about what this might be able to do for me, but I'm still stumped.

When I want to write a letter or an exam, I use a word processor

When I want to make a presentation or a poster, I use PowerPoint

When I want to do bulk calculations, I use a spreadsheet

These above examples are for programs whose uses are, to me, basic and understandable.

Forgive my ignorance, but I'm still wondering what it is that Evernote does. I asked my original question because I DON"T KNOW ANYTHING about this program. It was reccommended to me by a colleague. When I get back to work (after the weekend), I'll talk to him about it. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how I can use this program. Can anyone give me any kind of hint (sans sarcasm)?

Pretend you're trying to teach someone a new skill.

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You can get some useful information from our videos:

http://www.evernote.com/about/video/

There are some tips on how to use Evernote here:

http://blog.evernote.com/category/tips_stories/

http://evernote.tumblr.com/

I've been to those sites. None of the videos will play on my computer. Do I need some sort of plug in (Flash player, QuickTime, etc.)? I've got all the popular players, so I'm not sure why Evernote's videos won't work. I just get a blank video window within the web page.

I've also been to tips_stories and tumblr. None of the suggested uses (for which other people find this program useful) are anything I find useful. I've read the Baby Steps. I don't need a light bulb database, because every light in my house uses the same wattage and size bulb. I don't need to know how people use this for their businesses, because I'm not in business.

Perhaps I'm just being thick (it's been known to happen), but I honestly can't figure out what to do with this program. I don't even know where to start.

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So, I guess the main question is - what are this tool's capabilities? I've looked on the website, through the tips and tricks, and tried to play the videos (which won't play on my computer - I don't know why). I'm trying to be open minded about what this might be able to do for me, but I'm still stumped.

Pretend you're trying to teach someone a new skill.

The basic idea is that Evernote is a service for collecting information -- web clippings, notes, things that you write, documents, scans, sounds, videos, funny cat pictures, or whatever interests you -- and allows you to store it in a single collection, backed by a cloud database, in such a fashion as to make it available from other computers and devices. This collection is also searchable (they do OCR on images too), and organizable, and to some extent shareable. These are the basic concepts. What are the possible uses? Myriad. Some folks use it to implement todos/task management, with sophisticated methodologies etc. I'm a pretty simple user -- I clip articles that interest me, usually software development related, and keep my work journal, and meeting and project notes. You certainly should be able to organize your lecture notes with Evernote.

~Jeff

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Perhaps I'm just being thick (it's been known to happen), but I honestly can't figure out what to do with this program. I don't even know where to start.

Where to start is just to start. Reading some stuff you're interested in on the Web? Clip it to Evernote. Want to organize your lecture notes? Drag them in to Evernote. Experiement. There's no one way to get into it, and your best way of using Evernote may not be mine. But some folks here will be able to steer you into better ways of working with the organization tools (notebooks and tags). But just start putting stuff in, and see how it goes, and then when you get stuck, come and ask.

~Jeff

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The videos are helpful. They are Youtube videos & you should be able to play them. (The ones by EvernoteAndrew.) If it were me, I'd Google & try to find out what the problem is & store the result & fix in Evernote, in case I had the same problem again. :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/user/EvernoteAnd ... Hom6bgqg9Y

Evernote is not a word processor or a spread sheet. Their tag line is "remember everything."

In addition to the links Dave posted:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=17399

If you don't get inspired by watching the videos & perusing the links, Evernote may not be a tool you would find useful.

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Without sounding like an EN marketing Russian.

You can use (if it's useful to you) as an 'external brain' - actually it's more like an external memory. I use it to capture stuff I need to remember, whether that stuff comes from the web, my phone, my computer or even occasionally an original idea from my brain.

So, if you are a lecturer you could use EN to keep notes for your lectures. A note can contain your own text entry, images, PDFs and if you are a premium user then you can add any other type of file. You could have a notebook for each class that you teach with a note for each lecture or tutorial.

You could even create a public shared notebook and put all the class materials in it then point your students to it for reference.

Or something like that.

Or just as a jokes database.

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Take a picture of your whiteboard, and store it into evernote. As someone said put class material in a notebook in evernote and share that with your students.

Take pictures of your students with name tags and store them into a notebook called 'Fall Semester 2010 biology students' then one for 'Spring 2010 Biology Students' and 'Fall 2011 Biology Students' It's a great way to keep track of all your students, so if a student ever emails you 7 years later, you can bring up a photo of them of what they looked like and it could jog your memory on who they are

Keep a copy of all your tests in evernote, and hand outs. So you always have a digital copy a backup if you say :D

Take a picture with a regular camera of where your students sit in a class and upload it to the web interface. Great way to learn students name based on where they sit :D

You can use it to keep track of student absenses too. (I haven't figured out exactly how you do that, but you can!)

I'm sure there are many many more ways to use evernote. You can also get a video recorder and record your class (though this don't involve evernote) and then upload your class to youtube, mark it as private though!!. So if a student misses a class you can A: Share them the class notes via evernote, B: Send them the private URL to watch the video of that class via youtube.

Anyways lol just kinda stumbled on this thread and thought i would post :D hehe

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There isn't one "way" to use Evernote. The question "how do I use this" is a little baffling to me because it seems pretty straightforward:

1. Create a note

2. Type something in it.

3. (optionally) drag files into notes to reference later

4. Search and find your notes.

If the question is "what do I need to store in my notes" -- well only you can answer that. I like to use it to remember important stuff that would be scattered all over my computer (and my house in the case of paper stuff) if I didn't have EN.

Here are some of the ways I use EN:

[*] My personal journal. The date stamping works well for this. I use a local (non-sync'd) notebook for this because I don't want these entries on my work computer.

[*] My various ideas for fiction that I might get around to writing one of these days.

[*] Interesting articles I read on the web. On occasion I find print-based articles I also want to save, and I scan them in and put them in Evernote as well.

[*] Related to articles, I also use EN for research on specific projects. So articles, references to books, etc., all about a particular topic I am investigating.

[*] Bills and receipts. I've moved more and more to paperless billing for many things, so I download billing statements from the web and plop them in Evernote. Also a local notebook for security reasons. I scan many receipts in as well.

Now, many of these purposes I could do in other ways. I could set up some folders on my computer and organize copies of articles for instance. The nice thing about using evernote for this instead is that I can jot down some notes about WHY I saved a particular article, I can put in some tags to make it easier to find, and even without tags, the full-text searching makes it easy to find.

The other nice thing is the syncing with multiple devices. I didn't think I would really use that very much at first, but it can be useful to have access to some of this information on my home computer, work computer, and my phone. This DOES require a little bit of planning and thought since I use a mix of local and sync'd notebooks, so not ALL my notes are available on all my devices.

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The other nice thing is the syncing with multiple devices. I didn't think I would really use that very much at first, but it can be useful to have access to some of this information on my home computer, work computer, and my phone. This DOES require a little bit of planning and thought since I use a mix of local and sync'd notebooks, so not ALL my notes are available on all my devices.

A bit of a way to have your cake & eat it too... Since I'm trying to be as paperless as possible, I also have a lot of sensitive documents & info stored either not in Evernote or in EN local notebooks. I also have a LogMeIn account (there are other apps that are similar, but that's the one I use.) Since my computer is on pretty much 24/7, I figure if I find I absolutely must have access to something I can't get to on Evernote, I use Logmein on either my netbook or iPhone (or any other computer, if really necessary) to connect to my computer at home & remotely run any apps, just as if I were sitting in front of it.

Well, on the iPhone, it's not exactly like sitting in front of the computer. :) But it's really much easier than I thought it would be. I've also been known to be so lazy that I'll use my iPhone (which I usually have nearby at all times) to connect to my computer & do something rather than get up off the couch, walk down the hall & do it directly from the computer.

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A couple other uses of EN I forgot about before:

- Books - I have a whole notebook of notes about books I want to read / books I have read. When I see an interesting book review online, I clip it to EN and save it in a sync'd notebook so I have a list of books handy when at the bookstore or library. When I read books, I often take notes about them, and those I also keep in Evernote. I have a Kindle for some of my books and I find it easy to drag the My Clippings file into Evernote and the use copy/paste to organize the notes by book.

- Household things I need to remember at the store - this is similar to the lightbulb thing. I have things like the type of printer cartridge I need in EN so that I know what to buy when at the office supply store, etc.

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