On the Qualities of Useful Paper

[charboyd 272]

Check out our Paperless Ambassador Jamie Todd Rubin's newest blog post as he explores the idea that some paper products are still necessary. Read his thoughts on the qualities of 'useful' paper and methods to still maintaining your paperless lifestyle here: http://www.jamierubin.net/2015/08/04/going-paperless-on-the-qualities-of-useful-paper/

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I am 99.9% paperless myself (a bit different than Jamie  — I am a completist who scans every bit of paper that comes my way). Here is a post I made a couple years ago about my workflow.

Paper is great, and I use it a lot as well. The nice thing about Evernote (and GoodNotes + Apple Pencil) is that everything is searchable.

 

I’ve adjusted my workflow a bit, and I need to post about that sometime, but the essential elements are the same.

[DTLow 5,736]

54 minutes ago, GrumpyMonkey said:

Paper is great, and I use it a lot as well. The nice thing about Evernote (and GoodNotes + Apple Pencil) is that everything is searchable.

Not sure what  prompted resurrecting this discussion.

I've got nothing against paper; I'm against saving paper - I scan everything (warning: I learned from experience that some gov't forms should be saved)

I also prefer to use external editors, unless it's a basic typed note.   Evernote's editor isn't great with free form notes.  I like GoodNotes for the OCR feature and transcribing my handwriting.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

Not sure what  prompted resurrecting this discussion.

I've got nothing against paper; I'm against saving paper - I scan everything (warning: I learned from experience that some gov't forms should be saved)

I also prefer to use external editors, unless it's a basic typed note.   Evernote's editor isn't great with free form notes.  I like GoodNotes for the OCR feature and transcribing my handwriting.

a spam post brought it to the top of the activity -> then a comment about the spam post -> me noticing it -> me re-visiting jamie’s post -> me commenting on the content with an example from my own workflow -> the other posts all getting deleted so it looks like i am finally getting around to responding to a 2015 thread  

it seems like the 2015 thread didn’t generate much discussion...

i agree about working in evernote — it’s not very well done, i’m afraid. then again, neither is apple’s own notes app. goodnotes, in my experience, is one of the best apps with the pencil (ocr and transcription is really nice, especially in japanese).

[macfixer 703]

On 2/24/2018 at 12:10 AM, DTLow said:

Not sure what  prompted resurrecting this discussion.

Probably related to this:
https://discussion.evernote.com/announcement/58-upcoming-forum-change-announcement/

[frankphi 0]

On 2/23/2018 at 11:47 PM, GrumpyMonkey said:

I am 99.9% paperless myself (a bit different than Jamie  — I am a completist who scans every bit of paper that comes my way). Here is a post I made a couple years ago about my workflow.

Paper is great, and I use it a lot as well. The nice thing about Evernote (and GoodNotes + Apple Pencil) is that everything is searchable.

 

I’ve adjusted my workflow a bit, and I need to post about that sometime, but the essential elements are the same.

I tend to scan anything I want to save into Evernote using my phone. I also have an app (Photo Scan)  that makes it possible to scan photos into Evernote (or just save them as jpg) and it does a great job. 

[BrightHomesRE 31]

I always tell people I live in Evernote, and it is true.  I also live by my Google Calendar and yet I am very lost without my Moleskine paper planner (XL).  I find the variety of working in EN and reflecting in my Moleskine planner keeps me focused on my goals as I feel writing down and keeping a paper history of what I do is almost like a scrapbook.  Full transparency, the Moleskine is the only paper that stays near me.  I scan everything else.

[PinkElephant 8,073]

For me it is not the moment of creation that counts. I feel good doing some of my work on paper, even when technically my iPad Pro would be up to the job as well.  Some creativity tools to moderate a group discussion only work on good old metaplan cards and a flipchart - whatever industry tells when inventing electronic gadgets that mimic these tools.

For me it is important to define from which step a workflow is switched to digital.

From this onwards, it must stay digital, and be enriched with additional information created while being processed. All processing information must stay tagged to the initial document moving forward.

The moment in a digital workflow when someone hits the “print” button is fatal because it resets the whole information enrichment process to zero.

And yes, some docs must be kept in paper out of legal issues. So the moment the digital workflow is started, the Original should be filed away in a retrievable way. When the digital twin is created, filing can be quite simple because retrieval can be done through electronic searching.

A shoebox labeled “2019” will do for most of us. If the paper has to be produced (which rarely occurs even if it is legally required) coming close enough is o.k. when balancing against filing everything perfectly right away.

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

I feel good doing some of my work on paper, even when technically my iPad Pro would be up to the job as well. 

How much of this is just being acustomed to paper?

I've also heard handwriting has learning benefits over typing; I use handwriting on my iPad.