Evernote Power User Volume 10 - The Mighty Day Tag

This is not for those light users of Evernote. This is a simple tip , but implies that that your daily workflow will center around Evernote. This tip is the mighty day tag.  Every note that I create, I create a tag with the current date on it. This provides the following benefits:

• The ability to review any previous days notes for reference.  
• By creating a shortcut for the current date tag, it serves as a dashboard for all other applications that need to access. 
• Notes with reminders are easily accessibleto conquer tasks. 

This , by far , is the most useful feature that I have used in Evernote as I use it all through the day.  By sorting the notes that are jut relevant for the day , you can tackle the important things without cluttering your interface. 

Evernote Power User Volume 9 - Email Management in Evernote

Email has as a technology has been with us for many years. I have always had a problem with managing my email so that the things that come in, I act on in a effective manner.  I have found that I have had real problems the with just processing my emails so that I don't forget to respond.  Why not use the power of Evernote to manage those important emails?  Here are a few ways to do that:

1. The add button in Outlook will allow you to add emails and attachments to Evernote

2 . Forward email from any email client using the Evernote email address in your account information. 

3.  Use the IFTTT (If This Then That) service which as a recipe to allow you to star and email 

Note: When using IFTTT the attachments are added to the Evernote as a link and not a attached file. 

Evernote Power User Volume 8 Using Sunrise Calendar with Evernote

One limitation that I have found with Evernote reminders is the lack of a way to keep track of completed tasks. When you complete a reminder in Evernote it is only crossed out and no record is kept. I find a benefit in being able to know how well I am doing complete tasks during the day. Sunrise calendar provides a work around, as you can see the completed task in the prior days.

Get Sunrise Calendar here

Evernote Power User Volume 7 - Evernote Web Clipper

Doing research on the Internet can be a messy, unproductive thing. I have seen people take a pencil and paper to their computer and write down links and resources from the different websites.  Others, that are more advanced, will open a Word document and create a document for researching.  I find that both of these methods are flawed for researching as they are not good with some of the key things that make research useful, the ability to organize it and reference it.  The Evernote Web Clipper is an extremely powerful tool as allows multiple ways to capture the information from websites. Once you have it captured, you can use the power of Evernote to manage the information. 

1. Article - The article option recognizes the relevant portion of the web page and allow you to take a snapshot of it. 

2. Simple Article - This will place the webpage in a readable mode where all the ads and buttons are taken off the page and the all you are left with are the relevant content in a more readable page. 

3. Full Page - This is will take the full page that you are looking at without cropping anything out. 

5. Bookmark - This will simply place the bookmark of the current page into your Evernote with a small picture from the site and a heading. 

4. Screen Shot - The Screen Shot option pulls up a grid based pointer that allows you to select an area in the web page and take a picture of it. 

Get the Chrome extension here . 

Evernote Power User Volume 6 - Search Evernote Within Google Search

Evernote has a very power search feature. There are a number of things that you can do that will make searching within Evernote easier that I will cover in another blog.  Today's tip simply allows you to search your Evernote library when searching within Google using the Evernote Web Clipper:

1. While in Chrome go to the menu grid and go to Tools -> Extensions. 

2. Under the Evernote Web Clipper select "option" . 

3. Select the option to "Show Evernote content related to my web searches".

Evernote Power User Volume 5 - Note Template (Windows App)

I use Evernote to drive my entire day.  When I am at work, I am feeding Evernote information constantly and referencing old notes to stay productive.  I find that I add the same type of information consistently, so I found using templates as a fast way to create notes.  Doing it this way allows for clean and consistent notes. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Create a note that has elements that you need in your daily notes such as sections, grids, and tasks.

2. Export the note to a .enex file to the desktop. 

3. With the Evernote app pined to the task bar, drag the .enex file to the pinned shortcut.  This will allow you to the right-click on the Evernote app and create a note with the pinned template. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 4 - The "Take Action" Tab

When you become a heavy user of Evernote, you will notice that your notes quickly pile up. The challenge with creating notes on the go is managing the use of the notes.  There are notes that need to be archived for later use such as a receipt.  There are others , like a business idea, that need to acted on in a timely manner.  There is an easy solution for differentiating this, and this is the "Take Action" tag.  The strategy works as follows: 

- Create a tag called "Take Action".

- Create a shortcut for the "Take Action" tag.

- Create a note.

- If the not is something that you will need to take action on soon, place the tag "Take Action" on it.

- Schedule a time , daily , to go through the items in the "Take Action"

- Remove the tag once action has been taken. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 3 - Read Later

With all the information that we are  thrown everyday,  we need a way to keep the information stored for easy access when you need to read it later.  A well known solution for this is an application called Read it Later , which allows you to send links to the application and read it later when your time allows.  As a Evernote Power User , I try to find ways to move task like this into the Evernote world so that I may reduce the amount of applications I am accessing daily. 

The "_Read Later" Notebook 

What I do is create a note book called "_Read Later" and all links that I can't get to at the moment into that Notebook.  Placing the underscore (_) before the notebook name, places the notebook in the top of your notebook list.    

The Process 

All during the day add items into your "_Read Later" Notebook.  Make sure to tag the note based on it's relevance.  This could be articles you find on the web, mail that you have taken a picture of with your smartphone, or videos that you want to watch from youtube. Block out a time during the day to go over all of the items in the notebook. Once you have read the item, place it in it's own notebook and clean out the _Read Later folder for the next day.  

Doing this will help reduce information overload. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 2 - Task Clone & Evernote

As a follow-up to my previous blog about Evernote reminders, I want to provide a resource for those that use a more robust task management system. I came across a piece of software that leverages the flexibility of Evernote , but allows you to create tasks for just about any task manager out there.  The software is called TaskClone.  What this does is allow you to add checked tasks within an Evernote like so:

 Once Evernote syncs it creates that task into your tasks management system like so:

This simple process can save a great deal of time and effort. TaskClone has a free and paid version in the resource section: 

Resource:

TaskClone.com

Evernote Power User - Volume 1 - Evernote Reminders

I am a productive tool junkie.  I have the need to find different applications, books , and videos on making me more productive and efficient. In this journey, I have tried to find the best note application to dump all the crazy ideas that I have on the daily . There are no applications that came even close to Evernote. There is way to much in Evernote to cover in one blog , so I am going to address specific parts of the application that I will explain in small snacked sized portions. Your Welcome. 

Evernote reminders is a great place to start with this series. Evernote reminders are simply that, they are a setting in Evernote that allows you to make a note a reminder. The reason that this is powerful is the mobile component.  Since the Evernote reminder syncs with any and all platforms you place it on, you will get your reminders where ever you are. Another benefit is that you can create a widget that will show just the notes with reminders. This makes it easy to make Evernote your task management program as well as notes. 

Simply making a note of what you need to do is not enough to stay productive. Evernote reminders are a great way to make your notes actionable.  

Resource:

Evernote.com