#CPD23 Thing 9: Evernote for Productivity

This week's Thing, as part of the 23 Things for Professional Development program, is all about Evernote. The post for this week begins with the disclaimer that Evernote allows you to notate webpages with your own notes, making it easy for later retrieval. I have found Diigo to be a far superior tool for this purpose. After all, Diigo is specifically designed to be a bookmarking tool for web links (perhaps I'll change my mind after finishing this post...). Where I find Evernote to be useful is its capability to organize web material like a notebook or binder. It becomes your online folder/netbook/binder for items that you need to retrieve later.

A prime example for how I've used Evernote in the past is for my recipe collection. I don't have a lot stored in my account yet, but as I try new recipes and they become ones that I know I'll use again, I add them.

Since I don't use Evernote a lot, I decided to peruse the web a bit to find how others are using the tool. Here's what I found ...

1. This post and really like the idea of using Evernote as an "office cleaner." The author describes how a simple text document is used when a phone call comes through, or when new ideas need to be written down (you know the one's you have when you're super duper busy and don't have time to deal with it at the moment). By doing this, you create a digital to-do list of sorts. Evernote, then, can help take it to the next level in that these impromptu notes become synced and fully accessible anywhere, anytime. Brilliant!
2. The same post goes on to say that Evernote would be great as a research tool and an "always-accessible idea file." I've kind of been looking for this without even knowing it! With the constant information overload these days, I'm always finding information that can be used for blog posts, newsletters, projects, coursework, and potential publishing research. Evernote could very well be my ticket to better organizing this material.
3. Lifehacker did a post that reminded me of the simple fact that Evernote notes and web clip data are searchable. Granted, you can do a CTRL+F within a document to find certain words, but it's good to know that Evernote has the same capabilities. Taking it a step further, Evernote can OCR your handwritten notes that are scanned into the application as an image. This opens up a whole new set of possibilities - and it's a must-have options that will help keep all those notes retrievable (I know there are times when I tag a bookmark but still have trouble finding it!). And speaking of tagging - yep... Evernote does that well too.
4. One other use for Evernote that I'm pretty sure I've heard of from someone...but can't remember who... is to take pictures of Business Cards. Remember that the data is searchable, so when the card is scanned, you no longer have to keep the card in hand AND you now have a searchable document in the cloud. Pretty nifty!

Evernote has been said to be the only bookmarking tool you'll ever need. I'm not sure I'll take it that far, in part because I don't want to pay for it, and if I start saving everything I run across I'm sure to hit the monthly 60 MB allowance. I'm also not sure I buy it as the end-all-be-all notes app. Google Docs has worked extremely well for me in terms of working in the cloud. I may try some of the options I've written about... but in the end, Diigo and Google Docs will probably still be my favorite choices for saving bookmarks and jotting down notes. Through this post though, I have found a new appreciation for the tool and just might start using it more frequently!