I enjoyed being a guest on Rebecca Councill’s podcast, “Digital Path.” Both of us hold the certification “Evernote Certified Consultant.” During the interview, we discussed my journey to Evernote, what I keep there, and how each of us uses it in our day-to-day lives.
Digital Documents
We all have digital documents. They are the parallel of the paper that fills our filing cabinets. Just as paper documents live in folders, our digital documents live in folders nested within other folders. The computer serves as the “digital filing cabinet.”
Those digital documents come to us as email attachments. Some we download from websites. Others, we create ourselves and need a place to store so that we can find them when we need them. Digital documents have page breaks every 11 inches and inch-wide margins around the sides. There are perfect for printing.
Digital Notes
This era is termed the “information age.” Much of the information we’ll need later will never be printed. So, we don’t need special formatting, such as page breaks or margins. We simply need to be able to find the information when we need it. Excellent search capabilities are paramount. The ability to access it all from our phones becomes essential.
That’s why Evernote became such a hit a decade ago. It’s why 250 million people us it today. Two mouse clicks takes every word, photo, and link on web page and puts it into Evernote. Every word, even a word embedded in a photo, becomes searchable.
Grandma’s Typewriter and Recipe Box
Merely thinking about our grandmothers brings back memories of the smells in her kitchen. If you are of a certain age, your grandmother’s recipes were likely written on 3 x 5 note cards. She didn’t type them on 8 1/2 x 11 inch pieces of paper. She didn’t need to. The note cards were easier. Grandmother could organize them however she wished.
She might even write something in the corner of the cards, such as “Salad” or “Dessert,” Thanksgiving” or “Summer.” She might even designate recipes that were favorites of a particular family member by jotting that name in the corner of the card. Grandmother understood the modern-day art of “tagging.”
However, if the church decided to put together a cookbook, Grandmother hauled out the typewriter. You see, she understood the difference between documents and notes. On one, the format was important. On the other, the information was all that was required.
Bringing that Concept to Today
What information do you need to have with you everywhere? When you need air filters at Walmart, wouldn’t it be nice to have the correct size on your phone? When you check into a hotel, wouldn’t it be nice to have the rewards number handy? Need a replacement part for a household item? Wouldn’t it be great to have a photo of the needed item on your phone when you walk in the store?
Digital notes provide the solution to everyday needs. In my experience, there’s not a better place to keep that sort of reference information than in Evernote. You can create a free account today.
The Interview Gives Plenty of Examples
The best way to understand Evernote is to see how others use it. The text of this post gives some examples. The interview gives many more. Thanks to Rebecca for having me as a guest. You can listen to the full episode here.
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