On mobile devices, the difference between one tap and two taps is big. The difference between one and three is monumental. The ability to get into and out of an app quickly often spells the difference an app being used daily and sitting idle.
Over the last year, Evernote has become my choice method for taking notes in conference workshops and webinars (the ones in which I am a participant rather than the presenter). While some phone calls and meetings call for brainstorming on paper, the results of that brainstorming gets cleaned up and stored in Evernote.
But what about the short interactions in the hallway? Do I take notes from that interaction in Evernote, or do I jot it on the paper memo pad that is always in my pocket. What about the photo of a page in a book containing information I want to later research? Do I take a photo with my camera and hope I remember to retrieve it, or do I take the picture with Evernote’s document camera, where the image sitting in my Evernote Inbox serves as its own reminder that something needs to be done with it? Much of the answer has to do with how easy it is to create a new note (and of the correct variety) in Evernote and with how few taps.
The newest version of Evernote requires at least two taps to create a new note: one to open the app and a second to tap the “+” to create the note. Not bad. However, if that note is go to require the camera or microphone, an additional tap or two is required. That may be a deal-breaker, especially when you are trying be attentive to the conversation in which you are a part.
What if one tap would open Evernote, create a new note, and that note be exactly the kind of note? That’s exactly what Evernote widget does. Below are three screen shots screenshot from my phone. On the left is my home screen. You see the Evernote app in the bottom row. You also see two, green icons just below the task widget. The one on the left creates a new note…with one tap. The one on the right creates a new voice dictation note, also with one tap. (With the voice dictation note, I can speak, and the results of what I say is transcribed into text.) When I installed those two copies of the widget, I was able to set what type of note each of them would produce.
Once swipe to the right reveals the middle screen you see directly above. Here you see two copies of a slightly different Evernote widget. From left to right, the top row allows me to do the following:
- Open Evernote (the elephant head)
- Create a new text note
- Create a new dictation note
- Create a new photo note
- Create a new document camera note
- Choose the setting for each of the four types of notes listed above. The cog is what allowed me to determine, for example, that the third icon from the left would be a dictation note.
- Open Evernote
- Create a new voice note
- Create a new drawing note
- Search Evernote
- Open Skitch
- Choose the setting for each icon in that row
When I tap the “Settings” icon (the cog), the image on the far right is where I decide the function of each button on the bar.
If you have the Evernote app installed on your Android device, look in the Widgets section of your device to see if you already have the Evernote Widgets present. If not, download the Evernote Widget from the Google Play Store.
During daily use, I am at most a swipe and a tap from created any type of note in Evernote. For a digital tool to be effective for trapping information “on the fly,” it’s got to be quicker and easier than the memo pad in your pocket. Moving from four taps to one may not seem like much. In the heat of the battle, it’s everything.
If you learned something from in this post, the chances are someone else would as well. Click on one of the icons below to share it on Facebook or Twitter. Feel free to leave your comments as well.
Dr. Frank Buck
October 6, 2014 7:16 pmI received a comment privately from a reader who says, “No
question – just a comment. I use EV widget all the time. I had not thought
about using two widgets to avoid the sinkhole of choosing. Now I can have all I
want. Brilliant!”
Indeed, the widget caused me to start using Evernote on the fly a great deal more.
Sometimes a small thing is a big thing.
Dr. Frank Buck
October 6, 2014 7:23 pmAnother reader writes:
Use “note to self” constantly. Iknow how to change default destination. I know the following is possible cause I found it, then lost it. On some app( I lost it) when you say “note to self) it replies “which category” and you can specify which category in your list to use. Otherwise it seems to send them all to one place in your chosen app., and you then gotta move them manually. I asked this on the “note to self” blog and they simply told me how to change the default app. Incidentally I found that virtually ALL Android apps now will receive “note to self”.
Thank you in advance for any help you can give.
Bill,
I don’t know a way to send the “note to self” to a particular notebook in Evernote, Personally, I have the “note to self” set to go to my do-to list (Toodledo) rather than Evernote. My to-do list is one continuous list, sorted by due date, rather than segmented into categories. By default, new items are given a start and due date of today.
As far as the dictation note I have on the home screen, it will be saved in my Inbox by default, which is really what I want. First, I can take notes without worrying about getting them complete or filing them in just the right place. Later in the day, I look at everything I have added to the Evernote Inbox while at my desktop computer. That gives me a chance to give everything one more look, clean up anything as needed, and make decision about what tags to add and what notebooks to send them to. For me, some things work better on the phone and some things work better on my desktop computer. The ability to take notes quickly on the fly and then have a second chance in a quiet environment works well for me.
Dr. Frank Buck
October 6, 2014 7:26 pmAnother readers asks: “How do I install second copy of the widget?”
The widget will first appear on the section of your Android where you see all of your apps and widgets. When you go there, you will of course tap and drag the widget to one of your screens. You will see that the widget is still present in that app & widgets section. You repeat the process, going and dragging the widget a second time to one of your screens. Hope this explanation makes sense! If not, let me know.