Organize Virtually Everything – With Evernote

Those of us who are “organizationally challenged” will love Evernote’s software and services that are designed to keep the technology part of your life organized and available within a second.

Since Evernote’s launch in 2008, they’ve come a long way – raising money for more research to improve their product, expanding to include many operating platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, Chrome OS and many phone products.

Now, Evernote is a polished product that lets you take “notes” and archive them.  I don’t say “notes” in the common use of the word.  A note to Evernote can be a photograph, webpage, a handwritten note, voice memo or text that includes file attachments.

And the best thing about the Evernote product is that you can retrieve these notes from the archives and then edit, tag, annotate and export whenever you want or need to – from any machine you might have at the moment.  That means you can access the master copy that’s stored on Evernote from a computer, tablet or phone – and ones that use a different operating system.  As long as Evernote has been installed, you can access your files in almost any device.

You can record your thoughts, things that are difficult to remember, photos, music, important documents and so much more and Evernote syncs them so that you can retrieve them whenever you want or need to.

Here’s how it works:

Evernote is actually a “suite” of software that includes such subjects as:

• Penultimate – Like having your own pad of paper, being able to jot notes, draw graphs and pictures (in color if desired) and save it all with Evernote.
• Skitch – With Skitch, you’re drawing attention to something that you’ve captured in text, photo or a drawing.  For example, you can pull up a photo, draw a heart around it and send it to someone you love.
• Webclipper – See something you like on the web? Simply “clip” it and save it to be retrieved later.  This applies to research, links, images and much more.
• Hello – Most of us meet many people from all walks of life – either associated with our businesses or personal life.  Evernote lets you create a history (photos, notes or business cards) of people and experiences.  You can then share them or simply refresh your memory when needed.
• Peek – Evernote’s Peek encompasses almost everything that has to do with refreshing your memory.  If you’re a student, you can simply lift up your iPad’s Smart Cover for a “peek” at study notes.  Audios, photos and images are also available of all of your life’s encounters.
• Food – Relive those recipes from Grandma’s collection by storing them (in her own handwriting if you want) or keep track of memorable restaurants or wine labels with this Evernote offering.
• Clearly – Cut out all the extraneous and leave the parts you’d like to read.  Evernote’s Clearly makes it possible to get rid of pesky ads and other information you don’t need, save what you want and read it later with no distractions.

As you can see, Evernote seems to have thought of everything to help us improve our organization skills – and more importantly, our memories!

Evernote’s Free and Premium Accounts

If you think that Evernote is something you’d like to try, there is a free service which offers a certain amount of storage space per month.  You’ll have a “usage” meter to remind you of what you’ve already used.

The premium service is available at the very low rate of $5 per month or $45 per year.  With the premium package you get much more storage for uploads, faster recognition, security and you get to disable advertising pop ups.

For a much more in-depth overview of Evernote and what it offers, click on the link I’m providing.  Personally, I’ve been using it and love it.  It’s powerful and quick – and I don’t have to wrack my brain anymore to think of things I’ve long since forgotten.

Try it out and give me your honest feedback.