Evernote App for Android Now Includes Handwriting

If you are are an Android user, and have the Evernote app on your device, the latest update allows you to compose handwritten notes.

 

Just as you have had the ability to combine notes with the on-screen keyboard, create audio, and include pictures within the same note, you now have the ability to combine these elements with handwriting or drawings as well. Your handwriting will not be converted to typed text. Think of your handwriting as more of an image than anything else.

The first time I used the handwriting option on the app, a little message told me that I could use two fingers to slide the screen up and down, and that tapping outside the canvas where I was doing my handwriting would bring up the on-screen keyboard. I experienced no problems.

When Evernote synced, I found the newly-created note in Evernote on my computer. A help message appeared there as well, letting me know that I could annotate the drawing on my desktop computer. With one click, I was able to assess the annotation tools. Those tools look much like what you see in Skitch. In fact, Skitch may be exactly what I was seeing.

I wondered if I would see that same help message every time I added a new handwritten note and then opened it on my desktop computer. I found that if I simply right-click on my handwritten image, "Annotate this Image" is one of my selections.

For the person who is keying in their notes but needs to draw a graph or some other image, this enhancement is perfect. For the person who likes to take handwritten notes and has longed to be able to do so on their tablet, this enhancement grants that ability. Personally, I see using this function to add a quick diagram to my notes more than anything else.

If you have Evernote on your Android, we probably already have the handwriting ability. Create a new note and click the paperclip icon. Look for the "Handwriting" option. If you do not see it immediately, choose the "More" selection.

This new feature for Android gives you what iOS users have with an app called Penultimate. The handwriting function has been a highly-requested enhancement for some time.

Anyone already using this feature? How do you see yourself making use of it?

Evernote: Suggestions for Notebooks

We are used to creating filing systems. Open a drawer in that metal filing cabinet and you reveal your folder structure for paper files, be it good or bad. Open the Documents folder on your computer, and you see the digital parallel of that metal filing cabinet. Again, it may be good; it may be bad.

For a couple of decades, the computer has been the center of our digital lives. A good filing system on the computer meant you could find what you needed. You also had a better idea of what your system contained.

In the last few years, however, we have seen the center of our digital move from information stored on one computer to information stored "in the cloud," and accessible from anywhere. And whereas our computers have powerful software and superior file structures, our mobile devices tend to lack on both fronts. Evernote has become the answer for me and for many other people. It allows us to create "notebooks" (Evernote's version of folders). We can add information from any device. We can edit from any device. We can combine notes, photos, and audio in a single note.

A Notebook Starter List
Coming up with a good notebook structure is a challenge for the new user, and providing help is the purpose of this post. As a start, there are three notebooks I think are must-haves:

1. .Inbox (notice the period in front of the word, which will cause that notebook to sort to the top)
2. Miscellaneous (because you won't structure a complete system at first, and having a catch-all gives you a place to put the notes for which a good category has not emerged)
3. Personal Information (because we all need a place for the random membership numbers, codes, and account numbers in our lives)

I devoted a post on creating these three notebooks, and recommend reading it as a start. For educators, I wrote a second post which adds additional suggests for the teacher or principal.

Documenation
I have been a big proponent of using a single, paper journal to take notes from phone calls, one-on-one meetings, larger meetings, and seminars. With the popularity of tablets, I see a growing number of people who carry that device everywhere and would like to use it as the place to take notes. If that situation describes you, this post will serve as a guide.

When you take notes, some of what you write are "to-dos" that you will need to transfer to whatever tool serves as your to-do list. This post provides a strategy for automating the process of getting the to-dos you wrote in Evernote over to your to-do list.

Adding Other Notebooks
Because I am retired from education, my notebook needs are different from what they would be if I were still a principal or central office administrator. Below are screen shots which show the notebooks I currently have in Evernote.

What do I have in each notebook? The following list will give you an idea:

Addresses—Our neighborhood publishes a pdf directory of the names, addresses, and phone numbers of everyone in the subdivision. Right-clicking on that pdf and sending to Evernote makes this directory available to me from anywhere. A second note houses a similar directory from our church. Since finding duplicate entries on a list of names is something I have to do from time to time,  one note in this notebook gives me the Excel formula for the task.

Automobile—Create a note with the basic information about your automobile. Where did you purchase the car and when? Who was the salesman? What type of warranty is included and when does it expire? What is the VIN number, purchase price, and mileage at purchase? All of that goes in one note. Create a similar note for each vehicle in the family.

Each time you take the automobile to be serviced, create a note with a summary of the work performed and the mileage. When you have the tires replaced, create a note telling what type of tires you bought and the mileage at that point. Each time you create a note, it will be date and time stamped, giving you a chronological record.

Band—Although I am no longer a band director, I still judge, conduct honor bands, and keep my hand in the band world in a variety of ways. The band notebook houses such items as a rubric for judging concert bands, a checklist of tasks involved with conducting a honor band, and talking points about the importance of music in our schools.

Bonnie Lass, Cabrio, Lucy, Skipper—These four notebooks correspond to the four Shelties from recent years. One note has information related to adopting the dog: where we got the dog, along with contact information and microchip number, and the type of food the dog eats. One note lists the dog's weight at each checkup, giving us an at-a-glance idea of how the weight is changing over time. If a pet was taken to the vet for illness, that visit is logged as its own note, complete with what the vet said and what medication was prescribed. Sure, the vet has all of this information in the pet's folder, but when it's in Evernote, you can view it whenever you like. At this point, you are probably thinking of creating a notebook for each of your children. Hold that thought for when we discuss "stacks."

Checklists—This notebook includes such items as a list of what I may need to pack for a trip, what tasks need to be performed at the end of each grading period (a hold-over from my days as a principal), and a records retention list. A checklist provides a well-thought-out list of tasks to perform in a given scenario. Before a trip, I can email the one for packing to my to-do list.

Cooking, Shopping, Health, House—Good articles show up in my RSS feed every day. The Evernote web clipper allows me to save those good articles to Evernote and place them in the appropriate categories with just a couple of clicks.

Gift Ideas—While browsing in stores, you see ideas for future gifts. Take out your phone, open Evernote, create a new note, and tap the picture of the camera. Your phone's camera opens, and the picture you take goes into Evernote. Key in some details, such as where you saw the gift, and the price. Save it in the "Gift Ideas" notebook. Each note will represent a different gift idea. When you purchase one of the gifts, delete the note, or move it somewhere else. You might even create a notebook for "Gifts Bought" to establish a record of purchases made. If you have ever bought your spouse the exact same gift you gave him or her a year ago, the value of a "Gifts Bought" notebook becomes obvious.

Motivation—This notebook provides a place for stories or poems that to use later as devotionals, in presentations, or in writings.

Public Speaking—This notebook includes everything from tips on relating to the audience to how to design better PowerPoint slides. What hobbies, avocations, or major roles do you have in your life? Chances are, you will want a notebook for each one.

Recommendations—If you receive an email praising you for great work, what do you do with it? Saving it with all of your other archived email will likely insure you never see those wonderful words again. Forward the email to Evernote, using the special email address Evernote provides. Save it in a notebook sure to provide those needed "warm fuzzies."

These descriptions give you a good start towards deciding what notebooks you may want, and what to put into them.

Stacks

On your computer, you have the ability to nest folders. Evernote provides a much flatter file structure. We have discussed notebooks and notes. Evernote offers one more level of hierarchy—stacks.

Stacks comprise two of more notebooks. Think of a stack as being like a bookcase. One bookcase may hold notebooks related to your personal life, another holds lesson plans, another holds aspects of your professional life. To create a stack, you simply drag one notebook on top of another.

Current Projects
You will notice I have one stack. It is called "/Current Projects" and contains notebooks for each of my projects I have in my life that is a "word in progress." My to-do list is the hub of my project activity. The steps involved in the project, as well as much of the information about it, and start/due dates, are housed in the to-do list.

However, we all having supporting material for our projects. Some of it may be paper-based, and we need a place to be paper-based support material. We will also have digital project-support material. My wife and I are planning a week-long trip to New York City. Along the way, we are receiving emails related to that trip and gathering information we will want to access while there. I can forward each item to the "New York Trip" notebook in the Current Projects stack.

When the New York trip is over, I will look inside that notebook and decide what need to be deleted or saved somewhere else. You could even have a stack called "Completed Projects," where the entire notebook could be moved. I don't currently have a "Completed Project" stack, but as I continue to use Evernote, I will likely create one.

Notice the title of my stack started with a "/". The slash, being a punctuation, sorts ahead of all letters or numbers. In the order of punctuation marks, a slash sorts after a period. I want my Inbox to be at the top of the list and my Current Projects stack to be the next item. The period in front of Inbox and slash in front of Current Projects accomplishes that aim for me.

Children
If you have children, you may want to create a stack for each child. Within the stack, each notebook could represent a year in that child's life. The individual notes would capture anything of significance which happened during the year. Record visits to the doctor, with one note per visit. Evernote automatically date and time stamps each one. Did the child play Little League baseball? If so, what was the team's record, coach's name, and what was significant about the season? You could scan report cards or even artwork. Evernote can be a way to keep up with the significant milestones in the lives of your children.

I have made far more use of notebooks than I have tags in Evernote. Going back to the example of doctor visit's, you would create a new note in the notebook for that year for that child. You could tag that note "doctor" or "medical." If you maintain consistency, searching for the tag "doctor" or "medical" would show all such visits for any family member.

Make It Your Own

I have given you some insight into how I structure my Evernote notebooks. Your structure will be different, because your needs are different.

Tell me about how you have structured Evernote. Is there anything about my setup you find interesting?

Using TaskClone to Link Evernote to Your To-Do List

In the last post, we examined the challenges involved with notes from meetings and phone calls. Follow-up is needed to ensure the to-dos and future appointments you trap in your notes are extracted and entered on your to-do list and calendar. We also examined the importance of linking the to-dos and future appointments to the original notes. Those challenges exist regardless of whether notes are paper-based or digital, and regardless of whether the to-so list and calendar are paper-based or digital.

Mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous in today's world of work. Free services allow devices to sync with each other to make digital creation and digital retrieval from everywhere easy. One question I get with increasing frequency involves best practice for taking notes digitally.

I am experimenting with a service called TaskClone. The service is designed for people who want to take notes in Evernote and also use a digital to-do list. Creating an account takes only a few minutes.

In practice, you would take notes in Evernote. Evernote automatically date-and-time stamps the notes. Give the note a name and take your notes. Some of what you enter will actually be be "to-do" items which need to be performed. You will need to enter these items on your to-do list. Failure to do so will result in responsibilities falling through the cracks because they are hidden within notes, but never make their way to the to-do list.

Each time you find yourself entering something that is not just a piece of information, but is a to-do, precede the item with a check box. Below is a sample of how a note would look in Evernote.

Example of taking notes in Evernote

But, there are some "to-dos" which come out of this meeting. I insert a check box before the to-do item. When I save the note, look what shows up instantly in Toodledo:

How the task looks when sent from TaskClone to Toodledo

If I open the note section of this task, I see the link to the original note in Evernote.

Link to the original meeting notes in Evernote

TaskClone removes the need to review the notes to dissect to-dos. The service automatically sends any item marked with a check box to your digital to-do list. TaskClone supports a variety of to-do lists, including my favorite, Toodledo. The task shows up, worded exactly as in Evernote. In the note section of the task is a link to the original Evernote entry. Therefore, when it's time to do the task, you are one click away from the notes which led to the creation of that task.



Another feature of TaskClone is the ability to take an appointment entered in your notes and enter it on your Google Calendar. You use the check box, just as you did with tasks, but add the word "Schedule," a colon, and a space. That combination causes TaskClone to send whatever follows to your Google Calendar rather than your to-do list. Entering "Schedule: Executive Team Meeting 12/3 3p at Jim's office" will result in an appointment on the Google Calendar called "Executive Team Meeting" scheduled for December 3 at 3:00 p.m. "Jim's office" will appear in the location field. Adding email addresses of invitees will trigger Gmail to send invitations to the meeting. A link to the notes taken in Evernote will appear in the "description" field.



TaskClone offers a free trial. After the trial, the service is extremely reasonable, roughly $15 per year. For those whose jobs involve phone calls and meetings where documentation is important and where dissecting the to-dos from those notes is essential, TaskClone looks like a winner.

Is anyone using TaskClone already? What are your impressions? If you create an account after reading this post, please come back and leave your thoughts about your experiences.

The Challenge of Taking Meeting Notes Digitally

Having an easy system to document the contents of phone calls, one-on-one conferences, and meetings is a crucial asset for any professional. Memories are fuzzy. What is written is permanent and as accurate years later as the day it was penned. I have written about this topic as a result of conversations with those who are interested in my method, spoken about it in this podcast, included it in countless presentations, and addressed it in both of my books.

For years, I have used a paper journal as the one place where these real-time notes are taken. Taking notes is simple. However, the system requires some follow-through so that tasks and meetings identified wind up on the to-do list or calendar. If those notes need to be accessed again, there must be a way to find them easily.

During my live presentations, I see a growing trend in the number of people who want to be able to take notes digitally, particularly on their tablets. The direction I have given them is summed up in a single word: Evernote. To take the conversation a step further, my recommendation is to create a notebook inside Evernote called "Journal." Every phone call, every one-on-one conference, and every meeting will be a new note in the Journal notebook inside Evernote. Evernote date-and-time stamps each note, giving the user a chronological listing of all interactions.

Is digital documentation for you? The main points I ask users to consider are as follows:

I see a growing trend in the number of people who want to be able to take notes digitally, particularly on their tablets.

1. How easy will it be to enter information in Evernote? Will you have a smartphone or tablet accessible and powered up when you need to take notes? Will text entry approach the ease of handwriting on paper? Will you be able to concentrate on the interaction, or will you have to concentrate too much on the text entry?
2. How will your entry in a digital device be perceived by others in the meeting? Will they feel you are not fully engaged with them because of your attention to text entry?

After pondering those two points, are you are still interested in digital documentation? If so, you need a procedure to make sure things do not fall through the cracks. First, realize your notes will combine both reference information and to-do items.

In our world of back-to-back meetings and phones which never stop ringing, time to dissect the notes immediately is usually not available. However, part of each day's regiment must include reviewing all notes taken during the day with one question in mind: "What do I need to do about what I wrote?" The answers to that question become entries on the to-do list or appointments on the calendar. Failure to conduct that review means to-dos and future meetings may be identified and recorded in the meeting notes, but never make it any further. Appointments are missed because they were never entered on the calendar. Responsibilities falls through huge cracks because they were recorded in meeting notes, but never entered on the to-do list.

Secondly, when completing a task, the original notes may embed critical information about completing that task. How can you find the correct notes quickly?

This post presents the challenge. If you are reader of The Daily Home, my column in today's edition supplies the answer. For everyone else, Friday's post will show you a service which provides an automated solution.

What is your system for taking notes during meetings and phone calls? How to you find those notes when you need them?

Why is The Web Clipper Not Saving to My Default Evernote Notebook?

This video illustrates features of the new Evernote Web clipper for Chrome. I did notice a problem that for me was significant. Take a look at the video, and then we will discuss the problem.

 

One of my key principle in using Evernote is having a default notebook. Unless I tell Evernote otherwise, anything I add to Evernote is to go in that default notebook. This practice lets me look in one place and see the items I have recently added. Many items in Evernote are simply reference material. I will then move those items to their proper notebooks.

Other items, however, are added to Evernote to serve as a reminder of something I need to do. If I am in a store and see a potential gift to buy, I might take a photo and add some supporting information to it in Evernote. I don't have to remember that photo and retrieve it later from the others photos in my phone. All of the new notes are in one place, my default notebook. I look in that one place and take needed actions on what is there.

My default notebook is called ".Inbox." Notice the punctuation in front of the word. Since Evernote alphabetizes the list of notebooks, using a punctuation as the first character causes that notebook to sort to the top of the list.

The problem is with the web clipper was that notes being added via the web clipper were not ending up in the default notebook. In essence, the notes were as good as lost. After doing some searching, I found the answer, and it boiled down to un-checking one box.

1. Click on the Evernote icon in the upper-right corner of the toolbar to access the web clipper.
2. At the bottom of the menu, click on your name just below the "Save" button.
3. On the menu which appears, click "Options."
4. On the box which appears, look in the "Tag selection" section for the box marked "Use smart filing." Un-check it. 
5. In the "Notebook selection" section, bullet"Last used notebook" and click "Done."

Since each time, you will be saving to the default notebook, the "last used notebook" is always going to your default notebook (".Inbox").

Did you like this post? Click one of the small social media icons below to share with others. Feel free to leave a comment below with your own thoughts.

My First Time Using "Clearly"

While I had read about Clearly, I paid little attention. Ads don't bother me. They are the vehicles which make so many Internet resources free. Like billboards, ads in magazines, and television commercials, I tune most of them out and only pay attention to the ones that interest me. Therefore, a tool which removes extraneous information from web pages was not at the top of my wish list.

My first experience with Clearly
I installed Clearly, a browser plugin, and want to share with you my first attempt at using it. I was looking for an online copy of an article I had read entitled "Do We Really Want to Live Without the Post Office?" It was an outstanding article from the February 2013 issue of Esquire, and while I wanted to keep the article, I did not want to add to the amount of paper in my life. By entering the title into Google, I found the article here.

The top of that web page appeared as follows:

After the one mouse click necessary to view the web page with Clearly, the page looked like this:

Big difference, huh?


Again, ads don't bother me. What does bother me is getting to the bottom of the page and having to click to continue to page 2, 3, 4, etc. Let's take a look at that element. Here is what the bottom of the first page looked like viewed normally:

Six times, I would have to advance a page. Six times, I would be presented with all of the social media icons. On each of those six pages, valuable real estate would be taken up with ads.


With Clearly, the same portion of the article looks like this:

Notice there is no clicking to go page 2. Simply continue to scroll down the screen to read page 2, then page 3, and so forth. It was at that point I became a Clearly fan.


A video demonstration
This short video demonstrates Clearly. One click on the Clearly icon in the upper left-hand corner gets rid of the extraneous material. In the video, also notice how the user is able to change the background from a light background to a dark one.




So how do I get it?
So how do you get Clearly? Go here. Download for Firefox, Chrome, or Opera. Once installed, you will notice an icon resembling a small lamp in the upper-right corner of browser. While viewing a web page, clicking that icon kicks Clearly into action.

The toolbar which appears down the right-hand margin of the screen allows the user to highlight text, which will be saved that way in Evernote. Premium Evernote subscribers can click another tool which will read aloud the text on the page. Other tools clip the page and send to Evernote, print the article, or change the background. A "back arrow" on the toolbar returns the screen to the normal view of the web page.

Now you see why Clearly got my attention, and why it just may get yours. If you are an Evernote user, Clearly is almost too good not to use. I wish I had paid attention sooner! If you want to copy and paste an article into Microsoft Word, Clearly allows you to copy the entire article and paste it into your new document. Without Clearly, the user would have to copy and paste each of the six pages separately and also deal with deleting the ads.

When I come across an article I want to save for future reference, it looks much nicer in Evernote without all of the ads. If you are already clipping items to Evernote, I think you will agree.

Did you like this post? Click one of the small social media icons below to share with others. Feel free to leave a comment below with your own thoughts.

The 3 Evernote Notebooks You Must Have

This post is, for the most part, a re-post of information I shared in February. Last week, in The Daily Home, my article was an introduction to Evernote and invitation to create an account. In today's column, and in this space, the topic is one which is central to organizing information once you have learned the basics of how to enter information.


Evernote uses the concept of "notebooks" rather than folders to organize information. For the new user, knowing what notebooks are needed may be confusing.

First, look at your paper filing system and clean it up. Next, look at the folder system you have on your computer hard drive. For years, I have recommended setting up a folder structure on the hard drive which parallels your paper filing system. That way, documents which come to you on paper will have a place where they can be filed. Documents which come to you electronically will have a parallel place.

Let's extend that concept to Evernote. The categories which have emerged in your life for your paper filing needs and digital filing needs are likely to surface as the categories into which your Evernote information will fit. So, as you create notebooks and brainstorm what notebooks you may later need, let the filing systems you already have in place serve as a guide.

That being said, you need not worry about a complete notebook structure as you begin using Evernote. Creating a new notebook at any time you wish is easy. Moving information from one notebook to another is as easy as pulling from a drop-down menu. As you get more content into Evernote, the need for specific notebooks begins to emerge and morph on its own.

As an experienced user, I would suggest three notebooks for you to create at the outset:

.Inbox
The ".Inbox" is the notebook where everything new will go. If I take a photo using Evernote, the photo goes to the ".Inbox." If I clip a page from the Internet, that clip goes to ".Inbox."

No matter how busy the day becomes and how fast the world moves, once I trap something in Evernote, I can forget about it. When the dust settles, I am able to look at that one notebook, see all of the new entries, and ask the question, "What do I need to do about this item?" After taking whatever action is appropriate, the item becomes reference information, and I can move it to the appropriate notebook.

Notice the punctuation before the word "Inbox." The period is not a typo. Evernote alphabetizes the notebooks, and by placing a punctuation in front of the word, my Evernote inbox sorts to the top of the list, which is exactly where I want it.

Create your own ".Inbox." To make it your "default notebook" in Evernote, right-clicking on the name of the notebook, choose "Properties," and check the box which says, "Make this my default notebook" in the box which appears. Anything you add to Evernote goes there unless you designate some other notebook.

Some items are of only temporary need. For example, you might take a picture of the parking spot where you left your car so that you can remember where to find the car after a trip. Once the trip is over and you have retrieved your car, the photo is of no use, and you would delete it. The next time you examine your Evernote inbox, you will see that photo, and seeing it will be your trigger to delete it.

Everything goes into ".Inbox" first, and is then dispersed as needed. Just like your email inbox, you will want to get the Evernote inbox empty on a regular basis.

Miscellaneous
The second notebook you should create is one called "Miscellaneous." At first, while you are figuring out what notebooks you need, having a catch-all called "Miscellaneous" corrals in one place the reference items for which you have not yet come up with a good name.

As you add other notebooks, you will move items from "Miscellaneous" to them. I believe you will always have a need for this "Miscellaneous" notebook. You will always have items which do not fit neatly into one of the other notebooks, so you need a catch-all. This arrangement is much better than having a large number of notebooks with only one or two notes in each.

Personal Information
Your hotel rewards numbers, your airline sky miles number, the code to the copying machine...where do you keep that sort of stuff? We all have those little bits of information: account numbers, serial numbers for major purchases, clothing sizes, and code numbers. We need a place to put them, and that place needs to be somewhere we can get to them when we need them no matter where we are. There is no better place than Evernote. I have a notebook called "Personal Information." The notes inside it are labeled "A-C," "D-F," "G-L," etc. Within each note, the various accounts are listed alphabetically.
 
Over time, you will create a notebook structure which works for you. Look at your current paper filing system and digital system on your computer's hard drive. If you have friends who are Evernote users, look at the notebook structure they have and borrow ideas from them. Most importantly, jump in and start using Evernote.

Still need to create an account? Earn a free month of "Evernote Premium" by using this link:

Click here to create your account.

For those who already use Evernote, what suggestions do you have for a naming your notebooks?

Getting Started With Evernote

If you are a subscriber of The Daily Home, you may be here as a result of reading my column in today's paper. Creating an account is the first and most important step in learning Evernote. Thanks to a recent program from the company, you can experience a month of "Evernote Premium" for free as a result of Evernote's "refer a friend" program. At the end of the month, you can either to continue Evernote Premium at a cost of $45 per year, or you can allow the account to revert to the free version. By the way, the free version is what I have and with which I had been very satisfied.

Click here to create your own account.

Before entering information into your account, watch this 12-minute video by Steve Dotto. Steve is well-known for his instructional videos where he explains relevant technology simply.

Now that you have watched the video, you may want to try your hand at creating a note. Below is a second video by Steve Dotto which goes into a little more depth.




Next week, in both the newspaper column and on this blog, I will give suggestions for the notebooks you need.

Not an Evernote User? Now is a Good Time to Join

If you are unfamiliar with Evernote, it is a web-based service allowing you to store information and access it from anywhere: your computer, tablet, phone, or any computer in the world with Internet access. That's the best one-sentence explanation I can offer. Not only can you access the information from anywhere, but you can also make changes to it from anywhere.

We are used to storing "stuff" on our computers: documents, presentations, pictures, music, etc. Only a few years ago, the computer was the hub of our digital lives. The model has shifted to one where our information is stored in the cloud and we can access it from many devices. The more that model becomes the standard, the more important Evernote becomes.

I started using Evernote a year ago and wrote about it in this post. The ability to create a new note and include text, audio recordings, and photos, all stored in one note, was the selling point for me. The note I create on my phone shows up in Evernote on my computer desktop. Evernote has taken the storage of reference information to a whole new level.


Evernote has both a free account and a "Premium Account," for which you gain more resources. I have the free account, which allows me to upload 60MB of information a month.

The purpose of this post is to invite you to create your own account in Evernote. I will admit that there is something in it for me. Evernote has started a "refer a friend" program. If you use the link I provide to you, not only will you be creating an account, but you receive the Premium version for a month. After that, you can pay for the Premium account, or your account will revert to the free version.

What do I get out of the deal? Well, when enough people use my link to create accounts, I get addition storage. To get started, click on the link below and create your account. Once you understand Evernote, you will be glad you did.

Click here to create your Evernote account.

New to Evernote? The Notebooks You Need

Evernote is a powerful resource. It does come with a bit of a learning curve. This past July, I composed a post about Evernote and ways I was using it. You can access that post there.

Evernote uses the concept of "notebooks" rather than folders to organize information. The new user may wonder what notebooks are needed.

First, look at your paper filing system and clean it up. Next, look at the folder system you have on your computer hard drive. For years, I have recommending setting up a folder structure on the hard drive which parallels your paper filing system. That way, documents which come to you on paper will have a place where they can be filed. Documents which come to you electronically will have a parallel place.

Let's extend that concept to Evernote. The categories which have emerged in your life for your paper filing needs and digital filing needs are going to be pretty much the same when you start working with Evernote. So, as you create notebooks and brainstorm what notebooks you may later need, let the filing systems you already have in place be your guide.

That being said, you need not worry too much initially about a complete notebook structure. As you use Evernote. Changing information from one notebook to another is as easy as choosing from a drop-down menu.

In my mind, when are just getting started with Evernote, you cold get by with two notebooks, one for new information yet to be processed, and one for information already processed:

.Inbox
This notebook is a must. You will make it your default notebook in Evernote. Anything you add to Evernote goes there unless you designate some other notebook. It's a place to trap incoming information. Our lives are busy. We need to be able to trap that idea, photo, or voice note quickly and then move on. Later, we can make decisions about where the information needs to go. 

Some items of very temporary need. For example, you might take a picture of the parking spot where you left your car so that you can remember where to find the car after a trip. Once the trip is over and you have retrieved your car, the photo is of no use, and you would want to delete it. The next time you examine your Evernote inbox, you will see that photo, and that will be your trigger to delete it.

Notice the dot before the first letter in the word "Inbox." The punctuation will cause this notebook to sort to the top of the list, which is where you want it. That notebook is going to be very different from every other notebook. It's like the mailbox. Everything goes there first, and is then dispersed as needed. Just like your email inbox, you will want to get the Evernote inbox empty on a regular basis.

Miscellaneous
As strange as it may seem, you will function well with this as your only notebook aside from ".Inbox." You examine ".Inbox" and whatever you want to keep is moved to "Miscellaneous."

As you add other notebooks, you will scrutinize the "Miscellaneous" notebook and shift items to them. I believe you will always have a need for this "Miscellaneous" notebook. You will always have items which do not fit neatly into one of the notebooks you have, so you need a catch-all for such items. This arrangement is much better than having a large number of notebooks with only one or two notes in each.

Other Notebooks
Listed below are some other notebooks I have and how you could use them:

Personal Information—This notebook will house airline frequent flyer numbers, hotel rewards numbers, various other account numbers, serial numbers for major purchases, etc. I keep all of this in my "Personal Information" notebook. Within it, I have notes entitled "A-C," "D-F," "G-L," etc. Within each note, the various accounts are listed alphabetically.
 
Checklists—If you are the principal, what are the steps involved in hiring a teacher. If you are a teacher, what are the tasks to perform at the end of each grading period? In your personal life, what would you put on a list of items to pack when going on a trip? Put these checklists in a notebook. When you need one, you can copy and paste it into your digital to-do list. If your to-do list has the capability, you can email from Evernote directly into your to-do list.

Classroom Observations—For principals, each visit to a classroom would be a note. Name the note with the teacher’s name. At the end of the year, notes from all observations are in one place.

Curriculum—Do you need a place to capture "best practice"? Do you need a place to house your list of standards? This notebook would likely have many notes, each one housing a particular teaching idea. You could use "tags" with the names of various subjects. All ideas related to math would have the "math" tag. You are allowed to have multiple tags, as some ideas may apply to more than one subject.

And for taking notes...
If you want to take notes, such as phone calls and meetings, and do it digitally, Evernote is the place. Title the notebook "Journal." I feel that a paper journal is still the best solution, and I use a digital "table of contents" (which I keep in Evernote) to help me locate specific information quickly. However, I know many people have a strong desire to use their tablets instead of paper.

My strategy would be that each phone call is a note, each parent conference is a note, each meeting is a note, etc. Evernote will date and time stamp each one, providing you with a record of exactly what happened when.

Allow Evernote to save each note to ".Inbox." At the end of the day, your responsibility will be to read what you have recorded and decide what you need to do about any of it. The results of those decisions will go in your digital to-do list, using whatever software you choose. You may copy parts of what was input into Evernote, and paste it into the note section of a task. That action would  provide you with the information you need when you perform that task.

Once you have read an ".Inbox" note and extracted to-dos, that note will now becomes reference information. From the drop-down menu, you would change the notebook to “Journal." In this notebook, you will have a chronological listing of all of your notes from phone calls, conferences, meetings, etc.

For those who already use Evernote, what suggestions do you have for a naming your notebooks?

School Leadership Briefing Follow-Up

Welcome to those who are subscribers to the School Leadership Briefing. This post is especially for you. If you are not a subscriber, that's OK; the segment I recorded is being made available to all readers of this blog. Listen to my talk on "Five Free Tech Tools to Help You Get Organized."

Toodledo 
Toodledo is a powerful web-based to-do list. It works with PC or Mac. Apps are available allowing you to sync any of your mobile devices to Toodledo. I recently composed a 6-part series on Toodledo. You can read Part 1 here.



igHome 
igHome is a personalized homepage. It is the perfect tool for those who use iGoogle and are looking for a replace when iGoogle ceases to exist on November 1. On February 11, my post will explain igHome. By that time, you may already have your igHome page established.



Dropbox
Put anything in Dropbox and retrieve it on any of your computers, mobile devices, or any computer in the world with Internet access. I composed an e-book to guide you through a strategy for using Dropbox.Click on the cover to download.

Click on the cover to download the free Dropbox E-Book

Evernote 
Evernote is a great place to store and organize commonly-accessed information. The information is then available on any of your computers, mobile devices, or any computer in the world with Internet access. On February 4, my post will talk about the notebooks I suggest you create when you get started with Evernote.

Voice Input
This area is becoming a major player in the world of smartphones. Everyone has seen the commercials advertising Siri. In the audio segment, we examine using voice input to get "to-dos" into your system, specifically getting them into your email so that when you handle your email, you are handling the voice notes (now transcribed to text) as well. To set up a reQall account, go to reQall.com/app.

For Vlingo, go to the site where you download apps for your smartphone and search for Vlingo. Recently, Vlingo for Android has been replaced with a program called "Dragon Mobile Assistant." Currently, Dragon will not allow you to email by voice, functionality that is necessary to get those random thoughts into your system. The app promises this functionality will be there soon.

Each of these 5 tools represents a major player in my productivity arsenal. They help me quickly access the information I need when I need it. Thanks for listening to the School Leadership Briefing segment. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.

From Outlook to Evernote

I am admittedly late coming to the Evernote table. The reason however, is that while it was filling a void for others, that same void simply has not existed for me. We all have notes to keep on a variety of subjects, and most people find themselves wondering where to keep them and how to organize them. Evernote provides the answer. It's a place to keep, well...notes.

For me, the Notes module of Outlook—together with a well-defined folder system on my hard drive—served the purpose others use for Evernote. Where do you keep all of those frequent flyer numbers, hotel rewards numbers, Xerox machine codes, and so forth? If you looked at my Outlook Notes, you would see an "A-C," a "D-F", a "G-L," etc.with each one of those notes housing numbers and codes for that range of the alphabet. Another note held a short bio of me, because you never know when someone is going to need to introduce you and will need some verbiage. Other notes held a couple of devotionals or motivational poems in case I was called on to "say a few words." In short, Outlook Notes held reference information I wanted to have with me everywhere.

When I found information on the Internet that I wanted to save, I was always able to highlight, copy, and paste it into a Word document. The document was then saved in a well-defined folder system within my computer's Documents library.

I didn't need Evernote. I was impressed by its ability to search not only text, but also words housed within photographs. Again, my photos were always named logically, so the file name would be turned up in the search. Evernote does include the ability to record sounds. However, I can put an mp3 file into a folder and give it a logical name. The ability to record sound, take a photo, capture text, and have all those as part of the same note...now that is starting to sound like something I might want to consider. However, I was not convinced that the need was great enough to add another component to an organizational system that was working.

A Replacement for Outlook Notes
In moving from an all-Outlook environment to an all-cloud environment, Evernote was the immediate choice as a place to house my Outlook Notes. In addition to establishing a web-based account, I downloaded Evernote to my office desktop computer, my laptop, my tablet, and my Android. In addition, I installed the Evernote Web Clipper on my browser.

Copying Outlook Notes to Evernote was easy. As a result of either downloading Evernote to my computer or installing the Evernote Web Clipper—and I am not sure which—when I right-click on an image or text, one of my choices is "Add to Evernote."

I opened Outlook and right-clicked each Note one at a time. After selecting "Add to Evernote," each newly-created note opened, where I could edit it, give it a title, and add whatever tags were appropriate.

Summary
Evernote provides me another way to store the information I housed in Outlook Notes. Now that Evernote is becoming part of my system, I plan additional uses for it. As a start, I have identified material to read that will guide me with best practice. You will probably see some of the results of what I learn posted on this blog.

For those who use Evernote, how has it helped your productivity?