Using Evernote to Organize for Success

I have to admit that one of my favorite (if not my absolute favorite) organizing tool is Evernote, which can be found at http://www.evernote.com. There is too much to remember on a day-to-day basis, but this tool enables you to securely capture and retain all those thoughts, checklists, web clippings, photos, audio recordings and so much more; then, Evernote allows you to easily access all that information from anywhere by using its advanced search capabilities via multiple outlet options. As a business organizing consultant, I find this tool to be sooo fabulous, both for myself and for my clients. Here are just a few techniques to best utilize Evernote as a tool to organize for success:

Regularly upload lots of different kinds of information to your Evernote account from anywhere via DIFFERENT CAPTURE OPTIONS... You can add content wherever & whenever it comes across your mind on the web-based version, on the version downloaded to your desktop OR on the version installed on your smartphone as an app. Still, you can also send notes to your Evernote account directly from your email management solution; once you've logged into Evernote, click on Settings to access Account Summary, where you can find the email address to which you need to send info you'd like added as a note in your default notebook. Or you can forward Tweets to your Evernote account from Twitter via @myEN to be added immediately as notes in your default notebook; follow myEN from your Twitter account to get a direct message back with a link-up URL. Evernote makes uploading content so convenient.

Vary the information you upload based off all the DIFFERENT CONTENT OPTIONS that Evernote allows. Evernote readily accepts plain text notes, web clippings, photos or uploaded images (in JPG, PNG, PDF and more), screenshots, audio recordings and checklists... Evernote Corporation truly encourages capturing everything by offering so many options for acceptable content.

Make sure you use all you have added to your Evernote account via the DIFFERENT RECALL OPTIONS offered within the system. As Evernote explains on its website, this tool helps you remember everything by making anything you see, think or experience accessible and searchable across all the platforms and devices that you use, but what does that mean?

--- Everything you upload is automatically indexed to be searchable, meaning typed or handwritten content can be searched, even if the note's content is simply a scan or photo of the writing.*

--- Notes can be organized into different notebooks, allowing you to sort through a smaller number of uploaded notes at one time by selecting a single notebook to be viewed at that time.

--- If you choose, you can add tags to different notes, organizing content from different notebooks into groupings by tags and allowing you to search for them by that assigned tag term.

Think of your Evernote account as being a shelving unit in your office, except that Evernote is accessible when you are mobile while a shelving unit is accessible only when you are in your office. Then, each notebook in Evernote would be like a 3-ring binder on your shelving unit, and each note in an Evernote notebook is like each sheet of paper in those 3-ring binders on your shelving unit. However, unlike the shelving unit where you have to look at each binder's label or the content on each page in that binder to see its content, Evernote allows you to type a word in the search field to find it anywhere in any note's content, notebook name, title or tags.

Basically, I see Evernote as a "data dump" for all the information that overloads all of us each day, week, month or year, but it's greatest strength is how easy it makes retrieving the information you uploaded to your account. This program's search capabilities are simply amazing!

Although I will continue sharing additional ways to best utilize Evernote, I would love to hear how this tool is impacting your life right now. Are you using Evernote already and, if so, what techniques do you use to maximize this tool's effectiveness? Please share in the Comments section below.

If this is the first you have heard of this exceptionally fabulous tool, it is never too late to get started using it... Feel free to visit http://www.evernote.com today, click on "get started" to set-up an account as well as download the desktop version for your particular computer and view how-to videos. I am confident that you will not be disappointed in all that you are empowered to do by using this tool.

* The only exception to a note's content being searchable would be a PDF in the free version of Evernote, but that can be overcome by switching to an Evernote Premium account at $5/mo or $45/yr.

Confused By Options For Document Storing, Sharing & Syncing?

As new technology is created, there are more and more options, and it can be very overwhelming... I mean, have you seen all the cloud options for storing and sharing data?!? Wow! The key, though, is how each tech option makes your life easier, more organized and more productive. Read on for a little clarification about various available tools and what differentiates them...

Notes-Keeping Options:

Although Yojimbo and Growly Notes are Mac-only while OneNote caters to the needs of PC users, Evernote works in both the Mac and PC realms, making it easy to organize all information in one, reliable solution. Plus, whereas there is a fee to use any form of either Yojimbo or OneNote, there is a fairly robust option for Evernote that is absolutely FREE... Such a beautiful word, eh? With each of these tools, you can store text, images, PDFs, checklists and more, organized with tags, by labels or in groupings / notebooks and easily searchable. Access your Evernote or OneNote account via the Internet, on your computer's desktop or on your smartphone and access your Yojimbo or Growly Notes account anywhere data is synced through MobileMe.

Options to Aid in Creating a Paperless System:

Both Shoeboxed and OfficeDrop offer mail-in scanning services, where you package your papers in pre-paid shipping for those companies' employees to coordinate scanning your documents into an organized, electronic format for you. However, if you prefer to scan your own documents for yourself, there are several other options... The Neat Company offers NeatReceipts as a portable option and NeatDesk as a desktop scanner, allowing you to scan your business cards, receipts and 8.5" x 11" documents into a digital filing system. Both Canon Document Scanners and Fujitsu ScanSnap Scanners offer mobile, personal, sheet-fed and network options to scan your documents. Although each self-scanning device integrates differently with collaborative solutions, like Evernote, the option for you may depend most on current pricing so it's recommended that you research online before buying.

File Collaboration, Sharing, Syncing and Back-up Options:

If you are looking for a tool that relies solely or primarily on you manually moving a document from your computer to the cloud or web-based solution, there are plenty of options available. A free account through Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage for life, but a paid account will increase your Dropbox storage capacity; any file can be shared from Dropbox via the appropriate URL. Windows Live SkyDrive is very similar but is limited to PCs and bumps the storage limit up to 25GB with a 50MB cap for each file. A free account through Ge.tt gives you quicker, real-time storing and sharing of files for 90-day intervals. Furthermore, MediaFire has no restrictions except that files be smaller than 200MB. A free account through Box.net gives you 5GB of storage with a 25MB cap for each file, including a collaboration "holtlink" for any shared files. And the very popular option of Google Docs can be found at Docs.Google.com to upload files from desktop, access them from anywhere and do real-time collaboration with others.

On the other hand, if you are looking for a tool that will move documents from your computer to the cloud automatically, the available options are a little different. With these options, you simply install the technology on your computer (PC or Mac) and, at different intervals when your computer is connected to the Internet, your selected data will automatically be encrypted and securely backed up to the cloud, allowing you to restore or remotely access as-needed later. In February of this year, Mozy replaced its unlimited backup plan with a tiered storage plan of 50GB or 125GB, allowing users to purchase additional storage in increments of 20GB each. If you are looking for an unlimited option, Carbonite offers such a solution for $59 a year while the unlimited solution from Crash Plan is $49.99 a year, but Crash Plan has smaller storage options for less money, too. And there's good news... In addition to the aforementioned manual option, Windows Live Mesh's SkyDrive also offers an automated sync for PCs, too!

Finally, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud is a web service that offers a customizable, pay-as-you-go option for storing in a cloud environment, allowing you to quickly scale capacity up or down and pay only for the capacity that you actually use. For details on this new and different option, I recommend visiting http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

Options Enabling Remote Access to Paperless System:

Now that you've created all these electronic documents, some will be accessible via Internet access through cloud technology; however, sometimes, you just want to work with them on your own computer. If you travel a good deal, options for accessing your own computer via the Internet from a remote location might be very helpful, and there are several options for accomplishing that goal. LogMeIn and GoToMyPc allow you to access, support and manage devices (including Windows-based PCs and iOS-based Macs) at any time from any location via a secure, Internet login. Or you can use Windows Live Mesh to work on your PC from another location, running programs or browsing PC files remotely. Finally, if you have an iPhone or iPad, use Mocha VNC to connect to your Windows PC or Mac OS X and see your files/programs exactly as you would sitting in front of your computer itself.

Smartphone Solutions for Working with Documents:

Although many of the aforementioned tools enable access from your smartphone, a growing number of people elect to work via smartphone, rather than focusing on use of desktop and laptop computers. Quickoffice Connect and Documents to Go - Office Suite are options to create, edit and share Microsoft Office documents on your iPhone, iPad, Android technology or Blackberry.

Do you utilize cloud technology and, if so, how do you upload data to "the cloud"? Are you backing up data automatically or adding it manually? Which tools do you prefer most? Please share in the Comments below.