migrating from Evernote to Amplenote
If you read my articles during the last weeks and months, you have noticed that I was struggling with my system for personal knowledge management (PKM) a lot. I loved a few features, but my system with Evernote (EN) was broken, as well as the app was broken by itself. My then-system was like 90% of a filling cabinet and 10% of functional or actionable notes.
With being in the productivity app space for several years, it took me just two days to find my next main PKM app. I decided on Amplenote (AN) and bought the subscription just four days after using it for the first time ever. Now, as I write the first draft of this article, I am using Amplenote for like two weeks and still love it.
During my migration journey, I followed a few rules to keep my new system slim. I added a few folders on Google Drive to my system in order to keep the number of notes low and the system simple. I rarely used the export and import features of both apps in order to be very mindful concerning what stuff is worth a note on its own and what is not. I simply used the daily-jots feature for copying/pasting the most useful content excepts, including the links to the actual websites. Together with the table of contents feature these long daily-jots are extremely useful and I can create my own notes out of them within seconds.
Approx. 90% of my notes ended up as files stored on google drive. Everything which felt like the chance of using it would be below 20% I just exported that way. To my surprise, these notes were far more than I´d guessed before. I guess I ended up creating approx. 500 new pdfs. And with the OCR within google drive I don´t need to care whether these pdfs are from handwritten notes (like digitized journals) or not.
For my writing and my job hunt-related documents I had to tweak my system a bit, as AN has no folder structure. You have to create your “folder” structure using tags, which can have up to three levels. This is enough for me. For reference: with EN you just had twolevels of organization in that way.
My goal was to migrate to the new system as soon as possible. I was tired of the fact that EN wasn´t able to sync to mobile stuff I changed on my computer weeks ago. And my schedule with online training didn´t require a lot of attention during that week, so I spend half of the time creating PDFs and other migration-related tasks.
Finally, just one week after trying out AN for the first time, I was confident enough with my new system to unsubscribe from EN and delete my account officially. To be honest, I procrastinated on that for two days. But after it´s done, I am relieved. It´s over now.
Here are a few features which I love about AN (pro)
- pro price tag: same range as EN
- bidirectional linking
- fast syncing between Android and PC (usually within <1 min)
- useful keyboard shortcuts
- feels like a hybrid of a functioning version of EN, Obsidian, and a calendar
- shortcuts for tasks, including scheduling options
- drag and drop tasks into your (google) calendar
- general approach (daily-jots, notes, tasks) reminds me of bullet journaling
- supportive Discord server
- web clipping add-on for Firefox
- sufficient file support for pdfs and pictures
- copy/paste tables into a note
- The table of contents feature within any note
There are a few challenges as well, which feel like a stretch zone for me
- no folders, but using tags instead
- no desktop app yet, just access from my browser or Android devices
- developing a functioning tag system
- getting used to their web clipper
- Learning the new shortcuts and new possibilities… I guess I´ll still need additional two weeks until I can use the majority of the features.
After using Amplenote for approx. one month now I still love it. I am slowly tweaking my system one step at a time, as I have a lot of inboxes and now struggle a bit. My basic system works, and now my goals are slowly moving toward efficiency. These are a few points where I am experimenting:
- repeated tasks: time block in google calendar using Amplenote where I can cross the task off
- finding a system concerning where I put which idea
- reducing the chance of adding the same idea/task into my system twice
- start using the calendar in AN
- slowly read through 1000(?) “maybe I´ll use them” clippings in my read-it-later app
- adapting my journaling routine / experimenting with doing parts of my journaling digitally
- still want to try out if the AN app works on my E-ink tablet
- experiment with adding photos or screenshots of important stuff to the daily jot
- trying out if the OCR works for my handwriting as well
- creating useful checklists and templates
So for now I am fine. I have system which works and is still better then Evernote. So I see forward tweaking it and will give you an update in a few weeks or months.
