Evernote — A Desktop Setup for Optimal Productivity (In 10 Minutes)
Evernote’s Interface Can Be Confusing, But It Doesn’t Have To Be
Introduction
If you use Evernote, you have probably realized it is not intuitive how to use many of it’s features and get at things quickly.
But it can be. And it’s not difficult!
Customize your interface to fit your preferences and you will be amazingly more efficient very quickly!
I have this conversation with other Evernote users frequently, so below I have provided my preferred view. You may have different preferences, but I have found this layout to be most effective for me.
Here we go…
Step Through the Options
1 — Activate the View Menu and Select Your Options
My selected options are:
- Left Panel visible (with Shortcuts shown in the Left Panel)
- Note List and Note Panel displayed — horizontal split screen
- Search toolbar
- Note editing toolbar
2 — Customize the Top Toolbar
Think of this like the “Quick Access Toolbar” in Microsoft Office.
Mine is set up to “Show Labels”.
To make changes, right-click the toolbar and the Options menu will appear.
Click on “Customize Toolbar” to show options.
3 — Using The Left Panel Options
The left panel is your access to everything in Evernote!
- Shortcuts — drag notes here to have quick access to most frequently used items.
- Notebooks — these are your “broad” categories. Use a few or a lot — it’s entirely preference!
- Tags — Tags are amazing. Use tags and it will substantially enhance your search flexibility!
- Shared Items — This is anything you share — notes and notebooks — or that is shared with you.
- Saved Searches — searching for content is where the power of Evernote becomes really obvious! And once you start searching, you will want to save frequent searches (for example, a fav of mine is “created:day-14”, which displays all notes created in the last 14 days.
Two important items to know about the left panel:
Hover over any item and you see a floating menu — and search is an option for all (except Shared items). USE THIS.
The categories are collapsed by default. Click on the small arrow to the left of each item to expand it!
4 — Keyboard Shortcuts
Get comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts for items that you frequently find yourself accessing. It will pay you back continuously!
Those are the basics of my Evernote desktop layout. I hope this gave you some ideas that can help you!
Are there other suggestions you have? Please share in the comments below.
About Don
“It’s time for DIFFERENT”
Don is passionate about helping professionals and organizations keep up and adapt to the changing business world that we operate in.
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