After the release of Episode #002 of my Internet Marketing for Schools podcast in which I discuss Evernote with Bill Stites, Director of Technology at Montclair Kimberley Academy, I received a number of messages and emails asking me about how I set up
I’ve been using
1. Getting Started with Evernote Gmail Account
Probably the most common way that I get information into
What I did is create a free Gmail account with an easy-to-remember name like evernotebrendan@gmail.com. I then set up that Gmail account to forward to my
2. Getting Started with Evernote Installation
It is easy to install
To install
I absolutely love the
- I can read items from my To Read Notebook
- I can take photos of things I need to remember
- I am increasingly taking voice notes of ideas or to-dos that I can then enter into my task management software Nozbe
3. Getting Started with Evernote Web Clipper
Evernote Web Clipper is a browser extension that lets you save interesting content you find on the internet into your
Download the Web Clipper extension by clicking here. Scroll down the page until you see the
4. Getting Started with Evernote Organization Method
In my opinion, the single biggest decision you will have to make when starting with
I'll explain both methods but before I start let me review how
Tags are created by you and can be associated with multiple notes. Notes can have multiple tags.
One final thing – Notebooks can be grouped into Stacked Notebooks to help you organize further.
Here is the hierarchy: Stacked Notebooks > Notebooks > Notes
Another way to think about it is that Stacked Notebooks are like File Cabinets. Notebooks are like File Folders. Notes are like pieces of paper.
A. The Notebook Method
In this method, you create a Notebook for each topic or general heading that you want to keep organized and place Notes appropriate to those topics into that Notebook.
For example: You create a Notebook called Blog Posts and create a Note for each blog post you write and keep it in your Blog Post Notebook.
This was the method I first used when I began with
B. The Tag Method
In this method you would create fewer Notebooks and use Tags, as well as the power of
What I've done is to create Notebooks for each major aspect of my life, i.e., Sewickley Academy, SchneiderB, and Personal, and then I use tags that can span the different Notebooks. A few example tags I use are receipts, recipes, business card, ebook, and blog posts.
I now use
My recommendation is to use the Tag Method. However, if you would feel comfortable using the Notebook Method that will work as well. The most important thing is to simply get started with
5. Getting Started with Evernote Special Notebooks
Regardless of whether you select the Notebook or Tag method, there are three notebooks I recommend you create: Inbox, Working, and To Read Notebooks.
A. Create an Inbox Notebook
Once you create the Inbox Notebook change the setting in
B. Create a Working Notebook
Once again, regardless of the method, you select I would recommend creating a Working Notebook. You can call this Notebook anything you want, but the idea is that you place all of the Notes you are currently working on in this Notebook, i.e., draft blog posts, podcast show notes, interview questions, and our grocery list.
A note of caution: Do not keep too many notes in this Notebook. I suggest only keeping 4-6 notes and when you are finished working on the note/project move it into the appropriate Notebook, with corresponding tags, for long-term storage.
C. Create a To Read Notebook
Another Notebook that I find invaluable is one I suggest you create called To Read. In this Notebook, I store names of books I want to read as well as blog posts and articles that I clip using the Evernote Web Clipper. I’ve found that this saves me a ton of time because I’m able to store all of the information I want to read from the web for another time when reading makes more sense.
6. Just Do It
As I have said time and time again,
However, getting started with
Just do it!
Just get started with Evernote and follow the six tips above and you will be an Evernote Ambassador before you know it.
If you currently use
Originally published FEB 12, 2014 at 4:00 AM, updated FEB 2, 2022