Remember Everything with Evernote

I have been using a software tool you might find useful.  It solves a problem that you probably have, even if you don't think about it often.

A Cure for Information Overload.

It In the old days, you could photocopy something and put it in a file.  So finding it was relatively straight-forward. 

Today, you are faced with a different type of challenge (and chances are your filing system is so "1990s").  Nowadays, you might be looking for a picture, audio snippet,  or video ... a document (or more likely, just a part of one) … or a scrap you saved (like a quote, web-link, or blog post).

Moreover, as you use the computer for more things (and a bigger percentage of the work you do), it gets harder to find a random "something" that you might be looking for.

Part of the problem is that we are getting more efficient at creating "stuff", so there is more of it.  In addition, that stuff is a lot more varied than it used to be.

Capture Everything to Your Personal Digital Memory.

Evernote makes it easy to store, organize, and find virtually anything.  Even better, it is also good at sharing it with others (award-winning good at it).

Chances are, if you can see it or think of it, Evernote can help you remember it. Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screen-shot. It will be there when you need it.

Finding it Fast, Wherever You Are.

Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and searchable. That means you can find things quickly and easily.

You can search for items by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote even makes the printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too (for example, the text on a photo of your white-board).

There is an application program. However, you can also access your information through a Web interface (wherever you are, even if you are away from your computers). In addition, there are versions that work on various smart phones and Evernote provides "Capture" buttons that integrate with Microsoft Outlook and whatever browser you might use. What that means is that it's easy to use, and it's there when you need to use it.

Here is a video showing you how it works.

One Tool That Takes the Place of Many Others.

I've tried dozens of programs that do similar things. In the old days, they were called "personal information managers".

Many of these tools are specialized, so to handle it all you might use a to-do list (or "Getting Things Done" organizer), Internet bookmark manager, screen-capture utility, document management system, and free-form database.

Evernote does all that, and virtually anything else you throw at it ... yet, it doesn't cost you anything until you throw enough stuff into it to pass its generous monthly threshold.  For what it is worth, I clipped over 200 items before passing the limit.

Bottom-Line:  Use Evernote to save your ideas, things you see, and things you like. Then find them all on any computer or device you use. For free.  It's worth a try, you might like it.

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• On Managing Information Overload and Extremely Lame Superpowers (blogs.hbr.org)