Moleskine Dropbox Smart Notebook. If you’re looking for something a bit more durable, you’ll love. The new Evernote for Windows. Open the notebook you want to share. Click the More actions button (three dots). Select Share notebook from the drop-down menu. Enter at least one email address (or select at least one contact) and set the permission level. Click Send Invitation. Older version of Evernote for Windows. Open the notebook you want to share. The Smart Notebook's biggest value is that includes three months of Evernote Premium. That service normally runs $5 a month, and the 3.5-inch x 5.5-inch Moleskine normally costs $12 —so you save. Different types of notes should be treated differently. Each Note Card type is designed to complement the type of note you're taking. With Evernote, you can capture everything important to you and find it on any device to free up physical and mental space. Check out these resources to get started now. One place to start is creating a paperless.
The Evernote Smart Notebook is an interesting new direction for the oldest note-taking app on the market. They’ve paired the Evernote Notebook app with a Moleskine journal to combine physical note-taking with digital notes synced to the cloud.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Evernote Notebook is a digital note-taking platform compatible with desktop or mobile devices. It’s one of the first to embrace the cloud. The idea is to make your notes available at all times. When it first came out, there weren’t many alternatives on the market. The Evernote Notebook staked an early claim in the cloud-storage landscape, and it kept that crown for years.
There are plenty of alternatives now—Google Keep, OneNote, and Apple Notes—which might explain why Evernote is trying something a little different.
What is the Evernote Smart Notebook?
The Evernote Smart Notebook is a physical Moleskine journal with a cover and pages. There are different options for the Notebook, including the size and type of page. We’ll get into those later.
The basic idea is that you physically write a note or draw a sketch in the notebook with a pen, same as any other pad. Then, you apply a smart sticker to the page. You can customize these stickers, and their job is to tell Evernote where to sort the note when it’s time to upload.
The upload is done with a snap of a phone camera in the Evernote app. You’ll find it in the app by looking for the “Page Camera.” The app grabs the code from the “smart sticker” and sorts the note into the correct Notebook—School, Meetings, Story Ideas, etc. The app works on iOS or Android as well, so it’s platform agnostic.
Stickers can also be used to create standardized tags, such as travel, comic, drawings, etc. These tags won’t sort the notes into a Notebook, but they will allow you to gather similar notes together or search for a specific topic in your notes.
The concept is to allow users who enjoy taking physical notes to still reap the benefits of digital. Notes won’t get lost. They’ll be easily categorized and organized. They can be accessed anywhere. They can include media, such as images and videos.
But is the Evernote Smart Notebook useful? Is it more than a gimmick? And how much investment does it require?
How much does it cost?
The physical Evernote Notebooks have different options, so pricing requires some explanation.
The price of the Evernote Smart Notebooks
The Moleskines come in four categories: Classic, Journal, Sketchbook, and Business. All of them come with smart stickers for tagging and organizing. They all come with a three-month subscription to Evernote Premium.
Classic Notebook: Classic can come with ruled paper or a grid of dots. In general, the grid of dots makes it easier for the Evernote app to turn handwriting into text. There is a pocket-size notebook, as well as a large size for working at a desk. The large will run you around $30, depending on where you get it. The small goes for around $20.
Journal: The journal comes in three sizes—pocket (3.5 x 5.5 inches), large (5 x 8.25 inches), and extra-large (7.5 x 10 inches). They also have flexible soft covers, and pages that can easily be torn out. For the journal, you’ve got the choice of ruled or dot-gridded paper, same as the classic. Again, you’ll find these run anywhere from $15 to $30, depending on size.
Sketchbook: The sketchbook comes in one size—5 x 8.25 inches. It has a hard cover and comes with thicker, acid-free pages. The pages are sketch-grade 81-lb paper. You can find an Evernote Sketchbook for around $30.
Business Notebook: Comes in one large size, with ruled pages. Not a lot of options here. It does come with the exclusive ruled paper that includes page sections, unlike the other notebooks. It has a hard cover and will run around $30.
You’ll notice that most of these prices are either the same or only slightly higher than a standard non-Evernote-branded Moleskine. And they add the smart stickers and a few months of Evernote Premium, so at least you’re not getting gouged for the branding.
The cost of Evernote
Evernote has a free option, but the uploads are limited. With text, this usually is fine. However, the Evernote Smart Notebook works by uploading the pages first as images. With the free version, you’re going to hit the 60MB upload cap pretty quickly.
That is why the notebooks come with a trial subscription of Evernote Premium.
If you’re going to use the Evernote Smart Notebook, Premium is necessary. A subscription will run you $7.99 a month. It’ll increase your upload cap and offer a few other useful features.
So now you’re in for a $20-$30 physical notebook and around $72 a year for the subscription, if you subtract the free three-month trial. And that notebook will run out of pages someday.
Review of the core features
Okay, let’s take a hard look at the features and the notebooks themselves. Are they any good?
The notebooks are high quality, and there’s nothing really bad to say about them. No surprise, since they’re made by Moleskine. They’ve been the name in personal journals and bound notebooks for a long time, for good reason.
The covers are tough, and the embossed logos on the covers look good. The paper is high quality all around, and the binding is sturdy. No problems with the physical notebooks, and the price isn’t bad.
As for the app integration itself? It’s fine. The handwriting recognition works well most of the time. The Page Camera doesn’t have too much of a problem recognizing the page or the stickers. You do have to make sure that the stickers are close to the text and that the lighting is good.
Speaking of stickers—if you have a lot of notebooks in your Evernote app or use a wide variety of tags, the stickers could let you down. There are only a few, so you’ll want to tag them to your most-used notebooks.
As a product, it’s solid without really blowing us away. There are plenty of alternatives for about the same price, like the Rocketbook Everlast.
Who is the Evernote Smart Notebook good for?
The Evernote Smart Notebook is ideal for notetakers in love with their pens. Those who enjoy the process of putting pen to paper, of carrying around a Moleskine—likely the same people who enjoy the smell of old books.
Secondly, the Evernote Smart Notebook—and other hybrid note-taking solutions—might actually lead to better retention. There are studies that show that writing in longhand has different effects on your brain. Writing notes with a pen takes time. You can’t copy a speaker’s, presenter’s, or lecturer’s words verbatim. You have to process and summarize it, which has measurable advantages. The Evernote Smart Notebook could work for people wanting to take advantage of the benefits of physical notes.
That doesn’t make the Evernote Smart Notebook the only option, though. Rocketbook Everlast, Brill, Paper Saver, and apps that convert handwriting to digital text can perform similar tasks.
The Ideal User: The Evernote Smart Notebook is best for people who are already Evernote Premium users. The users who have years of notes wrapped up in the Evernote ecosystem, power users who sync their notes to their calendars or make liberal use of the Web Clipper. And, finally, the Evernote Smart Notebook suits users who like writing their notes the old-fashioned way but don’t want to have to worry about misplaced notebooks, fire, or flood.
Who is the Evernote Smart Notebook not right for?
The Evernote Smart Notebook isn’t going to impress purely digital users. If you’ve already transitioned into taking notes with your smartphone, you won’t see the point.
The Evernote Smart Notebook probably isn’t going to win over people who already use another note-taking app. Evernote has its advantages, but it’s far from the best option on the market.
Even people who use the free version of Evernote—with no desire to upgrade—will run into the upload cap quickly.
Lastly, the Evernote Smart Notebook is a physical journal made of paper. The notebook can get lost, be destroyed, etc. It takes up space in a bag or pocket. If you like to stay streamlined or pack light, the Evernote Smart Notebook may not be the best choice.
And if you’re looking to go paperless for environmental reasons, there’s not much for you here. A Rocketbook Everlast notebook has similar features, but the pages are erasable and reusable.
To buy, or not to buy?
There may be a market for the Evernote Smart Notebook, but it’s going to be reserved for the ideal user we described above.
While you won’t be disappointed with the product, it may not be necessary. The Evernote Page Camera, which is already in the app, can upload pages from any notebook. The Page Camera doesn’t seem to struggle grabbing handwriting from any page of notes. At least, no more than with the Evernote Smart Notebook.
So you can use a standard Moleskine or any notebook you already have. You’ll lose the benefit of the stickers, but you can categorize and tag notes you upload to the Page Camera manually. Which means, considering you have to take the time to put a sticker on, there’s not much time saved.
The Smart Notebooks with the gridded pages claim to be more recognizable to the app. However, we haven’t found a huge difference from standard paper during regular use. The Page Camera recognizes text on both.
At the end of the day, the Evernote Smart Notebook has a niche use case. If you fit into that niche, if you’re an Evernote power user who wants a physical journal, we’d recommend it. But a regular notebook and the Page Camera can do 80% of the same work.
If you’re not in that niche, we wouldn’t recommend the Evernote Smart Notebook. It isn’t a bad product; it’s just either unnecessary or one-upped by its competitors.
If you’ve been looking for a tool to help manage your digital life, you’ve probably come across Evernote. This note-taking app has been around since 2004. Since then, it has become one of the most popular productivity tools on the market.
Evernote is pretty straightforward to use. But the app doesn’t always do a great job of demonstrating how to use its most useful features. That’s why we’ve put together this Evernote tutorial for beginners. We’ve covered many of the most commonly used features, as well as some hints and tips to get even more out of Evernote.
First, let’s get Evernote installed.
How to Install Evernote
Installing Evernote on mobile or desktop is simple.
To install Evernote’s desktop client, first visit Evernote’s download page. The download should begin automatically. If it doesn’t, click the link to download the installer. You’ll need to agree to the License Agreement to continue.
If you’re on a Mac, simply drag the Evernote app icon from the disk image to your Applications folder. If you’re using Windows, double-click the Evernote executable and follow the prompts.
Installing Evernote on mobile is even easier. Simply navigate to the Evernote app in either the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, depending on the kind of device you’re using. Then, allow your device to install the app. If you’re a Windows Phone user, grab Evernote from the Microsoft Store.
Once you’ve installed the app, you’ll need an Evernote account before you can start using it. This is necessary because Evernote can sync across multiple devices and operating systems. Saved items are synced to your Evernote account, not your device.
Once you’ve installed Evernote and created your account, you’re ready to go. You can also log into the Evernote web app in your browser now, too.
Evernote Paper Notebook Holder
How to Install the Evernote Web Clipper
While you’re getting set up, it’s worth installing the Evernote Web Clipper. This handy browser extension allows you to “clip” almost any item you find online: blog posts, videos, social media posts, even entire web pages, and sync them with your primary Evernote account.
Evernote Paper Notebook
If you’re a Google Chrome user, navigate to the Evernote Web Clipper page in the Chrome Web Store. Then, simply click “Add to Chrome” to install the extension:
The process is very similar for Mozilla Firefox. First, head to the Evernote Web Clipper page in the Firefox Add-Ons library. Then click “Add to Firefox” to install the extension:
Fortunately, using the Evernote Web Clipper is almost as easy as installing it.
Once you’ve installed the Web Clipper in either Chrome or Firefox, you’ll notice an elephant icon in the space to the right of your browser’s address bar. When you want to clip something, click on that elephant icon to open the Web Clipper.
Before the Web Clipper can save anything, you need to tell it what it should clip. The Web Clipper defaults to the “Article” setting. As you can see in the screenshot below, you can select other clipping options, depending on how much of the source material you want to save.
For example, the “Simplified articles” option clips all the text on a page but doesn’t preserve the page’s formatting or typefaces. The “Full page” option clips the entire page, including images and ads. You can also save pages as bookmarks or take a screenshot.
You can also create new Notebooks directly from within the Web Clipper. This handy feature means you don’t have to log into the web app or launch the Evernote app to create a new Notebook, then go back to the Clipper to save the item—you can do it all at the same time. It’s also possible to add tags and comments to clipped items as you clip them, which helps keep things organized.
Now that you’ve installed Evernote and the Web Clipper, let’s dive in and see what Evernote can do.
Creating Your First Note in Evernote
As a note-taking app, Evernote’s primary function is to help you take notes quickly. To do this, Evernote relies on an organizational system based on real-world, pen-and-paper notebooks. Notes are stored inside Notebooks, and Notebooks can be organized into Notebook Stacks.
There are a few different ways of taking notes in Evernote. To create a new Note on desktop, simply click the “New Note” button in the upper-left of the screen. You can also use familiar keyboard shortcut to create new Notes. Use ⌘ + “n” to create new Notes on OS X, and Ctrl + “n” to create new Notes on Windows. You can also use ⌘ + Shift + “n” (or Ctrl + Shift + “n” on Windows) to quickly create new Notebooks.
One of the biggest drawbacks with Evernote’s note-taking functionality is that Evernote doesn’t categorize or name new Notes automatically. As you can see in the screenshot above, I created three new Notes using Evernote’s keyboard shortcuts—but Evernote doesn’t know what to do with them. It just leaves them as Untitled Notes and doesn’t categorize them at all. This can get out of hand quickly, so bear this in mind if you’re a prolific note-taker.
Fortunately, creating new notes is a lot more intuitive on mobile. Simply open the Evernote app and click the central green “+” button to create a new Note:
Once you click the green “+” icon to create a new Note, you’ll be presented with a familiar composition interface. You can choose from one of Evernote’s Templates or simply start typing. Note that if you want to use Evernote’s Templates on desktop, your system will open the Template Gallery in a separate browser window.
If you minimize the virtual keyboard, you’ll notice a series of icons running along the bottom of the app’s UI. These are Evernote’s advanced note-taking tools.
Evernote Digital Notebook
The camera icon does exactly what you’d expect it to do. Tapping this icon gives Evernote access to your mobile device’s camera, allowing you to take pictures and save them as Notes. Need to preserve a schematic diagram your colleague sketched out on a whiteboard? Create a new Note, take a picture, then save it.
Similarly, the microphone icon to the right of the camera icon allows Evernote to access your device’s microphone. Doing so means that you can save audio files as Notes. This can be a great time-saver for instances when you’ve got a great idea but don’t have time to write it down.
Next up is the handwriting icon. This function allows you to create handwritten notes directly within Evernote, annotate images, and more. Simply choose your input mode, select a brush size and color, then start writing. There can be a little variance in line weight, depending on the angle of your stroke, but it’s generally pretty accurate.
Finally, the paper-clip icon allows you to attach files to Notes and Notebooks. This is a really handy feature for organizing documents associated with specific Notes in one place. For example, you could create a new Note reminding yourself to check in with a company’s accounting department about the status of an invoice. You could then attach a copy of your company’s most recent invoice so you have everything you need when you’re ready to follow up on that task later.
Organizing Notes and Notebooks in Evernote
Now that you’ve created your first few notes in Evernote, it’s time to start organizing them.
On desktop, you can drag and drop notes directly into a Notebook by clicking and dragging on the note you want to move. This approach feels a little clunky, but it gets the job done. If the Notebook or Stack you’re moving a Note into is collapsed, it will expand after hovering over it for a second or so. To expand or collapse Notebooks and Notebook Stacks manually, simply click the caret to the left of the Notebook or Stack you want to expand or collapse.
For whatever reason, Evernote doesn’t always adhere to conventions from other software programs. For example, you can share Notes and manage Note permissions from the right-click contextual menu, but not rename them. This can be frustrating, but it’s not the end of the world.
Organizing Notes and Notebooks in Evernote can be very flexible. It all depends on how intricate your personal organizational system is.
On desktop, you can rearrange and sort Notebooks by a wide range of criteria. You can sort by Date Updated, Date Created, Title, Size, and Source URL. Each of these options has various sub-options. If you choose to sort Notebooks by Title, for example, you can then tell Evernote whether it should arrange the Notebooks in alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order. This flexibility can be really helpful if you have lots of Notebooks.
To change how your Notebooks are displayed, click the View button to the right of the organizational options. This brings up a contextual menu, from which you can choose several different views:
Finally, the ellipsis icon gives you the option to rename, move, or delete Notebooks.
How to Search in Evernote
Evernote Paper Notebook Holder
Once you’ve been using Evernote for a while, it probably won’t be long before you need to find something you saved weeks or even months ago. Fortunately, Evernote’s search functionality is very powerful.
Evernote Paper Notebook Paper
On desktop, you can start searching for something by typing in the search field in the upper-right. You can search all of your Notes or within specific Notebooks. You can also add a number of search modifiers, such as Tag, Date Created, and Date Modified.
On mobile, tap the magnifying-glass icon to the left of the New Note button to access Evernote’s search function. Start typing in the search field and Evernote will return results that include that search term. Evernote will return results from individual Notes first, then Notebooks, then Notebook Stacks.
If you’re using Evernote’s desktop app on a Mac, you can also take advantage of Evernote’s descriptive search feature. This allows you to describe what you’re looking for to Evernote, rather than use specific keywords. For example, you could enter “notes from Sweden” to search for all Notes created during your trip to Sweden. Similarly, you could search for “Notes with PDFs” to surface all saved Notes with PDF attachments.
Evernote Paper Notebook Template
Remember Everything
Spiral Notebook
Evernote is a remarkably powerful tool that can handle a surprising range of tasks. It’s far from perfect, but it’s a great introduction to note-taking apps. As one of the oldest note-taking tools on the market, Evernote is also fully integrated with many other popular productivity tools, such as Google Drive, Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce, and Slack. This makes Evernote even easier to use as part of your existing workflow.
Hopefully, this tutorial has given you an idea of what’s possible with Evernote. Whether you’re looking for a tool to help organize a major research project or a digital alternative to pen-and-paper notebooks, Evernote is a solid organizational tool with some cool features. It’s far from the only tool of its kind, but it’s a solid starting point for newcomers to digital note-taking.