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Notetaking Tools: EverNote

What is EverNote?

Evernote is a cloud-based notebook. EverNote makes it easy to capture anything in multiple formats, such as photo, text, screenshot, and audio recordings. You can tag your notes, organize them into notebooks, share with others, or keep them private. You can save notes to your Evernote.com account on the web and access them from any computer or mobile device.

Tutorials & Workshops

- Help & Learning Portal

Using Evernote

- Quick Start Guide

Evernote Noteworthy Blog

Install & Register

Evernote Free, a free Evernote account, gives you the ability to capture your thoughts and ideas no matter when or where inspiration strikes. 

To subscribe, go to Evernote.com and choose the plan that best meets your needs. EverNote offers additional forms (Personal, Professional, and Teams) for a cost. Next, sign up with whatever email address you choose. 

To install EverNote, you can download it here or install it from the App Store relevant to your operating system. EverNote is compatible with Mac, Windows, Android, iPhones, and IPads.

You can install and use EverNote on all of your devices seamlessly. Simply log in to Evernote on each device using the same email address and password so you can create and sync notes seamlessly. 

Web Extension

EverNote offers a Web Clipper extension to save articles, web pages, and screen captures directly into EverNote. With this extension, you can take a screenshot of a web page, then add highlights, text, and other annotations. 

The Web Clipper installer can be found here and will take you to the relevant web browser download.

Creating Notes

The best way to start using Evernote effectively is to start creating notes! To create a new note, click on the green + New Note button at the top of the left panel.

Once you've created a note, in the "Title" box give it a name so it's easy to find later, and enter some text. Unless you choose otherwise, new notes are saved to the default notebook.

Add various types of content to a note

Notes aren't just for plain text. You can save many types of content in a note. The most common include:

  • - File Attachments
  • - Images from your device's saved photos 
  • - Images taken with the Web Clipper
  • - Audio recordings 

Adding PDFs or images can be added by clicking the blue (+) icon in the tool bar. 

Customize styles and layouts

Use the text formatting and layout tools to change the way the note looks:

  • - Text font and style tools: Bold, italicize, and underscore text
  • - Highlighting tool: Highlight the selected text
  • - List tools: Create checklists, bulleted lists, and numbered lists
  • - Layout tools: Insert a line divider, realign text, and insert a table

This can be done by selecting the "More" button in the tool bar.

       

Using Web Clipper

To start using the Web Clipper, click the elephant button in your browser toolbar to launch it. For easier access, make sure to pin the Web Clipper extension so you can start clipping immediately! Next, you will choose the clip type. Save the entire article with the Article clip type, remove clutter with the Simplified Article clip type, or take a screenshot and annotate it with the Screenshot clip type.If you want to organize your clip into a different notebook, add a tag, or add a comment, you can do that easily right before you clip or add it after!

Once you’ve clipped what you need, simply click “Save Clip” to save to your Evernote Library. 

 

Stay Organized with Notebooks

Evernote provides you with a notebook when you create a new account. Create additional notebooks to organize your notes around the topics that matter to you. To add a new notebook, click on the plus sign next to the title on the left side panel, and rename the notebook.

             

 

For example, you can create new Notebooks for each class you are taking to keep your class notes separated. 

 

Create Stacks

Stacks are an organizational structure used to group notebooks together and are typically used for notebooks that have a similar topic or theme. The individual notebooks (and the notes within them) that make up a stack can be shared, but the stack itself cannot be shared.

To create stacks, go to the left panel, and select notebooks to open the notebook list on the right panel. Click the "More actions" button (three dots), next to the notebook you would like to add to a stack.

Select "Add to stack" from the drop-down menu, then select "New stack" to create a new stack or select a stack name to add to an existing stack. This is a great option for organizing the notebooks from each semester into a stack. 

Create reminders to manage tasks

Reminders are a great way to keep track of notes that contain time-sensitive information. You can set a reminder for any note, as well as add a date and time for time-sensitive reminders. Your reminders appear in a list pinned at the top of your note list where they can be sorted, and allow quick access to the associated notes. You can opt to receive email alerts on the day timed reminders are due. Once you no longer need a reminder for your note, click or tap on the reminder to mark it as done. Marking a reminder as done does not delete the original note.

To add a reminder, open a note and click the reminder button (bell with a plus sign) at the bottom of the note then select a date and time, and the reminder will automatically be saved. 

Annotate Images and PDFs

To annotate an image or PDF you first need to add it inside of your note. Once you add it, click on the image or PDF and select the pencil icon above the image, or right-click and select Annotate this Image from the pop-up menu.

EverNote allows you to easily annotate images and PDFs with lines, shapes, arrows, and more.

Primary Annotation Tools

Arrow ToolArrow tool

Use the Arrow tool to point out an exact spot or item on an image or PDF with arrows:

  1. Select the arrow tool.
  2. Hold and drag to the spot on the image you want the arrow to point. The arrow points and stretches in the direction you drag.

Line & Shape Tool Line and shape tool

Use the Line & Shape tools to call attention to specific areas. To annotate your image or PDF with lines and shapes do the following:

  1. Select the Line & Shapes tool icon to show all of the available shapes
  2. Select the icon corresponding to the shape you want to use (lines, circles, and squares)
  3. Hold and drag over the area of the image where you want the shape to appear

Text tool Text tool icon

Use the Text tool to add text to your image or PDF:

  1. Select the Text tool icon
  2. Click the spot where you want the text to appear. A text cursor appears.
  3. Type the text you want to display
  4. To edit the text or change the text format, select the text you want to edit to bring up the options slider or click inside the text box to edit the text
  5. Use the switch to toggle between plain or outlined text

Pen & Highlight tools 

Use the Pen tool to freehand draw with digital ink. Use the Highlighter tool to add a transparent color overlay. To draw and highlight areas on your image do the following:

  1. Select the Pen & Highlighter tools icon to show the available tools
  2. Select the Pen tool icon to freehand drawings, or the Highlighter icon to highlight anything with transparent ink.
  3. With either tool, hold and drag over the image to draw with digital ink.

Stamp toolStamp tool icon

Use Stamps to quickly give visual feedback about parts of an image. You can add short text notes to stamps as well. To add a stamp: 

  1. Select the Stamp tool icon. A menu of the available stamps will be displayed.
  2. Select a stamp you want to use
  3. Click anywhere on the image or PDF page to add the stamp

 

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