In April and May, I presented two webinars for Evernote where I showed screenshots from my personal Evernote account. The same question came up in both webinars as this tweet shows:
@staceyharmon Congrats on such a successful business! Thnx for EN webinar. Why do you start some notebooks titles with .?
— josephavellino (@josephavellino) May 22, 2015Evernote is a suite of software and services designed for notetaking and archiving. A 'note' can be a piece of formatted text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo, or a handwritten 'ink' note. Notes can also have file attachments. Notes can be sorted into folders, then tagged, annotated, edited, given comments, searched and exported as part of a notebook. So what does this mean? It means that if your tasks are concise, Evernote might not be suitable. But if you use notes excessively like me, then Evernote might just be the right choice. For example, I created a task in TickTick to pay my credit card bills. It’s just a short one-liner of “Pay credit card bills”.
Both audiences wanted to know why I have either a special character, or a number, in the beginning of some of my notebook and stack names. The question above is referencing the naming convention I use for my default Evernote notebook, which I have renamed to be .In Box.
It is a great question, and highlights a method/hack I often use [and advise clients on] to create an efficient workspace that supports increased productivity in Evernote. Instead of living with the default order of notebooks in my Evernote account, I use this technique to display notebooks on the left hand sidebar in a way that is meaningful to me. This makes my experience in Evernote more efficient, and makes me happier :).
Evernote Functionality
Before we get to the hack, here is what you need to understand about Evernote behavior that impacts my methodology recommendation:
- Notebook list Stanford slacks for men. is an Evernote app desktop setting that must be turned on in order to have your list display in the left side bar. If you aren't seeing your notebook list, go to [Mac] View > Sidebar Options > Show Notebook List or [PC] View > Left Panel > Show Notebooks to turn it on.
- Notebooks appear in the left hand sidebar note list alphabetically according to the name of the notebook.
- In the left side bar, stacks and non-stacked notebooks are co-mingled and sorted alphabetically together. A notebook doesn't have to be in a stack, but it can be [stacks are an optional user specific feature]. In other words, if you have created stacks, those stack names will sort alphabetically in line with any notebooks you have in your account that aren't in those stacks. Then, the notebooks that are in each stack will be sorted alphabetically within that stack.
The key functionality to understand above is that your list of notebooks and stacks is sorted and displayed alphabetically, and on the left hand side bar this cannot be changed. It is simply how Evernote works. It is very logical and likely familiar to you - it is how many digital software structures work. However, when it comes to productivity, this behavior creates a challenge.
The Problem
Work isn't organized alphabetically. You want your notebooks/stacks [and your work that resides in them] organized in a way that has logic and meaning to you. My work is organized in a variety of ways: by status [active or archive], by business unit [Harmon Enterprises or Untethered with Evernote], and by client. Other common structures for organizing work include grouping by product, by vendor, by department or team member, and by phase. All are valid ways of organizing your work, but what they aren't is alphabetical.
The Solution
Good news: You can control the order your notebooks/stacks appear in your notebook list. You do this through applying a naming convention to your notebook and stack names which will force a sort order to your notebooks and stacks that is meaningful to you. By doing so, Evernote becomes a powerful organizational tool that supports how you think and get things done.
The Hack Rules and Strategy
To properly apply a naming convention to your notebooks and stacks, you need to know that within Evernote's notebook list:
- Special characters and punctuation marks [i.e. . _ @ !] will sort before numbers [0 through 9]
- Numbers [0 through 9] will sort after special characters/punctuation marks but before alphabetical characters
So, strategically using special characters, numbers, and punctuation marks at the beginning of your stack and notebook names will allow you to force the order of items in your notebook list and organize them in a way that is meaningful to your productivity.
And this is the key to answering the question asked by viewers of the Evernote webinars I hosted. I use special characters [in my case, the period], numbers, and strategic alphabetical naming choices to force the order of the notebooks in my notebook list. This is why there is a . in front of some of my notebooks, such as .In Box.
Stacey's Personal Evernote Top Level Naming Convention Strategy
My use of Evernote revolves around making my Evernote organization logical to my brain [and let Evernote search fill in the gaps when that fails]. My personal use of the rules above revolves around using:
- A: the period punctuation mark (.) then
- B: numbers to control the order of my primary notebooks and stacks on the left hand panel then
- C: alphabetic characters to sort less important data that is not often referenced or part of my day-to-day system.
Regarding A: I like to use the period (.) because it is the tiniest and most subtle of the special characters. I find it helpful to see as much of the notebook name as possible on the screen and the . is so small, that it minimally alters the amount of characters that can be displayed after it [you can always enlarge the left side bar by drag/dropping it, but for the most part, I don't like to have it wide on my screen on a day to day basis]. So, I use the . to precede the name of the notebook I want at the top of my list - in my case that is my .In Box [which acts as my first step in organizing my work - a subject for another post]. Because this is the only special character I use, this notebook always appears at the top of my notebook list.
Regarding B: I have a specific order that I want the rest of my stacks and notebooks to appear in [that support my GTD deployment in Evernote]. You'll see that I group like-stacks together with the same number, and then rely on the alphabetical sort to order them from there.
Regarding C: In my business, I am often demonstrating Evernote structures as part of the workflows I help clients to design and deploy. When I build my case studies in my Evernote account, I precede the stack name with a 'z' to put them at the bottom of my notebook list [since, as we all know, z is the last letter of the alphabetical sort].
This system is a key reason Evernote so strongly supports my productivity - I organize it to! Now it is your turn.
Evernote Skills You Need to Deploy This:
- Rename notebooks: I right click on the notebook and choose 'Rename notebook' or 'Rename stack'. Change the name of the notebook to lead with a special character, number, or letter that will sort it in the order you desire. You'll need to hit 'Enter' on your keyboard to save your new name.
- Create stacks [optional - and also very helpful!]
Tell me how you organize your notebooks and stacks. Do you use naming conventions to force their order? Post your strategy and logic in the comments. I'd love to learn what works for you.
In my iPad-only series I highlighted time and time over that one of the main apps I use (besides Nozbe) is Evernote. This is true - I love this app (and Nozbe syncs with it because of a this love) and I can confirm what they say is true: 'Evernote should be your extended brain'. Here's why:
Evernote Meaning Slang
I don't generate files anymore
Well, I do create files because the world seems to still like them and I have to use Dropbox to sync the files.. but I don't generate as many files as I used to. Instead, I create 'Evernotes', meaning, I create notes in Evernote.
The beauty of Evernote is that the size of things I store there is limitless and I can access my data not only on all of my Macs but also on my iPhone and (yay!) iPad.
1. Basic note-taking - no more MS Word
Whenever I need to prepare a spec for my great Nozbe developers, need to put a mental note for myself, need to comment on some design or some inspiration I got.. anyway, need to make a note - I create a new note in Evernote. The cool thing is that notes there are 'rich' meaning I can mix text and images.
So where I used to create 'Word documents' I now just write in Evernote. The images I put there between the text are usually 'Skitched' screen captures - meaning I use an app called Skitch on my Mac and iPad to annotate on a screenshot (add arrows and stuff) and paste it later to the note.
When I want to share these notes with my team, I either send it to them directly from Evernote or print to PDF and mail them like this. The original note always stays in Evernote.
Now that I'm working a lot more on my iPad I use Skitch for iPad and Evernote here as well. I store my all handwritten notes in one Evernote Notebook called 'AllNotes' and that I'm an Evernote premium user (costs only $45 per year) I marked this notebook at an 'offline' notebook so I have access to it on my iPad even when I'm on a plane without an Internet connection.
2. I scan business cards to Evernote
I have special Notebooks: 'Contacts' and 'ContactsJP' (for my Japanese friends) where I scan all the business cards. Here's a video showing you how I do it.
3. I scan documents to Evernote
Twitter icon. I have a scanner on my desk which directly scans to Evernote - I put the scanned documents into their appropriate Notebooks:
- Papers (quite important documents - like certificates, passports, IDs)
- Bills (utility bills - both personal and business - I share this notebook with my father who is also my accountant)
- Stuff (unimportant documents but for some reason want to keep them)
Why do I scan all these things to Evernote? Because they have this OCR technology so when I want to search for a phrase that was on the scanned document or business card, Evernote most of the times will find it. Brilliant.
As mentioned above, I can share a notebook with someone which can come in handy.
4. I send travel info there and boarding passes
All the travel info, apart from going to Tripit is also going being sent to a notebook in Evernote called (you guessed it) 'Travel'. This way should I fail to print something, I can always show my boarding pass to a lady at the gate on my iPad or iPhone.
Note: Evernote, as many other apps nowadays has a fantastic 'email gateway' which is very useful. Now that I'm on my iPad most of the time when I process my email I just forward stuff to Evernote.
5. I clip shopping ideas there.. and web pages in general
Evernote has a great clipper for the Mac on Safari and Chrome so I 'clip' web sites to Evernote. When there is an item I'm thinking of buying (like a cool accessory for my iPad or something) I clip it to Evernote to my 'shopping' notebook.
6. I send interesting articles to Evernote
Evernote Meaning In Hindi
I read blog articles with my Google Reader account on the Reeder app on my iPhone or iPad or Mac (totally recommend this app) and later I've set up two IFTTT actions - when I mark an article as 'starred' it sends the article to my Pocket account so that I can read it calmly later and sends the URL of the article to Evernote to a special 'Read' notebook - just so that I never miss it.
Once I've read the article in Pocket, I decide if it's worth keeping for later and when I do want to 'memorize it' then I send the entire article to Evernote to my other special notebook called 'Articles'.
7. All the rest of the stuff I want to remember..
Loose thoughts, quotes, numbers, IDs, coupon codes, emails with interesting info.. you name it - stuff that I'm not sure I want to keep but want to keep it 'just in case' is being sent directly to my 'Stuff' notebook.
8. Other drafts and writing goes to Evernote, too
I've also set up my Mac mini this way that when it detects I've added a new note to Simplenote, it gets sent directly to Evernote just in case, too (notebook: 'Writing'). The same applies to my Dropbox folder where I keep blog posts and essays (just like this one) that I write using Nebulous Writer. All goes to Evernote automatically.
Evernote has become my external brain now
I have it running on my Mac mini and Macbook Air all of the time, as well as on my iPhone and iPad.. and even on my Google Nexus S phone. This way I have access to my 'external' brain anywhere I like.
Going Paperless now.. step by step
I try not to store paper anymore. I scan and later shred all the receipts (I wish I could do that with the invoices but I need to keep them for the next 5 years), documents sent from different institutions or companies. I still keep originals which I really believe I need 'on paper' but most of the stuff goes to Evernote and then straight to my shredder. Now I'm in the process of revising all of my past documents and scanning them folder by folder to reduce the amount of paper to minimum.
The magic is also in the fact that Nozbe syncs with Evernote so when I start a new project, I very often 'magically' discover all the notes that are related to this project. Sweet.
My stats for now: 2268 notes in 24 notebooks and 100+ tags
How do you use Evernote? Did I miss something? Or maybe you use something different as your 'external brain'?
Posted on Thursday, July 12, 2012 (ipadonly,productivity)
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Jul 13, 2012 08:25
I use Evenote more and more each day too.By the way - do you plan to sell your beautiful aquarelle paintings?
Jul 13, 2012 10:08
Evernote Vs Evernote Premium
Jul 13, 2012 11:15
Evernote Meaning
I basically use Evernote the same way, each new topic I research (like hotel for holidays, or a web hosting service) I create a folder for it in Evernote. They are my work 'documents' - I also scan or make of photo of documents to enter there.
Additionally, during driving I pick up my iPhone and create an audio entry in evernote - it then syncs to all my other Evernote installations.
One difference from your method, though - my 'brain' information (like account numbers etc) info are inside nozbe notes :)
Additionally, during driving I pick up my iPhone and create an audio entry in evernote - it then syncs to all my other Evernote installations.
One difference from your method, though - my 'brain' information (like account numbers etc) info are inside nozbe notes :)