Apple picker Although working with tasks and the GTD method is generally the domain of the Mac and iOS platforms, it is not always possible to find a suitable application that is also cross-platform, so sometimes you have to improvise. One of our readers came up with an interesting solution for the company using the note-taking application Evernote and decided to share it with us.
How it began
Tasks are increasing, time is decreasing and paper for notes was no longer enough. I have already tried several times to switch to electronic form, but so far it has always failed due to the fact that paper was always "faster" and you certainly know the wonderful feeling of being able to cross out the finished thing that has been drinking your blood several times.
So the speed of organization and input wherever I happen to be turns out to be absolutely essential, at least for me. I went through a period of paper on the desktop, files with notes, local programs like Task Coach, attempts to use a central request tracking system for personal notes, but in the end I always reached for an A4 + pencil and added and added, crossed out and added...
I found out that I am not alone in a company with similar requirements, so my colleague and I sat down a few times, put together the requirements and searched, tested. What did we demand for the important properties of our "new paper"?
New system requirements
- Input speed
- Cloud sync – notes always with you on all devices, possible sharing with others
- Multiplatform (Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android)
- Clarity
- Option to link with email
- Options for attachments
- Some calendar solution
- Connect with request tracking system in the company and people outside our system
- The possibility of keyboard shortcuts in the system
- Stability
- Easy search
My beginnings with Evernote
After a futile search for the holy grail, we started trying Evernote, he inspired me to do so this article. It is not an ideal solution, some shortcomings became apparent only after intensive use, but it still wins on paper, and during the last month of use, updates have solved a lot of things.
Evernote and GTD
- NOTEBOOKS (Blocks) i use for note categories like bookmarks, private, technology, support, knowledge base, real tasks, unclassifiable a input INBOX.
- TAGS I use again for their priorities. The absence of a calendar (I hope the developers will solve it over time) is replaced by a tag iCal_EVENTS, where I have entered notes that are duplicated in the calendar as well. So when I come across them, I know they're caught and I take care of them as soon as the reminder pops up. I haven't thought of any other solution yet. References are notes for the future type "when I'm looking for something for the next project". Done, that's the crossing out of the finished task.
- Larger projects have their own notebook, smaller ones I solve only within one sheet and inserted to-do checkboxes. The letters and numbers at the beginning make it easy to select the given category when creating a note (just press the "1" key and Enter) and also provide sorting.
- I switch the default preview to All notebooks and tag Today, a colleague uses an additional tag for this ASAP (as soon as possible) for distinguishing importance within a day, but for my style of work it is usually not necessary.
What Evernote brought
Input speed
- Under Mac OS X, I have keyboard shortcuts for: New Note, Paste clipboard to Evernote, Clip rectangle or Windows to Evernote, Clip Full screen, Search in Evernote ).
- I use it the most new note (CTRL+CMD+N) a Paste clipboard to Evernote (CTLR+CMD+V). this keyboard shortcut also inserts a link to the original email or web address in the note, if I use it in e.g. a mail client or browser.
under Android is a widget for quickly entering new notes. - Newly created notebooks will automatically fit into me INBOX, if I have time I will assign the correct notebook and priority tag now, if not I will sort later, but the task will not be lost, it is already logged.
Cloud sync
- Notes including attachments sync with the Evernote cloud storage, the free account limit is 60 MB/month, which seems to be enough for texts and the occasional image. So I always have the latest version on my phone, computer or on the website.
- So does a colleague I share some of my laptops with. He sees them under the tab Shared, or on the website in his account. The paid version also allows editing of shared notebooks, if their owner allows it.
- You can create a web link to a given notebook or note and send it to a 3rd person by e-mail. She can then save the link to her Evernote account or use only browser access without logging in (depends on sharing rights settings).
- At the same time, I use web links as a bridge between the company request tracking system to inform others about the status of a given task
- The notes are on the server, under Mac OS X and Win they are all synchronized, on Android only the headers and the given message is downloaded only after opening it. In the full version, fully synchronisable laptops can be set up.
- Here is the first serious shortcoming that should be mentioned, which will hopefully be solved by updates over time. Evernote on Windows he can't connect shared laptops.
Multi-platform approach
- Mac OS X application - can do all the functions of the web version
- Android - can't do shared notebooks, otherwise everything (including attachments, audio, photo notes), nice desktop Widget
- iOS - can do everything except notebook stacks and of course has no Widget
- Windows - can't do shared notebooks, but can do file watchfolder - interesting feature for automatically throwing notes into the default notebook.
- It also exists on the following platforms: Blackberry, WinMobile, Palm
- The full Evernote interface can be accessed from any internet browser
- Option to link to email – if I send an email via a keyboard shortcut to Evernote, I have a local link to the email in it, at least under Mac OS X
Other benefits
- Attachment option – free version is limited to 60 MB/month and image and PDF attachments, paid version offers 1 GB/month and attachments in any format.
- Connecting with other systems in the company and people outside our system using web links - not a perfect solution, but usable yes (they need to be created via web access, that's why I already have ready-made links in my bookmarks). Alternatively, the given task can be sent by email directly from the application, but without a link.
- The possibility of keyboard shortcuts in the system.
- Stability - even in exceptional cases when it was necessary to repeat the synchronization with the Evernote server. However, this problem has not occurred recently.
- Easy search.
- An interesting function of text recognition using OCR technology, see the image below.
What Evernote didn't deliver
- It doesn't have a calendar yet (I'm replacing it with a tag iCal_EVENTS).
- Shared notebooks are not fully fleshed out (Windows, mobile apps).
- Different properties on different platforms.
- He can't solve tasks by himself :)
Evernote for Mac (Mac App Store – Free)
The author of the article is Tomas Pulc, edited by Michal Ždanský
Interesting to use Evernote. However, Evernote is almost unusable for me on Windows XP. I don't know what they wrote the desktop application in, but it is very slow (I don't have the nerve to wait 3 seconds for it to maximize from a minimized state in the system) and unstable (its crashes are a daily occurrence). It doesn't talk about memory consumption. But it must work better on Mac.
I spent a long time working on a GTD tool for combining an iPhone with a PC and finally settled on Remember The Milk. Recently, an absolutely perfect tool for cloud synchronization with Outlook has been added. Everything works quickly and flawlessly. It is purchased at a price of 25$ / year, which is not little, but I have not found anything better so far. The iPhone application is ergonomically at a high level and free of charge, so you only pay for the convenience of synchronization. If you need to get rid of the thorn in your side in terms of tasks in the company's Outlook and your iPhone, I recommend giving it a try. Synchronization with Outlook is free for 15 days, which is more than enough for the test.
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/
It syncs extremely poorly with Outlook!!! It doesn't even support categories!
If you use Chrome, it's a great thing to download a plugin where you can send notes or webpages to Evernote directly from the browser. http://bit.ly/fRbegU
Graphically very nice and clear. It has exactly what other taskers lack. Shows a list of tasks, including a part of their labels. I don't have to click through the heading to read what the note is about.
But, syncing takes a bit longer than I would like. It doesn't have, or I didn't find notifications. I can't live without them. And not at all without a calendar.
In my opinion, notes, tasks and calendar belong together. Why use three apps when only one can handle it. Unfortunately, I haven't found one exactly to my taste yet.
But I have to admit that it is a nice program. I will be watching for updates. Maybe I'll get a calendar and notifications. Thanks for the tip.
And you don't know if the developers plan to implement a calendar? The solution using the Tomorrow, Today tags makes no sense (the next day will still be Tomorrow, Today..).
I don't see Evernote's manufacturer confirming this. Sorting according to priorities such as today, someday later, done... makes sense in my opinion in the case that a person has to complete tasks in some sequence, without a clear deadline with accuracy in hours, which is exactly my case, I don't know in advance how much time certain jobs will take , that's why this trideni suits me. According to me, this is what the gtd method is about, telling yourself the importance and not the dead line.
An excellent application for tasks and their synchronization via the Exchange server with Outlook is IMExchange 2. It costs €5,99 and synchronizes tasks with all parameters and categories. It also syncs notes.
Is it possible to use Evernote offline?
I read on the Mac AppStore that it is not possible :-(
Thanks for advice :)
Of course it's possible, it just doesn't synchronize, but stores all content locally.
And after connecting, I assume it will automatically sync :)
Of course ;-) And it can also be done manually.
Yes, but only the desktop application in the free version. Mobile has offline only note subjects and notes created on the given device. The premium account can select notebooks in the mobile version that will be synced completely offline.
downloaded :)
I'm going to play :D
Good day! I don't speak Czech but wanted to thank you for the link to the site and the honest feedback about my post on Evernote. It is not a perfect tool but it works well enough for how I am using it :-)
Your post and this post opened my eyes :D
Before this I tried to use Things, but when Evernote have OnlineSync, I'm glad to use this great tool :)
I use awesome notes. It has a calendar, synchronizes with evernotes and google docs and works without problems.
Outlook + Exchange = problem solved
I have been using it for more than a year and I would like to point out the formatting of the text. If you have inserted a note with any kind of text formatting or inserted check boxes, it is only readable on mobile devices (ipad, android). If you accept the offer on your mobile phone to edit a note, you will notice the formatting after synchronization. It's great for simple text notes and clips. The bomb is the possibility of inserting notes by email.