Locked lesson.

Upgrade

About this lesson

My full Evernote set-up to help create some context to using Evernote.

Exercise files

Download this lesson’s exercise file.

Example: Full Evernote Set-up.docx
63.2 KB

Quick reference

Example: Full Evernote Set-up

This full Evernote set-up is an overview how I use Evernote on a daily basis. The notebooks, the notes, the shortcuts, features, and more that I delve into. Using Evernote as my daily note-taking app has many benefits and from this lesson, you'll get a better idea of how a working Evernote account appears. Evernote is one of the most flexible applications on the productivity market.

Creating a set-up is perfect for if you are looking to settle with a note-taking application like Evernote. When I first started out, I knew Evernote was something that suited my system and way of working, so I decided to begin using Evernote in the most customized way to help boost my productivity.

Useful features

  • Create INBOX notebook and set as default notebook (in Evernote preferences)
  • Create notes with good titles, tags, and reminders
  • Pin note in Shortcuts (right-click and Add Note to Shortcuts) for easy access
  • Clip article with Evernote Web Clipper in the top right-hand corner of the browser
  • Email-in a note or attachment to your default notebook
  • Organize and refine notes that are in your Evernote INBOX 
  • 4-stack method to sort your notebooks: Projects, Areas, Resources, Archives
Benefits   
  • Enhanced project management   
  • Faster access to new projects and activities  
  • Improved longevity to using the resource
  • Helps to provide a feedback loop for your productivity

When to use

  • for inspiration when you are implementing your system for tips and tricks
  • If you'd like to take your Evernote account to the next level

Instructions 

First set-up
  • Utilise a sheet of paper to sketch your notebook design or layout 
  • Once you're comfortable with a structure that works for you, try it
  • Begin to implement the Evernote notebooks to fit 
  • Shape and mold your account over time to improve efficiency
  • Read the exercise for further context and to help set-up. 
Creating a stack 
  • Stacks are a way to organize notebooks into folders 
  • Open Evernote for Windows/Mac/Web
  • Right-click on a notebook 
  • Options will show "add to stacks" 
  • Your current or existing stacks will appear 
  • If none created, press "New Stack" 
  • From here you can create a title for your stack 

Hints & tips

  • Remember a workflow is totally based on your own experiences, create your own set-up
  • Take advantage of all of Evernote's functionality to maximise use
Login to download
  • 00:04 Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Essential Productivity training.
  • 00:08 We are on the final section of the Evernote section.
  • 00:10 So we're gonna dive into the Evernote setup.
  • 00:13 And how you can really get started.
  • 00:15 We're gonna cover a few of the things that I get up to inside of my Evernote account.
  • 00:19 I find it very useful when it comes to navigating.
  • 00:23 And being able to do small things can add up to a lot of time saved as you go
  • 00:28 across a month.
  • 00:29 When I go about setting up my Evernote account,
  • 00:32 what I tend to do is I try my best to look at other people's accounts because I like
  • 00:36 to see how they set up their accounts.
  • 00:38 Because I always end up cherry picking a couple of good ones.
  • 00:41 Whereas you might not pick up and use everything in this video,
  • 00:45 maybe you'll pick three or four, five things that you'll be able to take away.
  • 00:49 Which you can apply to your account and of course,
  • 00:51 I implore you to look at other people's accounts and learn how they're using it.
  • 00:56 To start off with, I think one of the most important elements for me is the INBOX.
  • 01:00 As you can see here, I've got 26 notes in my INBOX.
  • 01:04 I love to capture stuff across the day, mainly because when you're going
  • 01:08 across a day and you don't necessarily have time, I like to forward emails in.
  • 01:12 I also like to capture small lists and also, just general notes for myself.
  • 01:18 And, of course the INBOX can be processed later.
  • 01:20 All we have to do to access and set the INBOX as default notebook
  • 01:24 is go up to Evernote, up at the top in Mac, Preferences, and
  • 01:29 there'll be an option to, by default, place that specific notebook as INBOX.
  • 01:34 Now, of course, I could have any of my other notebooks as that.
  • 01:37 However, in this case, I created a notebook and
  • 01:40 called it INBOX and made it my default, which made it a lot easier.
  • 01:44 As you progress, anything you send into this default notebook will go into
  • 01:48 my INBOX, ready to capture.
  • 01:50 Creating a note inside of INBOX, it's important to add nice tags in there,
  • 01:54 a good title so that you are clear and also if you need a reminder to it.
  • 01:58 So I'm gonna hit New Note and it will go straight into the New Note area.
  • 02:03 And what I can do here is start a new title.
  • 02:06 So I'm going to add in Event Conference Meeting.
  • 02:10 And what I can do up top is that I can instantly add some tanks.
  • 02:13 And this is good for reference, say for example I could put,
  • 02:16 meeting and tag it in meeting section.
  • 02:20 That's maybe not a clear enough title so maybe I could put the date.
  • 02:23 So the date of our meeting is 29.06 and let's say I actually want to set
  • 02:28 a reminder to it as well, all I have to do is select a date and also choose a time.
  • 02:33 So, the meeting's actually 6 PM today.
  • 02:36 And what I can do to make a really strong note is make sure the note
  • 02:39 has got all that I need it inside there.
  • 02:41 So, I'm gonna add a few notes here now.
  • 02:43 We got some initial meeting notes ready for that meeting today.
  • 02:48 Maybe I want to pin it on this left-hand side.
  • 02:51 And as you can see, what I tend to do with my account is create some shortcuts.
  • 02:55 And I've got a couple here that are quite useful.
  • 02:57 All you have to do is right click on the image, add note to shortcuts and
  • 03:00 as you can see it appears here.
  • 03:02 I'm just gonna drag it down to the bottom.
  • 03:04 But that will make it pin to that left hand side.
  • 03:06 And it will just save me a huge amount of time as I go about my day.
  • 03:10 As you can imagine, when you go and cross your date,
  • 03:12 there's a host of different things you can do and the web click is one of those.
  • 03:16 We talked about how you can click an article.
  • 03:18 And, that's great, I love doing this, this is a perfect example of how to use INBOX.
  • 03:22 Nice new David Pierce article out,
  • 03:24 this will be a great opportunity to pin this one for later.
  • 03:27 All I have to do is go up to the top of my right hand corner,
  • 03:30 once I click it it will automatically capture the article and
  • 03:33 what I want it to do actually in this case, is actually go to my INBOX.
  • 03:37 And once I click Save it will start heading there
  • 03:40 clipping all of that lovely stuff.
  • 03:42 The same goes for my email as well,
  • 03:44 so all I have to do to access my official Evernote email is just type in Evernote.
  • 03:49 And the good thing is I've saved it as a contact, when I start
  • 03:53 emailing in a specific note or attachment, it'll be able to save all that good stuff.
  • 03:57 I'm gonna save an actual thumbnail for an upcoming article and save it to my INBOX.
  • 04:03 Here we are as you can see in the INBOX, look what has arrived.
  • 04:07 We have the full article available to view, which makes it really easy.
  • 04:11 And also we have the thumbnail, which is attached below.
  • 04:14 So all of that has been done from just emailing and using the web clipper.
  • 04:19 And that's really easy to access.
  • 04:21 What I can do here is I can start processing these.
  • 04:23 So, we do know the Thumbnail needs to go into YouTube, but
  • 04:26 I need to title it a little bit better.
  • 04:28 So, I need to call it the Remote Work Thumbnail for Ran/FLUX design.
  • 04:33 And, I might even delete all of this text here.
  • 04:35 I have everything ready so
  • 04:37 I'm going to type in YouTube because that's where I store all of those.
  • 04:40 I can do the same here, and maybe I want to add this into Personal Development
  • 04:44 because it sounds like an article that would be very beneficial.
  • 04:48 The final element I wanted to show you is the Notebook section.
  • 04:51 I store notebooks in four core areas.
  • 04:53 I call it the Four Stack Method, and it was actually created by Tiago Forte,
  • 04:58 he created this productivity course.
  • 05:00 And I've really taken to it over the last couple of years.
  • 05:03 It's been a very good way to organize.
  • 05:05 The simple areas are 1, Projects, 2, Areas, 3, Resources, and 4, Archives.
  • 05:11 Let me take you through these.
  • 05:12 So Projects is really 1 to 12 month long notebooks, and so
  • 05:17 anything in there Between 1 to 12 months.
  • 05:20 Areas is anything from 1 year onward to 3 years.
  • 05:23 So they're quite a good storage point.
  • 05:25 A few examples,
  • 05:26 I would keep fitness in there maybe even some of the freelancing stuff.
  • 05:30 And also, resources.
  • 05:32 Resources is a good area, but its more for documents, information about for
  • 05:36 example electorial, health information.
  • 05:39 useful access to accounts and things like that so that I don't.
  • 05:43 Lose any of that information.
  • 05:44 And finally, Archives.
  • 05:46 As you can see Archives has got 67 notebooks in it,
  • 05:49 which means it's quite a popular area.
  • 05:51 And the reason why it's popular is this because where projects, and areas, and
  • 05:54 resources come to be stored for later, essentially.
  • 05:57 So, that, I've got previous projects in that.
  • 06:00 Everything from old Cub Scout stuff that I used to do all the way to exam results,
  • 06:05 and that's all a good place to store them.
  • 06:07 In terms of that setup, it just gives me access to all of my notebooks, and also,
  • 06:12 I can routinely move them to a different area.
  • 06:15 So for example, if I se a project that starts growing out and
  • 06:18 becoming even more useful, I'll move the project to the area section.
  • 06:22 And if I see an area that’s maybe finishing up
  • 06:25 I’ll move it to the project section.
  • 06:27 If I start a new project I’ll add it to the project section and
  • 06:30 resources becomes static, which is quite nice.
  • 06:33 So as a whole I like to use Evernote to organize the majority of my notes across
  • 06:38 my day.
  • 06:39 The whole experience is plotted around a really structured account.
  • 06:44 I like to use the shortcuts on the side.
  • 06:46 I like to use those clippers across the day to store stuff in.
  • 06:49 It makes it a lot easier.
  • 06:51 Let me know in the comments if you've got any questions,
  • 06:54 and we'll move on to the next section here on the GoSkills course.
  • 06:58 Thank you very much guys, and I'll see you in the next feature.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.

Gift this course