Prior to going paperless, I often found myself jotting notes down on various pieces of paper in order to keep track of things. If I paid a bill, I’d scribble the check number with which the bill was paid right on the statement so it was readily available if I needed it, for example.
These days, I still annotate my notes in various ways, but because I can use the richer set of features available in Evernote, these annotates are much more useful than they ever were in their paper form. Here are three examples of how I annotate my notes in Evernote to make life a little easier.
1. Add note links in context to quickly jump to related notes
I know it's possible to add Link to a different Note within Evernote. Like this or this. However, I want to add Link within the same Note. So that I can click and jump to another part of the same note. Add note links in context to quickly jump to related notes. On rare occasions, I’ll still receive a bill for.
On rare occasions, I’ll still receive a bill for something in paper. For instance, our city recently changed where it gets its water. When the change took place, I got a new “first” bill from Fairfax county. This was paper, of course, since I hadn’t yet set up auto-pay. I scanned the bill into Evernote, and then paid the bill online. After paying the bill, I clipped the receipt into Evernote using the web clipper.
What I did next was to annotate the original bill note to indicate when it was paid, and to provide a link back to the note containing the receipt.
![What is evernote What is evernote](/uploads/1/1/7/7/117726308/998062852.jpg)
Here is what the bill statement looks like:
You can see that just above the PDF file, I’ve made a note about when and how I paid the bill. The hyperlink is an Evernote “note link.” If I click on that link, it will take me directly to the note containing the receipt for my payment. For completeness, I also link the receipt to the note for which the payment was made. So the receipt note looks like this:
This makes it easy to find the receipt from the original bill, or vice versa, saving me some time if I need to look up this information.
If you’ve never used the Note Link feature in Evernote, it is very easy.
- Go to the note for which you want to create a link.
- From the Note menu select Copy Note Link.
- You can then paste that note link into another note. I generally highlight the text I want to make into a link and then paste the note link as the hyperlink so that it appears as it does in the two examples above.
To create a note link from an iOS device1 (iPhone or iPad), you can do the following:
- Go to the note for which you want to create a link.
- From the toolbar at the bottom of the note, touch the “…” button.
- From the popup menu, select “Share”
- From the Share screen, select the “Copy Link” option.
You can then paste the link into another note and it works just the same as the method for doing it from the thick client.
ETA: It looks like the above method on iOS creates a public shared link, so be warned. It doesn’t look like there is a way to create an internal note like from iOS at this point, the way you can from the Mac and Windows clients. Thanks to Amir for pointing this out.
2. Capturing notes from calls or conversations in context
I will use a similar method as described above when I need to make a call or have a conversation about something in the context of the note in Evernote. For example, on rare occasions when I need to contact customer support for something, I will typically do the following:
- Open up the note in Evernote containing the thing I’m calling about. Let’s say it’s a cable bill. I’ll have this open so that I can refer to it easily
- Create a new note in Evernote to document the conversation I have with customer support.
- Copy the note link from the new note into the note with the statement. Sometime, if I may more than one call, I’ll have a small bulleted list of 2 or 3 links to other notes.
Why keep separate notes as opposed to doing it all in the note to the statement? I prefer this method because each note has its own date/time stamp, which is different from the date/time of the statement note. This way, I capture the dates and times of the calls and can easily build a timeline of the events if I needed to.
3. Annotating instructions
You know how some sets of instructions have a blank page for jotting down your own notes? I will occasionally annotate notes containing instructions in order to put in reminders to myself (or my wife).
For example, I can never remember how to reprogramming the one-touch dial keys on my desk phone at the day job. So what I did was made a note in the instructions for the phone to remind me exactly where in that nearly 300 page instruction manual, I can find the instructions for updating the one-touch dial keys:
This makes it easy for me to find exactly what I am looking for because I now know where to look in that PDF file.
I find that annotating my notes, especially those with attachments like PDFs, images, or clippings, very useful for keeping the notes with the context of the thing in question. It is the same thing I used to do when I’d scribble my notes on the instructions themselves, but it is more powerful because it is searchable and shareable. These little annotations save me time each week, and that time adds up. They also help paint a complete picture, and by linking to other notes, the reduce any redundancy in what I have to capture.
Postscript: For those who might be interested in hearing my talk about Evernote (especially for writers) I was interviewed on the Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing podcast and that interview is now online. In it I talk about writing, wearable technology (like FitBit) and, of course, Evernote. Have a listen if you are interested.
If you have a suggestion for a future Going Paperless post, let me know. Send it to me at feedback [at] jamietoddrubin.com. As always, this post and all of my Going Paperless posts is also available on Pinterest.
Last week’s post: Quick Tip: Edit Scanned PDFs Directly in Evernote.
How To Use Evernote Tutorial
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- I don’t have an Android device so I’m not sure how this works on that OS. ↩
Evernote has long been one of the finest note apps. Laden with several highly useful features designed to organize personal and professional projects with the desired convenience, it continues to be favorite among a lot of iDevice users. And, I’m one of them.
Evernote has now decided to limit free account and hike prices. Honestly speaking, the decision has disappointed many users. If you want to switch your loyalty from Evernote to the stock Notes app for iOS and macOS, follow this complete guide to migrating all of your files with ease.
How To Share An Evernote Note
How to Export Individual Notes from Evernote to Notes on iPhone and iPad
Unfortunately, you can’t export all of your Evernote files at one go from your iOS device. If you want to migrate a number of files, it would take a lot of time.
Evernote How To Guide
Step #1. Launch Evernote on your iOS device.
Step #2. Now, select the Note you want to export. Then, tap on the More icon (three dots) at the bottom right corner.
Step #3. Next, tap on Share icon in the menu.
Step #4. Now, you have to select Export Note in the share sheet. A Mail window will open with your .enex file attached → You need to enter your own email address then tap on Send at the upper right corner.
Step #5. Next, close Evernote app and open Mail app on your iPhone/iPad.
Step #6. Choose the email which you have sent yourself.
Step #7. Now, you need to long-press on the .enex file to access the Apple extensions window.
Step #8. Tap on Add to Notes. In the popup window, you have to Import Notes. https://herenfil552.weebly.com/qq-mac-download.html.
Step #9. Quit the Mail app and launch Notes app. Tap on the new Imported Notes folder. In case there are already imported folders, the file may be named with a number.
That’s done! You will have to repeat these steps to export more notes.
How to Move All Evernote Files to Notes At Once Using Mac
Step #1. Launch Evernote on your Mac.
![Use Use](/uploads/1/1/7/7/117726308/724320879.jpg)
Step #2. Next, you need to sign in to your Evernote account. Then, click on Edit in the Menu bar at the top left corner of the screen.
Step #3. Now, you have to choose Select All from the drop-down menu.
Then, you need to choose File in the Menu bar at the top left of the screen → Click on Export Notes from the drop-down menu.
Then, you have to Name the file.
Step #4. Now, select where to save the file. I’m going to save it in a separate folder to access it easily → Click Save. The data will be exported as .enex file.
Step #5. Launch Notes app on your Mac. Next, you need to click on File in the menu bar at the top left corner of the screen → Select Import to Notes from the drop-down menu.
Up next, choose the .enex file you saved from Evernote → Click on Import.
Finally, click on Import Notes in the popup window to confirm.
That’s it!
Can You Share Notes On Evernote
Your Evernote files have been saved in a folder named “Imported Notes” in iCloud.