The Ultimate Evernote Guide: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4


Evernote

Welcome to TeleRead’s newest how-to series! We’ll be exploring a wonderful tool called Evernote, and its many uses for readers who want to organize and synthesize books, articles, quotes, websites, ideas and other information.

I’ve written before about my recent Evernote love, and TeleRead’s Juli Monroe has shared with us how she uses this wonderful app in her role as an author. But the truth is, we’ve barely scratched the surface, Juli and I. There is so much you can do with Evernote, and I’ll be walking you through it every step of the way. Welcome, and thanks for joining us.

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Let’s start with installing Evernote. You can download a Mac or PC version off the Evernote website or download apps from the iOS, Android, Blackberry or Windows stores. When you install the app, you’ll be promoted to create a free account; this will keep your data synchronized across all the devices you use, and it will also give you access to a Web interface you can use on systems not supported by a desktop app (or if you just happen to be away from your home computer).

You also might want to consider installing a Web clipper, which is an extension that will allow you to easily save Web content to Evernote when you encounter it. For example, if you’re reading an article on a webpage and you want to keep the article for future reference, you can click on a button and Evernote will automatically clip the whole thing.

TUTORIAL ONE:
USING THE WEB CLIPPER TO MAKE A NOTEBOOK OF FAVORITE ARTICLES

1. Go to the Evernote website and download the desktop app. Open it up and create an account. Evernote will start you off with one default notebook.

2. Go to the Evernote website again and install the Web clipper for the browser you use. I use Safari, so I’ve installed the Web clipper for that browser; you’ll see it in the screenshots below. Restart your browser if you need to once the setup is done.

3. Go to a blog or website you enjoy and start browsing for articles that interest you. When you find one, open it up and then click on the Evernote clipper button. It may prompt you to log in; if it does, put in your account information. Click ‘remember me’ to avoid having to do this again.

Evernote

4. Now that you’re logged in, it will prompt you to save the article. You can save it into a notebook, or you can tag it and add a description. I’ll be covering tags and notebooks in more detail in the next lesson. For now, since you only have one notebook, it will save it there.

And that’s it! I used to have tons of articles I had bookmarked to read, or to save for later, and then never read them (or referenced them) again because I had nowhere to put them. Evernote to the rescue!

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In Part 2, we’ll explore tags and notebooks some more. I’ll tell you how to start organizing your content so you can easily find and use the information you store. Also, we’ll make a new notebook—this time with content you’ll type into Evernote directly. Stay tuned!

NO COMMENTS

  1. Hello Juli and Joanna:

    I have been a long time follower and have even written for Teleread on occasion. I have been intending on doing a thorough review of Evernote for my new website: http://www.upfromnothing.com. I would love to discuss the thorough review that you two and teleread have done instead. Please let me know either by comment or via email if this would not be okay. Thanks for a great piece. Alex S.

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