- Evernote is a website (and smartphone app) that helps organize your life. You can keep all of your writing in Evernote. You can also keep track of your writing schedule with the website’s calendar. Another fun place to keep your writing is on a blog.
- Evernote for Windows lets you create an ink note — a note written on a graphic tablet — right inside Evernote. Click the InkNote option and then start scribbling with your Wacom or other supported tablet. After you’re done, that ink note syncs to all other versions of Evernote that you use. You can also.
Writing Tools: Evernote 24 by Amber Lea Starfire Evernote isn’t perfect, and it has limitations, but it’s probably my most-used app at this time for journaling, freewriting, capturing ideas, and writing blog posts. Usually, my favourite writing utensil happens to be whichever pen has crossed my path that week. It might be from a hotel or business – in other words, I don’t consciously choose it. But what if we did actively choose our writing utensils, helping reduce plastic waste and the toxic ingredients used in conventional writing items?
A few months ago I wrote a post about how I use Evernote for songwriting. In this post I wanted to get bit more detailed as to how this works. And with some new updates, it’s gotten even better.
Songwriting can be a struggle. Not just overcoming the resistance to start and the resistance to finish, but also keeping track of ideas as they come. If I wait until tomorrow or until I have a guitar or until I get home, the idea is gone. It can also be extremely frustrating to keep track of all the napkins, notepads, word documents, and offering envelopes that I’ve written on.
Evernote for me is the perfect songwriter’s workstation. It enables me to focus on what really matters – the writing, all while having a centralized place to store every idea.
It has changed my life. And here’s how I use it:
1. Record audio on your smartphone
Quite possibly what I use the most. Simply open a new note and press the voice button on the bottom right. Record as many voice clips as you’d like within any note. Great for compiling different melodic ideas to a song you’re working on.
2. Record audio on Evernote for desktop
I love how Evernote recently included the ability to record voice notes in the desktop version. This is a must have. Write and record your song ideas in real time and record them right into Evernote. This is great for when you’re not on the run and can use your laptop to flesh out ideas. Evernote can record your entire session. Beautiful.
3. Write lyrics
Many times after I record an audio note, I’ll type the lyrics right in there. That way when I revisit my audio note another day, I remember any lyric ideas I was thinking about. It really frees up my mind to be creative rather than trying to remember lyrics. Evernote does that for me. It’s so great to have your audio and text ideas saved within the same note.
4. Share notes with other writers
A big part of songwriting is co-writing with others. This has typically been a complicated process. Rather than record your ideas using recording software and emailing back and forth, speed up the process with Evernote.
Record you audio, type in your text, then hit the share button and email it to your co-writer. You can even share your note on Twitter or Facebook, if you’re daring enough 🙂 It’s even possible to share entire notebooks with others.
5. Categorize your songs
Depending on how detailed you like to be, Evernote can handle your complex organization. If you’re ultra prolific, you could create numerous notebooks, each with a different songwriting theme. Or you could create tags to help organize your notes within one songwriting notebook, as I do.
The only thing that could improve this process is if they implemented a Skype feature within the program where you could do live co-writing all through Evernote, recording the session. That would just be too good, right?
6. Save your handwritten ideas
If you ever do find yourself in a situation where you need to handwrite your notes, have no fear. Simply take a snapshot of the paper within Evernote and, boom, your note is saved and in perfect sync with Evernote web, phone, and desktop.
Or, if you feel more productive when you handwrite, you could always use the Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet (affiliate link). It syncs perfectly with Evernote for real time note taking.
I honestly believe the uses for this program are endless. And new features will continue to make it one of the best productivity tools on the market. Did I say you should try Evernote?
Question: How do you use Evernote to organize your life? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
For additional reading, check out Michael Hyatt’s posts on organizing your life with Evernote.
Updated: March 1, 2021 Home » Freeware and Software Reviews
Which is the best Note Taking App for Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac and Linux? Evernote is perhaps the most popular note taking software, Google Keep and Microsoft OneNote are both equally good. However, if you are looking for something simpler, something with clean user interface, something that doesn’t store all your data on the cloud, here are some of the best open source and free note taking software for your desktop computer.
Related 2021 Article ➤ 2 Free Fonts For Effective Study Notes And Save Printer Ink
Some of these software do not sync with your tablet or smartphones’s app or they lack an app for smartphones. Which is alright with me, since I dislike bringing ‘My Work’ with me everywhere. Works great on Android 8.0 Oreo / Android 9.0 [ Popsicle, Pancakes or Pie ] smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy, Huawei Mate, Oppo, Vivo, XiaoMi, Nokia, and also Apple’s iOS iPhone. Here are 9 Evernote alternatives, download now.
↓ 01 – Simplenote | Free | Windows | macOS | Linux | Android | iOS
The simplest way to keep notes. Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and the web. What makes Simplenote great?
- Use it everywhere – Your notes stay updated across all your devices. No buttons to press. It just works.
- Stay organized – Find notes quickly with instant searching and simple tags.
- Work together – Share a list, post some instructions, or publish your thoughts.
- Go back in time – Your notes are backed up when you change them. Just drag the version slider to go back in time.
- Instantly search – Type what you’re looking for, and your list updates instantly. You’ll never misplace an important thought again.
- It’s free – Backups, syncing, sharing — it’s all completely free.
↓ 02 – Zim | Open Source | Windows | Linux
Zim is a graphical text editor used to maintain a collection of wiki pages. Each page can contain links to other pages, simple formatting and images. Pages are stored in a folder structure, like in an outliner, and can have attachments. Creating a new page is as easy as linking to a nonexistent page. All data is stored in plain text files with wiki formatting. Various plugins provide additional functionality, like a task list manager, an equation editor, a tray icon, and support for version control.
- Keep an archive of notes
- Take notes during meetings or lectures
- Organize task lists
- Draft blog entries and emails
- Do brainstorming
↓ 03 – Turtl | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux
Turtl lets you take notes, bookmark websites, and store documents for sensitive projects. From sharing passwords with your coworkers to tracking research on an article you’re writing, Turtl keeps it all safe from everyone but you and those you share with.
- Turtl stores your info encrypted, unlike Evernote. Much more private.
- You can easily share boards of bookmarks & notes you can synch files & images it’s cross platform & free
↓ 04 – NixNote | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux | iOS
Made in China, it is probably the most complete open source, self-hosted or paid-for Evernote alternative in terms of functionality. Sadly, the English instructions aren’t easy to find or that clear. But it works phenomenally well as an Evernote alternative. Basically, it comes with 30 days free trial and when the trial expires, you still can use the app but with limited functions.
↓ 05 – QOwnNotes | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux
QOwnNotes is the open source (GPL) plain-text file notepad with markdown support and todo list manager for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and Windows by Patrizio Bekerle, that (optionally) works together with the notes application of ownCloud (or Nextcloud).
- You own your own notes! All notes are stored as plain-text files on your desktop computer.
- Sync them over devices (desktop & mobile) with your ownCloud or Nextcloud sync client.
- Use ownCloud Notes to edit your notes in the web.
↓ 06 – Joplin | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux
Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, can be copied, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor. The notes are in Markdown format.
Notes exported from Evernote via .enex files can be imported into Joplin, including the formatted content (which is converted to Markdown), resources (images, attachments, etc.) and complete metadata (geolocation, updated time, created time, etc.). Plain Markdown files can also be imported.
The notes can be synchronised with various cloud services including Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, WebDAV or the file system (for example with a network directory). When synchronising the notes, notebooks, tags and other metadata are saved to plain text files which can be easily inspected, backed up and moved around.
↓ 07 – Microsoft OneNote | Free | Windows | macOS
Get organized in notebooks you can divide into sections and pages. With easy navigation and search, you’ll always find your notes right where you left them. Revise your notes with type, highlighting, or ink annotations. With OneNote across all your devices, you’ll never miss a flash of inspiration. Great minds don’t always think alike, but they can share ideas and create together in OneNote. Teachers can use OneNote to organize lesson plans in searchable digital notebooks, and staff can create a sharable content library. Encourage students to handwrite notes and sketch diagrams.
↓ 08 – Standard Notes | Free | Windows | macOS | Linux | Android | iOS
Standard Notes is a safe place for your notes, thoughts, and life’s work. A free, open-source, and completely encrypted notes app. Your notes are encrypted and secured so only you can decrypt them. No one but you can read your notes (not even us).
Standard Notes is free to use on every platform, and comes standard with cross-platform sync and end-to-end privacy. For those wanting a little more power and flexibility, we created Extended, which unlocks powerful editors, themes, and automated backups.
↓ 09 – Laverna | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux
Laverna is a JavaScript note taking application with Markdown editor and encryption support. Consider it like open source alternative to Evernote. The editor can be switched to distraction free mode where you can focus solely on writing notes. You can make your notes available only to you by enabling encryption. Make your notes available on any device with your Dropbox & RemoteStorage account.
Evernote Writing With Pen
- Tasks – Keep simple to do lists organized in notes and notebooks.
- Keybindings – You can manage your notes without ever lifting your hands from your keyboard.
- Code highlighting – Keep snippets of code to have access to them anytime and anywhere.
- No registration – Do you prefer to stay anonymous? You do not need to go through registration process to start using Laverna.
- Import & Export – You can export your notes from Laverna and import them back anytime. You are not tied to using it forever.
↓ 10 – TakeNote | Web Based | Data Stored Locally
TakeNote is a free, open-source notes app for the web. It is a demo project only, and does not integrate with any database or cloud. Your notes are saved in local storage and will not be permanently persisted, but are available for download. No database – notes are only stored in the browser’s local storage and are available for download and export to you alone
Evernote Writing Templates
↓ 11 – CherryTree [ Discontinued ] | Open Source | Windows | Linux
Cherrytree is a free and open source, hierarchical, note-taking application. It can store text, images, files, links, tables, and executable snippets of code, featuring rich text and syntax highlighting, storing data in a single xml or sqlite file. CherryTree is an option you should seriously consider because it lets you organize notes in a smart and logical way. Don’t get deceived by its seemingly simple interface – CherryTree has so many features that I could write a book about it.
↓ 12 – Elephant [ Discontinued ] | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux
Elephant is a notetaker with a classic interface you already know. Keep your notes to yourself. No accounts or clouds. For syncing use Dropbox, Github, rsync. No feature bloat or redesigns, ever. Elephant stores notes in plain files and folders. No databases and no migration. Cross-platform for Mac, Windows and Linux. Built for longevity with a classic interface. New versions will never offer weird functionality. There will never be a chat feature and it will never show stuff from Financial Times.
- Keep your notes to yourself. No accounts or clouds. For syncing use Dropbox, Github, rsync, …
- Elephant stores notes in plain files and folders. No databases and no migrations. Notes can be plain text, styled rtf, markdown or html (html is read-only).
- Cross-platform for Mac, Windows and Linux.
- Built for longevity with a classic interface. New versions will never offer weird functionality.
- Premium is free, no ads of any kind.
- No feature bloat or redesigns.
- No privacy policy weirdness!
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