“It is now more easier than ever before to save ideas, memories and moments for future reference” (Clydesbank Media, 2014, Introduction). This was in the introduction to Evernote: Mastery – Exactly How To Use Evernote To Organize Your Life, Manage Your Day & Get Things Done* by ClydeBank Media, LLC. Always looking to learn more about Evernote, I took a chance on this book; unfortunately, I was hoping for more.
As I noted, this book was written by ClydeBank Media, LLC rather a named author. The book was a very quick read at 84 pages spread across 13 chapters. It was another book I read in one sitting.
At the beginning of the book, the authors focused on note taking programs across the digital market. They stressed the new capability that it was easier than ever to collect artifacts and save it into the cloud. They pointed out that materials can be accessed anywhere on the internet and that information could be used wherever they had access.
The authors then provided a detailed history of cloud computing to include benefits and challenges as well as why people were going to cloud computing. I was definitely interested in the topic but I don’t know if it deserved the space provided in this book. The authors then outlined the history of Evernote back to 2005. Again, this information did not help me better understand how to master Evernote.
About a third of the way into the book, chapter four, they introduced Evernote. They commented on how great it was and listed some basic capabilities. It was a very short chapter. In chapter five they talked about the different types of accounts (free, premium, and business) along with the different benefits for each of those accounts. Chapter 6 focused on how to actually enter notes at a very basic level and how to add additional content like audio and imagery into your notes. In this section, they also talked about reminders, tagging, sharing notes, clipping notes, etc.
Moving on to a very short chapter seven, they examined notebooks; specifically, how to set up and share notebooks with others. The authors included basic information about importing and exporting notes, merging notes, creating links within notes, and setting up hotkeys and shortcuts.
In chapter nine, approximately midway through the book, they discussed business user accounts.
In Chapter ten, they identified different add-ons such as Skitch, Web Clipper, and Clearly that would enhance Evernote. They then moved on to mobile applications; however, they only discussed on application – Penultimate. Instead, they simply listed 24 other applications with no descriptions. They didn’t go into any detail on how any of these worked or what they were being used for.
In chapter twelve, they focused on security and privacy. It was a rather long section focusing on ways that you can keep your information secure and private. They included a couple of stories about when there were breaches at Evernote. More attention was given this section than what should have been given considering the books as about mastering Evernote.
Finally, in the last chapter, the authors talked about different tips such as clipping URLs, transcribing, adding audio notes, searching images and PDF, saving searches, using tags and hotkeys, adding check boxes, and emailing notes to Evernote. Really, just the basics.
There are a lot of books on Evernote. If you were looking for a book on Evernote, honestly, I would work through a number of other books. If you’re interested in the history of Evernote or want to better understand cloud computing, this is probably a good book, at least for those sections. But if you want to master Evernote, there are other books that provide much more detail and a lot more tips, tricks, and ideas. I would not recommend this book for beginners to learn about Evernote.
Additional Reading
- Book Review: Evernote: Your Second Brain: Evernote User Guide to Organize Your Life Clutter, Double Productivity and Achieve More in Less Time
- Book review: Evernote. Wow! I Didn’t Know It Could Do That
- Book Review: The 2-Hour Guide to Mastering Evernote
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