Organizing with Evernote: “Mailing it In”

I rely on Evernote, the ubiquitous note-organizer-on-steroids program, to keep track of all my stuff. Evernote works on Windows computers, Macs, iPhones, iPads, Android devices, and even on the Web wherever you have a computer. (See my last blog post, “Evernote–One Tool to Rule ‘em All” last November.) One easy, super-useful way to stay organized with Evernote is to email it whatever you need to keep track of. To do this, first you need to know your personal Evernote email address.

In Windows, go to Evernote, and click the “Usage” icon, at the top right corner of the Evernote window, just below the title bar and window control buttons. The third line of text down will start with “Email Notes To:” and end with an email address, probably ending in “@m.evernote.com.” That email address is unique to your Evernote account. Any email sent to that address automatically becomes an Evernote note.

On the iPad, open Evernote, then click the “Settings” icon (the picture of a gear in the lower right corner of the Evernote screen). Under “Settings,” tap “Evernote Email Address,” and you’ll see the address. (Clicking “Reveal in Contents” will help you add the address to your iPad address book.) (Check out “Chapter 4: Safari” in Apple’s iPad User Guide.)

You can easily get page links to webpages from Safari, the built-in iPhone and iPad Web browser, into Evernote by emailing them. iPhones and iPads run a simpler version of Apple’s Safari browser. Evernote does have a Web clipping bookmarklet for the iPhone and iPad but it’s very slow and doesn’t work well. One advantage to the bookmarklet is that it can clip the whole page. But if you just want to get something “quick and dirty” from Safari to the iPad, just email it to Evernote.

But how, you ask? Like this: Any email sent to your personal Evernote address automatically becomes an Evernote note. If you add “#important #work” to the subject of the email, the note will be created with the “important” and “work” tags (if they already exist). If you add “@todo” to the email’s subject, the email will be added to the “todo” notebook (if it already exists). You can add as many tags as you want, but only one notebook–and the notebook (“@notebook”) has to be the last thing on the subject line. You can add tags and notebooks using the Evernote application on your computer, or using the Web version of Evernote.

To send an email from within Safari, tap the Safari Action icon (the fourth icon from the top left of the Safari window, right next to the address field–it looks like a box with a curved arrow pointing out of it), which brings up the Action Menu. Then, on the Action Menu, tap “Mail Link to this Page.” When the email displays on your screen, the cursor will be in the “To:” field. Start typing “Evernote,” and once you type enough letters, your Evernote email address will show up in the “To:” field, if it is on your Contacts list.

There’s a special syntax you can use to tag that note, and to pick which notebook the email should go into. If you add “#important #work” to the subject of the email, the note will be tagged with the “important” and “work” tags (if they already exist). If you add “@todolist” to the email’s subject, the email will be added to the “todolist” notebook. (Here are links to documentation for this syntax, and more information on the Evernote blog.)

You can do the same thing with Outlook, or your favorite email program. Forward an email to your personal Evernote address, add tags (using the “#” character) or notebooks (using the “@” character), and the new Evernote notes will show up already categorized and sorted.

This is a new idea for me, one I just set up and started to use. I’m starting with three main notebooks I’ve been emailing links into: @action, for things I want to act on, like to-do items; @info, for things I need to remember or use, like schedule changes or notes; and @toread–for weblinks or books (you can email Amazon weblinks to Evernote too!)

As soon as you click “send”–and sync Evernote, just to be sure–your email will be safely ensconced in your favorite organization tool!