This is the second in a short series covering various ways to get yourself organized and synced up across your various Android devices (don’t worry, iOS has most of these apps too!). This article will feature Evernote’s Android ecosystem and some helpful ways to use this platform and it’s various products to boost productivity and reduce stress in ministry.
Previously, we discussed what Google has to offer in the area of getting yourself together for productivity. Next up in our war on clutter is Evernote. Evernote is a great idea that exploded into an incredibly powerful suite of services all designed to organize your ideas in constructive ways. In this article, we’ll discuss what Evernote has to offer, and how it compares to Google’s organizational ecosystem.
Organization Systems for the Left-Brained
Evernote’s system is, simply put, effective. It has three levels of organization: Notes, Notebooks, and Stacks. Notes can be anything, web article clippings, to-do lists, text, files, and images all fall under the category of Notes. They are the “ground-level” of Evernote. Notes are then organized into Notebooks which are more general categories for your individual notes. For instance, a web article on how to make cookies could fit into a “Cooking” Notebook. Several Notebooks can be pulled together into Stacks. The Cooking Notebook mentioned earlier could fall into a stack called “Kitchen.” In the words of the Evernote Android app itself:
“Use notebooks to group your notes. Create notebooks for interests, projects, travel, and more. Organize notebooks into Stacks to show or hide groups of notebooks.
You have access to all the tools you need to create all of these systems straight from the app.
Evernote’s Suite
The concept is simple and effective, but Evernote doesn’t stop there. They’ve flared out Evernote’s functions into what they call the Trunk. The Trunk is a collection of apps, products, and services that integrate directly with Evernote. You can use a web clipper to clip portions of a web page straight into one of your notebooks. If you come across an email you need to access later, clip it right into Evernote. Need that guy’s contact info after that lunch meeting? Use Evernote Hello app to store contacts and meeting contexts directly into Evernote. This is where Evernote stands out. The list of uses and services that integrate with Evernote is extensive for users of any mobile or desktop operating system, and makes it a powerhouse for both individuals and church teams to get stuff done. Below I’ll highlight three Evernote products that help me in my ministry keep things straight.
Evernote Hello
One service I find most useful for ministry is Evernote Hello. This doesn’t come packaged in the main Evernote app, but is available for free on the Google Play Store. Log in with your Evernote username and password and you’re ready to start. This useful app will help you organize the people you meet. Sounds kind of wrong, but I assure you, it’s not! Just had a meeting and need the other guy’s contact number? Load up Hello and pass him your phone. He can put whatever information he wants you to have into the app, and even take a photo of himself with your front-facing camera to store as his contact image. Hello will geotag the location (ie- Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, <insert church name here>) so you have even more context to the new contact you’ve just created. This will then be saved to your main notebook. It’s worth noting, that there is an option to save this profile to your phone’s contacts as well, but does not do it automatically, so don’t forget!
Evernote Moleskine
This is a more recent addition to my stack of organizational resources. Evernote didn’t want to stay solely in the digital realm and partnered with the legendary Moleskine notebook company to help digitalize your handwritten notes. It looks just like an ordinary Moleskine, save for the green strap and Evernote elephant on the front, but it comes with additional perks for Evernote users. The first thing that’s pushed is three free months of Evernote Premium which will give you more monthly upload space and sharing functionality . The second are a few sheets of stickers. Stickers? Yes, stickers. They’re designed to be placed on pages that you want to tag and sort into notebooks automatically. This can be done through the Evernote app. Create a new note, click on the camera icon, and start scanning. A personal tip: try scanning in even light, it tends to capture the pages much better than if there are shadows or blurs on the page.
Android + Evernote = A Match Made in Heaven
I use Android’s “share” functionality every single day from dozens of different apps in a day. The ability to share content from one app to another is a stand-out feature that’s simply not available in iOS devices. Coupling the Android share functionality with Evernote is powerful. I’ll explain what I mean.
Many people I rub elbows against in ministry are constantly taking in a steady stream of helpful information from various different places. Apps, RSS aggregators, email, photos and mobile browsers all provide us with good, relevant content for us to pass on to those we serve as well as serve with. With Evernote installed on your Android device, you can now manage and streamline that content in such a way that is ridiculously helpful. Here’s an example. Say I’m reading an article in the browser on my phone, and I can’t finish the whole thing in one sitting. Simply share that webpage with Evernote, select a notebook, and hit done. Instantly, that article is saved in the Evernote cloud to be accessed from mobile or desktop at your leisure. You can do this with photos from your gallery, webpages from the browser, articles from Feedly, anything.
Let’s Compare
Now that we’ve taken a look at both Google and Evernote, lets look at some of the differences between the two platforms.
- Sharing: One of my favorite features of Google’s ecosystem was the real-time collaboration with others. This helped our ministry out in leadership meetings by allowing our team to all edit the same document all at the same time. Evernote does it differently. Sharing and collaborating is more or less granting access to certain notes and notebooks. This is great for working on projects together from a distance, as the organization capabilities are greater than Google’s at the moment.
- Organization: In Google Drive you’re working with folders and documents for your text based services. In Evernote, it’s Stacks, Notebooks, and Notes. I personally enjoy calling them that. My brain processes the information more clearly since I love using paper notebooks too (and often leave them in stacks across the house). I’ll give this a clear +1 for Evernote in the way you store your information.
- Design: Evernote packs a huge punch when it comes to productivity, and they’ve come a long way in terms of design. Their web app has received great updates to design, and their app looks great, however there are a few inconsistencies that detract from the experience (try adding checkboxes for a to-do list and you’ll see what I mean). Google has shaped into a much more unified card-ui with all of their apps that makes the experience more cohesive.
What do you think? Do you prefer Evernote’s organizational systems and their Trunk services over Google’s powerful cloud features and collaborative options? Drop a comment below, or find us all over the internet to let us know!
Downloads:
Evernote on Google Play
Evernote Hello on Google Play
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