Evernote is by far my useful productivity tool. The tagline to Evernote is “remember everything,” and it helps me accomplish this goal. If you have not heard of Evernote, you and I have probably not had a conversation recently. I am a fanatic. I’ll try to calm down and give you some useful tips now.

Here are five reasons Evernote will make you more productive:

1. It Records Everything (Notes, Pictures, Audio Notes) – Simply, Evernote allows you to record information and then makes it possible for you to access that information quickly and easily whenever you need it. You record the information in a “note” which can involve a mixture of text, pictures and/or audio notes. You can also drag other files into Evernote including PDFs, videos, Microsoft Documents, etc.
2. It Remembers for You (The Search Feature) – One of the most frustrating aspects of technology is knowing you have notes or a document somewhere but not knowing where you filed it. Evernote’s search feature is extensive. All you need to do is remember a word or phrase and Evernote will pull up all the notes containing your word or phrase. Also, if the word is in a document, spreadsheet, PDF, or picture, Evernote will find it. Yes, even in a picture.
3. It Goes With You Everywhere (Phone, Computer, Tablet) – Evernote syncs between all your devices. So if you record something on your phone, it will be on your tablet or computer nearly immediately.
4. It Loves To Do Lists (Check Boxes and Note Linking) – Check boxes. If you love to do lists, you need Evernote. It has check boxes that you can check off when ready to do so. Also, I use the note linking feature quite a bit. For example, when I go on a trip, I might have multiple notes on the flight, hotel, car rental, trip plans, etc. Note linking allows me to create one note with a list of all these other notes and a link to each of them. This way I can easily access each part when I need it and do not need to remember where each note is located in Evernote.  More on Note Linking here.
5. It Gives You Freedom (Email Inbox Zero and Web Clipping) – One of the keys to staying productive is to avoid distractions. This is difficult when you are constantly receiving email. I do not know about you, but it is hard for me to stay focused when my email is piled up. Often times an email can require a lot of our attention. If this is the case, I will forward the email to my Evernote account and add it to my to do list so I can get back to the task at hand. Also, whether you are doing research or just scanning the web, Evernote allows you to clip articles and pictures so that you can have access to them later. You just highlight what you want to keep and clip it to Evernote. More on the Web Clipper here.

Evernote saves hours a week for me. It makes me more productive in my personal and professional life and allows me to focus on what is most important. Evernote is free or you can pay for the more advanced features. Create an account here! Learn more on the Evernote Blog.

Do you use Evernote?  Please share in the comments why you love it so much?