Thursday, January 12, 2012

The Seven Types of Evernote Users


1. List makers create
  • To Do lists
  • shopping lists
  • gift lists (with photos and price tags)
  • packing lists (for home moves and office storage)
  • travel agendas
  • conference agendas
  • people to meet (and, sometimes, people to avoid)
  • job descriptions
  • books to read and/or books already read
  • good restaurant meals (with photos)
  • wine labels, tea tastings, coffee dealers (or other tasty things)
  • stamps collected & photographed
  • ticket stubs
  • tweets posted or collected
  • receipts for reimbursement
  • house or apartment hunting lists
  • bucket lists 
2. GTD enthusiasts. There are bloggers who will go into excruciating detail on how to use Evernote to organize your life and Get Things Done (from the book by David Allen). (There are others who will do almost anything to avoid these sites.)

3. Networkers  use Evernote to collect business cards, photos, names, plan your next networking event, list people to meet, and track LinkedIn contacts and people to invite.

(Hint: if taking photos at a networking event, ask people to hold up their name tags so you can read them in the photo, too.)

4. Planners use Evernote to organize:
  • events ranging in size from a private dinner to a half million dollar fundraiser
  • conferences
  • job hunting
  • meetings
  • agendas
  • assigned tasks
  • instructions
  • maps
  • menus and catering info
  • price lists
  • decorators
  • volunteers and volunteer job descriptions
  • venue info with contacts
  • PR specialists and connections
  • janitorial services, and
  • temp agency contacts, among other things.


5. Creatives find new ways to use Evernote for their business, hobbies, song lyrics, poems, drafts, blogging, photo sessions (including studio diagrams and shot notes), makeup notes, hair styles, writing and researching, repertoire lists, reviews (only good ones), press clippings and story boarding.

6. Collaborators use Evernote with others: your personal assistant, your job search group, your baseball team, your wiki group, your work team.

Evernote is being used by a detective agency, realtors, lawyers, coaches, and farmers. (Of this blog's seven groups, this may be the only which which requires a paid account for full usability.)

7. Home & Family Data Collectors use Evernote to keep track of
  • all your warrantees for anything you buy with the receipts and date of purchase
  • scan or photograph your instruction and repair manuals and other How-To’s
  • keep lists of your kid’s school supply requirements
  • summer reading lists
  • permission slips
  • homework assignments
  • teachers’ names and contact info
  • kids’ friends’ names and parents (tip: take photos of your kids’ friends with their parents – it helps you associate which parents belong to which kids and they won’t think you're creepy photographing just kids)
  • list your kids’ friends’ food allergies (so you don’t accidentally send them to the hospital during the birthday party)
  • lists of all your repairmen (and repairmen recommended by friends)
  • track all your insurance policies
  • doctors’ phone numbers
  • immunizations
  • photos of science projects and awards earned
  • report cards, of course
  • photograph and file those holiday cards (after keeping them on the fridge for a respectful period of time)
  • take-out menus from your favorite home delivery restaurants (pictures of your favorite pizzas are optional)
  • gift/wish lists for your kids and your extended family


As you can see, there’s an endless list of ways to use Evernote to track your work, your play, and your life. See http://www.evernote.com/ to get started, or try one of the other notebook apps described in the Frugal Guidance post: http://goo.gl/wLwbs .

Please add your ideas in the comments.