Why Evernote is Still Number 1
The best global note-taking application hasn’t changed just yet!?
Over the last few months, the most common email I’ve received has been from Keep Productive subscribers with a message that reads roughly…
“Francesco, I’m an Evernote user — I have no issues, but I’m really tempted to move over Notion, what do you think?”
This is a relevant question.
The last 2–3 years for Evernote haven’t exactly gone to plan, and there’s no doubt from reading comments and checking Twitter search that people are migrating out of the long-standing note-taker Evernote for the pure case of lack of innovation and design.
Whilst the Evernote team’s introduction of Ian Small has sparked a u-turn in loyalty, there’s still a stigma around using Evernote in 2019. Steve Dotto put it so well, only recently, stating Evernote is in fear of becoming a “legacy app”.
Why Evernote Still Rocks?
So, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t convert all those emails into Notion users, makes sense doesn’t it? Fed up with Evernote — move over.
This is not the best plan of action.
This is normally how the conversation goes:
- User: “Francesco, I’m an Evernote user — I have no issues, but I’m really tempted to move over Notion, what do you think?”
- Francesco: “Hello there, well, let’s start by asking what you currently use Evernote for and why you chose it in the first place?”
- User: “Sure, I use Evernote to capture notes and looking at Notion for creating notes and organizing , I’ve been an Evernote user since 2013”
- Francesco: “Awesome, so what are your most used features in Evernote?”
- User: “Mainly, scanning in documents and annotating them, writing long notes and planning with tags”
- Francesco: “Brilliant, well, I think you might struggle with this in Notion. It’s possible, but will require more apps and more time. Would you say you have a major issue with Evernote?”
- User: “No, I like Evernote. I just see Notion as a good alternative and many uses for day to day work, but no quams with Evernote”
- Francesco: “I’d recommend sticking with Evernote then, if you’re not having major issues and it solves your needs. I’d stick to it. Sure, Notion might add these in the future, but chances are you want
Features That Evernote Still Slays With
Evernote does have some killer features that if you can’t replicate and replace inside of Notion, aren’t even worth considering a switch. I’d say Evernote still is the number one note-taking app for the following features:
Scanning Tools
Being able to scan in with your camera in high-quality is a killer feature of Evernote and works solidly for professional documents and more.
Annotation
Being able to annotate PDFs is a really smooth and easy native experience inside of Evernote and works perfectly for sending onto clients/others.
Offline Abilities
Evernote stores the files locally, perfectly for offline work and being able to manage the location of your files and documents.
Email Forwarding
Being able to send emails into your Evernote account for your email is one of the big features Notion is missing, attachments and all.
Web Clipper
Whilst Notion has a Web Clipper, the Evernote one isn’t even close to being matched. PDF clipping, annotation and more brings it to the number one spot.
All these features makes Evernote still the number one note-taking tool. Whilst Notion might be the best all-in-one tool out there, Evernote still gets to keep this title right now.
Do I still use Evernote?
Short answer, yes. Long answer, no.
To some extent for me, Evernote has become a legacy application. Here’s what I use it for right now, this might help you:
- Clipping major important documents (finance, house, mortgage)
- Saving vouchers and discounts
- Converting documents into PDF and annotating them
I’m currently on the Free Evernote plan.
