Getting Started with Evernote
These simple steps will put you on the path to a superhuman memory.
Welcome to Evernote! We're glad you're here. Spend a few minutes going through this guide to learn some Evernote basics. We will introduce you to a number of useful Evernote functions and concepts that will help you start remembering everything.
Before we dive in, here are a few terms that will be used throughout this document:
Note : A single item stored in Evernote.
Notebook : A container for notes.
Sync : The process by which your Evernote notes are kept up to date across all of your computers, phones, devices and the Web.
Account : A username and password that allows Evernote to identify your notes and make them available to you anywhere.
Ready? Let's get started!
NextInstalling the Evernote Desktop Client
Our desktop client applications offer a complete, powerful interface for managing all of your Evernote notes and notebooks on your Windows PC or Mac. They only take a couple of minutes to install, so let's do that now.
First, download the installation software. Open your favorite web browser and visit the Evernote Web site at www.evernote.com. The Web site will automatically detect what type of computer you are using and provide you with the correct download option:
Mac Users
Windows Users
Download the setup executable file anywhere on your Windows PC. When the download completes, double-click the file to launch the setup program. If you'd like, you can optionally configure the location of your Evernote installation.
After the setup program completes, click Finish. To launch Evernote, click the icon in your All Programs menu within the Evernote folder:
Congratulations — you have successfully installed the Evernote desktop client. Next, let's create your user account.
NextCreating your Evernote User Account
Note: If you have already registered for an Evernote account on www.evernote.com, you can skip this step. Simply enter the username and password you chose when you completed the account creation process.
The first time you launch the Evernote application, you will be prompted to enter your username and password, or create a new Evernote account. To create a new Evernote account, click "Get a free Evernote account now":
Clicking this link will open a new window where you can input your information and choose a username and password:
Once you've filled in all of these fields, click "Register". This will create your account and immediately log you in with your new account in Evernote on your desktop.
Now that the Evernote desktop client is installed and you have created your account, let's take a quick look at creating simple text notes.
NextCreating Your First Note
Evernote can store many different types of content, and the most common is simple text; whether it's a note you write to yourself, a portion of a web page that you'd like to save or an email you've received that you want to remember, Evernote knows how to handle it. With that in mind, let's create your first note.
At the top of the main Evernote window, you'll see a large button labeled "New Note":
Click that button and Evernote will create a brand new note and place the cursor into the body of the note:
You can give the note any title you like. For this example, a simple title:
Now, click in the main body of the note and start typing!
It's as simple as that. If you like, you can style the text by changing the font, increasing or decreasing the size or changing the color. You can also bold, italicize or underline the text — all of these options are available in the toolbar above the note body.
Once you're finished typing your note, you don't need to do anything else. Evernote will automatically save and synchronize your new note to Evernote on the Web. That same note will then be available on all of your devices where Evernote is installed.
There are many other ways to customize your note (adding tags, choosing the destination notebook, etc.), but this is a good start. Now, let's see how easy it is to add images to Evernote.
NextAdding Your First Image
Evernote is a great tool for saving all kinds of information, not just text. From funny pictures of your family and photographs of your favorite wine labels to the stack of business cards you collected at a recent conference and the whiteboard from the last strategy meeting, Evernote makes it extremely simple to add all kinds of images to your account and keep them forever.
Let's say you have an image file on your computer's desktop that you'd like to add to Evernote:
Open the main Evernote window, click that "New Note" button again, fill in a title for your first image note, and drag the image directly into the note body:
The same technique can be used when saving images from the web. Simply click and drag your image:
And drop your image into the body of a note. That's it!
You can also drag images directly on a specific notebook and, if you're a Mac user, onto the Evernote icon in the Dock.
Just like with the text note we created in the last section, your new image note will be synchronized to Evernote on the Web automatically within a couple of minutes. After that, it'll be accessible from anywhere you've installed Evernote — including your smart phone or tablet.
Now that we've learned how to add images to Evernote, let's take a look at how Evernote Sync makes them (and all of your other notes) available anywhere.
NextUnderstanding Evernote Sync
While Evernote is immensely useful as a desktop note-taking application, its true power lies in its ability to synchronize your notes to the Evernote on the Web. This allows you to create and find your memories on virtually any computer, web browser or mobile phone.
This means that you can clip a cornbread recipe from the web on your Mac, read it on your iPhone when you're at the grocery store buying the ingredients and look it up from your friend's Windows PC when you're at his house preparing to bake the cornbread. Evernote on the Web is constantly updating all of your computers and devices with the latest versions of your notes, so you'll always have the right information, wherever you are.
All of the Evernote applications are in regular contact with Evernote on the Web. Whenever a new note is created or edited on any of your Evernote-capable devices, the note is uploaded to the Evernote on the Web where all of your other devices will download it the next time they sync.
Evernote for Windows or Mac will automatically synchronize your notes with Evernote on the Web every few minutes, but you can manually sync any time by clicking the "Sync" button:
Saving Web Content
Saving content from the web to your Evernote account is quick and easy with the Evernote Web Clipper. It works a little differently depending on the browser you're using, but it's as easy as highlighting part of the web page you're viewing and clicking a button in your browser's toolbar or, if you use Internet Explorer, right-clicking. Let's look at a quick example:
Here's some content I highlighted on a webpage that I'd like to save to my Evernote account:
I just click the Evernote button in my browser toolbar:
And a brand new note is created for me with the content that I highlighted:
The Evernote Web Clipper functionality is available on all modern web browsers. To install the Web Clipper in your preferred browser, visit the Products page. No matter which browser you use, installation only takes a minute and makes saving web content a snap.
Setting Reminders
Reminders are a great way to keep track of notes that contain time-sensitive information, or that you need in order to accomplish tasks.
Set a Reminder for any note by opening the note and clicking or tapping the Reminder icon. 
For time-sensitive Reminders, you can also set a due date.
Reminders appear in a To-do List at the top of your Note List, where they can be sorted, ordered, edited and more.
Open a notebook to see only those Reminders or to create new reminders inside that notebook.
You can opt to receive emails on the day timed reminders are due.
Once you've completed a task associated with a Reminder, check it off in the Reminders list. Checking off a Reminder does not delete the original note. To check off a Reminder, simply click the checkbox, or swipe to the right on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
Next Steps
Now that you've successfully installed and played around with Evernote on your desktop a little bit, here are some of the next steps to fully integrating Evernote into your digital life:
- Install Evernote on your mobile phone
- Take a look inside the Evernote Trunk to see great Evernote-compatible products and services
- Check out our collection of short instructional videos on a variety of topics
- Read the Evernote Blog for product update, tips and user stories.
If you ever have any questions, be sure to take a look at the growing collection of FAQs and support articles in our official Knowledge Base. If you need assistance, we have a dedicated support team ready to answer your questions.
Thanks for using Evernote!
