Some Alternative Ways To Use Apple Notes

[@silgofak]

Thank you Carl! I switched from Evernote to Apple Notes a year ago after watching one of your videos. I haven’t missed Evernote, Apple Notes has provided all that I’ve needed

[@rjb1115]

I'm still on EN but almost all ready to make the switch.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@rjb1115 Sounds like it would something you won't regret.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're welcome, Stathis. You're right there. Apple Notes is doing everything you need well.

[@roadrunnernyc2000]

Would you also recommend switching from Evernote to Apple Notes for Microsoft Surface users? I have an iphone and and an ipad but my windows laptop is too new to buy a Macbook. Also transfering the notes from Evernote to Apple Notes on the ipad doesn't really work... Or should I try OneNote?

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@roadrunnernyc2000 Apple Notes on a Surface wouldn't be a very good experience. The web version is usable, but not very functional.

[@lisamjeanpierrellc]

Thanks Carl! Your videos are so informative and easy to follow so I know that I can get stuff done now versus later. Thanks again

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, too, Lisa. Very happy to have been able to help.

[@LJ-jq8og]

Thank you Carl ! We cant get too many videos on apple notes... Love apple notes for security, native app reliability, and all different platform access.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Agree with you there.

[@jeforiley8236]

I’ve not opened EN once since migrating to Apple Notes! A few months in and no regrets.

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's certainly a very well build notes app. And being built into the system makes it so easy and fast to use.

[@cocchianof]

Also, another important feature is that Notes has excellent OCR and allows to search those scanned documents.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're right there. It's incredibly fast too.

[@dnbrg74]

Like others, I have also gone all-in with Apple Notes (and Reminders). Great video Carl, thanks for the useful examples. Best, Dean.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're welcome, Dean.

[@maccafan1974]

I did too. I like that I can sync Reminders with my Apple Watch. To do lists, shopping lists.

[@analuisapm]

I switched also from Evernote after 12 years, it felt like a risky step but I’m very happy with the results. I also complement some temp notes with DRAFTS, the perfect combination.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Fantastic to hear it's all worked out well for you, Ana.

[@인문-m8r]

Thank you I could not find any highlight menu after scanning in notes. Could you let me know how to do?

[@Carl_Pullein]

There is no menu. You just use your mouse/finger as you would to copy/paste regular text. (Just a heads up though, I've not been able to get this to work with 한글)

[@colintclai]

Great to discover your video. I've been using Evernote but is thinking about ditching it for Apple Notes. But there is one feature in Evernote that I cannot find in Apple Notes: Evernote has a browser extension that allows me to export a web page to a new note (even with tags). I can even choose "Simplified Note" so only the text and images will be exported, without all other elements like ads, etc. Is it possible to do that with Apple Notes (even with the help of extra apps)?

[@Carl_Pullein]

The only way we can do that is to use the share sheet and send the article to Notes that way. This only gives you one option, though. What I've done in the past is to highlight the text and add that as a quick note. This way I get the text ad-free and a link back to the original article. Not as good as Evernote, but it is a fix and just the job.

[@jimnewtonsmith]

I wonder if there is much of a need for a detailed filing system using Apple Notes and hashtags?

[@cameronlawoffices898]

I use notes in a number of unconvential ways but I still maintain Evernote as as a file cabinet. I have never seen Evernote as a true "note-taking app" but it's a Hell of a file cabinet.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Cameron, that's the way I am moving these days. I started using Apple Notes more of an experiment late last year and found so seamless for quick notes and so much more. Evernote is hanging around as a digital filing cabinet.

[@tonycameron2955]

@@Carl_Pullein exactly. Thanks for all your productivity help.

[@697hotas7]

Thanks Carl 🙏. Question: Are you still using Evernote or did you ditch it?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Evernote's still there acting as my workhorse. Apple Notes currently works better for quick notes. Evernote's iOS apps are horrible to use.

[@johnmorris4531]

Wow! Carl Pullein leaving EverNote! Never thought Id hear that. Great video thanks!

[@Carl_Pullein]

No No, Evernote's my workhorse. Until Evernote fixes their iOS app so it works for people with poor eyesight (like me), I will continue to use Apple Notes as my quick note app.

[@SakthiBalanm]

Great video! I have been using Apple notes for more than 7 years now for both my personal and professional engagements. I haven't used the scanned documents storages in the Notes yet. Thanks for this info. Now I should experiment with it!

[@Carl_Pullein]

I've stopped using third party scanning apps since Apple Notes added this feature.

[@jaybaumgartner9660]

Good video and useful suggestions. I stopped paying for Evernote premium last year and imported into Apple Notes many hundreds of notes/scans from Evernote. Ditched the need for a desktop scanner and now scan when I need to using the phone as you showed in your video. Also do same with checklist. I am far from a power user but having all of this instantly across all my devices and all this power is native to my Apple devices! BTW, just subscribed to your channel! Cheers.

[@ganeshbalakrishnan_abq]

I find the resolution of the scans made through the notes app to be very poor and there seems to be no way to fix this in the app. evernote's scannable produces crisp images. but I really would like to use the notes scanner. help!

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's interesting. I've tested both and the resolution in Apple Notes and Evernote is identical. They are using the same camera to take the image so there should not be any differences

[@112329x]

Carl as always great info one quick one how can you insert a date / time stamp in a note

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi David, That's automatic. You will always have the date the note was created at the top of the note. Alternatively, you could use an app like TextExpander if you want more control over these.

[@rjb1115]

I'm still a EV user and love the fact that I can send/BCC myself emails and can link them later. I know I could do this with Apple Mail but unfortunately my work emails are Outlook. Is there a way to get Outlook emails into Notes? Thanks!!

[@Carl_Pullein]

At the moment, I'm not sure. You could try and drag and drop on a Mac Computer or iPad.

[@rjb1115]

@@Carl_Pullein thanks and I'll give it a shot

[@rjb1115]

@@Carl_Pullein dragging and dropping from Outlook and Notes does work! Thanks

[@rjb1115]

@@Carl_Pullein about to watch your Apple Productivity System

[@TexanCIO]

Carl, I really appreciate and enjoy your videos. I've been watching them for more than a year now and I note that they have grown more and more useful over time. I think you paid course fees are very reasonable as well and I look forward to signing up for some of them in the future. Thank you for your helpful work!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thanks, James. Very happy to hear you have enjoyed these videos.

[@jakobgraves]

Hi Carl. One thing I miss from Evernote, is a way of transfering the content of an e-mail to a note. Not linking or such. Making the mail become a note. Of course I can "print to PDF" and import the PDF into a note, but the Evernote feature of forwarding a mail to a note uncluding all adress information is still a killer feature. Have you found a workaround to this?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I haven't. I copy/paste the email if I want to meta data to be linkable (email addresses etc) It's an extra step, but it get the job done.

[@douglashornell-scott5126]

Carl, are you still using Evernote? If so, how do you use and differentiate between the two? I’m currently ‘playing ‘ between apple notes, Evernote and Notion to work out the best fit for me. What I don’t want is to have multiple apps, all essentially doing the same thing. Many thanks.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Douglas, Evernote is my filing cabinet for things I want to keep for reference. I also use it to keep notes on my clients and online courses. I use Apple Notes as my everyday notes app now. I don't like how Evernote works on my mobile devices. The text is too small for my bad eyes--Apple Notes is much better, faster and works great with Siri, which Evernote has never done well with.

[@douglashornell-scott5126]

Carl Pullein thanks and haha. Know what you mean about text size!! Gamsahabnida 🙏

[@raygold1]

@@Carl_Pullein I am a many year user of Evernote. I have recently retired. What is holding you back from exporting your Evernote’s and porting them into Apple Notes and dropping Evernote? Anything except for inertia? 😁

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@raygold1 Several reasons, the time/cost investment is prohibitive for the benefit it would give me. Evernote's tables (something I use extensively) are significantly better than the poor effort Apple has made with theirs. Evernote's formatting options are superior, and the way I work today is very different from how I worked several years ago, which means Evernote's poor mobile app is something I rarely need to use.

[@raygold1]

@@Carl_Pullein Thanks for the response. I retired last year at 74. I do almost everything on my iPad now. Since everything is personal business, I don’t use tables and formatting. It sounds like my needs are the opposite of yours at this point in my life. BTW I have been a fan of your KZbin channel for many years. I just watched your video about how you came to live in Korea. I, too, read all the self help books when I was in my 20s. My favorites were the audio tapes that Zig Ziglar put out back in the early 70s. I loved them and being in sales, they were a great help to my career. I really thank you for your KZbin channel.

[@인문-m8r]

thank you very much I scanned like you did but no readable document.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hmm what version of iOS are you using?

[@인문-m8r]

@@Carl_Pullein iOS 15.3. Sir

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@인문-m8r Very strange. you should be able to select the text, copy it and them pate it anywhere you like.

[@인문-m8r]

@@Carl_Pullein I think so too. Anyway, I'll keep looking for a solution. Anyway your youtube is very informative thank you very much I lived in Britain in the 1990s for 3 and a half years. Your accent is friendly.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@인문-m8r Thank you. I've lived in Korea since 2002 (my 20th year this year!)

[@brwnsgr8034]

Thanks for continuing to keep us informed on how we can make Apple Notes/Reminders more user friendly. I am using it for everything, just need to make sure I get a good storage plan. 😃👏🏽👏🏽

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's true. If you're storing everything using iCloud, the 50GB basic package will not be sufficient.

[@brwnsgr8034]

@@Carl_Pullein True, we decided to upgrade the storage.

[@johnmancina5976]

Hi Carl, I’ve struggled with the check list workflow a bit. Currently I have my morning routine in my checklist. I don’t like how it clutters the task list, but I only have to check it once to complete the task and it refreshes each day. If I use notes for the checklist, I need to clear everything at the end of the day to refresh the list. How do you use the checklists in notes? Possibly, you don’t even check them off, but just use as a reference/reminder? Thanks for the helpful videos!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi John, my morning routine checklist is legacy now. I've been doing it for so long, I don't need a checklist. But when I did use it, I copied and pasted the checklist and used the day's date as the title. That wayI was able to keep a record of the number of days I completed my routines. It was a great way to keep me motivated. I kept those notes is a folder inside my Areas of Focus folder.

[@anandshah71]

How can I use apple notes instead of evernote web clipper is it possible I love the web clipper and if possible with tag need options for that.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, good question. Nothing beats Evernote's web clipper. Many have tried, many have failed. Apple's version is pretty good. You can add tags when you save the web clip, but apart from that, it won't ever match the brilliance of Evernote's.

[@anandshah71]

@@Carl_Pullein I couldn’t figure out how to in notes to take 1 we page to notes I don’t want to save link I need to see the page too

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@anandshah71 That's currently not possible. You either get the link summary or you can copy / paste the link into the note.

[@lewisdoyle]

Very interesting. I switched away from a MacBook Pro to a Windows machine last year. I therefore migrated to Evernote. Does that copy and paste from a scanned document work on Evernote, that you’re aware of?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I don't think it does. But it might on an iOS device as I think the copy/paste feature is a system feature.

[@lewisdoyle]

@@Carl_Pullein Have you ever produced a video on why you chose Apple devices? I can see that you are a power user across all of them, but I’d be interested to see a video on what kit you use and why you choose it.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@lewisdoyle I haven't, Lewis. It's a bit boring really. The first computer I ever had was an old Apple Performa II (1997). It never occurred to me to use Windows after that.

[@pressrepeat2000]

Main reason is speed IMO. It’s just so fast to open, make a note and search for it later. Being integrated into iOS has that advantage, but it’s huge if you take a lot of notes or search them. Speed matters for notes. I just wish it was more integrated with calendar (you can’t attach notes!) and other parts of iOS.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're right. Speed is everything when collecting ideas. They can so easily disappear if we are not collecting them.

[@raygold1]

I believe I saw a video where you can attach a note to a calendar event. Is that what you want to do?

[@LJ-jq8og]

Final point, if Apple is smart enough to continue enhancing apple-notes they will probably crush or "Sherlock" many of the third-party apps we have been forced to rely upon for so long. Apple notes has proven so reliable to me that I am beginning to use it for everything. Especially on a brand new MacBook Pro M1 16 inch, with a screen that feels like I'm in a large theater. :)

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha I know what you mean. It looks awesome on the 14 inch MBP too.

[@LJ-jq8og]

@@Carl_Pullein I am curious to see if the new iPad Pro will match or eclipse the displays on our new M1 Macbook pros you and I have. If not, I no longer need to spend money on iPads. :) Carl I just cant overstate how addictive this new display is. I love it more than my high end iMac display . To the point where I now prefer Netflix on my laptop as opposed to my new large iPad Pro or even my Sony TV !

[@justit2015]

For the most part Notes is ubiquitous on IPad and Mac (although there are a few small features on iPad that Mac doesn’t yet have). You’re more likely to use the device that’s “addictive” to your needs to use Notes on.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@justit2015 That's true.

[@Arunpreet06]

please make a desk tour setup video…

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thinking about it, Arunpreet.

[@IRVremy]

The inability to mix handwritting with text is a must for me and apple markup is subpar by today's standards. Those are the two things that have me using GoodNotes and Onenote mostly.

[@Carl_Pullein]

That's a fair comment.

[@drdentrepair5530]

Carl just come fully over to apple notes. Go ahead and flag that as a priority for today. Then I will get more apple notes videos! 🤣

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahahaha Glad you enjoyed it.

[@BillSklodowski]

Yes.. I'm dropping Evernote as well. At this time, I still have a Windows laptop for travels, so Evernote is still a part of my ecosystem... but that Macbook Air is looking better and better, and the Win laptop is getting old. When it goes, it's going to be all Notes, all the time.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Good luck, Bill. It's a lot faster.

[@osiak.marcin]

Apple Notes is ok, but Evernote is more flexible. Tables, integration with Todoist via IFTTT, voice notes - the ability to add via app "Shortcuts", send e-mails directly to Evernote, and create a knowledge base, add documents, etc. In my opinion Evernote is the best "brain extention".

[@Carl_Pullein]

I agree, Evernote has a ton of additional features and is great for those who want those features.

[@toranshaw4029]

I’ve pretty much stopped using Evernote myself, even though I never truly used it on a daily basis. I pretty much use Obsidian, these days, with Simplenote for my fleeing notes, and Logseq for my daily log. So I can’t really see the point of also adding Apple Notes or Evernote into my system!

[@Carl_Pullein]

As long as your system is working well for you.

[@toranshaw4029]

@@Carl_Pullein yes, it is, ta. I only really need to look at other apps for my PKM site that I am in the process of setting up!

[@comedunken6156]

are you based in South Korea?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I am. Been here for almost 20 years.

[@comedunken6156]

@@Carl_Pullein Nice. Do you speak Korean? You should make video about you and your story

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@comedunken6156 I have "survival Korean" LOL And here's 'my story': kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6acdGOhltmpjac

[@webbyrj]

Its time , Apple Notes. No more procrastination 🤗🕸

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's a very solid notes app today, Richard.

[@InFocus_app]

This is next good reason totally to switch to Apple ecosystem

[@Carl_Pullein]

It's creeping up the notes application league certainly :-)