New Premium Feature: File Synchronization
December 17th, 2008
It’s a big day here at Evernote. In addition to updated versions of Evernote for Windows and Evernote for Mac, we’re launching a fantastic, new Premium-only feature: file and document synchronization.
When we launched, we said we’d help you remember everything. Today, we dramatically expanded the meaning of the word everything to include, well, everything*. Evernote Premium users can now add any type of file to a note. Once a file is added to Evernote, it’s synchronized with the Evernote Service and made instantly available across all version of Evernote, even mobile.
Why this is cool
Now, not only can you take notes, clip web pages, snap photos, and record audio, but you can also add the stuff you’re working on, like that client presentation, the novel you’re writing, your resume, your band’s MP3s, those Photoshop files, and just about anything else you can think of.
Best of all, Evernote Premium users no longer need to worry about where their files are, how to access them, where the last copy is saved, or how to share them. Everything is in Evernote, available whenever and wherever needed.
Multiple files in a note
You can add multiple files to a single note. So, say you’re organizing the big corporate offsite. Create a public notebook called “Offsite.” Create a note with the location, meeting agenda, and include all the PowerPoint presentation files. Now, share this notebook’s URL with other attendees. The whole process will take no time at all and you’ll come out looking like an organizational ninja.
Live update
When using the desktop versions of Evernote, if you open a file contained in a note, make changes, then save the file, Evernote will automatically update the version in your notes to the latest. This feature applies to files supported in Free accounts, as well.
Emailing files from your phone
You need to urgently send a file to a coworker, but you’re out to dinner with friends. No worries, it’s in Evernote. Just pull up the note on your phone and email it. How easy is that!?!
The ability to add any type of file to a note is only available to Evernote Premium users. Sign up or upgrade now for only $5/month or $45/year, or give an Premium account as a gift.
And don’t forget, it’s only $5 to try out Evernote Premium. If you’re like us, you’ll never want to go back, but if you prefer Free, rest assured that you will always have access to the notes and files you added as a Premium user.
* Ok, fine, not everything. There is a limitation to be aware of: the total size for a single note cannot exceed 25MB. That HD family reunion video probably won’t fit.
Posted by Andrew Sinkov at 4:28 pm in Product updates, Video
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Thank you!!!!
M$ just trashed FolderShare with this Live Sync nonsense, so I was looking for a reliable replacement.
Keep up the good work!
Dave Rakowski
Allentown, PA
December 17th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Fantastic product! I signed up today as a premium user as a show of support (as a Dropbox user this particular feature doesn’t grab me but I am sure it may be useful for other users).
Would love to see some collaborative note sharing functionality in a future release. I want to share notes with colleagues.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Woooohooo! Excellent work guy!
One question though… a 500mb Premium account can fill up quickly with file attachments. Any plans to add more space to premium accounts?
December 17th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Unfortunately Google Checkout isn’t available yet here in Brazil. So, we can’t upgrade to Evernote Premium yet
Is there another way to pay the upgrade?
December 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
This is great – I can now replace DropBox with Evernote, but I need a Linux (Fedora or Ubuntu) client. Any chance this is coming soon? As soon as it does I will sign up for a premium subscription
December 18th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Doesn’t seem to work very well with Pages, the Apple word processor. I can drop a Pages document into Evernote, but it zips it. And I’m not sure that it saves changes.
Since I favor Pages over Word, I’m not sure that this new feature is useful to me.
December 18th, 2008 at 3:41 am
Great news! This feature will rock.
@ Mitch
+1 on the collaborative note sharing (public notebooks are nice but sharing with specific people is the next step)
@ Eric
Keep in mind that’s a new 500 MB of bandwidth each month. I haven’t actually seen a published aggregate storage cap. Right now they’re only limiting transfer bandwidth from what I understand.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:16 am
This is a nice feature. However, as far as I can tell it is still not possible to link one note to another and 500MB is a non-starter if I’m going to use this as an “online file system.”
For now, I think Evernote is still for . . . notes.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Sounds marvelous and might be the killer feature that makes me go Premium. Notetaking, file syncing and basic off-site backup from one source.
But I have a question. I do a lot of writing in a popular Mac program called Scrivener. It stores projects in an OS X package (a folder that looks like a file but contains multiple files), with individual documents (typically book chapters) as files inside that package.
Without the Premium account, I can’t check. Does Evernote 1.2 know how to handle OS X packages: opening documents in applications that use them and saving/updating each individual file properly?
****
Also, one suggestion. For Macs and PCs, you might want to create a project manager application that manages this feature and remembers which application to use with each file. That way, we would not have to wade through dozens of snippets to find projects we work on every day. Or have a project manager mode for your existing application. This new feature needs a new interface.
December 18th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Allow me to search the documents (especially PDF) and I am 100% sold. Until then I am mostly sold…
December 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
If I change a file opening it in Evernote, does it change the local file I still have on my computer as well?
Anthony
December 18th, 2008 at 9:53 am
If I upgrade to premium, will I be able to email a synced note / document from my iPhone? For example, I attach my resume to a note using the desktop app, and then run into someone I’d like to email my resume to from my iPhone when I’m away from my computer.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:12 am
@Mark Yes, you can do exactly that. Your friend will receive the emailed note with your resume as an attachment.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:18 am
OK, just to double check, Evernote is the ONLY app that will allow me to put my resume on my iPhone AND email it?
December 18th, 2008 at 11:29 am
YES!!! I can highlight in attached PDFs and the changes to the file are SAVED!! Woo hoo!!
December 18th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Wasn’t I already able to do this? I just upgraded Evernote to the newest non-Premium version. But last night I was able to make changes/additions to documents and they were reflected everywhere. I could already sync everything.
Am I not understanding something here?
(By the way, I love Evernote, excellent work!)
Thanks!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
This is an exciting development… but leaves me asking ‘how safe/secure is this?’
Would you be interested in a discussion with me – private, blog or podcast and/or members of the Security Catalyst Community? Several of us use/recommend Evernote (I personally LOVE it) – but would also like to get a sense of how information is being protected in transit and at rest.
Let me know how we can help.
Thanks!
December 18th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
@Chrisian The difference between Free and Premium, as related to this update, is in the types of files that can be added to notes. Free accounts can add images, audio, ink, and PDFs. Premium accounts can now add virtually any type of file (ZIP, DOC, PPT, etc). For a more complete feature comparison between Free and Premium, visit: http://www.evernote.com/about/premium/
December 18th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
It is a shame you have not added support for Windows Desktop Search. I want one place to search for my information, the native search built into my OS which inegrates nicely with everything else. It is a bummer that I can use it for everything else except Evernote. At the very least, open up your local file format so someone else can do it. Integrating WDS is not that hard (from a developers point of view).
When you add this, I will be totally sold.
David
December 18th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
@ Andrew
Ah, I see. Very good. That’ll come in handy.
I think you’ll have another Premium user very soon.
Thanks!
December 18th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
This may not be the place to say, but I second David’s suggestion : Windows Desktop Search integration. I really don’t want to have to search from several places.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Yes, yes, oh, yes!
December 18th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
@ J Lucas: Yes, I understand it’s a bandwidth limit (I’ve been premium since they offered it).
With this file storage option, I would have loved to save youtube videos (i.e. workout routines, recipes, presentation, etc.), but they average approx. 25mb each, so filling up a 500mb quota / month would be too easy
Still, this is a great feature!
December 18th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
You are making good progress! I appreciate this new feature very much. Most of my class materials are .doc, docx, .ppt, .xls, so this makes Evernote much more useful to me. One more thing I would like to see: when a note is maximized, it would be very useful to have a Find (CNTR+F) feature like Firefox has. It would help a lot in locating specific sections of code, for instance. And Find&Replace would be handy too. And syntax highlighting. I wonder if perhaps you might make Evernote pluggable; that way a user could select features of interest without weighing everyone down with stuff they might not want?
December 18th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Quick question:
Now that I have a Premium account and a lot more storage space, with the ability to store more file types, I’d like to do something about the Documents folder on my Mac. I have notes in Evernote and notes in there. I use the MobileFiles App on my iPhone to view the files in my Documents folder, since I back them up to my iDisk regularly. But as of yet MobileFiles is quite limited in what it can read.
But I also have notes in Evernote. So I have notes scattered over two different places. I wouldn’t mind viewing the contents of my Documents folder in Evernote. Is there any easy way to import all those files? I can’t import them into a single note – they’re too big, about 124mb total. I can’t import them by batch-selecting them and dragging them into Evernote, either. It seems the only way is to add them, one by one as a new note. This will be very time-consuming. Maybe Evernote was never intended to be a repository for all of your documents, but how far can I push Evernote in this regard?
I’d appreciate any help.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:13 am
You’ve just had me! you guys kept on putting better and better services day by day and I am impressed.
Just that I cannot yet edit notes from client from my winmo device.
December 19th, 2008 at 5:38 am
I wil upgrade right now because I love evernote on my mac and on my iphone and it´s doing so many important things for me so easy. thank you very much for that great work which I really cannot use free anymore – i couldn´t sleep well without supporting your work!
December 20th, 2008 at 6:45 am
This was the feature I had been waiting for to upgrade to Premium. Now I can create audible notes straight from my phone (which only outputs .amr files).
One ‘complaint’: just a few hours after I upgraded, I received an Evernote promo mail; apparently as an Evernote Plus user I could have got a much better deal! Anyway, too late for regrets, and the package is good value at the regular price anyway.
December 20th, 2008 at 7:32 am
subfolders/subnotebooks, please!
December 20th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Hi! Thank you very much with this new feature!
I agree with thegeniusfiles and the ctrl+f Feature would be great.
I’m a premium user and I have a problem, on the windows version I can’t see any “open with” feature to open my image note on the photoshop for example. I will appreciate your help. Sorry for my bad english.
Thank you again!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:09 am
Interesting feature, however I can’t see myself using Evernote to share/sync files given the puny amount of storage. I can just as easily use Gmail or Live Mesh. Please consider revisiting this limit and bringing it more in-line with industry standards which have moved past MB into GB territory for many years now.
A feature that I would like to see (and pay for) is the ability to have a shared Evernote Notebook with another user (versus just private or public).
December 24th, 2008 at 11:21 am
I think this feature is very cool and a significant leap for the tool to become a comprehensive information note taking tool. However, the pricing model of per year recurring cost is not working for me since I do most of the notes and file sync for my laptop only. I can pay a one time cost for the feature on my desktop and only use the online access if required. Is there an option to decouple the pricing model.
But regardless impressed by the continued improvement in the product and the blog model for communicating the feature set.
December 24th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
+1 on Subfolders and subnotebooks!
December 25th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Whatever….Get some SYMBIAN support.
December 27th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I’m impressed. Just the other day, I was telling my wife that I want to migrate to the cloud. I’ve been using Google docs and I absolutely love having access to my content anytime anywhere. Now, I can use Evernote to help me do the same with my Adobe files.
All I need now is an online repository for my music!
Thanks for such a great product and making it useful for those of us with both a Mac and a PC.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Is there a way for the live update to work with jpg’s you created in Skitch? I open in Skitch and save and it doesn’t update… hmmm…
December 31st, 2008 at 6:48 pm
@Nik that 500MB you speak of is the amount of “traffic” that you have uploaded to the Evernote server every month. It has unlimited capacity to store your data.
I used to use Copernic Desktop Search, and I would love to have a feature to be able to search the documents (and highlight searched words just like normal notes. All those others are great and this product keeps getting better and better.
Good work!
January 1st, 2009 at 10:25 pm
@ Nik: the file limit of 500 Mb is per month; this makes it 12 X 500 = 6 Gb per year.
@ Snowy: me wants SYMBIAN too!
And a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone here!
January 2nd, 2009 at 7:38 am
What Evernote needs is a good seaerch engine on the iPhone. As it is it locates the note, but not where it is in the note.
The search works fine on the computer
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
+2 for subfolders/subnotebooks. Actually, I can’t believe this is not a feature. Any folder system uses this as a natural and intuitive form or organization. As cool as the program is now with its amazing search abilities, I still think from an organizational standpoint, hierarchical notebook-subnotebook trees would go a long way to enhance functionality.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
+3 for subfolders/subnotebooks. This is the only function really holding me back from using this program on a daily basis.
January 9th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Nice Update, but I’m missing a feature. It would be helpful to change the notebooks icons!
Regards,
Dirk
January 11th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Will this support Office 2007? Or just the older version?
January 12th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I like the new version but I need to pull-transfer-upload several years of my notes on my local system from your previous version into the new 3.0 Where do I find the procedure for this? Also, on this Blog of questions, why do you not publish your answers for all to see?
I have used the Evernote for years with an Addesso Notepad and now an IBM Tablet where I add handwriten notes into the Evernote. I place ideas and notes on the fly and have them all in one place instead of on numerous paper notepad. The program has worked well for me!
January 13th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I’d also like the sub-folder/sub-notebook option.
More than that though, I’d like to specify notebooks and/or notes to share with other specific users for collaboration. Example, I use a note for a shopping list. I jot stuff down that I need to pick up at the store when I think of it and pull it out at the store. I’d like my wife to have access to that both to make changes to the list and pull it up at the store when she goes. But it is not necessarily something I need published publicly on the internet.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
+ up for subnotebooks
February 26th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Please! – subfolders/subnotebooks
I’m one of the many people who are asking for this. I plan to go with premium and stop using Together as soon as this is implemented.
March 10th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Subfolders/subnotebooks are essential. Also: the Clip/Cancel button should have an option to select the notebook/subnotebook the clip is to be added to.
March 29th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
+ another on subnotebooks. Pleeeeeaaaase? Until then: is there a way to search for a tag, then do a word search within those results? If so, that might be a way to replicate the subfolders function: for instance, folder=banking, tag=BofA Savings, word search=check #2400.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am
+1 subnotebooks!
May 4th, 2009 at 6:49 am
+1 subfolders/subnotebooks
May 6th, 2009 at 5:06 am
Cooooool!
But could you lower the price?
May 12th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
What a great app – I just upgraded to premium as although I want to be able to store tiff files etc –
Another vote for Subnotebooks here – or rather folders to group notebooks in – I’m really surprised this feature is not included – it seems like pretty basic functionality.
I am feeling a bit like I did when I found out my ’state of the art’ iPhone couldn’t send picture messages…
May 19th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Well, I just don’t get it why you don’t bring out a file synchronization software that syncs specified watched folders automatically. The you would be the perfect Dropbox killer. It would be reason enough to go preimium – at least for me. But manually importing stuff isn’t comfortable, and two tools just for syncing files (a note is a txt-file, too) is annoying.
June 4th, 2009 at 6:13 am