Evernote Chrome Extension gets Simultaneous Search

Product updates | 30 Sep 201030 Sep 10 | By Andrew Sinkov

65 comments

Google CEO, Eric Schmidt’s presentation at this week’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference really caught our attention. Talking about the growing importance of serendipity for saving people’s time, he said, “The next step in search is a move towards more personal results.” We’re on the same page, Mr. Schmidt, which is why today we’re excited to launch a new version of our Google Chrome Extension with a powerful new feature called Simultaneous Search.

Simultaneous Search

Simultaneous Search lets you search both Google and your Evernote account at the same time. All you do is type your Google search as you normally would and that same search will be performed in your Evernote account. The Google search results appear as usual, with the addition of a line displaying the number of matching Evernote notes. The same number is also displayed in a badge over the Evernote Extension icon. Clicking on the extension shows a list of all your notes that matched the search.

Searching has never been more personal.

Why this is very cool

I’ll admit to being a bit skeptical about this feature at first. But after a few minutes of having it in my browser, I saw the light. You will be shocked at how frequently you perform Google searches for things that are already saved in Evernote. There’s an amazing sense of serendipity when you realize that you can skip scouring the web because you already have what you’re looking for.

Also, seeing the results together adds a level of context and personal value that the searches may not have on their own.

The same feature also works in some other Google sites, including Google Images and Google Shopping.

How to activate Simultaneous Search

There are two ways to activate Simultaneous Search. There’s a checkbox in the Evernote extension settings and a checkbox on the login screen of the extension. The feature is OFF by default, so you’ll need to check one of those boxes. Also, you must be signed into Evernote for the feature to work. So, if you do a search for something that you know is in your Evernote account and no badge appears, it’s probably because you aren’t signed in. Just sign in by clicking on the extension.

On Chrome first

This feature is currently available only for Google searches performed in the Google Chrome Browser. We’re looking into expanding this functionality to other search engines and browsers. Let us know what you think.

Emailing your clips

We’ve added a nice social feature in this update, as well. You can now email your clips to up to ten friends right from inside the Evernote Extension popup. As with any clips, you can always add some text to give your recipients some context.

Get the Evernote Chrome Extension now »

Please note, Google Chrome extensions update automatically, but if you don’t want to wait, download it from Google now.

Holger Durer

Nice idea. Too sad it doesn’t work for me. I waited a few minutes and still don’t get anythings (and yes, I *am* logged in to Evernote).

BTW: Why is this only for Google and not for other useful search engines? (duckduckgo, yahoo, bling, …)

Also: Can’t you give any visual feedback if a user is not logged in? A negative result is fairly meaningless if it means “not logged in or no results for that search”.
- Holger Durer
  
  One day and a browser restart later it now suddenly works.
  
  But why does it open a new tab/window rather than just replacing the google result page just as the regular google results would do?
Brandon

It worked for me, with a slight delay. Perhaps you could have the option to expand the results without forcing the user to click through to a separate page. Or, as was mentioned, show the top 5 results from Evernote right away.

Next steps would be to let me click through to my desktop version of Evernote if I’m on the computer w/ it installed. I’d rather go there than the web version.

Also need results quicker in line with Instant search. It seems a new phrase or term searched doesn’t show up unless I hit enter (which is no longer needed w/ Google instant)
Tom

Great idea but very annoying.
As there is a delay in the Evernote results and causes the Google search results to be bumped down. Would be nice if it showed on the side with the other Google search options.
http://mobilemarketingmax.com Mobile Marketing Max

I have used Evernote for everything under the sun but now this extension makes me even happier – thank you! As someone whose work is encompassed in the Internet and full of research, having the ability to check through my evernotes as well is a real help.

Love you guys!
Brad Carvey

I had some problems getting the extension to work. I logged into my Evernote account and everything worked.

I have only just started using it and the delay doesn’t seem like a problem. As I review the regular results, the Evernote icon with the number of results pops up.

This is great. I don’t normally use Chrome, but I will try it because of this extension.
Jenny

I never leave comments for any blogs just to tell them how much I love their product. I am in Marketing for a mobile company and I always loathe the negative feedback and crave the positive. I wonder how many people out there just like me love our product but forget to tell us.

well, this is my positive feedback karma. I LOVE this new feature. I have already used it probably 25 times and it has taken the pain out of copying and pasting a screenshot + the url link which is what I was doing previously. I love how easy it is to save web pages to my notebook with a simple click. I’m a big user in chrome (I think most techies are), and I think starting with Chrome is a great idea.

I think this is one of the coolest features of Evernote and one that people might pay for all on it’s own. You could also add the ability to email the page to a friend and save it to your notebook at the same time and eventually maybe share the page and have all your friends be able to comment on it.
Chris Bailey

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

I didn’t check but this plea is probably somewhere in these comments:

Integrate Evernote content into desktop search – either Google’s or Windows. My world would be so much better!

Thanks for listening.

CB
http://avidbugler.posterous.com/ Mike

Would really like to see this work in Bing, and other search engines also.
Michael

I’d really like to see the features like simultaneous search added to the Safari add-on. Even a separate Safari 5 extension that added that feature would be great.
Benjaloo

What about re-adding Google Desktop Search compatibility? I know there is a plugin architecture for GDS, and thic capability was present in an earlier version of Evernote.

This would help those of us who know we have a piece of info locally (not on the web), and aren’t sure whether we saved it in Evernote, or got emailed a file, or whatever.
It’s one of the reasons I’ve not jumped more fully into using Evernote.

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