The Evernote desktop experience has evolved significantly over the years. We’ve changed things in response to new features, new device capabilities and to meet the expanding needs of our users. But no previous update has matched the scope of what we’re launching today.
We’ve spent the past year identifying the needs of new and advanced users to craft an environment that beautifully caters to both. We re-imagined the look of the app to make everything more accessible. We explored the changing role of sharing and collaboration within Evernote and the opportunities we have to make them more useful. We considered search and the ways that we could make it feel like it was one step ahead of your thoughts. In short, it’s the Evernote we’ve always wanted.
We’re really excited to announce that Evernote 5 for Mac is here. Complete with over 100 new features. Available to all from the Mac App Store.
The Left Panel
The striking new left panel is your jumping off point into the many ways to see and organize the notes and memories that you have in Evernote. Here’s a look at the different options.
Shortcuts
Shortcuts is a versatile space designed to give you quick access to the notes, notebooks, tags, and Saved Searches that you need most. Simply drag items into the Shortcuts area, then arrange them and re-arrange them to fit your liking. If you’re working on a project, drag everything that’s relevant into shortcuts. If you’re a GTD pro, then arrange the notebooks to match your needs. If you want, remove items from Shortcuts by dragging them out.
Recent Notes
Recent Notes displays your five most recently edited or created notes. No need to go searching for the note you were working on a few minutes ago, because it’ll show up in this area.
Notes
Click on Notes to see your entire notes list. Think of this as the equivalent of the old All Notes option, but more powerful. When you’re viewing your list, you’re now seeing all of your notes in a single view, including those that have been shared with you. You can switch to see only your notes from the View Options. More on that below.
Notebooks
Notebooks are all new in Evernote 5 for Mac. We took the major step of unifying your personal and Shared Notebook lists. This way, you’re able to instantly see the items that have been shared with you alongside your own notebooks. You can sort the list by notebook name or owner. To quickly find the notebooks you’re looking for, just start typing the notebook name and the list will instantly start filtering.
Advanced tip: If you prefer to see all of your notebooks in the left panel like in previous versions of Evernote, just right click on the Notebook icon in the left panel and choose “Show Notebook List” to display your list of notebooks below the icon. The same goes for Tags.
Tags
The tag list shows your tags either alphabetically or by the number of notes that the tag contains. Double click on a tag to see the tagged notes. Click once and you’ll see other tags highlighted that share notes with the tag you’ve selected. This lets you quickly drill down to exactly the tags you want.
Atlas
People are wired to build rich contexts around their memories. It’s more than just what the memory is, but also where it was created and who else may have been there. With the new Atlas view, you can see all of your notes on a map, even those created in Evernote Food or Evernote Hello, letting you find and relive your memories in a totally new way.
When you arrive on the Atlas screen, you’ll see Place Cards. For most people, locations likely cluster around a few areas on a world map. Place Cards let you jump directly to the clusters. Click on a Place Card, then zoom in to the area you want.
It’s important to note that items will only show up in Atlas if you use a device that has location services enabled. You can enable location services on your Mac from Security & Privacy in System Preferences. To add location to a note on your Mac, click on the “i” in the top right corner, then either type in the address or click no the compass arrow.
The Note List
The Note List received a redesign, too. We added Card View, which lays out your notes as beautiful squares. Card View perfectly frames notes containing images, while also giving you a preview of notes with text. If you’d like, you can click on the note view options in the top corner of the Note List to switch to the classic Snippets View, which we updated to also include notebooks and tags. If you prefer to take your notes full screen, choose the Expanded Card View option.
Top of the List
We built two useful sorting options right into the top of the Note List. There’s a notebook selector drop down and a tag selector drop down. Click on them and either start typing or select the item you’re looking for. The Note List will instantly switch to only showing notes related to your selection.
Pro tip: Use CMD + J to place your cursor right in the Notebook Selector or CMD + SHIFT + J for the Tag Selector.
The Note Editor
The Note Editor panel received some subtle but critical improvements that make it more useful and effective. First, you’ll notice that there’s a border around all side of the notes. This framing makes the note taking experience surprisingly different and enjoyable.
If you’d like distraction-free editing, double click on the note to pop it out of the Note List, then click on the full screen arrows in the top right corner of the window. Your note will take over the screen so you can focus on your writing.
In addition, along the top of a shared note, you’ll see the Sharing Bar, which indicates the number of people that have access to the note and also their names. Not only is this a quick way of seeing who has access to the information in the note, but it also serves as a reminder in the event that you want to add someone new.
Make Plain Text
We’ve added a new option to the Formatting menu that will make some of our users very happy. You can now completely remove all formatting from a note. This is great when you’re pasting in code and when you just want to remove any strange Web formatting.
Major Search Improvements
Search also underwent a major update with this version. As the size of an account grows, you start adjusting the way you search for content. Whereas a single word search used to be sufficient, now you find yourself searching across multiple dimensions of the app. The new search features are designed to make finding anything easy, no matter how large your account.
Type Ahead Search
Start typing a search term and our Type Ahead algorithm will begin suggesting searches based on content inside your account. Everything will appear right below the Search Bar. You’ll see related keywords, notebooks, tags, Saved Search, recent notes, and more. For even more advanced options, click on the menu at the bottom of the search popup.
Share and Stay Informed
Sharing is a major aspect of this update. We made sharing your notes and notebooks easier, while also bringing more shared content into plain sight. In addition, we updated the way that the Activity Stream works. The little satellite dish now does a better job of grouping events, so you’re not overwhelmed with updates. Click on it to see exactly what’s happening in the notebooks you have access to and those that you’ve shared with others. The updates also appear in the Notification Center on Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8).
And So Much More
This may seem like a lot of stuff, but it’s not nearly all. Browse around and explore the new app. There are tons of additional features and improvements throughout, including faster and more reliable sync, and a completely new launch experience, which makes using Evernote easier for your non-techie friends.
Since we know that a major update like this can sometimes be tough to wrap your head around, we’ve created a number of useful resources:
Meet the Designers
If you’re in San Francisco, we’re hosting an Evernote Talks: Design event this evening. You’ll get a chance to hear from the team behind this and other recent design and experience-focused updates.
Big thanks to the thousands of beta testers that have been using Evernote 5 for the past few weeks. Your feedback has been incredibly helpful.
We hope you like the new Evernote for Mac as much as we do. Let us know what you think.
