AMA 42: Can I view my notes on my phone without a signal?

This week on Ask Me Anything about Evernote we have a question from Tony.

If you have a question you’d love an answer to then leave it in the comments below and I’ll add it to the list.

Tony asks

I'm new to Evernote and want to be able to see the notes on my phone when I have no signal or Wi-Fi. Can I do this?

Yes, you can.

By default, Evernote doesn't store notes on your Android or iPhone but there are settings so you can make single notes or notebooks full of notes available offline.

Evernote accounts can get big. Some folks call their Evernote a filing cabinet where they store everything. I have receipts, PDFs and notes going back to 2008 and the total size of my Evernote is about 25GB... and I'm small!

This is why Evernote doesn't automatically download all notes to your phone.

If you want notes to be "offline" then you can do this for a whole notebook or just notes.

To make a notebook offline go into the notebook and then access the three-dot menu at the top right of the notebook and toggle Available offline.

It can take a few hours to download a whole notebook and the Evernote app needs to be open. Downloading doesn't happen when the app is closed.

A slightly quicker way to make a notebook offline is to view all your notebooks and then swipe a notebook to the left and hit the download icon.

It’s the same process to make a note offline. Just view an individual note, go to the three-dot menu and toggle Available offline.

Or, when viewing a note in the note list you can swipe a note to the left and see the download icon which could be a little quicker.

What you keep offline is up to you.

I tend to keep my Health notebook offline so I can get info if I go to the doctors.

I also keep my reading list and vinyl wants list offline as a lot of stores I visit have hopeless phone signal.

For work I keep my Travel and Training Jobs notebooks offline so I can get to train times, addresses and contacts easily.

Tony, I hope that helps.

Everyone else, share in the comments what you keep offline on your phones.

Have a great rest of the week

All the best

Jon