AMA 55: Do you use any sort of productivity system with Evernote? Something like GTD?
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This week on Ask Me Anything about Evernote we have a question from Samantha.
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.
Samantha asks
Do you use any sort of productivity system with Evernote. Something like Get Things Done (GTD)? Do you use your own system?
Great question.
I’ve never been able to stick to a specific system. I don’t think my brain works that way!
Every time I’ve tried to force myself into a system created by someone else, I’ve had issues.
That said, I do take a few things from the popular systems out there.
One GTD process I do use is to have a collection area that I call .Inbox.
Putting the . at the beginning makes sure that the notebook is always at the top of my notebook list and this is set as my Default Evernote notebook.
You can change the default notebook by going to Settings -> Preferences -> Notebooks.
The kind of things that end up in my .Inbox are:
Bills and receipts
Paperwork scans
Any clips from the web clipper
Any emails I want to keep
Screenshots
Messages from my Invoice software like draft invoices being created or payments being received.
Messages from my CRM system like client plans that are due to expire.
My CRM and Invoice software email notes to my Evernote email address so they land quickly in my default notebook.
Go to Tools -> Account Info in the desktop apps to find your Evernote email address. On the phone apps it’s Settings -> More info -> More info.
The plan, when it works, is to process the items in my .Inbox a couple of times a day but I’m not very good at this, so notes do tend to build up. I have a splurge every now and then.
I try and hit zero .Inbox each day, but sometimes fail miserably!
The actual processing of the notes for me is quite simple.
I change the title of the note based on my Who What When system.
OVO Electric Bill September 2025
Sharon development meeting October 2025
So for the first example the Who is OVO, the What is Electric Bill and the When is September 2025.
For the second example the Who is Sharon, the What is development meeting and the When is October 2025.
I can then use search to find what I want quickly based on this naming convention.
I process my notes into the notebooks that make sense for me. Nothing elaborate and not too many. I think structuring notebooks the way your brain works is the best way to go, but don’t micro manage them.
Evernote search is good so I only have a notebook for Home and not notebooks for gas, electric, insurance etc. The naming convention really helps with searching for stuff.
I use Evernote tasks to keep a track on what I have to do and have a Some Day note to list things that I’d like to do but haven’t quite made it to the task list yet.
And that’s about it for my system. I don’t use Next Steps or tags. Just a little system that works for me.
I keep things simple.
If you’d like to explore some productivity systems that can be built into Evernote then check out the following:
I hope that helps Samantha.
Let me know what kind of system you use. Leave me a comment as I’m always interested in how others organise their Evernote.
Have a great rest of the week
All the best
Jon