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EverNotes OCR capability is keeping me up at night!

By Sally Dunbar

Real Estate Agent with Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) DRE# 00809499

November 29, 2011 04:23 PM

I've turned "Evernote Simple". It's all I can think about. The implications of using EverNote to transform my office is keeping me up at night!

Read about my initial foray into this extra brain free app that holds all of your papers, written material, audio files, video , photos and web clippings here. It's cool that it is totally cross-platform, and instantly updates on your iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC.

But today I realized the most über cool trick it does. If you have the premium account, paying a measily $5 bucks a month, you can scan a document or drag and drop a jpg file into EverNote. Then search by a word in your file, and EverNote instantly searches all your files for the occurrence of that word ( or string of words). So tags are not even important. Just get it into EverNote and the little elephant does the rest!

I searched for "olive" and up popped a grocery list and every recipe (OK, one) that I have with olives. Search "insurance" then add "farmers" and your icons of available notes with both of those words instantly shrinks from all your notes including insurance to those only about Farmers Insurance. Add in "Lexus" and you zoom right down to the exact file, or note about your car insurance.

If I search "escrow" a dozen notes pop up. If I add "Northfield", only my documents or notes about Northfield's escrow pop up.

This is so cool. It's the simplest way I have ever seen to store and retrieve every piece of information I have.

I am working on eliminating my planner, and have already ordered my new Fujitsu s1300 scanner. Starting Thursday, I'll become a scanning maniac, and my file drawer contents will be relegated to the shredder!

What other cool use have you discovered for EverNote? Just like the EverNote elephant, I'm all ears!

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Derya Martin

Meybohm Realtors - Augusta, GA

technology makes life easy also the computer offers such search option or even pdf files you can search by words or numbers never heard of the item you are speaking of is it any good how do you like it if you had to redo would you start with it again or prefer some thing else instead

Nov 29, 2011 04:31 PM

Pamela Seley

West Coast Realty Division - Murrieta, CA

Residential Real Estate Agent serving SW RivCo CA

Sally, I've heard alot about evernote, but don't use it. Sounds like I'm missing out on a great tool. Thanks for sharing,

Nov 29, 2011 04:46 PM

Andrea Swiedler

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties - New Milford, CT

Realtor, Southern Litchfield County CT

Sally, ok, I am happy for you, however now I have yet one more thing to look into. I am way to busy for this, LOL....

Thanks... :D

Nov 29, 2011 10:58 PM

Cheryl Ritchie

RE/MAX Leading Edge www.GoldenResults.com - Huntingtown, MD

Southern Maryland 301-980-7566

You will love the Fujitsu. It is lightening fast and makes storing your paperwork on the cloud via Evernote a breeze.

So what is your second favorite app so far? Better yet, your top ten?

Dec 10, 2011 10:31 PM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

Cheryl - the Fujitsu 1300 ScanSnap is the bomb. I love it. It doesn't care if it one or twosided - It scans everything really quickly. And I discovered you don't need the extra step of setting it to OCR recognition in the scan, becuase EverNote will do that automatically in the Premium account.

My second favorite app right now is Calengoo. I use it 20 times a day, everyday, at least. I have converted my paper calendar in my planner to an online calendar. I use the google calendar on the tool bar with my GMail account. since I sync my calendar between all devices, I always have my calendar. BUT, my exchange account doesn't sync the tasks.

So I found Calengoo, which acts exactly like my google caneldar, but it syncs the tasks. I'll blog about it some day, with pics of what it looks like. For me, if I want to have a ToDo list and calendar on my pute, Calengoo has been a life saver.

So far, the other apps I have found have been more a novelty, not so much a tool. But EverNote and Calengoo have become indespensible for my biz. AND they have made me more productive.

Since I just moved my office home yesterday, I'll be getting more into things.... but for now, I have a mountain of papers to scan into Evernote - then it's off to the shredder!

Dec 11, 2011 01:57 AM

Michelle Gibson

Hansen Real Estate Group Inc. - Wellington, FL

REALTOR

Sally - Wow, this sounds like a really great tool.

Dec 13, 2011 01:01 AM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

Michelle - I'm sure its not for everyone. Technology can be a hinderance to many - especially if you don't use it! But for me, it has totally revamped my life, allowing me to get rid of all the papers all over my world, and have the informtion in one easy place, completely findable, and neatly stored in each device I use. Yes, I am connected at the hip to my iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dec 13, 2011 01:34 AM

Eileen Begley

Coldwell Banker, DelMonte - Carmel, CA

Monterey Real Estate

Hi Sally, I am a huge Evernote fan also! Well worth paying the upgrade for the search feature. I just turn anything I want to read/find later into pdf and pop it into Evernote. :)

Dec 19, 2011 11:02 AM

Barbara Calwhite

Keller Williams Realty of Southwest Missouri - Joplin, MO

417-438-7387 Specializing in Relocation

Okay! You have convinced me that the upgrade is worth it!! Thanks for all the info. I spent the day just trying to get the elephant on my tool bar. (lol). Do I sound techie challenged??

Jan 02, 2012 04:14 PM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

Today I have officially quit carrying my planner. I honestly never thought that day would come. All the critical info I had in it is now in Evernote ( escrow info, escrow rates, projects I am working on etc). Even my office phone lists are there. For a quick note standing in the grocery store, I might type it on my iPhone "notes" app then transfer to Evernote later. So, yes, I am still loving it. Glad to hear from all of you

Jan 02, 2012 04:22 PM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

I've also been able to take about 10 file drawers of files in my old office ( our office moved over Christmas) and have NO file cabinets of info because of Evernote. I have files for my escrows, and supplies in my file cabinets, but all the information on water quality, neighborhood info, maps, propositions, goals etc are all in Evernote. Game. Changed.

Jan 02, 2012 04:27 PM

Katerina Gasset

The Gasset Group & Get It Done For Me Virtual Services - Provo, UT

Amplify Your Real Estate & Life Dreams!

Sally, it's good to hear that you were able to find the coolest trick that Evernote can do. Hope your having a blast utilizing this software. All the best and keep up the good work.

Jun 29, 2013 03:25 AM