There are lots of great answers on this thread. Let me start by saying that I love Evernote, find it extremely useful, and I've been a premium subscriber since 2008. However, there is a lot of room for improvement, and I truly hope they use some of the $20 Million in funding they raised to address some of the most important issues, especially as the service grows ever more popular.

First of all, Evernote UIs are not great across the board. They're pretty ugly, and their usability is poor as well. When Evernote for iPad first shipped, it was like a breath of fresh air. Then I heard Evernote CEO Phil Libin mention in a podcast that it was the first time that they actually hired an interface designer to put together the UI for one of their clients. It shows. Now they need to do this for all of their clients, including the web version.

Not that the iPad version is perfect - it still needs work too. Things like a list view instead of the cartoony notebook and tag views would greatly enhance usability. The iPhone version is particularly bad. Given the rapid pace of development on iOS, and the truly stunning UIs now available in a plethora of apps from shops of all sizes, Evernote feels like it hasn't evolved much, and needs a complete overhaul. This is apparently underway, so I'm willing to give Evernote the benefit of the doubt for a few more months. But when iPhone apps dedicated to inputting text and images into Evernote spring up alongside the official app because the user experience is so poor, you know you have problems.

Evernote excels at getting content into the system, it does less well at retrieval. Case in point is tag management - it's awful. Evernote has about the worst implementation of tags I've seen in any application. The behavior is strange (try moving them around in the Mac client), the tags are not truly hierarchical (children don't inherit parent attributes), and there is no tag cloud (something that would be extremely helpful now that I have thousands of notes), and there is no ability to search or jump to a letter when assigning tags in iOS. Powerful search capabilities exist, but are poorly documented for the end user. "Saved Searches" should be renamed "Smart Folders" to make it clearer to users what they are actually for.

Until recently, Evernote insisted on a flat list of notebooks, suggesting that users build tag hierarchies instead. There were a lot of issues with this approach, and users continued to demand folders for notebooks. In late 2010, Evernote finally relented and now includes "Notebook Stacks" in the Mac and Windows clients. This was good progress, but they only allow one layer of hierarchy. It would be better to allow as many layers as the end user needs. For better or worse, most folks still to this day are comfortable with the folder metaphor as a way of structuring their information.

One thing that always frustrates me about Evernote is their poor security. They consistently claim that there is no reason to have a lock code for any of their apps, including mobile ones. Evernote's management insists that the OS level protection on your device is sufficient. This is just wrong, and PIN codes for the iPhone and Android apps have consistently been demanded by users. Evernote is completely tone deaf on this point. With devices like the iPhone and iPad becoming increasingly more social, it is natural to want to pass around a phone or tablet to let kids play games, or to let friends surf the web. We need that second level of protection at that point - an OS level PIN code does nothing. Evernote's motto is "Remember everything" encouraging users to use the platform to store everything of importance to them. Yet they show a distinct unwillingness to help users protect their content, something I find distressing. Tons of applications offer this functionality - from document readers to simple text editors. It couldn't take much in development to implement a PIN code, I find it absolutely baffling why Evernote insists that users don't need it.

It only takes a little while of using Evernote to bump up against its limitations and annoyances. I've considered leaving several times, but in the end the rock solid syncing keeps me on the platform. My one hope is that rather than trying to develop so many different partnerships, Evernote will really focus on improving its core offering, and make it the best it can be. Things like the Livescribe partnership were introduced with great fanfare, yet is poorly implemented and has not been much improved since launch. Meanwhile, maddeningly basic text formatting issues persist in the Mac client.

Evernote has tremendous promise, and a rapidly growing rate of adoption. They need to be able to scale and adapt at the same time, which is certainly a challenge. I think Evernote's growth will inevitably help fuel their development, and I look forward to seeing what they will achieve in 2011.

A few improvements come to mind:

• To do lists. This would be key. I don't have an implementation in mind, but I'll leave it to geniuses at Evernote to figure this out. I am a new premium user of Evernote and the more I use it, the more I love it, the more stuff I store in it, the more I love it and the cycle continues. I currently use Asana for my To Do list, but it would be great to just port everything to Evernote and use it to manage my life. By the way, in December 2011, the CEO of Evernote Phil Libin told Business Insider that to do lists are coming (source; http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-08/tech/30491806_1_new-apps-phil-libin-lists). I am very excited about this.
• Skitch integration: ability to annotate image directly from a note. Currently, to annotate and image and store it in Evernote, I would need to go through this flow: take a screenshot --> open Skitch --> copy it into Skitch --> annotate --> save to desktop --> copy into an Evernote note. It's too long and cumbersome. 99% of the time, I end up using Preview to annotate the screenshot. Now, if Evernote integrated Skitch in a way where I could actually annotate the image after pasting it into a note, that would be amazing. It would save me so much time, remove barriers so I would actually save and annotate at a higher rate than I do now and overall lock me into Evernote even more. I would probably even pay a higher monthly premium to Evernote for this. By $1.
• Build out Hello app / contact management with more features and integrations: I recently started using the Hello iPhone app to remember people I meet (mostly for business-related networking purposes). I find that it's a great solution that I've been looking for, but it's still a pretty new product. These improvements would be great: (1) ability to edit the date, time and location of the encounter would be great. I find that I always enter notes about the person after the meeting, so the date/location/time is always off. (2) sync to Google Contacts and Gmail. Currently, Hello asks me to enter the contact info for this person. That's not really a needed feature because I probably have their contact info because I most likely set up that meeting by email. I want to use Hello to remember specific personal notes about this person and have it automatically tap into Google Contacts for supplementary information.
• A way to capture screenshots of emails in Gmail. I often capture emails that other companies send as examples of great email design. Usually the workflow for this is very slow: save email on desktop --> put into Dropbox Public folder ---> copy public link --> open in Chrome --> take screenshot of the entire page with the Awesome Screenshot Chrome extension --> put into a note in Evernote. I know that Evernote has the Clip to Evernote Chrome extension, but I would only like to capture a screenshot, not more than that. So it would be helpful if Evernote added a "take screenshot of entire page" functionality to the Clip to Evernote extension.
• Note links: make note links clickable and linkable not only from the Evernote desktop apps, but from web apps like Google Spreadsheets.
• Make Hello notes editable in Evernote desktop app: this would be very useful. I meet people and take notes about them on the go, but soon after I get to my computer and want to add even more notes (and I'm a faster typer on computer than iPhone). It would be great to be able to supplement the notes from Hello in the Evernote desktop app.

I find organising via Evernote can be difficult unless you have a system. Here is my system that helps me keep things simple but efficient.

I have a combination of an inbox notebook and a few to-do tags such as to do: urgent, to do: upcoming, and to do: some day.

Whenever I import stuff into Evernote, it goes into my Inbox notebook. It functions as the centralised entry point to my Evernote.

If it is an actionable item, i.e. a to do item, I give it an appropriate to do tag, based on its urgency. Here's a helpful tip. You don't have to type in the tag on each note. You can either select all the notes and either type the tag in, or you can simply drag the note into the shortcut menu tag (refer to annotated screenshot below).

Afterwards, I can drag I then put it into an appropriate notebook such as language, or programming projects, etc. Miscellaneous notes go into miscellaneous.

This way I can keep my Evernote organised by both subject matter (via notebook themes), and urgency (to do tags) fairly efficiently and logically. I can browse all my subject notes, both reference notes and task notes either by browsing the notebook, or browsing notes tagged with todo-urgent.

It depends what you want to use it for…

As a personal Farleyfile to record details of who you meet, what you buy, where you go, what you eat, what medicines you take, what lectures you attend.. as well as planning for all those things, and lots more.. Evernote has no equal. Small businesses can extend that to customer records, business invoices and receipts, and social media marketing. There’s lots online about what Evernote can do. It has a killer search function, and works on more or less any device you can pick up.

But.

Evernote has no calendar as such - it understands dates, but you can’t see a standard calendar layout for your next month’s activities; it doesn’t store pictures very well - there’s no layout or gallery; if you and 10 colleagues want to collaborate on project notes - don’t use Evernote: it doesn’t handle more than one or (maybe) two people in a note at any one time very well.

It doesn’t do alarms much either - a very discreet pop-up will (if you see it) remind you of an event as a one-off. There are no repeats, and if you want the same reminder two days running, you have to reset it yourself after the first one.

And Evernote has a very basic editor. It’s fine for email-style notes, with tables, bullets, indents and paragraph numbering; but try to embed a picture and things get shuffled around. Better to use a ‘proper’ word processor and attach the file to your Evernote note.

Like I said. Where Evernote is good, it’s very VERY good. The bad points depend entirely on what you expect from it. One good point is that it’s free - so go download the desktop version and try out your preferred use case. See what you think.

Bear in mind that Evernote is (IMHO) the best mix of features available. Other apps distinguish themselves by being better at some things - OneNote kills at note layout forinstance. But beware that against that there will be serious downsides in other areas.

Try stuff out and see what you think!

After three years of daily use,

I found myself following drawbacks faced while using Evernote:

• Glitchy and no tech support: This is an unpopular opinion, and I know many Evernote people have used it without any issues.
• No real-time collaboration. Unfortunately, the client doesn't support real-time collaboration on notes with other users… Mainly I felt it during pandemia.
• Lacks structuring and connections features (graph view, backlinks, outgoing links)
• Less visual, more old-fashioned. In 2022 better UX approach is one mainstream.

There really is no shortage of better alternatives for this note-taking app! Let’s explore a few.

Evernote seems to generate strong emotion in its users - they are either fiercely loyal to, or totally critical of the operation… and from my (reasonably) dispassionate standpoint, both those attitudes are wrong.

Evernote is no better and no worse than most very large corporations out there, and mainly suffers from its own early success. It services (or did until recently) the largest cache of personal data anywhere in the world. Think hundreds of millions of users.

The company got into a substantial technical debt (i.e. to do with technical issues, not cash!) when it developed parallel applications for all the major operating systems (except Linux). They were maintaining one product with several different coding systems - and being criticised by users for perceived defects like the screen on an iPhone displaying information in a different layout to a Windows PC. So they decided to rewrite the code. Meet Joel, who has some thoughts on this step…

For - I would imagine - cost reasons, the ‘new’ Evernote v10 (based on the cross-platform Electron framework) was launched while still missing a lot of the features that users were fond of. There have been, and still continue to be regular updates with some old and many new features being added. But change is never a good thing - regular users couldn’t find the commands they were used to using / didn’t like the colour scheme and generally wanted the old version back. Some fuss ensued.

However while the former owners / investors in Evernote were still trying to work out how to satisfy probably thousands of conflicting demands, a White Knight came along in the shape of Italian tech company Bending Spoons - known for developing mobile applications and software solutions with a focus on innovation and user experience. They have a focus on productivity, fitness, and entertainment - and apparently a CEO who uses Evernote.

There have been major changes - most, if not all Evernote staff outside of Italy have left the company and all operations are now centred there. The app now includes some AI features and they expect to develop more - but Bending Spoons has millions of users of its own software, so would seem to have the infrastructure in place to support operations. The price of all packages also went up.

It remains to be seen how well they do from here…

Something over 200 million users and (probably) the biggest repository of personal data in the world. It’s been around for more than a dozen years and has a loyal and active user-base of which (full disclosure) I’m one. It’s the biggest and oldest in the market bar none.

If you’re asking about its features though - the answer is “nothing”. Evernote stores, finds and sorts information just like any other note-taking app. These days any one of a dozen apps might suit one individual down to the ground. They mostly (I think) offer a ‘free’ trial or have some level of free access though that’s usually more limited than for paying members, so if you want to check it out you can.

Evernote certainly has a limited Free (for life) edition, plus ways to upgrade if and when you require it.

Best advice for anyone looking for a new note-taking app… try a couple out and see how you get on. If one of them works for you, stick with that until you find otherwise. Simple really…

Evernote has a number of security tools to help safeguard users' data, such as:

Evernote offers two-factor authentication, which gives users' accounts an additional degree of protection.

Evernote uses SSL and AES-256 encryption to secure data both in transit and at rest, helping to safeguard users' notes from illegal access.

Encryption at the device level: Evernote offers device-level encryption for its mobile apps, assisting in the protection of data on users' devices.

With password protection, expiry links, and other security features, Evernote enables users to safely share notes with others.

History of account access: Evernote gives users the option to view their account history, which can be used to identify unwanted access to their accounts.

Other note-taking alternatives to Evernote offer similar security features, and some may even provide even more robust encryption techniques. Here are some options to think about:

Using end-to-end encryption, Standard Notes is a safe note-taking tool that safeguards users' notes. It also supports a number of other security elements and provides two-factor authentication.

An open-source note-taking program called Turtl provides end-to-end encryption for users' notes. Additionally, it has capabilities like device-level encryption and password security.

Joplin: Joplin is a note-taking application that is open-source, free, and equipped with end-to-end encryption as well as additional security features, including password protection.

Saferoom: Saferoom is a safe note-taking tool that uses client-side encryption to secure users' notes. It incorporates well-known note-taking programs like OneNote and Evernote to offer an extra layer of encryption.

These are just a few of the numerous Evernote options that include robust security measures. It's critical to assess each choice in light of your own requirements and tastes, taking into account factors such as the level of encryption provided, convenience of use, and compatibility with other products.

If you have used a strong unique password, applied two-factor verification, and protect all your devices with similar passwords and don’t share any access with family members, I’d put it at about 9.5 out of 10 for both.

If you want something kept secret however, don’t put it on the internet. There’s an ongoing skirmish between very smart security providers and equally smart crackers, and from day to day one side or the other gets an advantage.

Even software that is specifically designed to protect your passwords to other services has been found recently to include some weaknesses - What should password managers not do? Leak your passwords? What a great idea, LastPass - so if you save something online it is always possible that it will get stolen at some point.

Like somebody famous once said - two people can keep a secret, as long as one of them is dead…

(It’s not relevant to your enquiry, but just as an aside - I always had problems when someone told me something “in the strictest confidence”. Did that mean they really expected me to keep the secret? Or that they were telling me so I could prepare a good defence if something came back to me? Or did they expect me to leak it to others so they could judge how popular or otherwise a move would be with complete deniability? Or did they suspect me of leaking confidential stuff like a sieve and want to test me out? I hate being kept in loops…)

Evernote provides two main export options - to ENEX files (a bespoke XML format) and to HTML. Other providers have backup utilities that will export notes as PDF files. Any device connected to your account with built in HD storage will have a copy of your main database. I have two laptops, so one is always a backup to the other while it is switched off…

The best way to protect your data is to export notebooks to ENEX files where they are easily re-imported in case of need. When notes are re-imported, the default is to save them to a local (unsynced) notebook. If your account were compromised, re-importing from a backup would recreate the notes in an environment where they are isolated from any corruption.

Using the ‘two computer’ method, if one machine is switched off and some problem is noticed, the spare machine can be started with wifi and lan disconnected to prevent a connection. The notes will then be isolated and can be further accessed or processed as necessary.

The basic moral being - although Evernote has your back with the server-based copy of the database as a backup to any local computer problems., it still makes sense to keep regular backups of your notes in case of bigger issues. (Looking at you, Amazon…)

The question is a bit hard to answer based on the details you've provided, but I'll take a swing at it.

Ubiquity: no doubt. Evernote runs on all of my mobile devices and on my desktop computer. Their apps are really good too -- they aren't just some site-specific Web view. They are native apps across several platforms. They're solid, we'll integrated and fast.

Features: Evernote is like my second brain. I use it to store bookmarks, articles, recipes and just random bits of information. I also scan really important information and keep it in my Evernote account. It's secure, reliable and highly searchable. I can very easily find what I'm looking for, and not have to spend hours tagging and organizing information.

I have been using Evernote as 'power user' for the past four years and Evernote in the past 6 months has seemed as if it's not growing as a company/app.

The reason why I say this is because nothing new other than Evernote shutting down almost every app and the Evernote Market is different about the application.

The other disadvantage of using Evernote is that it's not in sync with Office or Google Docs as well as OneNote or Google Keep are. This is just something that is annoying but you can get over very quickly.

The last disadvantage (which isn't even really a 'disadvantage and more of a how not to use Evernote') of using Evernote is as a project management solution. It's simple to see why Evernote is not a great solution for this and it's because it's not made for project management.

Overall after trying all other note taking applications I would still highly recommend using Evernote because it still is 100% dedicated towards taking notes.

I'm using Evernote for web logins. I use the encryption function within Evernote for these. It's not going to be water-tight but nothing in the cyber world really is. For example, anytime I use my debit card at the supermarket, it's vulnerable to a hack. It happened recently when one of my cards was scammed at my local fuel station by someone living in Burlington USA (I live in country Australia!!!!) I got my money back, thankfully. It goes to show how theft is going to happen, regardless of how cautious you are. I am one of those daggy people who covers their hand when punching their PIN into a machine, afterall! :)

At some point, we have to rely on the companies providing cloud services to do enough R&D on their stuff to keep the idiot hacker's noses out of customer (our) business. Right now, I feel pretty safe with my logins on Evernote. If Phil is promising a 100 year business... he'll be making sure the security cred for that business keeps up with the pace. I'm trusting him on that for now.

Update: It has been a while and Evernote is no longer something I would recommend. Like - at all. My perspective as of today is laid out here: Quora User's answer to What is your review of Evernote (product)?

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I have to say that I love Evernote for it´s amazing capability to keep my world sorted and accessible. After testing most of the note taking apps out there I think Evernote beats them all with its architecture, functionality and ecosystem of Apps and Hardware.
On the other hand there are pain points in Evernote which I would love someone to solve. In order of annoyance:

1. Two-Factor-Authentication: I´m counting the days till they implement it - thank god they put it high on priority lists after the breach a few weeks ago. A service for sensitive data with a single password is a invitation for trouble. Consequences: I´m travelling at the time, working mostly at remote computers through the cloud. I never ever used Evernote since on these Computers cause everybody with a Keylogger would geht executice access granted without me noticing. That´s just a no-go and I´m very happy they are going to solve that now.

2. Picture privacy: Whenever you offer a shelf for sensitive data you should ensure it can be encrypted properly. Evernote does has a encryption for text (minor annoyance: I cannot encrypt on mobile devices) but none for pictures or files. When I put in a scan of a confident document I have no way of restricting access to it. Worse: It will show up whenever someone looks over my shoulder when I open "all notes". Please: Offer an option to encrypt pictures / files or at least offer to hide them in the auto-preview.

3. Batch Editing on mobile: There´s none. When I want to move ten notes to another folder it costs me an estimated 30 clicks (and around 10 Minutes on my good old 3GS). Second: I have no way of merging notes (which I do often to organize fragments I saved earlier). The only way is to send them by mail with the same subjekt and a "+" followed. Can´t be that I have to compensate a core function with an email workaround, can it?

4. Old Style Web Interface: I think we all agree: The apps - Mac, Win, iOS, WindowsPhone or Android - look gorgeous and are very efficient. But what about the web version? It looks pretty old, takes pretty long to load, I have to manually press a switch to edit some text - and none of the newer functions are implemented. I got the feeling that these web-interfaces are not in the focus of development anymore (compare: feedly) But please think mobile: Workers login in on remote devices rely on a efficient webbased interface which leaves no trace.

Yes and no. Personally I do.

Yes in the respect that your data is secure in transit to and in storage at Evernote. They run a SAS70 certified data center, which means that employees and outsiders alike do not have access to your data without your permission. You may give support permission to access your data if you feel they need it to resolve your issue. Additionally you can encrypt data in Evernote providing an additional layer of security.

No in the regard that your data is only as safe as you make it. Meaning that if you leave the app up on your screen, or have your app set to remember your password, you are vulnerable.

It's also worth mentioning that Evernote does not pursue industry certifications like HIPAA, SOX, etc. So if you are Evernoting data that falls under such an umbrella you're out of luck.