I’ve tried going digital-only for all off my note-taking needs, but in the end I always revert back to pen. It’s the physical act of writing something down that helps me to remember.
Evernote tackled the problem over a year ago by developing ‘Smart Notebooks‘ with Moleskine. Now it’s back with an upgrade for enterprise customers, aptly called the ‘Evernote Business Notebook’. The key difference is that each page is separated into different sections, giving you the option to share only a part of your handwritten notes with other people.
In practise, this means each sheet of paper is divided into an upper and lower quadrant. The bottom section is envisioned as a personal crib sheet, where you can write anything without the fear of any prying eyes. Once you’ve recorded the page with the Evernote app, the service will ask whether you want to share only the top section. Recipients receive only the upper quadrant, while the full note is safely stored in your account.
As before, all of the notes that you jot down in the Evernote Business Notebook are searchable. No matter how poor your handwriting is, Evernote should be able to discern the words and surface them appropriately when you search for them in any of its regular note-taking and productivity apps.
The original Evernote Smart Notebook took advantage of colorful stickers to help you catalog notes with custom tags and rules. The business edition retains those features while adding a new reminder icon to the top of each page. Add a quick ‘tick’ and Evernote will remember to add the note to the top of your list in the dedicated reminders section.
The Evernote Business Notebook will be sold for $32.95 through Evernote Market, which isn’t cheap. For enterprise customers though, that could be a small price to pay for stress-free note-taking. Evernote for iPhone and iPad already supports the new notebook with its document camera feature, while an update for the Android app is expected soon.
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