Evernote - The Productive Engineer

In early January 2021, Evernote released the first of many updates to their notetaking platform, called Evernote Home. You can access Evernote Home across all Evernote platforms. Ultimately, Evernote Home serves as an all-in-one dashboard to give an at-a-glance view of everything you need to start your workday. As a lover of productivity software, I know Evernote Home has many features to unpack. I've created this guide to make it easier for you to jump right in. It contains everything you need to know to make the most out of Evernote Home. What Is Evernote Home? Evernote Home Evernote Home allows you to see everything you need to start your workday. When you open Evernote, you're led to the Home dashboard. The dashboard consists of a variety of widgets. Everyone has access to three primary widgets: notesscratchpadrecently captured. There are additional widget options for premium Evernotes users, as well. How Do I Access Evernote Home? Click "Home" to access Evernote Home Accessing Evernote Home is relatively easy. Startup Evernote on your computer, tablet, mobile device, or web browser. In the left panel, select the "Home" tab under the "New Note" button in Evernote as shown in the screenshot above. Once there, you'll have access to your Evernote Home dashboard. All Evernote customers will see the notes, scratchpad, and recently captured widgets. Premium users can access notebooks, pinned notes, tags, shortcuts, and calendar widgets through Evernote Home, as well. What Elements Are Contained In Evernote Home? There's plenty of great content in Evernote Home. Below, I've explained some of the key elements you'll find on your Evernote dashboard. Widgets Evernote Widgets As previously mentioned, there are tons of great widgets to give you an overview of your workflow. Premium users have access to all of the available widgets and Evernote Home customization options, while everyone has access to the following widgets: Notes.Scratchpad.Recently clipped. You have the option to move widgets around the screen and change their placement to suit your workflow. Click and drag the widgets to arrange them accordingly. There are specific widget slots on the Home page where you can automatically place them. Additionally, as a premium user, you can add and remove widgets from your Evernote Home. To access all of the available widgets available to use in Evernote Home, do the following: From Home, simply click on the "Customize" button located at the top right of the page. Select any of the available widgets from the list and drag them into any of the open widget slots. To remove a widget, do the following: Click the customize button again. Navigate to the widget you'd like to removeClick the "X" button located on the top right corner. This process removes the widget from your home screen, but you can add it back at any time using the steps above. Scratch Pad Evernote Scratchpad Widget Scratchpad is unique to Evernote Home and is one of the new features I was exceptionally excited to see. Scratchpad looks and works just like the "sticky note" program on your computer. However, it's integrated into Evernote, meaning you can take a quick "sticky note" idea in Evernote. What makes it even better is the fact you can convert these scratchpad notes into a note if you decide to, so it ultimately functions as a quick note when you're on the go. To convert contents of your scratchpad into a note in Evernote, do the following: In the Scratchpad widget, click on the ellipsis in the upper-right corner of the widget Converting a scratchpad entry into a note in Evernote Select "Convert to note" from the available options Scratchpad entry converted into a note in Evernote Your scratchpad entry will be converted into an Evernote note, as shown in the screenshot above. There are a few limitations to scratchpad, however. It can only contain up to 600 characters of plain text in total, and free users can only place one scratchpad widget on Evernote Home. Another thing to keep in mind is that when you clear the scratchpad widget, the note is moved to the trash. Notes Evenote Notes Widget Finally, all users can access the Notes widget on Evernote Home. The Notes widget offers you a selection of: recently saved or converted notessuggested notes, each in their tab within the widget. As the titles suggest, the recent notes tab lets you see the notes you've most recently added, saved, or converted. Evernote Home displays notes that you reference, add to, or edit most frequently in the suggested tab. The Notes widget is great for quickly finding notes you need or have recently worked on and is the perfect way to remind yourself of important upcoming tasks and information as soon as you access Evernote Home. How Do I Customize Evernote Home? Premium Evernote members have the option to customize Evernote Home in a variety of ways. Users can add, select, move, and resize widgets to change their appearance on Evernote Home. Additionally, premium users can also change the background in Evernote Home and change the color of the scratchpad. Widget Customization While all Evernote users have access to the widgets for notes, scratchpad, and recently clipped, premium Evernote users can also select and add additional widgets to their home screen, using the process detailed above. To resize a widget on Evernote Home, do the following: Navigate to the Home screen. Click "Customize" to Customize your Evernote Home Screen Click the "customize" button located in the top right corner. Customize Home Screen Option in Evernote Hover your mouse over the widget you'd like to resize. Hover over the widget you want to resize in Evernote Home On the bottom right, you can select the ideal size for the widget. resizing the notes widget in Evernote Home Moving widgets on the home screen is simple, as well. Hit the "customize" button and click and drag your widget to one of the open widget slots on the Home screen. Changing Background Images Premium users can customize the background image in Evernote Home. To change the background image of your Evernote Home screen, do the following: Click the "customize" button in the top right corner of the Home screen. Click "Customize" to bring up the customization menu for Evernote Home In the left panel underneath the "Background" toggle, click the "Change" button Click the "Change" button Either select one of the backgrounds provided by Evernote or drag an image into the "Or use your own image" area Select a background image 4. Click the "Done" button to save your change You should now see that your background image in Evernote Home as shown in the screenshot below: Evernote Home with changed background image Change the Scratch Pad Color Finally, premium users can also change the color of the scratchpad widget. To change the background color of the scratchpad widget in Evernote Home, do the following: Click on the "customize" button on the top right corner of the screen Click the "Customize" button Click the pencil-shaped icon located on the scratchpad widget. Hover mouse over the scratchpad widget Select one of four different scratchpad colors. Select a background color for the scratchpad by clicking on it Click the "Done" button to save your background change Click "Done" to save changes You should now see your new color as the background color for the scratchpad like shown in the screenshot below: Green background for Scratchpad in Evernote Home I hope this tutorial was helpful to you. Good luck! Resources: https://evernote.com/blog/see-evernote-like-never-before-with-home/ https://evernote.com/features/home https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360056265514-Home-Overview https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360058119773-Customize-Home