Evernote review

There's so much information available online it can be hard keeping track of it. Evernote is an online organiser that lets you capture and store information from almost any source and access it from anywhere with an internet connection.

It looks a little like an email client. On the left is a list of folders (called notebooks), while the main portion of the screen is divided into two panes. The top one displays a list of all the notes in the folder you've selected, while the bottom one shows the contents of a selected note.

Initially, only the default notebook exists. It's easy to create more, though: simply right-click the Notebooks folder, choose Create Notebook and give your new notebook a name. To create a new note, you simply click on the New Note template and start typing or you can use the pen tool to create an Ink note, which works like a whiteboard.

Capturing information from other sources, such as web pages, is just as easy. You can copy and paste text from a web page into a new note. When you do this, not only the text appears in the note, but also the URL from which you took it. Alternatively, you can install one of Evernote's browser plug-ins, allowing you simply to highlight text on a web page and select the Copy to Evernote option. Image, PDF and audio files can also be uploaded and attached to notes.

Once information has been copied to your notebooks, it can be synchronised with your Evernote web account at the click of a button. This makes it available to you from any device with an internet connection, including smartphones such as the iPhone, BlackBerry and those running Windows Mobile.

The Standard version is free and includes 40MB of uploads a month; fine for keeping the odd note, but not if you grab lots of images. Upgrading to the Premium version increases your allowance to 500MB a month and lets you upload a wider range of file types, including Office documents and video files. Either way, it's a great tool for those who have a lot of information or ideas to manage.

Author: Karl Wright