One word: iPad
March 11, 2010
So, what do you think about the iPad?
Are you going to get one?
(In case you’re curious, I haven’t decided yet).
Cool Paperless Setup Video
February 4, 2010
As much of a paperless geek that I am, I normally wouldn’t sit and watch a video of someone scanning and shredding paper.
However, I just wanted to point you to this YouTube video by user allenday. He’s got a really cool setup of a ScanSnap S300M, Adobe Acrobat, a Mac Mini, a wall-mounted Sharp Aquos, the Royal PX1000MX to shred, and uploads everything to Evernote.
To do the OCRing, he uses the Acrobat OCR Applescript Droplet that I hacked/posted about earlier.
Very cool setup, thanks for sharing allenday! Do any of you have a cool paperless setup? Feel free to share pics or videos in the comments.
How To Encrypt Evernote On Mac OSX
January 21, 2010
In yesterday’s post, we discussed how to encrypt your Evernote database on Windows. Today, we will be going through how to do the same thing using Mac OSX. Unfortunately it is slightly more cumbersome, but it is certainly do-able.
Encrypting Text Inside A Note
The “official” way to do encryption in Evernote is to simply encrypt any sensitive text in a note. This is easily done in the Evernote UI
Step 1: Select the text you want to Encrypt.
Step 2: Right-click (or Command-Click) and choose Encrypt Selected Text.
Step 3: Make up a passphrase that you will later use to decrypt this text. Note: This phrase is never sent to Evernote’s servers, and they have no way of retrieving it for you. If you forget it, you are out of luck. Also, this text can not be decrypted in mobile or web Evernote – just in the Mac client.
Step 4: Your text will now show as encrypted in Evernote. To decrypt it, click it and enter your passphrase from Step 3.
Encrypting Your Evernote Database
Here is where things get fun. Evernote itself does not support any database encryption, so what we are going to do is create what is called an encrypted sparsebundle, then move our Evernote database to it, then trick Evernote into looking there for our files instead of in the normal location.
What is an encrypted sparsebundle? Despite the somewhat wacky name, it’s pretty simple. You can think of it as a file that you are going to create on your Mac’s harddrive that your Mac will treat as a drive. You can save and read files to it just like you can a normal drive or USB key.
When you read this it might look kinda technical, but its not that bad. Ready? Lets do it.
Note: You are going to be be moving around your Evernote files. If this scares you, I recommend you don’t proceed. If you delete everything by accident, I am not responsible!
Step 1: Click on Applications, then Utilities and choose Disk Utility
Step 2: Go to File, then New then Blank Disk Image
Step 3: In the Save As field give your file a name, and in the Documents field choose the folder where you want to save it. You can put it on your Desktop if you want.
Step 4: In the Volume Name field, give your image a name. If you’re just going to use it for Evernote you can call it EVERNOTE or something.
Step 5: In Volume Size, you probably want to give it a size that is a bit bigger than your ~/Library/Application Support/Evernote folder. My folder is 310 MB so I am going to make my image 500 MB. Don’t worry about this too too much as our image will automatically grow as needed. Leave Volume Format as MacOS Extended (Journaled).
Step 6: In Encryption, choose either 128 bit or 256 bit, depending on how hardcore you are.
Step 7: In Image Format, choose sparse bundle disk image
Here is what it looks like so far. If yours looks good, hit Create!
Step 8: It will prompt you to create a password and tell you how strong it is. It would be kind of strange to go to all this trouble to encrypt your Evernote and then use a super-weak password, but do what you need to do.
Step 9: Alright! You now have a new encrypted disk image created! If you go to Finder and look at the folder you specified in step 3, you’ll see your new file.
When you double click it and enter the password you created in Step 8, your new image will be mounted like any external drive or USB key.
Step 10: OK, now we need to move your Evernote stuff to your new encrypted image. First, make sure you quit Evernote
Step 11: In Finder, go to your home directory, then Library, then Application Support
Step 12: Drag the Evernote folder from there to your new drive.
Step 13: Make sure the Evernote folder copied over, something like this:
Step 13: Delete the Evernote folder in ~/Library/Application Support
Step 14: Open Terminal by going to Applications, then Utilities, then Terminal
Step 15: Type this, where the capital EVERNOTE is whatever you called it in Step 4, and yourusername is, of course, your Mac OSX username.
ln -s /Volumes/EVERNOTE/Evernote /Users/yourusername/Library/Application\ Support/Evernote
Step 16: Now when you look at ~/Library/Application Support, you should see the Evernote folder there with a little arrow. That means it has a “symbolic link” to the folder in your encrypted image and Evernote will be tricked into thinking it is reading it from the standard place.
Step 17: Alright! The moment of truth! Start up Evernote. Hopefully all your stuff will be there. If so, good job!
One thing to remember about this is that before you start Evernote, you must mount your Evernote sparsebundle that you created, either by double clicking it or adding it to your login items or something. Otherwise, Evernote will not know where to find your files.
Clear as mud? Do you have any other methods you use to encrypt Evernote? Let us know in the comments.
How To Encrypt Evernote On Microsoft Windows
January 20, 2010
One common comment about Evernote is that the service is awesome, but people wish that it supported encryption of notes or notebooks. To address this, Evernote introduced the ability to encrypt text inside a note, but for those that want something a bit more comprehensive, here is a 2 part guide on how to encrypt Evernote.
Today we’ll look at Microsoft Windows, and tomorrow how to encrypt Evernote on Mac OSX.
Encrypting Text Inside A Note
The “official” way to do encryption in Evernote is to simply encrypt any sensitive text in a note. This is easily done in the Evernote UI
Step 1: Select the text you want to Encrypt.
Step 2: Right-click and choose Encrypt Selected Text.
Step 3: Make up a passphrase that you will later use to decrypt this text. Note: This phrase is never sent to Evernote’s servers, and they have no way of retrieving it for you. If you forget it, you are out of luck. Also, this text can not be decrypted in mobile or web Evernote – just in the Windows client.
Step 4: Your text will now show as encrypted in Evernote. To decrypt it, click it and enter your passphrase from Step 3.
Encrypting Your Evernote Database
OK, it’s time to get a little geeky. Evernote itself does not support database encryption, so we are going to use a free program called TrueCrypt to make an encrypted drive that Windows will treat like any other drive or USB key. The difference is, whatever you save to it will be encrypted.
We’re then going to tell Evernote to put our files in there instead of the C: drive.
Ready? Let’s do it!
Note: This involves moving your Evernote files. If you’re not comfortable with that, I recommend you do not proceed. I’m not responsible in the unlikely event that your Evernote files are lost or something.
Step 1: Download and install TrueCrypt. Go to http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads and download the latest Windows version. Save it to your hard drive and install it.
Step 2: Start up TrueCrypt. You’ll see a blank list of drive letters. Click Create Volume.
Step 3: Hit Next for Create an Encrypted File Container and Next for Standard TrueCrypt Volume.
Step 4: Hit Select File and choose where on your hard drive you want your TrueCrypt image to be saved. You can think of it as a container that you are going to put other files into. For simplicity, I will put it on the Desktop and call it EvernoteVolume.
After hitting Save, hit Next when you are back at the Wizard.
Step 5: Choose the type of encryption you want. If you’re not sure, the default should be fine. Just hit Next
Step 6: Enter the size you want your new TrueCrypt drive to be. Obviously you will want to make this somewhat bigger than your existing Evernote database to allow for growth. To find out what your existing database size is, go to Tools and then Options in Evernote and then hit Open Database Folder.
Mine is about 77 Megs so I will put 150 Megs for my TrueCrypt volume. Why not. Hit Next.
Step 7: Enter a volume password that will be used when you mount this drive. It doesn’t make sense to go to all this trouble of encrypting Evernote and then choosing a weak password, so choose a good one. Hit Next.
Step 8: If you know that you need to change the Volume Format, do so here. Otherwise try the defaults.
Step 9: Hit OK and then Exit. You’ve got a TrueCrypt volume! Yeah!!
Step 10: Go back to your main TrueCrypt window where all the drive letters are. Pick which drive letter you will want to use. For this example I will use N, but use what you want.
Step 11: Click Select File and navigate to the file you specified back in Step 4.
Step 12: Hit Mount and enter the password that you created in Step 7.
Step 13: Check your Windows Explorer. You now have a new drive! Yeah!
Step 14: At long last, go into Evernote and got to Tools and then Options. Click Change to change the location of your Evernote files.
Step 15: Navigate to your N drive, or whatever drive letter you chose in Step 10. Hit OK. Evernote will now move all of its files to your new, encrypted drive.
You’re done! Awesome job!
One thing to note about this – from this point forward, you will need to have your TrueCrypt drive mounted before you start Evernote – otherwise Evernote won’t be able to find its files!
Over at 40Tech they have a handy TrueCrypt/Evernote batch file that might make this easier for you. I have not tried it myself, but give it a go if you’d like.
Do you have any other tips for encrypting your Evernote files? Leave them in the comments.
Amazon Kindle DX Goes International
January 19, 2010
Back in October, Amazon released the International Wireless version of their blockbuster Kindle, but it was only the 6″ version. The larger DX was still just for the US Market.
Well, as of January 19, 2010, the Amazon Kindle DX is now available in a Global Wireless version.
The Kindle DX is 9.7″ and holds 3,500 books.
Before ordering, make sure you check the Kindle DX page and see what restrictions (if any) there are for your country and where there is coverage. You can also compare it to the Kindle and see which one is right for you.
If you order a DX outside of the US, let us know how it works in your country!
Is The Number Of Printed Pages Dropping?
December 29, 2009
Photo by leokoivulehto
According to this article in the Herald & Review, a study was done by IDC that shows the amount of paper being printed is actually going down.
“It was like going over a waterfall,” said Wang, an analyst for the business consultant and market-research firm IDC. “Starting with the fourth quarter of 2008, we saw a definite drop in page outputs,” which nonetheless totaled 1.5 trillion pages for the year – or 5,000 sheets of printouts per man, woman and child.
That number will be lower this year, perhaps by more than 10 percent, though it had been climbing steadily since 2000. A temporary effect of the slow economy, or the beginning of a society truly less glued to paper?
Obviously 1.5 trillion pages is still nuts, but it is still a positive sign. For those of you who work in offices, have you noticed a trend to print less?
Great Paperless Workflow Post At Interface Matters
December 23, 2009
Chris Blatnick over at the Interface Matters blog has just done an absolutely epic post about his paper processing workflow.
He has included a diagram in which he mapped out his process, and two great videos in which he explains and demonstrates the whole thing.
So I recognized a problem: too much paper. That was the first step. Now I needed to make an actionable plan to deal with it. That’s where the ScanSnap came in. I started using it to scan papers in when they came in the mail. As soon as I came across something I needed to keep (my monthly bank statement, for instance), I digitized it and stored it on my hard drive and then shredded the document. Ah…a great feeling. I’ve been doing this for several months now and it has been very successful. However, nagging at the back of my mind (even though it was on my Someday/Maybe GTD list) was the massive task of tackling those file cabinets. Over the Thanksgiving break, I finally took the plunge and mapped out my paper processing workflow.
If you are curious about how different people handle their paper (and if you’re not, why are you here? 
), I highly recommend checking out the post and associated videos.
The tools Chris uses are the ScanSnap S1500 and, a personal favorite, Dropbox. He is also a fellow GTD devotee.
His next step will be to send the documents into Lotus Notes. If you don’t already use it, that’s a little hardcore, but if you already in Notes all day like he is, why not.
Great post Chris!
Use Paperless Post Instead of Mailing Out a Card This Year
December 21, 2009
Let’s face it. A lot, if not most, of the online cards that we receive are cheesy.
There are two classes of invites and cards out there: handwritten cards, which are seen as “nicer” and more thoughtful, and online cards and invitation which are seen as quick and disposable.
A brother-and-sister founded company out of New York called Paperless Post is trying to create a third category – online cards and invitations that are beautiful and special, but at the same time have the environmental and convenience benefits of online.
It works like you’d expect – you design your card, add a logo, “envelope”, photo etc., then send it to your recipients, and then (and this is a big plus over paper cards), you can monitor who opens and replies to them.
Each card you send costs a “stamp”, and you get 25 stamps for signing up. After that it costs about .12 per stamp if you buy 40 down to .05 per stamp if you buy 500.
Even though these are nicer than normal e-cards, I am sure there are some people who still want to keep it old school and do paper cards. How about you? Would you use something like Paperless Post, or do you feel that nothing replaces a handwritten cards? Or are e-vites and the like good enough for you? Let us know in the comments.
What’s Inside That PDF Document?
December 9, 2009
Photo by tomeppy
Have you ever wondered what makes up a PDF document? What the inner workings are like? OK probably not, but Tad over at Paper Jammed has, and he has put together a delightfully geeky rundown of some of the internal workings of the PDF document that allow for multiple changes.
(I bet you thought PDFs were read only, didn’t you?).
It was at that moment that I recalled a peculiar feature of the PDF file format: it is designed to support nondestructive updates, allowing people to make vast changes to a PDF document while still retaining the original document, fully intact. I did a few experiments and was surprised with the results.
His point: If you want to make sure that your stuff that you thought you removed WAS removed, use a redaction tool. Good advice.
Getting Your Paper Ready To Scan
November 26, 2009
Photo by ricardodiaz11
Even the best scanners or copiers with document feeders can jam or pick up double sheets sometimes. Aside from picking a great scanner, there are some things you can do with the paper to get it ready to scan.
Our friends over at the ScanSnap Community site have posted a primer on what to do with your paper to keep your ScanSnap scanning in tip-top shape. Of course, this would apply to any document feeder equipment.
You watched the video on how to clean your ScanSnap. You saw how to change the consumables. But you still experience occasional double feeds. Believe it or not, you could be causing the problem!
Preparing your paper for scanning is just as important as keeping your ScanSnap clean, so we created this short three step primer on paper prep.
So, do you have any tricks other than “The Fan”, “The Taper”, or “The Wrinkle”? Let us know in the comments.
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