Evernote Essentials 4 Review

Evernote Essentials 4 Review

Evernote Essentials 4It seems like only seven months ago that Brett Kelly released Version 3 of Evernote Essentials. Oh wait, it was.

I don’t know when that man has time to see his family because I just received word that Evernote Essentials Version 4[1] is out this morning. If you’ve purchased one of the earlier versions, you will probably hearing about how to get the new copy soon.

For those unfamiliar, Evernote Essentials is a great guide for getting started with Evernote. In fact, every time I read through a new version I pick up a new tip that I either didn’t know, or had forgotten about (I am 40 now after all).

From reading through this new version, here are a few new sections:

  • Evernote Reminders
  • Evernote Business
  • Evernote security (very timely and reasonable discussion)

As usual there are some clever tricks, including one for creating a “table of contents” note for a given notebook and have it stick at the top. I also like some of the tips around searching. As I was reading the new version, I learned that you can search for just your handwritten notes. I had no idea.

The first version of Evernote Essentials came out in 2010, and you can read my original review if you’d like. To this day, I believe it is the definitive guide for getting going with Evernote, and highly recommend that you check Evernote Essentials out.

One nice thing with this release: there is an introductory price of $14.99, which is $15 off the regular price of $29. It is also available on the iBookstore for the first time, if you prefer to go that way.


  1. If you buy through that link, you’ll be buying me a torta. Thanks!  ↩

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 8 comments

Jonathan Tain - December 31, 2014 Reply

Hi Brooks,
In going paperless with my statements and receipts using E.N. and my new IX500 (a present to myself) how do you suggest one would differentiate the stores, or need I at all? Also I own a small business so should it be as simple as a notebook for Business then another for Personal, and/or should there be a notebook for both types as well differentiating receipts and statements. I don’t want them to get mixed together at all. I just can’t or won’t scan until I understand this.
I did enjoy your webinar with Mr. Dotto very much. in fact I am a patreon, but when I told him I had paperless questions his response was that is you’re expertise in that field, but he’d try. instead I’m coming straight to you Brooks if that’s Okay.
I look forward to your response. Thanks so.

curious - October 1, 2014 Reply

Is this a PDF? or Kindle or …? It doesn’t say on the other site and there doesn’t seem to be a way to ask them.

snafu - August 20, 2014 Reply

OK, this is tangentially related. I have always shied away from Evernote because of security. Yes, I could encrypt notes by hilighting text in a note, but that’s just way too cumbersome.

I don’t want anything I put into an organization app to be readable by the operators of the site; nothing at all.

It’s not that I have any deep, dark secrets: I’m not a criminal, or terrorist, or any other kind of nefarious person. I just want my information kept private. As a Canadian, I certainly don’t want my information subject to USA law.

I always felt that Evernote might be viable for me, IF it had the option to always have notes strongly encrypted, with a passphrase only I know, by default.

Is this possible?

    Brooks Duncan - August 21, 2014 Reply

    There isn’t really a non-cumbersome way to keep your stuff out of Evernote’s hands, other than use Local notebooks so things aren’t synced to the server (in which case I am not sure why one would use Evernote).

    So, no Evernote is probably not the tool for you.

Resources for Solo Business Owners - March 26, 2014 Reply

Didn’t know that bit about just searching for handwritten notes either! Thanks for this review- we just included Evernote Essentials in our post on how to use Evernote effectively, so good to hear great feedback!

12 Days Of Paperless Gifts - Helpful Resources • Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - December 14, 2013 Reply

[…] Do you have a review?: I do. Here is my Evernote Essentials Review. […]

Searching for Accurate Maps » Blog Archive » The best just got better: Evernote Essentials 4.0 is available now - September 28, 2013 Reply

[…] I promote a few digital products on this blog and on my website. (I get a small commission if you buy one of these from my blog.) The most popular one is Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials, a comprehensive guide to using Evernote. His latest version (4.0) is out now. I haven’t had time to look at it yet, but paperless guru and DocumentSnap founder Brooks Duncan has, and his short and sweet review is here. […]

Fred Zelders - September 27, 2013 Reply

Enjoy the torta. 🙂

Thanks …

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