3 Reasons Teachers Should Consider Evernote for Increased Productivity

Evernote introduced many improvements in 2023. After a rough few years, recent price increases, and what seemed to be a downward spiral since the late 2010s, Evernote introduced new features that managed to keep me on board as a current subscriber. After using worthy competitors (namely Notion, Amplenote, and Craft) last year, I continue to appreciate the value of Evernote, particular the features that can level-up educators' workflows.

​If you're an educator, here are 3 relatively new Evernote features that will improve your class preparation and management.

#1: Backlinks
Evernote has always allowed us to link our notes together, which is fundamental to notebook organization and personal knowledge management. With the introduction of backlinks, navigation between notes is fully maximized. The best part is bidirectional link automation. For example, say you have Note A and Note B. Once you place a link from Note B into Note A, Evernote will automatically place a link from Note A into Note B. This is useful when you are creating a table of contents for all your course materials for the semester.

#2 Increased Sync Speed 
Evernote has increased its overall sync speed, which has enhanced my user experience dramatically. The software struggled in this area a few years ago, but now I can rely on synced changes across all platforms. When I make a minor or major change on my MacBook, I see these changes on my iPhone quickly. When I'm preparing a class lesson and make a quick change on my iPhone 10 minutes before class starts, I am confident that change will be available across my other devices immediately.

#3 AI-Powered Search
Evernote's search function was already industry-leading. Last year, however, they introduced AI-powered search, which significantly improved this function. AI-powered search allows users to input search queries using natural language, instead of simple search terms. Queries in natural language (for example, "which days did I teach or discuss supply side economics") account for all types of notes, including text-based, PDFs, Excel docs, etc. I do hope Evernote improves its AI capabilities in 2024 to include generative functionality, similar to Notion.

Conclusion
Advanced note-taking apps have evolved over the last 3-5 years and have much more in common ("feature parity") than ever before. I hope the above 3 reasons spark your interest in digital note-taking and Evernote. As a productivity tool, I believe Evernote remains in the top tier alongside a growing list of strong alternatives, many of which I'll write about in future pieces.