Locked lesson.

Upgrade

About this lesson

Evernote is not a dedicated task-management tool, but makes it very easy for you to manage uour task lists.

Exercise files

Download this lesson’s related exercise files.

Managing Tasks.docx
54.8 KB Managing Tasks - Solution.docx
56.4 KB

Quick reference

Topic

Managing Tasks.

When to use

Evernote is not a dedicated task-management tool, but makes it very easy for us to manage our task lists.

Instructions

Evernote is great for task management because:

  • Adding a new task is as simple as creating a note.
  • You can structure your to-do lists by creating a single checklist or tagging a collection of notes “Due Task.”  You can save a search for notes tagged “Due Task” and easily see what’s on your to-do list by pulling up that search.
  • Adding details to any to-do item (like links to other Notes, documents, or articles) is easy.
  • Recording your to-dos as voice messages makes capturing your tasks super easy and fast.
  • Since Evernote is available on Windows and Mac as well as apps for iOS and Android, you have access to your to-dos on any platform you choose.
  • You can even “delegate” your to-dos to others by adding the to-do notes to notebook(s) shared with your collaborators and setting reminders for time sensitive items.

Depending on your preferences, you can dedicate one note to a single task or use a note for an entire list of tasks.  What will make your Evernote notes look even more like checklists is adding the checkmark boxes in front of each item so that as you work through your task list you check off completed items.

Practices that will help you to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks:

  • As soon as you think of something that belongs on your to-do list, create an Evernote note or add the task to your overall to-do list. If you’re adding your to-do as single notes, remember to properly tag them or put them into your task-dedicated notebook. You don’t even have to have Internet access when adding tasks.  Your notes will be synchronized across your different devices the moment you reconnect to the Internet. 
  • To be able to quickly access your note(s) where you list your tasks, drag the note with your general task list to the shortcuts area.  If you have more than one note with tasks, make sure that you either uniformly tag them or put them into a dedicated notebook.  You can drag that tag or notebook into your shortcuts area as well.
  • For time-sensitive items, take advantage of Evernote’s reminder feature.
  • Create and save your task-related searches.  Evernote is not a dedicated task-management software, so, when you first open it, you will not see at a glance the items that you need to take action on. However, the process of retrieving the notes with items that are due is super simple and won’t take but a second. All you need to do is to create a search that specifies the notebook or tag(s) for due-items and save it.  Tags to consider: due, urgent, follow-up, waiting, open task. 
Login to download
  • 00:04 Evernote is not a dedicated task management tool but
  • 00:07 it makes it very easy for us to manage our task lists.
  • 00:11 So in this lesson we will take a look at how you can use Evernote
  • 00:16 to conquer your task list.
  • 00:19 When it comes to managing tasks it's essential to have a single place to add,
  • 00:23 store, search and get notified about items that are due.
  • 00:28 Evernote meets everyone of those requirements.
  • 00:31 When it comes to adding, you can install Evernote on your computer and
  • 00:36 on practically any other mobile device,
  • 00:38 which makes it super easy to add tasks on the go.
  • 00:43 You can add a text note,
  • 00:45 you can add an audio note, whichever format suits you best.
  • 00:50 The only thing that I would urge you to do is to decide how you will be
  • 00:56 identifying these task-related notes, and how you will be adding them to Evernote.
  • 01:01 You can be adding them to a single notebook.
  • 01:05 You can be adding individual notes and tagging them in a specific way.
  • 01:10 You can even add them to just one single note and have a master task list.
  • 01:17 But it's important to decide how you will be identifying those best related notes,
  • 01:24 so that if you have to run a search, you can quickly pull up all your tasks.
  • 01:30 And you can see what's in your pipeline in general, and
  • 01:34 what's due on any specific date.
  • 01:37 So speaking of items that are due,
  • 01:40 make sure to use this reminders feature in Evernote that will
  • 01:45 help you to set reminders for any time-sensitive items.
  • 01:50 And those days you specify Evernote will be sending
  • 01:55 you reminders so that you don't miss a due date.
  • 01:59 Last but not least, you can use Evernote to delegate tasks.
  • 02:04 You can share individual notes, you can share entire notebooks.
  • 02:09 And you can add a bit more context
  • 02:12 by having conversations with people you are sharing those notes or notebooks with.
  • 02:17 Work Chat is that feature that will help you to have a quick conversation
  • 02:22 with someone and answer their questions if they are not clear about something.
  • 02:28 So take a look at all these features and
  • 02:31 see how Evernote can help you conquer your task list.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.