Ever since it was launched in 2008, Evernote has been one of the most popular note-taking apps on the market. In recent years, however, it has sort of lost its way. The core service started getting too bloated for its own good. It seemed like every new update only made matters worse. Many of the app’s competitors such as Microsoft OneNote took notice and began pumping out sleeker versions of what Evernote was trying to achieve.
Well, it seems like Evernote finally decided to turn a new leaf and re-announce its presence in the industry. The 8.0 update is pretty much a full-fledged reboot. The main idea was to make everything faster and easier to get around. This simple concept harkens back to the app’s early days when it was far and above the best option on the market.
The first thing you’ll notice upon opening the app is the sleek new interface. As soon as the app loads, you will be greeted by a large green button that lets you make a new note in an instantaneous fashion. If you’d like to create a Reminder note or record audio and video, all you have to do is press the same button and drag it to the corresponding icon.
You can save your notes by entering the View mode or swiping the keyboard down. The next time you open Evernote, it will take you straight back to where you left off. That’s about all there is to it. Gone are the days of having to fight through the home screen to get to the meat of the app!
If you’d like to make your notes more visually distinctive, Evernote has got you covered. You now have access to a lot more styling and formatting options, including different font sizes, types and, most importantly – colors. The navigation bar also features some helpful new tools such as the square plus button (which lets you add audio files or photos without much fuss) and the camera button (which is fairly self-explanatory).
Clean design makes Evernote 8 easier to use
Finding your content is also a simpler task when compared to the previous version of the app. Entering your notebook list and switching between different notebooks is very intuitive, and the note previews now come with helpful thumbnails. It’s up to you to choose the size of these images and whether you want to turn them on at all.
If you’re up to your neck in notes, you can either search your entire account by clicking the search tab or tap your note list to search a specific notebook. You might also want to tag your notes. Accessing your tags is now done simply by tapping the alarm clock icon.
Evernote Business users will have some additional reasons to download the new update. Your personal and business accounts are now more clearly separated, and switching between them has never been easier. Moving notes between accounts also require fewer hoops to jump through than before, though the process can still be somewhat intimidating for new users.
Despite all the improvements the update brings us, there are still a couple of features sorely missing from the app. For example, nested tags would help us organize our stuff in another meaningful way. This feature was last seen in Evernote 2.0, and it doesn’t seem like developers have any plans to bring it back, despite fans asking about it.
Hard not to be impressed with the update
However, the current version of Evernote is dealing with some bigger issues. Many iOS users are having trouble running the app at all since the update was launched, and crashing on startup seems like a common occurrence. The 8.0.1 update that was launched almost immediately after the main update has done little to remedy the situation. It seems like the developers are working hard to get to the bottom of the issue. For now, users can try relaunching the app and reboot their devices; if the problem still persists, a full reinstall is always an option.
If we turn a blind eye to the launch issues, it’s hard not to be impressed with what the new version of Evernote has delivered. A fresh start is exactly what the app needed. It’s safe to say that the redesign has been a success. Nobody knows what the future holds, but right now, Evernote seems to have a leg up on the competition again.
Are you an Evernote user? What is your thought on the update and redesign? Let me know on Twitter and as always thank you for reading.