It has been a month since I went back to the “binder method” of organization. So far so good. I have the right paperwork in the binder. Things I refer to regularly are in the right place now. I choose the binder because I don’t have room for this:
Below are screenshots of the notes apps that I have on my iPad and iPhone.
iPad first….
Notes, that came with iPad is now my go to app. I have sync’d both iPhone and iPad Notes in the cloud so I have all my notes on both devices. I can email my notes to Evernote or anyone else for that matter.
Noteshelf is still my favorite because I can customize the entire notebook. Customized paper and customized cover. The problem was that I was so obsessed with the “cute factor” I can’t find anything in my notebooks. (You can also export these notes to Evernote.)
Evernote is my file cabinet. It is an icon of it’s own on my dock. You can see it in the bottom left had corner. Be sure you follow @evernoteschools.
As you can see I have a ridiculous amount of notebooks.
iPhone Notes Apps:
Again, I have started using the Notes app that was already on the phone. However, I did download some “handwriting” apps just because they looked fun. I am just not fast enough to take notes on these devices when things happen so quickly in my job.
It is also socially awkward to whip out your phone in the middle of a conversation and start typing notes. It could appear that you are texting or answering texts messages. So I always say that I am going to take notes on my phone before I start.
Still more to do:
- I would like to go through and scan all the binders I have kept over the years and free up some office space.
- There are two very big file cabinets in my office that need to be scanned.
Melinda, loved your insights. I am pretty paperless, but the one area for me where paper wins out is my paper journal. Every time I answer the phone or engage in any group or 1-1 meeting where I will need to take notes, it all goes there and is automatically sorted in chronological order. I have tried several times over the last 10 years to move note taking to the digital side, but am much more effective with paper in that area.
Dr. Buck,Thanks for your comment. I just recently started keeping a journal but probably not in the sense that you are talking about. I actually have a notebook in the binder but still haven't used it as much.
Melinda