Evernote

Evernote is an app designed for note taking, organizing, task management, and archiving. It is developed by the Evernote Corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The app allows users to create notes, which can be text, drawings, photographs, audio, or saved web content. Notes are stored in notebooks and can be tagged, annotated, edited, searched, given attachments, and exported.
Evernote is cross-platform, for Android, iOS, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. It is free to use with monthly usage limits, and offers paid plans for expanded or lifted limits.
Evernote version 10 is a complete re-write of desktop clients. When released it removed almost all preferences and so possibility to adjust application to user needs. This includes an ability to change global (system-wide) shortcuts, which caused particular problems for non-English speaking users. In the Evernote discussion forum it was indicated in late 2020 that updates to v10 were forthcoming to resolve the issues—v10.5.7 had addressed some, but not all, of the problems—with suggestions that users revert to an earlier version.
Company.
After being founded in 2000 by Russian-American computer entrepreneur of Azerbaijani descent, Stepan Pachikov, EverNote Corporation ('EverNote' stylized with a capital 'N' by then) started marketing software for Windows desktop PCs, Tablet PCs and handheld devices like the handwriting recognition software ritePen and the notetaking and web clipping application EverNote (also with a capital 'N'), a Windows application which stored notes on an 'infinite roll of paper'. Under the new CEO Phil Libin, the company shifted its focus to the Web, smartphones and also the Apple Mac, starting with Evernote (now with lower-case 'n') 3.0 in 2008. The Evernote Web service launched into open beta on June 24, 2008 and reached 11 million users in July 2011. In October 2010, the company raised a US$20 million funding round led by DoCoMo Capital with participation from Morgenthaler Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Since then, the company raised an additional $50 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital and Morgenthaler Ventures, and another $70 million in funding led by Meritech Capital and CBC Capital. On November 30, 2012, Evernote raised another $85 million in funding led by AGC Equity Partners/m8 Capital and Valiant Capital Partners.
On November 9, 2014, Evernote raised an additional $20 million in funding from Nikkei, Inc.
On May 7, 2013, TechCrunch reported that Evernote launched Yinxiang Biji Business into the Chinese market at the Global Mobile Internet Conference.
Linda Kozlowski was named the Chief Operating Officer of Evernote in June 2015, after more than two years with the company, but left before the end of the year.
Libin stepped down as CEO in July 2015 and was replaced by former Google Glass executive Chris O'Neill, but remained Executive Chairman. In October 2015, the Evernote Corp. announced that the company was laying off 18 percent of its workforce and would be closing three out of 10 global offices. In September 2016, Libin stepped down as Executive Chairman to focus on other business ventures. In February 2017, CEO O'Neill stated in a blog post that the business was now cash-flow positive. Sequoia Capital, one of Evernote's equity owners, said, "It's great when a company starts to raise non-dilutive capital every day, which is called revenue."
In August 2018, Chief Technical Officer Anirban Kundu, Chief Financial Officer Vincent Toolan, Chief Product Officer Erik Wrobel, and head of HR Michelle Wagner left the company. Wrobel and Wagner both joined in 2016. On September 18, 2018, 54 employees—about 15 percent of the workforce—were laid off. In a blog post, O'Neill said, "After a successful 2017, I set incredibly aggressive goals for Evernote in 2018. Though we have steadily grown, we committed too many resources too quickly. We built up areas of our business in ways that have proven to be inefficient. Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering."
On October 29, 2018, Evernote announced that Ian Small, former CEO of TokBox, would replace O'Neill as CEO of Evernote.
Architecture.
Coding and versions.
In 2010, the programming language used to write Evernote's software was changed from C# for version 3.5 to C++ in version 4.0 to improve performance.
Data entry.
As well as the keyboard entry of typed notes, Evernote supports image capture from cameras on supported devices, and the recording of voice notes. In some situations, text that appears in captured images can be recognized using OCR and annotated. Evernote also supports touch and tablet screens with handwriting recognition. Evernote web-clipping plugins are available for the most popular Internet browsers that allow marked sections of webpages to be captured and clipped to Evernote. If no section of a webpage has been highlighted, Evernote can clip the full page. Evernote also supports the ability to e-mail notes to the service, allowing for automated note entry via e-mail rules or filters.
Where suitable hardware is available, Evernote can automatically add geolocation tags to notes.
As of November 2018, Evernote Pro integrates directly with Google Drive, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, and Evernote Pro adds an integration with Salesforce. All versions of Evernote also support integrations through IFTTT and Zapier. In 2013, Evernote deprecated its direct integration with Twitter in favor of these third-party services.
Data storage and access.
On supported operating systems, Evernote allows users to store and edit notes on their local machine, using a SQLite database in Windows.
Users with Internet access and an Evernote account can also have their notes automatically synchronized with a master copy held on Evernote's servers. This approach lets a user access and edit their data across multiple machines and operating system platforms, but still view, input and edit data when an Internet connection is not available. However, notes stored on Evernote servers are not encrypted.
Where Evernote client software is not available, online account-holders can access their note archive via a web interface or through a media device. The service also allows selected files to be shared for viewing and editing by other users.
The Evernote software can be downloaded and used as "stand-alone" software without using the online portion of an Evernote account (online registration is required for initial setup, however), but it will not be able to upload files to the Evernote server, or use the server to synchronize or share files between different Evernote installations. Also, no image or Image-PDF (Premium only) recognition and indexing will take place if the software is used entirely offline.
Accounts.
Evernote is a free online service that allows users to upgrade to Premium or Business accounts. All Free, Plus and Premium Evernote accounts have a maximum limit of 100,000 notes and 250 notebooks.
Basic customers can upload 60 MB of data each month. Plus customers get a 1 GB upload limit, offline notes on mobile devices, as well as passcode lock for mobile devices. Emails can also be sent to their Evernote account.
Premium subscribers are granted 10 GB of new uploaded data every month, faster word recognition in images, heightened security, PDF annotation, Context, where notes and news articles can be seen, which are related to the open note and the ability to search text within PDF documents. They also receive additional options for notebook sharing. Each of free, Plus and Premium account types allow notebook sharing with other Evernote users; however, the accounts are distinguished by editing capabilities. In regards to shared notebooks, editing permissions to non-paid account holders may only be granted to premium Evernote subscribers. The free service does not make files available offline on iOS and Android devices; while sometimes they are available from cache, editing these files can cause conflicts when synchronizing.
With the full version of Evernote Business, users sync and view work documents through a variety of platforms, such as Mac, iPhone and iPads, Web, Windows and Android Devices. Files that can be uploaded include spreadsheets, presentations, notes and design mock ups. In addition, administrators can monitor company progress and individual employees through the admin console.
In June 2016, Evernote announced the limitation for users of its free Basic account to two devices per year and raised prices for its premium service tiers. Non-paying Evernote users are able to sync notes between two devices. Plus lets users store notes offline and upload up to 1GB files, while Premium adds document-parsing features and 10GB of additional storage.
From early April 2018, Evernote Plus was no longer available for purchase; however, users who currently have the Plus subscription can maintain it as long as their subscription is still active.
Supported platforms.
Evernote clients are available for Android, BlackBerry (including BlackBerry Playbook), Google Wave, iOS (iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch), macOS, Maemo, Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, and WebOS platforms as well as a beta for Symbian S60 5th Edition. Additionally, portable versions of Evernote are available for flash drives and U3 drives. There is currently no officially supported native client for BSD or Linux, but the company provides an API for external Linux clients.
There is substantial variation in supported features on different platforms. For example, it is possible to edit Rich Text Format and sketches on Windows; on Mac it is possible to edit rich text, but only view sketches; and on the iPad only plain text could be edited prior to version 4.1.0 (August 2011).
Web clipping support is installed by default on the Internet Explorer and Safari browsers when the Evernote software is installed under Windows or macOS. Evernote web-clipping plugins are also available for the Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Yandex Browsers, and need to be downloaded and installed separately from the respective browser.
The Evernote email-clipper is automatically installed in Microsoft Office Outlook if the desktop version is installed on the same computer. There is also a Thunderbird email plugin, which must be installed separately from the Thunderbird client.
Apps and tools.
Scannable.
Scannable captures paper quickly, transforming it into high-quality scans ready to save or share.
Skitch.
Skitch is a free screenshot editing and sharing utility for OS X, iOS, Windows, and Android. The app permits the user to add shapes and text to an image, and then share it online. Images can also be exported to various image formats. Originally developed by Plasq, Skitch was acquired by Evernote on August 18, 2011. On December 17, 2015, Evernote announced that it will be ending support for Skitch for Windows, Windows Touch, iOS, and Android on January 22, 2016. Evernote said it will continue to offer Skitch for Mac.
Web Clipper.
Evernote Web Clipper is a simple browser extension that lets a user capture full-page articles, images, selected text, important emails, and any web page.
Partnerships.
Blinkist.
The book-summarizing service Blinkist offers members to synchronise their highlighted text passages to Evernote. This happens in notes for each book with the title of the book as the note title.
Deutsche Telekom.
On March 25, 2013, Evernote announced a partnership with Deutsche Telekom to provide German customers with free access to Evernote Premium for one year. In January 2014 the partnership was expanded to additional European markets.
Moleskine.
In August 2012, Moleskine partnered with Evernote to produce a digital-friendly notebook with specially designed pages and stickers for smartphone syncing.
Samsung.
All Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phablets included a free one-year subscription to Evernote Premium.
Telefónica Digital.
On August 13, 2013, "The New York Times" reported that Telefónica Digital and Evernote entered into a global partnership agreement, giving Brazilian customers free access to Evernote Premium for one year. Under this global deal Telefónica users in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, the UK and Spain were also offered the promotion.
Incidents.
Data loss.
The service has experienced several cases of losing customer data.
Denial-of-service attacks.
On June 11, 2014, Evernote suffered a crippling distributed denial-of-service attack that prevented customers from accessing their information; the attackers demanded a ransom, which Evernote refused to pay. A denial-of-service attack on August 8, 2014, resulted in a brief period of downtime for evernote.com; service was quickly restored.
Security breach.
On March 2, 2013, Evernote revealed that hackers had gained access to their network and been able to access user information, including usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords. All users were asked to reset their passwords.
In the wake of this, Evernote accelerated plans to implement an optional two-factor authentication for all users.
Privacy controversy.
In December 2016, Evernote announced its privacy policy would be changing in January 2017, leading to claims the policy allowed employees of the firm to access users' content in some situations. In response to the concerns, Evernote apologised and announced the policy would not be implemented, and that its employees would not have access to users' content unless users opted in.
Evernote v10 controversy.
In late 2020, Evernote released Evernote v10, written from scratch in the Electron framework, to replace older versions on multiple platforms. Some users noted the new app was much slower than legacy Windows / iOS app, had many features removed, and did not work with some default keyboard layouts (like Turkish, Latvian, Polish) due to conflict of hardcoded key bindings. No options were enabled to disable or change hotkeys in Evernote v10.