What Notion sometimes lacks in web-clipping though, it seems to make up for in it’s broad range of tools that far exceed the reaches of Evernote. Notion’s web clipper can trigger much deeper workflows. Given Notion’s built-in databases and tables, once you’ve clipped a blog post there’s a lot you can do with it, including. Fix Evernote to Notion import problems. Notion gets stuck on importing from Evernote and this video will walk you through how to prepare your Evernote notebook for complete import into Notion. More about Notion: 📔 Order of Steps to Take (see video for details) 1. Remove attachments. Try running the import into Notion. There’s a fair bit on YouTube about Notion, and I have downloaded it to try: it’s infinitely flexible, very capable and has lots of options.
A few weeks ago, I started getting emails from readers telling me that my Commonplace Book wasn’t working correctly…
Notes were disappearing in the browser, and when they weren’t, they were taking too long to load—my commonplace book was riddled with bugs.
As a longtime Evernote user, it was a reality I wasn’t ready to accept. Was Evernote no longer a viable option for note-taking? Was there a better solution on the market? My feeling aside, giving customers anything but a great user experience (UX) was unacceptable.
So, I began researching alternatives to Evernote. And after much research, one solution came up, again and again, more than any other…
Notion.
I recently moved my Commonplace Book—and the rest of my Evernote contents—to Notion and I must say, I am floored.
It’s that good.
Today, to announce with my move to Notion, I want to share my three favorite Notion use cases (#1 is my favorite). I’ll also show you how you can use Notion to get more organized in your personal and professional life, starting from today.
Notion Use Case #1: Build a Commonplace Book
“A commonplace book is a central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits,” writes author Ryan Holiday. “The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, in your business, in your writing, speaking or whatever it is that you do.”
If you’re a longtime reader, you know that I’m a big advocate of having a commonplace book. In fact, a few years ago, I began building one in Evernote (which I wrote about here). In it, I kept notes on books I read, course I enrolled in, quotes I liked, and more.
The first iteration of my commonplace book.
The problem, though, was as it grew, and bugs began hurting the UX, it became harder to navigate.
For example, jumping from one book summary to another made it harder to return to the Table of Contents. This meant I had to add a “Back to Book Summaries” link to each note, which, as you can imagine, was time-consuming.
Thankfully, that’s NOT an issue with Notion.
A preview of “Sam’s Commonplace Book 2.0.”
Not only are my book summaries now easier to navigate, but they’re also viewable without having to open a new page.
I can now read a book summary without having to leave the book’s category page.
What’s more, I can add tags like “Sam’s Favorites,” or “Books with Bibliographies” to give each summary more context.
For example, if I’m looking for a new book to read, I can browse titles with the tag, “Books with Bibliographies.” Or, even better, I can create a filter for ONLY books with that tag, and save that view to reduce having to browse in the future. (More on that shortly.)
An example of tagging book summaries for within a category to add context.
My favorite addition, though, is Notion’s blocks feature. With it, I can format book summaries for greater readability using subheadings, dividers, blockquotes, and more.
Notion’s quote block is my favorite.
Notion Use Case #2: Build a Swipe File
Having a swipe file—a collection of tested and proven advertising material—is an essential resource for any marketing professional.
For years, I’ve managed a swipe file in Gmail for good marketing emails, organized by brand.
But for (Facebook) ads, sales letters, and other online marketing efforts, I couldn’t find a good way of capturing them.
I tried building and maintaining a swipe file in Evernote. But because I used nested tags, I often ended up with notes three, four—even five levels deep, at times, defeating the purpose of quick retrieval.
This note was six levels deep. The tag’s naming convention was Work > Copywriting > Swipe File > Ads > Gary Halbert Ads.
If I knew the name of the ad I was looking for, I could use Evernote’s search feature, of course. But how often do you remember the name of something you’re searching for, especially something you saved years ago?
With Notion, I’ve simplified my swipe file as much as possible. I have one page called “Swipe File.” Then, within that page, I have subpages, tagged by ad type, copywriter, and more. Finally, I save my favorite views to avoid having to view all subpages upon each viewing.
Here’s an example.
I often write Facebook ad copy and need inspiration for two angles to test against each other. (If you’re curious, an example might be fear vs. proof of value—angles I learned from Joseph Sugarman’s book, The Adweek Copywriting Handbook.)
To get an overview of ONLY ads, I can choose one of my saved views (e.g. “Ads”). Then, I can add a filter to ONLY see ads with angles.
You don’t have to get THAT specific, of course. But the more through you are with tagging, the easier it is to retrieve what you’re looking for when you need it.
Notion Use Case #3: Implement Getting Things Done (GTD)
Learning David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) time management method changed my life. Whether I’m working through my next actions in my personal life or managing big projects in my job, nothing falls through the cracks.
One of the reasons for that is because, a few years ago, I began experimenting with implementing GTD with Evernote. In the beginning, I used notebooks for lists (next actions, projects, waiting for/on hold, etc.), before eventually moving to nested tags.
It was highly effective, and in hindsight, it was a good approach to using GTD. But over time, as I got better at scoping and taking on more projects, I struggled to get a good overview of everything I was working on.
For instance, if I was creating a digital product, I would have several next actions like send a product teaser, cover the product details, announce the product is available, and more.
But due to Evernote’s project management limitations, it was impossible to get a good overview of the project.
Whenever I saw a project like this, I always found myself asking, “Which action should I prioritize?” “Do any have a deadline?” “Are any assigned to ‘waiting for/on hold?’”
Part of the reason I implemented GTD with Notion, is because you can:
- Create multiple views, incliding Kanban views WITHIN pages;
- Assign deadlines to each action; and
- Add additional properties for more context (e.g. “@Home, @Work,” etc.)
Let’s take a concrete example.
If you’re a GTD practitioner and thinking of moving to Notion, it’s likely you will want to have a page for projects. One project category might be annual goals like “run a half marathon,” “learn French at a conversational level,” “read 30 books,” etc.
These goals, among other projects you take on over time, will each have their own actions. If your goal is to run a half marathon, you might need to register for a half-marathon, choose a training plan, research running routes, and more.
With Notion’s “Board – Inline,” you can create a Kanban view for a project’s next actions and, if necessary, add deadlines—giving you everything you need to get a good overview of a project’s status.
Notion also gives you the option to add custom properties to pages, if needed.
I’ve already found managing my personal projects much easier to navigate, and more importantly, move forward with and complete. I’m looking forward to sharing more as I continue to iterate on the above process.
Editor’s Note
Since publishing this article, I’ve reworked how I use GTD in Notion. You can read about it here.
Conclusion
Migrating from Evernote to Notion wasn’t an easy decision.
I was an Evernote advocate from day one and was the last person who would even consider moving. Heck, I was willing to ignore bugs out of loyalty, even if it hindered my experience.
But what I wasn’t willing to do, was take people’s hard-earned money and deliver a poor experience in return.
I was afraid to migrate to Notion, but I’m pleased to write that, so far, the feedback has been nothing but positive.
I haven’t even begun to explore all of Notion’s features, but I’m looking forward to leveraging it both for myself, and my customers.
Are you a Notion user? If so, what do you think? Leave a comment below.
Evernote has enjoyed its status as one of the most popular note-taking apps for a decade. However, with its unique style of note-taking, templates, and clean design, Notion quickly becomes choice for those looking for Evernote alternatives. In this post, I’ll make a detailed comparison of Evernote vs. Notion to see if Notion can be a possible candidate for note taking.
Export Evernote To Notion
Read More:
Contents
- 1. Evernote vs Notion: Pros and Cons
1. Evernote vs Notion: Pros and Cons
Evernote Review: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Scanner for mobile. You can use Evernote as a scanner to take photos of pages of books that when you don’t want to pay for photocopying.
- Web clipper for browsers. Evernote Web Clipper is the best on the web.
Cons
- Limited Free Version + Costly Evernote Pricing Plans
- The Evernote client doesn’t support real-time collaboration on notes with other users.
- Unlike other productivity apps that come with built-in features that you can use for task-management features, Evernote can only create notes.
Notion Review: Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Flexible pages. Notion has a template engine that allows you to turn pretty much anything into an easily-duplicated template.
- Nested hierarchical organization. You can even turn a set of text into a dropdown so you can roll them up when you want non-immediate information out of the way.
- Hybrid editor. Notion lets you write in Markdown or use normal keyboard shortcuts and UI elements to format your text.
Cons:
- Free account is really just a demo. A free account gives you 1,000 free blocks but they go FAST.
- Quirks in the editor due to the block system. Unfortunately, Notion falters heavily in the formatting department, and it’s all thanks to their block system.
Winner – Both can be preferred, depending on the type of usage.
2. Evernote vs Notion: Taking Notes
Note-taking capabilities are the prime aspect of any Notes app.
Evernote has included every possible way to add new notes. You can write notes, add images, recordings, tag files, and even draw with the available options. In addition, you can use Evernote as a scanner to take photos of pages of books that when you don’t want to pay for photocopying.
It also lets you choose from the available templates. The selection is undoubtedly rich, and I’m sure you will find the relevant template to start the note.
On Notion, you can add a list, plain text, videos, sound, code snippets – it’s up to you. To cut setup time, the Notion program also allows you to create templates for your notes. For example, you can easily create a standardized template for writing all your blog posts. The next time your content team needs to create a new article, they can use that template to get started.
Winner – Both can be preferred, depending on the type of usage.
3. Evernote vs Notion: Cross-Platform Availability
Evernote is available on Android, iOS, Apple Watch, Mac and Windows.
Notion is also available on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.
In addition, Evernote extension is available on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and every other Chromium-based browser. Notion recently added extension support for Chrome browser.
Notion Evernote Integration
Winner – Evernote
4. Evernote vs Notion: Pricing
Evernote offers three pricing tiers—a free Basic plan, a Premium plan for $7.99 a month, and a Business plan for $14.99 per user per month. Notion has four pricing tiers—a Free plan, a Personal plan for $4 a month, a Team plan at $8 per member per month, and an Enterprise plan at $20 per member per month.
Migrating From Evernote To Notion
Evernote’s free and premium subscription options
- Basic: Free. Access notes on only 2 devices.
- Premium: $7.99/month (for 10 GB of new storage monthly uploads)
- Business: $14.99/user per month. 20 GB of new uploads/month + 2 GB/user
Notion’s free and premium subscription options
- Free plan: Supports unlimited members and the first 1000 blocks.
- Personal ($4/month): For solo users with unlimited storage and file uploads.
- Team ($8/month per user): Supports unlimited members, unlimited storage and unlimited file uploads.
- Enterprise ($20/month per user): This pricing plan is aimed at enterprise teams with additional features.
Winner: Notion
5. Evernote vs Notion: Our Recommendation
Evernote is commonly used as the best filing cabinet tool. It’s a great way to store documents, handy notes, important files, project notes, and even tend to your daily reminders. Then, should you switch to Notion?
What Notion does better:
- Long-form, structured notes
- Tables. They can be even switched to “Trello” or calendar view. It’s literally a simple spreadsheet/database mixed with project management tool – all inbuilt inside the note-taking app
- Code highlighting for all major programming languages
- Limited markdown support
- Distraction-free UI
- Comments inside note
What Evernote does better:
- Quick notes
- Web clipper (Notion doesn’t have it, but authors claim that it’s on their to-do list)
- Document scanner (straightening, contrast, OCR)
- Can draw (Notion can’t)
Evernote vs Notion, which is better? It all depends on your needs.