Evernote is one of those services we've just grown accustomed to having around. The venerable organization tool is an absolute life-saver on both our Macs and iOS devices, and though many have tried, adequate alternatives are extremely rare. Thankfully, the Evernote team is not resting on its laurels, announcing big changes to both the mobile and desktop clients.
Evernote 5 for Mac adds over a hundred new features to what is already a consistently reliable application. More than a simple update, Evernote 5 is a complete redesign, improving upon existing features, while adding in some new ideas that sound pretty great.
Beyond the obvious visual upgrade, the client's user-interface is getting a major update. Notebooks seems considerably easier to access, and the addition of a shortcut bar on the left panel is a welcome addition.
While other services like BaseCamp, or even Google Drive, are making it easier to collaborate, new share functions in Evernote 5 try to make the process easier. Shared notebooks will appear on the same page with your own private projects, and a new activity feed makes it easier to track changes in real time. The activity update window is sort of reminiscent of a Twitter feed.
Evernote 5 for Mac also introduces Atlas, assigning geographic locations to your notes. Place Cards are generated from the locations, and placed in visual proximity to one another. Basically, this makes it visually easier to find geographically related data. Sounds handy if you're the type of person who works on the road a lot.
Advanced search functions round out the major updates, with a more powerful TypeAhead system to estimate search terms.
But Evernote 5 isn't just a major redesign for Mac; the iOS app is also about to see big changes. According to the Evernote iOS team, the app's new features are all in an effort to make the mobile experience as speedy as possible.
"We’ve learned a lot over the years about how people use Evernote on mobile devices. It’s all about speed," reads the Evernote blog. "Whether you’re creating a note or browsing to one, everything needs to happen fast."
The new design of Evernote 5 for iOS makes an effort to keep any function within the app only a couple taps away. The new home screen places all of your data in a tabbed, filing system-like interface. The iPad version includes a "Recent Notes" browsing bar at the top of the screen.
Some of the Evernote 5 for Mac updates seem to carry over into the iOS app, as well. Like its desktop counterpart, Evernote 5 for iOS will group shared notebooks into your own. The new Places function offers a geographic view of notes, essentially creating a mobile version of the previously mentioned Atlas.
Evernote Premium users will likely appreciate the ease of access to advance features. A quick slide opens the Premium screen, where you're able to access offline notes.
If you're interested in checking out the beta version of Evernote 5 for Mac, you can find instructions on how do so on the Evernote blog. Be forewarned, however, that the beta is currently not functioning for Evernote clients downloaded from the Mac App Store. The company is hoping to fix that in the near future, once the initial craziness has toned down.
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