You know you wrote it down somewhere, but you’re not sure where, and now you need it but don’t have it.
Whether keeping track of assignments and tasks at work, listening to a presentation for a class, a training course or simply managing your daily to-dos, you’re probably someone who takes notes.
And if you’re someone who’s ever misplaced or downright lost one (or several) of those notes, you’re not alone. Losing notes is such a common problem that it’s led several businesses to create note-taking software and tools that are designed to help users organize all their notes in one place.
The internet is full of options worth exploring. Some tools may require payment or offer upgrades for premium versions, but there are several that are completely free to use.
Two of the most popular note-taking tools in today’s market are Google Drive and Evernote. Both offer some great features that can help boost your productivity, but which one might be best suited for your personal needs?
Google Drive
Having surpassed one billion — with a “b” — users in 2018, and with more than two trillion — with a “t” — files stored on the file-hosting service, Google Drive is the industry leader in note-taking and file management software.
Loaded with features, Google Drive is available to anyone with a Gmail account and affords users 15GB of free storage to use across Google Drive and Gmail to store their Drive, Gmail, photos, attachments, and other files.
With Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, Google has provided its free versions of Microsoft Office’s three most popular tools: Word, Excel and PowerPoint, with many of the same features.
And what may be most useful about Google’s three most-used apps, is Google’s ability to search all of them at once for keywords. This can make finding the file you need something you can accomplish in just a few seconds.
Hidden within these features is another yet another feature designed to make life easier. All Google Docs, Sheets and Slides offer the ability to restore previous versions of files. You can check the revision history on just about any document and find the version you want, then simply restore it to return to that version of the document.
Google Drive also offers an app called Forms, which enables users to quickly create, send, and track surveys with an online form, and view the results in an easy-to-digest spreadsheet.
Another great thing about Google Drive is that between your computer and the mobile app, you can access your Drive anytime, anywhere, as long as you have access to a computer, smartphone, or tablet.
And for those with Android phones, scanning documents is a breeze. Simply use your smartphone camera to take a picture and Google Drive will instantly convert important paper documents such as bank statements or receipts to PDFs on your Drive.
Is a file only for your eyes, or are you ready to collaborate with others on a document? Either way, Google Drive makes it extremely easy to keep files private, share with individuals, or share with an entire group in a public folder.
Who has access to your files, what type of access they have – you can set view, comment or edit – and when they have access to it. These permissions can be changed or reversed at any time.
Evernote
While they haven’t quite hit a billion users yet, Evernote is no slouch of a note-taking tool with more than 225 million users around the globe and it’s easy to see why.
There are two premium versions of Evernote available, but it’s free to get started and it’s free version is jam-packed with enough awesome features for most average Joes and Joesphines.
Similar to Google Drive, Evernote is a great tool to store all your content in one place and has plenty of rich formatting options as well as the ability to add attachments.
Perhaps most useful of its unique features, Evernote’s Web Clipper makes it a breeze to clip anything from the web on any device—regardless of browser. Snippets of articles, screenshots, and entire webpages can quickly be clipped and saved with just a few clicks.
Also unique to Evernote is the ability to record and save audio notes straight from your phone or computer. It’s even set up to work with Google Assistant and Siri.
Need to keep a quick list? Check out Evernote’s To-do list feature, which allows you to manage tasks for anything from small items to large projects to help keep you on schedule.
Like Google Drive, Evernote and your files can be accessed from any device.
Evernote has also made sharing easy. Anyone can view files you send them whether or not they have an Evernote account.
Final Comparison: Google Drive vs. Evernote
Now that you know what makes Google Drive and Evernote useful note-taking tools, which should you choose for your next task or project?
While both have their advantages, you can’t really go wrong with either.
If you’re working on a team, Google Drive may offer an advantage. It’s extremely easy to add teammates to a project or assignment, and the ability to restore previous versions of documents can be a useful advantage not just for reverting to old versions of a document, but seeing what changes were made to a document by which collaborators and when they were made.
If you’re looking for a note-taking tool more for personal use than to collaborate with others, Evernote may have the upper hand. Its built-in Web Clipper tool makes clipping anything from the web super simple and the audio recording tool is great for when you want to record an idea and revisit it later.
With both Google Drive and Evernote free to use, and both using SSL to protect your documents and sensitive information, there’s no harm in testing each out to see which tool works best for your needs. So download both and see which you prefer. And if you still can’t decide, feel free to reach out. We’re always happy to help.