substitute for Evernote?
September 20, 2015 8:56 AM   Subscribe

I have tried and failed to get Evernote working on my iMac or other Apple devices, so I am looking for a substitute.

I am planning a trip to several cities, and want to save the homepages of the museums and restaurants I might want to visit and refer to them offline. I want to be able to save these so I can check out location, hours, etcetera. Ideally I would be able to add notes of my own to this, and there would be the possibility of sorting them into folders. I have an iMac and iPhone 6. Is there something that does what Evernote does but that works with Apple? As you can tell by this, I am not the most computer-literate, either, so simple is best. Thanks.
posted by uans to Computers & Internet (15 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
It's not a perfect analog, but I'm fond of Pocket
posted by aspersioncast at 9:28 AM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


why not use the original (and very excellent) microsoft onenote? works very well across all your devices and syncs nicely and automatically.
posted by chasles at 9:30 AM on September 20, 2015 [5 favorites]


This isn't the question you asked, but perhaps we could help you get Evernote running if that's what you'd rather be running? Do you get an error message on install or anything? I have a pile of Apple devices that are happily running Evernote, including the iphone 6 that I'm posting this from. :-)
posted by joycehealy at 9:35 AM on September 20, 2015 [3 favorites]


When taking a trip last year, I did the same thing using a combination of Instapaper and the built in Notes app.
posted by ejs at 9:36 AM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'm not sure why you're having trouble with evernote... I've been using it for years, syncing between pc, iOS, android, and mac.

But anyway, a really simple alternative that's for mac only (and iOS and android) is Simplenote. And onenote is great, too.

But evernote is really the best choice for what you want... what issues are you having?
posted by Huck500 at 9:40 AM on September 20, 2015


Response by poster: Yes, I get an error message even trying to install.
posted by uans at 9:53 AM on September 20, 2015


Given that Evernote specifically excels at web clipping and annotating etc (although you'll need to get Evernote Plus or Premium to access offline on mobile), it might be worth addressing the problems you're having with it, as there's no reason why it can't work with your Apple stuff.
posted by howfar at 9:55 AM on September 20, 2015


I finally got sick of the bloated kitchen-sink ponderousness of EverNote (when what I really want 99% of the time is just to start typing in a text note as quickly as possible) and switched to Notational Velocity, which is text only but recognizes URLs (so you can just add a list of museum homepage URLs to a note and click them to open in your browser) and is very very fast, plus it syncs across devices with SimpleNote.
posted by contraption at 10:13 AM on September 20, 2015


What’s the error message you get when you try to install it?
posted by bcwinters at 10:25 AM on September 20, 2015


I use Evernote for exactly this purpose on several different Apple devices. Works fine.

You should describe better the trouble that you're running into. Maybe someone can help get you up and running.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:33 AM on September 20, 2015


I use both OneNote and a Evernote for different things, and I like OneNote just fine. I like Evernote better, but OneNote works well. I use it on my iPad and work PC.
posted by holborne at 10:33 AM on September 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Like most everyone else here, I'm happily running Evernote on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Pro.

But, since you're looking for alternatives, I'll go with contraption and recommend Notational Velocity on your iMac syncing with SimpleNote on your iPhone, using the SimpleNote sync service. You can even set it up with Drafts if you have that on your iPhone. Fast and easy.
posted by ralan at 10:38 AM on September 20, 2015


If you're using iOS 9, there have been improvements made to the native Notes app which allow for saving attachments and webpages. It syncs nicely with iCloud, so you can use the Notes app on your mac as well (though, maybe depends on which version of OS X you have? On Yosemite, anyway, it works ok). More info here.

I still use Evernote because it is cross platform with (so far) better features, and it's strange that you are having installation issues. Did you try installing it from the App Store or downloading it from the Evernote website? If one didn't work maybe try the other.
posted by bluefly at 11:46 AM on September 20, 2015


Apple notes app (updated on iOS to iOS 9.0
posted by prk60091 at 3:24 PM on September 20, 2015


Couldn't you just use the Evernote web app?

If not, I second the suggestion of Pocket. It's my favorite app, and I don't know what I'd do without it.
posted by kevinbelt at 5:04 PM on September 20, 2015


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