How to set up your own basic GTD system inside of Evernote

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How to set up your own basic GTD system inside of Evernote*
*(you don’t HAVE to use Evernote, you could use another tool as a GTD container but I like Evernote)
1. On your Mac and/or PC(s), go to www.evernote.com to set up an account, download and install the software
a. Optional: Install the Evernote App on your smart phone or mobile device
b. Optional: Use the Web browser client for your Desktop computer rather than the software download
c. The FREE version gets you everything you need; After you get into this you may decide you want the
Evernote ‘premium’ features -- subscription for $5/month or $45/year
2. OK now that Evernote is installed, let’s start setting up some GTD notebooks:
a. Under File > choose “New Notebook” (not new Note just yet—we want to first create Notebook as
containers to put your notes in). You can choose whether it’s a “local” notebook (resides on that
computer ONLY and does not synch with other computers or devices) or a “synched” notebook which
will, when connected ot the Internet, keep your notes current across all devices (extremely handy!)
b. Name your first notebook: !nbox
i. (I recommend the exclamation point for the name !nbox so that this stays sorted at the TOP of
your list of notebooks)
c. Next create the following Notebooks
i. @Work-Next Actions
ii. @Work!Waiting For…
iii. @Work-Agendas
iv. @Work-Reference
v. @Work-Someday/Maybe
d. Now I recommend “Grouping” (“stacking”) the @Work notebooks together so you can
expand/contract (much like Group layers in ArcMap). Do this by RIGHT-clicking on one of the @Work
notebooks you just created, and then choose “Add To Stack” > New Stack > . Name the new stack
simply “@Work”. This will make your notes easier to use when at work, or at home, etc.
e. Then RIGHT-click on the rest of your @Work notebooks (@Work-Reference, etc) and simply “Add To
Stack” to put them into the “@Work” stack.
f. Optional: Currently, I also like to put my @Work-Prj-____ (Projects) into notebooks. The steps or tasks
I come up with for each project is ‘brainstormed’ or identified in other ways, and then I put them into
the Prj notebooks (perhaps first the !nbox if I think of something on the fly)…As it comes time to move a
project forward, I simply move the note(s) by dragging & Dropping into the @Work-NextActions
notebook. These things are done during my Weekly Review. I like the Prj (projects) listed out this way
because it gives me this “overview” of the different projects currently going on at work…Not all items
are necessarily “Next Actions” right there and then. You may not want to make your “Projects” as
separate Notebooks; You may want to track those just as a list in a single Note… It’s up to you.

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Here’s my screen shot, with the @Work stack ungrouped and the@Work-Next Actions notebook active
(the notes within this notebook are then listed on the right)
Again, YOUR GTD system does not need to be like mine..I’ve developed this over 3-4 years…but I started out with
something much simpler.

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The other key “GTD” notebooks that you’ll need besides the “!nbox” and those listed above could include:
@Home stack
o @Home-Next Actions
o @Home-Reference
 Things like owner manuals, warranties, project plans, etc
o @Home Someday/Maybe
 Things I might want to do someday, but not now or anytime soon
o NOTE: I do NOT put mundane, super obvious things like “Do Laundry” or “Wash Dishes” in my GTD
system – there’s no point. Those things will be obvious. Instead, I reserve the bigger projects for the
GTD system – things like “Build Fence” or “Purchase Computer”.
*Read/Review stack
o I like to keep notebooks in here that contain things I want to read or review at a later date. For
example, I dump articles in here (perhaps from online), forward in emails that I didn’t have time to read
at the time I got it (but want to); links to blogs I like, various reference information that I would like to
review someday.
o In addition, this is where I put the GTD “Horizons” (read the book)—These are things that trigger things
that I need to take care of (when I’m brainstorming). For example, my 20,000 foot view (Areas of
Responsibility) has about 7 or 8 items; the 30k view has my 1 to 2 year goals; my 40k view (three to 5
year vision) etc. I don’t look at these often, but once in a while it’s good to review these (read the GTD
book and you’ll see why)
o Other misc reference--- This is EXTREMELY handy for docking things you’re interested in, but may not be
“high priority”—hobbies, etc
@iPhone:
o People I need to call ASAP (useful esp if I put the phone number right there—on the road or have 5 min I
can knock off some quick calls)
Finished! notebook
o Here’s my “note graveyard”. When I’m “done” with something (like a note containing an action item,
an email, anything that just MIGHT be useful for future reference…but probably not..) I don’t delete the
note, I dump them into “Finished!”.
o Why? Well, a couple reasons –
 1) I can. Evernote has no limitations on how many notes I keep, and makes searching them so
easy…this “finished’ notebook is tucked away at the bottom of my notebook lists so it doesn’t
really clutter anything up
 2) I do staff reports. I like to query evernote with things like, “Show me all notes I did in the last
30 days at work”. It’s super easy to pull stuff back out to put my staff report together.
 3) It’s not real LIKELY to be useful as future reference, but often these things are. This
“Finished” notebook (where I currently have over 6000 notes) has saved me a lot – I’ve been
able to pull out contact info, emails, jog my memory on something I did for so-and-so 3 months
ago, or 2 years ago, etc.

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OTHER HANDY EVERNOTE functions you’ll want to set up:
Note View options
The View > menu has various ways to view your notes..I like the “Snippet” view personally, but you can experiment with
others.
Screen Clipping:
Working on a project where you want to keep a log of the steps? Perhaps you’ll have to repeat this again next year, and
you don’t want to forget the steps or the output, etc.
An easy way to do this is to use the Evernote “Screen Capture”
Go to Tools > Clipping Preferences > I set the “default” notebook to my !nbox (GTD principle)
Go to Tools > Options > and click the “Hot Keys” tab. I set my “PrintScreen” key to be my “hot key” that brings up my
screen clipper to grab screen shots to dump into my !nbox.
Merge Notes:
After you’re done grabbing your screen clips, they’ll likely be several notes in your !nbox. When you go to process these,
select them all in the list and choose “Merge”. That will take multiple notes and append them together into 1 note
Email stuff into Evernote: Your account comes with an email address to make it easy to simply forward stuff from
your other email account(s). It’s super easy to forward emails into Evernote. However, I strongly suggest you do NOT
simply forward EVERYTHING into Evernote and your GTD system; Rather, process your email inbox like you would in the
GTD system – Filter out the junk before it hits Evernote/GTD..trash all the crap most people get in email. Instead, look
for just the important things—action items, or items potentially useful as reference, and forward THOSE things into your
Evernote inbox.
Tags:
Tags give you awesome ways to pull notes out of your system. You can set up a list of “tags” (or easily create new ones
on the fly). My tags include:
Energy Level: When I’m planning out a project and note some steps that I know I can knock off even when brain
dead at 4:25 PM on a Friday, I’ll sometimes “Tag” those as “Energy: Low”. Anytime I’m not feeling like doing
much, I can just find all notes with that Tag and go ahead and get those things done.
Departments. I do work for various departments – some notes are “action items”; others are “reference”,
others may be “Finished” but if the notes all relate to the same Department, I can pull them back out if I
“tagged’ the notes with the department name.
Key Projects: Some key projects have notes that get stored in the various notebooks (reference, next actions,
projects, finished, read/review, etc). I may “tag” them with the project name just to keep a common thread
between all of the notes that relate to that project. Not usually necessary to pull out ALL project notes, but for
some projects it is handy.

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MOBILE APPS
Evernote can be set to synchronize your notes between your PC and your mobile devices. If you have a smart phone,
get the Evernote app (free).
I’ve found my smart phone to be an AWESOME tool for the “collection” phase of GTD –
Take snapshots with your phone’s camera (Evernote has a snapshot button)
The photos can be set to go right into your !nbox
Evernote will automatically index the image so you can search for text within the image (like OCR)
I’ll take snapshots of paper documents (the iPhone has a good camera for this) and that’s how I quickly “scan”
many documents into Evernote
A few words on using PAPER notes
I almost always take notes on paper in meetings and even just jot down little ideas or thoughts I have on paper. It’s just
quick and easy and doesn’t interrupt the thought process if you do it on paper (as opposed to fumbling with a computer
or device).
Then, I simply take a snapshot with my phone, or scan my paper notes into Evernote
If you don’t feel like imaging your paper notes; DON’T DO IT!
Instead, before you file your paper notes into your folders (or the trash!), simply scan for any important items—
particularly “action items” (per the GTD method) and just note those things into your Evernote account – type them in.
Usually it’s not too much typing to jot a few action items down, so they’re in your trusted system so you are reminded at
the right time and place.
~~~ GOOD LUCK~~~ (read the GTD book by David Allen for more if you’re interested). Note: I have no
affiliation with GTD or Evernote…I just LIKE the process and the product!! Let me know if you have questions
Hope you got something from this– jeff.dumez@gmail.com ~~Jeff DuMez – May 2012.