Meet AI in Evernote: Practical, Optional & Secure
Oct 14 2024 | Issue 14 | Link to this issue | Subscribe
Hi Reader –
I'm excited to begin a 3-part series showing you how AI features are appearing in Evernote.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore the AI tools that are designed to improve your Evernote experience—without compromising control or security. Today, you’ll learn about AI Transcription.
Coming up, I’ll tell you about AI Edit, which helps you clean up and summarize text. Then we’ll review how to use AI-Powered Search — a helpful way to search your notes using natural language.
AI Transcription
Evernote has always been great at helping you capture and find information. Since the beginning, it's been a market leader in indexing and searching the text inside the images you save to Evernote (even handwriting).
Now, the new AI Transcription options expand this opportunity to audio by giving users an easy way to convert audio and video content into text that is editable and searchable. And, for images, users can effortlessly extract and edit the text that appears in images.
Let’s start with how to transcribe audio, then we’ll look at transcription applied to images.
Transcribing Audio
Evernote can transcribe your voice recordings, audio, and video attachments in over 50 languages and up to 25MB in size. Over time, it’s expected that this attachment size limitation will increase.
Note there's no audio in this .gif demo but this shows how simply it works. Try it out!
Supported file types include:
Audio: mp3, m4a, wav, aac, mpga
Video: mp4, mpg, webm
How to use it:
First, record or attach an audio/video file in a note.
You'll notice a green-to-blue gradient button labeled "Transcribe" next to your audio file that looks like this:
Next, click "Transcribe" to opt into the AI transcription process. The first time, you'll be asked to confirm your opt-in, ensuring you're aware that relevant data will be sent to the AI engine (it does not train the engine).
Evernote will then transcribe the audio and place the text in a quote block below the source file. You can edit and work with the text as desired.
Popular use cases:
Meetings and lectures: Record important discussions and have them transcribed for summarization and easy reference in the future.
Interviews and brainstorming sessions: Capture ideas from fluid conversations and turn them into editable text and action items.
Frictionless mobile capture of ideas and tasks: It's often easier to talk vs type when we are on the go with our phones. Now you can speak your ideas and to-do’s into Evernote and use AI Transcribe to convert them into text you can organize later.
Transcribing Images
Evernote users save lots of images to Evernote. These images often contain text. For example, a picture of a recipe card, a receipt scan, a whiteboard photo, or an image of handwritten notes from the client meeting you jotted down in your Moleskine notebook.
Words in these images have always been OCR indexed by Evernote – meaning that the text and handwriting inside images you store in Evernote have always been searchable.
But now the text and handwriting that is in your images can be extracted from the image and added as editable text in your notes. It’s a powerful time saver.
How to use it:
Add an image of your handwritten notes to a note (snap a photo or attach an image).
Hover over or select the image. A "Transcribe" button will appear in the top right corner of the image.
Click "Transcribe" to convert all words in the image (both typed and handwritten) into text.
The transcribed text will appear in a quote block below the image. You can edit, copy, and work with that text however you want.
Evernote AI image transcription demo on handwriting. Pretty amazing!
Use case ideas:
I’m using this feature a lot. I’ve been surprised by how often pulling the text out of an image is a quick time saver!
For example, on my phone, I’ve been screenshotting the list of Evernote feature updates from the app store when Evernote updates is mobile app. Then I use AI Transcribe to pull out that text from the image so that I don’t have to type it out when updating my Academy members on what’s new in the app.
My Academy members are sharing great use cases too. Here’s one posted just a few days ago:
🧠 Academy Members: Get the details and join the discussion about Heidi's AI Transcription idea here.
The Verdict (so far) on AI Transcription
Early feedback has been outstanding. Academy members (and users in general) are impressed with the transcription quality, especially with handwriting and multiple languages.
With Evernote's built-in document scanner, you can now do so more than "just" digitize your handwritten notes, meeting notes, business cards, and other bits of paper. Now these documents are fully editable!
Should You Trust Evernote’s AI Integration?
AI has the power to transform many things we do — including how we take and manage our notes. I'm not here to convince you it's a must-have or to dive into debates about its pros and cons. Using AI is an individual choice, and one based on each user's comfort level with the opportunities and risks AI presents.
As you decide if Evernote's AI is for you, here's what I think is important to know. Evernote is carefully and thoughtfully integrating AI to enhance your experience, all while keeping you in control.
Here are a few examples:
Visual Cues for AI Features
To help you know when AI features are available, Evernote has given them a distinct look. Buttons that trigger AI features have a green-to-blue gradient (like you see in the AI Transcription button shown above).
This visual cue ensures you can easily identify and choose when to engage with AI features.
AI features are completely optional
You choose when (or if) you want to use them. If AI isn’t your thing, no problem — you’ll continue to enjoy Evernote as you always have. Simply don’t click the button to activate the AI Transcription feature.
Your data stays private and secure
Even when you use AI features, Evernote doesn't use your data to train AI models. Your notes remain your own. This is stated in Evernotes supplemental terms that you agree to when you opt-into using Evernote’s AI Features.
Evernote’s parent company, Bending Spoons, is at the forefront of AI innovation
Their expertise means Evernote is in good hands. While they are an AI-centric company, I see Evernote easing into AI cautiously, ensuring that new features are introduced with a strong focus on security, privacy, and practicality. And, getting familiar with Evernote’s Privacy Policy is something all users should do.
Next week I'll show you how to make your notes even more efficient with just a few clicks — using Evernote's AI Edit, a tool to help you clean up and summarize text.
Cheers to your productivity,
Stacey
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