How to save hours each month with Evernote Web Clipper

Have you ever tried to copy and paste information off of a webpage only to find that the formatting was super wonky or that it copied everything except the piece of information you truly cared about? Even worse, you didn’t realize it until you went back to use the information later. So frustrating!

Do you wish there was a way to ensure that the information you want is saved just the way you want it? Even better, to do it with two clicks?

There is!

Enter Evernote Web Clipper.

I’ve used Evernote to capture and organize essential information for several years, and I continue to be amazed at how easy the interface is to both store and find information. (Don’t have an Evernote account yet? Sign up for your own Evernote account now. #affiliate)

The Evernote Web Clipper is exactly what it sounds like – a tool that copies (clips) information from any web page and saves it to Evernote.

Even better, it has a smart feature that guesses which Notebook the information should be saved to. And it’s accurate about 95% of the time! (This is the point where I intentionally don’t insert a slightly inappropriate sarcastic comment about real life humans I wish were accurate 95% of the time.)

How to use the Evernote Web Clipper

• Download the free Chrome plugin. If you’re not already using Chrome as your web browser, stop right now and download Chrome. I’ll wait.
• Sign into your Evernote account. You do have LastPass saving all your information securely, right? If not, I’ll wait again.
• Browse the web as usual. I hope this one is self-explanatory.
• Come across information that you need to save. If you’re not sure what this might be, keep reading. That’s next.
• Hit the handy dandy Evernote Web Clipper button on your browser toolbar.
• Review the information auto-populated and make adjustments as needed.
  • Title: auto populates based on the title of the webpage you are viewing
  • Clip: There are several options to determine exactly what you information off the page you want to save. I find the auto selection is accurate about 90% of the time, so it’s worth a quick glance. You can also easily see on the page itself what is selected.
  • Organize: Evernote selects which Notebook the information is most likely to be saved to.
  • Tag: You can manually add any of your existing Evernote tags, or add new tags as needed.
  • Add remark: Include any additional notes you want to remember on the page or why you saved the information.
• Hit “Save.” That’s it, you’re done!

At this point, you might be thinking, “Sarah, that’s great and all. But what would I need to save? I’m reading it online, aren’t I?”

Why yes, yes, you are. Excellent question. There are three primary types of information I find super useful to save using the Evernote Web Clipper.

Three types of information to save using the Evernote Web Clipper:

• Payment and purchase confirmations. You know, the utility bill, the credit card bill, travel confirmations and the endless endless school communications. I always, always save payment and transaction confirmations using the Evernote Web Clipper. This ensures that all my payment confirmations are saved in the same place, and eliminates any risk that an email confirmation didn’t come through. Two clicks and I can save it with Evernote web clipper.
• Articles to read later. I read a lot of articles and blog posts online. Often, I either don’t have time to read the full article, or I know that I want to go back and reference it. With the web clipper, any article is instantly available for me to read later on my terms. Bonus Tip: Tag all of these with a “to read” tag to find them easily!
• Limited time-only pages or offers. This is especially useful when you’re not sure if you want to take advantage of the offer in the limited time frame, but know you might want to purchase the next time it’s available for sale. Saving the sales page while it’s available gives you time to study it in detail and make a decision on your time.

Using Evernote Web Clipper has saved me countless hours of headache trying to save information consistently and then finding that information when I need to use it. If you haven’t already, what are you waiting for? Download and start using Evernote Web Clipper today.

RELATED: One Way to Effectively Organize Digital Information