Email newsletters are an excellent source for receiving notifications, updates, and the latest resources from your favorite sources. One of the reasons Email newsletters are so effective (for both the sender the recipient) is that the content comes to you. You don’t have to visit a specific web page or RSS reader. It sits in your inbox, awaiting your attention.
Benefits aside, there is a downside. One you’ve likely experienced. That is the inevitable over-crowded inbox. In this article, we’ll explore how you can use Evernote as a tool for receiving, maintaining, and organizing Email newsletters while leaving your Email inbox for other things.
Why Not Just Stick to Email?
For me, it’s a personal goal to end each day with an empty inbox. Regularly cleaning out and organizing mail not only lessens the likelihood of missing something important, but quickens the action taken on Email as a whole.
For this reason alone, it’s imperative that only the most important messages find their way into my inbox each day. To help with this, I utilize Evernote as a mechanism for receiving my Email newsletters and subscriptions.
Utilizing Evernote in this way saves me from having to rely solely on an Email organization structure and shifts rather to the app’s powerful search functionality for retrieving messages.
When it comes to tackling the inbox, having less Email, in general, is a big help. That’s where the subscribing via Evernote idea becomes so valuable.
Regardless of the volume of messages you receive or the method for which you keep your Email tidy, receiving fewer messages can save you more time than you realize. Plus, the ability to easily organize (and find) old Email newsletters can prove quite useful.
Best of all, you can fire up Evernote when you’re good and ready rather than important correspondence being interrupted by the latest Labor Day sales.
How to Setup Evernote to Receive Email Newsletters
Before diving into the “how” it’s important to note that I’m not the ingenious originator of this “subscribe via Evernote” concept. Michael Hyatt mentioned it in a podcast where he listed a variety of unconventional uses for Evernote. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to listen to the podcast.
Introductions aside, here’s the process for setting up Evernote as your new Email subscription manager.
First, click the “Me” dropdown from within Evernote and select “Account Info:”
Next, click the “More Account Settings” button:
When the web page opens, scroll down to the “Email notes to” section where you can find your Evernote account Email address. Any mail sent to this address will be converted into a note and synced into your Evernote account.
From this part on, it’s pretty straightforward. Simply subscribe to all your favorite Email newsletters with this Evernote address using the normal subscription methods.
Just as though you were using an Email client, you’ll need to jump into Evernote and be sure to “confirm” any of the Email subscriptions that require a double-opt-in. Once done, you’re set and ready to use Evernote as your Email subscription reading and storing platform.
Side note: you’ll likely want to devote a chunk of time unsubscribing in your Email client and re-subscribing via Evernote side-by-side for a more streamlined approach. Following this process ensures your subscriptions aren’t missed in the process.
Side-side note: As Michael mentioned in his podcast, this is also a great way to save an archive of all of your own Email newsletters.
What About Spam?
If you’re a veteran Email newsletter subscriber, you’ve likely discovered that as an Email floats out there for a while it starts magically finding its way onto lists to which you never subscribed.
Evernote’s Email address is no exception and even has a further setback in that there’s no “spam filter” in Evernote.
Fortunately, they offer the ability to “reset” your Evernote Email address should spam ever become a problem:
Conclusion
With everything explored here, hopefully, you’ll consider giving the Evernote methodology a try. If nothing else, it will provide an avenue to reevaluate the amount of Email you receive and explore ways to streamline your workflow. With Evernote (and Email for that matter) I’ve found that it’s only as efficient as you make it.
Question: have you ever found yourself unsubscribing from a genuinely useful Email newsletter simply to spare your inbox? Feel free to leave a comment below to share your thoughts!
