Something Magical Just Happened While I Was Using Evernote, A Note-Taking App You Have To Start Using

The reason it's so fun to pay close attention to the technology industry is that sometimes, a feature or product will surprise you with an advancement that is such a leap, it feels like you have witnessed magic.

This just happened to me.

I'm working on a profile about a Google executive.

I took 99% of my notes using my laptop or iPhone, writing and storing them in Evernote, an app that syncs between the two.

Then, the other day, I wrote out my outline for the profile in blue pen ink on the back of a some spare printer paper.

I lose physical objects, so I took a photo of the paper with my phone and saved it as a note in Evernote.

Here comes the magical part.

Today, I wanted to make sure I've looked at all my notes on this Google executive I'm profiling. So I searched for his name in Evernote.

And guess what showed up in the results?

The note with the image of the handwritten outline I made … with boxes superimposed on the image, highlighting the places my search query appeared on the page.

Holy moly: My handwritten notes are fully searchable.

Magic!

Evernote, by the way, is a startup based out of Silicon Valley. It's raised a whole bunch of money – including some debt, recently. The plan isn't to IPO anytime soon, CEO Phil Libin keeps telling reporters. The long term goal seems clear; to replace the Microsoft Office suit (and maybe the Adobe creativity suite).

Here's my outline with a box around a search query (I've blurred out some of it):