Hey Evernote: This is how you do it.

At this time, I have only used Alternote for distraction-free mode. This might seem like I’m making very little use of its capabilities, but before you jump to that conclusion read on.

I think it’s no secret that Evernote on the Mac is a clunky, feature-filled beast that has become a little too obsessed with the first part of its name: ever. It’s ever-expanding, tries to do everything, and winds up using every resource your machine has available. The poor “note” has been left behind.

And here is where Alternote comes in and saves Evernote from itself. Evernote, if you’re listening at all, please oh please pay close attention. For years now your company has added dozens of new features while failing to offer what Alternote has created.

Alternote is lightweight, simple to use, and features a distraction-free mode that allows me to use Evernote to capture pure text without getting lost in a sea of notifications. It even goes one step further and offers a wordcount and the option to tag on the fly.

What’s more, Alternote allows me to choose which notebooks I want to see, and this is where it truly shines. My workflow has been utterly transformed. You see, I use both Postach.io and a plugin for WordPress that allows me to publish from Evernote. But I hate writing in Evernote. So what I have been doing is writing inside of ByWord and then copying and pasting my stuff into Evernote. Then I go and add pictures into the note.

My process is now transformed: I draft directly in Alternote, inside the appropriate notebook, with the appropriate Tag, in glorious Distraction-Free mode. When I’m done, I go into the actual Evernote app and drag the pictures into the appropriate places. With a switch of a tag and a quick command-s to start syncing, my article is now published on the web.

Seems like a minor thing, but it’s massive. I can now take out my phone or iPad and go directly to a draft I started working on in the morning. I can take a picture with my phone, pop it right into the draft for my article, and keep on writing.

The app has also allowed me to streamline my journaling: though I love DayOne, I’ve always disliked having one place for my journal and another place for my notes. Now I can consolidate them, and I use TextExpander to add time stamps and dates where appropriate. I may not have all the features that DayOne provides, but the Distraction-Free interface and the ability to search for my journal entries within the same interface I use for my other notes is truly priceless. Especially since I often take photos of my hand-written notes. Now I can pop them in my “Journal” notebook and consolidate them together.

TL;DR I’ve used this app for maybe a week and it’s already become Dock-worthy. Perfect tool for writers. Keep it up guys.

Omar Khafagy about Alternote the Note-taking App, v1.0.2