Evernote
Long-running notes app built around clipping and searching everything
Holds typed notes, clipped web pages, photographs, PDFs and forwarded email in one searchable store that syncs across devices. It was the default second-brain app through most of the 2010s and still has the strongest clipper of the older tools. Pricing rose sharply under new ownership, which pushed many long-time users elsewhere.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Tiago ForteDoes it
Productivity writer · Building a Second Brain
Evernote is the notes app he says he uses and recommends, picked for simplicity and for the range of sources it will take. Everything he captures across a week, about 15 to 30 notes, gets filed into notebooks in one batch when he sits down for his weekly review.
Source: fortelabs.com: The One-Touch Guide to Doing a Weekly Review
Aimed at the same thing
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Syncs your highlights and resurfaces them a few at a time
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Website and app blocker
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On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 2 recommend it - AppFREE, no cost
Notion
Flexible workspace used as a second brain, wiki and task system
On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it - App$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe's video editor, the default in most professional edit bays
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - AppFREE, no cost
Apple Notes
The note app that ships on every Mac, iPhone and iPad, synced through iCloud
On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it
App entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.