I’ve been using Evernote since November 2009, so you’d think I ‘d know how to use it by now.

You’d think that, but I swear I recently spent a good ten seconds staring at the Evernote Windows toolbar, trying to find the button to add a new note.  Try to quickly spot the button to add a new note, without reading the text:

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If you cheated and read the text you can probably saw it immediately, largely because it says “New Note” right next to it.

But I was scanning the icons, and the “New Note” icon didn’t jump out at me.  In fact my eyes were drawn to the one icon that screams “Add something” to me.  Can you guess which one it is? (hint, the one with the big “+”).

It turns out I only ever use the toolbar for two things: for syncing, and creating new notes.  Everything else, such as sharing, I do by right-clicking on a note.

My solution: If you right-click the toolbar, and select “Customize toolbar”, then you can drag all the items you never use off the toolbar.  You can also take away the text labels.

This is my new simple toolbar:

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The icon still doesn’t say “Add Note” to me, but since I’ve only got a choice between that button and the sync button, I’m pleased to report I create new notes without hesitation.

You can do this with both the Windows and Mac clients.

Next up: How I use Evernote Tags