First Look at Evernote for Gmail Add-On | April 2019
Separately, Gmail and Evernote are brilliantly efficient and effective tools. Bringing them together has great promise in theory, but in actuality, the coupling of two great tools is one mediocre result. This first look at Evernote for Gmail add-on reveals the disappointing first version of this tool.
Does the new Evernote add-on for Gmail send the content of emails to Evernote with one click, including with tags you can preset? Yes.
But does it do so as well or as cleanly as their browser add-on? Not even close.
A Surprising Disappointment
I wouldn’t have been as disappointed if Evernote’s promotional email for the new add-on hadn’t said: “It’s like a Web Clipper for your inbox.”
No. No, it is not.
The promise of a ‘Web Clipper’ for Gmail was an enticing offer from Evernote, the popular app which makes saving notes, ideas, links, videos, images, and more to the Cloud a one-click delight. As something of a self-described fanboy of both Evernote and Gmail, I eagerly downloaded and added the Evernote add-on for Gmail with expectations for a seamless, intuitive experience. After all, the Evernote add-on for web browsers (called Web Clipper) is an essential part of my everyday online life for both professional and personal use.
See for Yourself
These side-by-side images showing Gmail on the left and Evernote on the right highlight the formatting loss. What’s not as obvious until you start to use these new notes, is that the layout is frankly so disjointed and broken on anything beyond text-only emails.
And, yes, I tested this on several browsers with identical (*sigh*) results.
Test #1: Gmail on the left; Evernote on the right
Test #2: Gmail on the left; Evernote on the right
Test #3: Text-only
Evernote for Gmail add-on first look review
To be clear, Evernote is an amazing app. Evernote’s Web Clipper for browsers is stunning. But Evernote’s add-on for Gmail is…functional. That’s about it.
Evernote promised a Web Clipper for Gmail. That would have included some of the same powerful functions, including saving the entire email, a simplified version, or even a screenshot of the email content. None of that kind of functionality is included here, only the ability to add extra Notes or include pre-determined or ad-hoc Tags.
If you mostly have text-only based emails you wish to save to Evernote, then the Evernote add-on for Gmail will work well. But if saving rich HTML emails matters, then the new add-on will likely be disappointing for you, too.
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