In early August, Evernote, a note-taking application that I’ve been using since 2008, announced a 40% price increase. Well, that was it! The final straw.
So I’m now mourning a breakup with one of the most important and significant research tools that I’ve used for nearly two decades.
But what changed? Sure, the price hike to $249 per year was the final straw, but there were already significant problems happening that added friction and struggle and made it necessary to let Evernote go.
Bye-bye Features I would never use
First, back in the fall of 2025, new features started to roll out. They added a bunch of business features that I would never use. I’m a solo author and a one-person business. There’s no need for advanced project sharing options, team communications, or even meeting templates.
Second, they had deprecated my older laptop. I could no longer update the software to use the application on my portable computer. Essentially, I could no longer work on my computer at coffee shops, on trips, or even in the comfort of my own home. My computer was just too old. Still functional, but not worthy of an Evernote update.
And finally, the AI features “broke” the search functionality I relied on to find my work. I treated my Evernote system like a collection of buckets that I would drop data into, and then use search to bring it back up using keyword search terms.
Bye-bye AI interference
However, AI believes it knows more than I do, so it wouldn’t delve past the four years of research. Older images, notes, and information were just not getting searched. Just because I put a picture into the database in 2016 doesn’t mean that it’s less relevant to me today!
But also, AI made it impossible for me to write paragraphs in my own voice at the top of the notes. Specialty language was getting “dumbed down.” Arabic, Turkish, and even Italian and German words were getting auto-translated for me. No, I really did say “Assiut,” not “Assault.” Yes, I did mean “Tabla,” not “Table.”
Digital Packing to Relocate my Knowledge Base
Ultimately, I had to make a decision: drop everything and get my database moved onto my own local hard drive. It took me about 40 hours of time to merge and combine notes, update title formatting, and delete outdated information that I was never going to use. Do I really need “The Top Five Drugstore Red Lipsticks of 2004?” Probably not.
The job had to be completed by Sept. 7th. This deadline was the day after my birthday! So I spent two weeks in August assessing, deleting, retitling, and downloading my research database.
Hello Obsidian
So what’s next? I’ve downloaded Obsidian, and I’m going to spend some quality time learning this new local note-taking and knowledge management system.
It’s going to take me a while to get everything settled, learn the new system, and build new techniques to go with my established habit of note-taking.
But boy, that wasn’t how I planned to spend my August!
Cheers to a new research season, a fresh application, and many more future hours of research!
Now back to the drawing board!
~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina