Setup (continued):

The next two settings options are very similar; the first is for file naming and the second is for email subject naming template. Here you can select from some pre-configured options like page number, date, etc. to name each file, if you didn’t use the double hashtag method mentioned above.



But the most important part of the setup is going to be found under Destinations. Here is where you will set what each icon’s destination will be. As mentioned at the beginning you have (7) icons and you can set each one to be something different but you can’t set an icon to go to two places. For each icon you have the ability to set the file type you want it stored as (PDF or JPEG), you can choose to bundle scans so you can have multiple pages sent as one file, enable auto send, and animate GIFs. I found the bundling of scans to be quite useful since often each meeting will end up being several pages. Rather than having a few pages for each meeting I simply have one file now.



Performance:

While I love new technology I am a bit old school when it comes to notes and books. I like the feel of paper and the ability to easily jump around between pages to refer back to things. Things I find difficult to do with more modern tech, plus I truly despise the clickity clack of multiple laptops in meetings. Especially when you can tell some are not even taking notes! But at first I was not too thrilled with the feel, it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. As mentioned the pages are a bit slick and the Pilot FriXion pen takes a bit to get used to. Truth be told this is due more to my lack of penmanship; I have always preferred the feel of a somewhat rough page and a mechanical pencil since the extra friction seemed to allow me to have a little more control and write neater. That isn’t to say I can’t write neatly in this notebook, it just takes a bit more effort and thought to slow my motions a bit. But this is almost a necessity with this notebook anyway since the ink takes about 15 seconds to fully adhere to the page. Due to this dry time I found the ink was a bit more prone to streak if I wasn’t careful. But once I got used to the slick feel I actually adjusted pretty well. I still don’t have the neatest writing but I was able to write neat enough that the OCR could detect my characters >95% of the time. The one drawback I found with the OCR was that you lost all formatting. It would have been nice to have this detect the characters but keep their placement on the page so you can see how they relate with sketches, charts etc.

Using the app to scan your notes was super easy and intuitive, I also like the fact that you have the option to decide after scanning to send it to the correct destination if you forgot to check an icon. This was a big problem for me at the beginning just because it wasn’t something I was accustomed to doing. But there was another difficulty; while they provide an index on the cover for you to fill in destinations per icon, no matter how long I let the page dry the ink never stayed. I could simply wipe it away with my finger.

After using this notebook for several meetings I realized just how versatile this is. This is the perfect notebook for travelers. No longer do you have to fear you’re going to lose your notes since you know they will be backed up. I also found it incredibly useful for meetings where you wouldn’t want the current client being able to see notes from other clients. With this notebook you simply scan the notes and wipe it clean. While it is possible to see some of the previous text, it is very difficult to decipher unless you are very heavy handed and press hard on the page. I can also see this being extremely useful for designers; those that need to keep accurate time dated notes for future patent applications. This Rocketbook Everlast notebook does all of this and more with ease.

Another unexpected advantage was the availability of these Pilot FriXion pens in multiple colors and not just from Rocketbook. I was able to find these at local office supply stores and Amazon.com so you won’t end up paying a fortune for some proprietary consumable. I can see these colored pens being useful to make charts and graphs really stand out.