AI Assistant

Introduction

The Evernote AI Assistant helps you read, search, and work with the information stored in your Evernote notes. Developed in close collaboration with OpenAI, it brings the power of large-language models directly into Evernote.

Note: The AI Assistant is currently being rolled out to customers on Advanced and Enterprise plans. We’ll be making it available to other users soon.

How to access the AI Assistant

Please Note: The AI Assistant is not yet supported on mobile, but it’s coming soon.

In the desktop and web app, click the AI Assistant button in the lower-right corner to open a drawer and start a conversation.

Within the assistant drawer, you’ll see several icons:

Expand/collapse – open the drawer full screen or collapse it
New chat – start a fresh conversation
Chat history – review, rename, or delete previous chats
Close – exit the drawer without erasing your conversation
Tools menu (+) – access extra features, like web search
Send (upwards arrow) – submit your message
Copy response – copy a reply to your clipboard
Feedback (thumbs up/down) – rate the response

What the AI Assistant can do

The AI Assistant is designed to help you create, organize, and retrieve information from your notes using natural language. It works with both the note you currently have open and your entire Evernote account.

When you ask a question, the assistant automatically determines what information to use as context. It prioritizes the text you’ve selected or the note open on your screen, and if needed, expands to your other notes to find relevant content. If your request can’t be answered using your notes, the assistant may suggest using its built-in knowledge or searching the web.

It processes the text in your notes, and it will soon be able to process content inside supported attachments as well, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

Important note: When you want the AI Assistant to recognize specific notes, notebooks, or tags, make sure to use @-mentions (e.g., @Recipes, @Travel). This signals the assistant which entities to focus on and ensures it retrieves or manipulates the correct content.

Search and information retrieval

Search your notes semantically – Find information using natural language queries, not just keywords.
Ask contextual questions – Retrieve facts, dates, or names directly from your notes.
Summarize across sources – Read multiple notes and provide concise overviews.
Cite your sources – Replies include which notes were used to generate them.
Filter results – Limit searches to specific notebooks, tags, or time frames.
Search the web – Extend your search beyond your notes using the Tools (+) menu.

👉🏻 e.g. “Find all my notes related to my upcoming Barcelona trip.”

👉🏻 e.g. “What was the deadline for the assignment in @Literature - Semester II?”

Summarize, rewrite, and improve text

Summarize content – Condense a note or selection into a short, clear version.
Rewrite and adjust tone – Make text sound more formal, concise, or natural.
Translate text – Convert notes into other languages.
Fix grammar and clarity – Improve readability without losing meaning.
Preserve formatting – Retains formatting like bold, italics, and lists where supported.
Reformat content – Turn text into tables, quotes, lists, or paragraphs.

👉🏻 e.g. “Rewrite this draft as a formal email.”

👉🏻 e.g. “Summarize all my notes in @Travel notebook.”

Tip: When the assistant generates text for you, try selecting “Insert on cursor” in the option menu instead of “Insert below.” The text you selected in the note will be replaced with the newly generated one!

Organize and manage content

Move notes between notebooks or spaces.
Add existing tags to notes.
List incomplete or completed tasks and summarize them by due date, notebook, or space. Creating and editing tasks is coming soon!

👉🏻 e.g. “Move @Pad Thai to my @Recipes notebook.”

👉🏻 e.g. “Add @travel-plans tag to this note.”

👉🏻 e.g. “List my unfinished tasks in the @Work Projects notebook.”

Get help and learn about Evernote

Ask how to use features — the assistant can explain tools and workflows, referencing Evernote’s Help & Learning Center.
Search the web for additional context — for example, travel ideas or research sources.

👉🏻 e.g. “How do I share a space with someone else?”

👉🏻 e.g. “Suggest additions to my itinerary that aren’t in my notes.”

Bonus tip: The AI assistant can also switch between light and dark themes in the app. Try it!

What the AI Assistant can’t do (yet)

The Evernote AI Assistant is constantly being improved, with new features and capabilities added over time. There are some current limitations:

Content and formatting: Can’t rename, delete, export, or share notes outside Evernote; not all formatting tools (highlight, color, alignment, font changes) are supported.
Files and media: Can’t read or edit Word, Excel, audio, or video files.
Tasks and events: Can’t create, edit, or complete tasks or interact with your calendar events yet.
External connections: Can’t interact with other apps (like Gmail or Google Calendar), create support tickets, or perform account-level actions on your behalf.
Process content in attachments: Can't extract OCR-processed text from PDFs and images like standard search does. This capability will be available soon.

Troubleshooting common errors

If the AI Assistant isn’t responding as expected, you can try the following:

Assistant stuck on “Searching notes…” — Try sending a new message, as it may be a temporary issue.
“There was an error while generating the assistant's response.” — Simply retry your request.
“An error occurred while searching your notes. Please try again later.” — Semantic search failed. Simply retry your request.
“The provided input is too large to be handled.” — The note exceeds current size limits. Try opening a new chat or only selecting a portion of text.
The assistant isn’t recognizing a note, notebook, or tag — Try using @-mentions (e.g., @Recipes, @Travel) to specify the item. This often enables the assistant to recognize the correct entity, making its responses more reliable and accurate.

FAQs

Can I disable or hide the AI Assistant if I don’t want to use it?

Yes, absolutely. In your settings, you will find a toggle to decide which AI features you would like to enable in your account.

On desktop/web: Go to Settings > Preferences > AI features, and toggle off AI Assistant.

Can I undo or revert the changes the AI makes to my notes?

Yes. For example, for some actions performed by the assistant, you’ll see Undo and Go to notebook options.

Can the AI Assistant interact with shared notebooks or notes owned by others?

Yes, it can access all notes visible in your account, including shared notes.

Does the AI Assistant work in languages other than English?

Yes. It uses the language of your request, or you can ask it to respond in a different language.

Do I need a specific plan or subscription level to use it?

The AI Assistant is currently being rolled out to customers on Advanced and Enterprise plans. We’ll be making it available to other users soon.

Is the AI Assistant available on all devices?

Currently, it’s available on desktop and web. Mobile support is coming soon.

Are there usage limits?

The note used as context is limited to about 1 MB of text, ensuring smooth performance. If a note or request exceeds this limit, the assistant may ask you to reduce or split your content.

Safeguard limits also apply to the length of the chat to ensure performance and prevent abuse. If you reach your usage limit, you’ll be asked to start a new chat.

Does the Assistant remember past chats?

No, it doesn’t retain memory between conversations; each chat is independent.

Can I recover or delete previous conversations with the AI Assistant?

Yes. Open the assistant and click the clock with a circular arrow button to view the Chat history. From there, you can rename, delete, or continue any past conversation. Conversations deleted from that list cannot be recovered.

How does Evernote protect my privacy and data when using the AI Assistant?

See Evernote’s AI Features FAQ.

Will the AI Assistant learn from my personal notes to improve over time?