Evernote has rolled out a new “Work Chat” feature to its web and mobile applications which allows users of its online note-taking and collaboration software to discuss ideas and projects directly in the Evernote interface itself, instead of having to shift those conversations over to email. Additionally, when you email a note to someone, it will now show up in Work Chat automatically, allowing you to keep a permanent history of your communications.
This feature was previously announced at the beginning of the month by the company, which said it would be “coming soon” to all major desktop, web, mobile and tablet versions of Evernote. From the looks of things, however, the update has not yet made it to the desktop software at this point. We’re currently seeing it on web, iOS and Android. We’re not yet seeing it on the Mac App Store, but it has arrived on Windows, it seems. (And the Mac App Store could just be a staged rollout – we’ve reached out to Evernote for details.)
Work Chat is a feature that’s designed to increase the collaboration possibilities within the Evernote software, by allowing users to quickly share notes or entire notebooks with colleagues in order to get their feedback. You can chat with either just one person, or a group, and you can optionally sync the app with your Google Contacts, too.
When you start a chat with another user, they’re notified both in the app and via an email message that informs them of the chat and offers a button which, when clicked, launches Evernote.
Evernote will also begin to display the faces of your teammates involved with chats related to a particular file or notebook as small, rounded profile icons in your note and your notebooks lists.
The feature, which Evernote CEO Phil Libin said was one of the most requested to date, is mainly a way to reduce emails within an organization. But it’s not designed to allow multiple users to collaborate on documents in real-time.
The feature is live now on web and mobile, and should arrive on the desktop soon – the company had previously promised Chat would arrive in “late 2014.”
Chat was one of many new features for the Evernote software announced in October, including a smart AI-like function called Context that surfaces related links to what you’re writing, and an updated “distraction-free” web application.
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Post updated, 2:35 pm et to include Windows info.