The Everlast Notebook by Rocketbook: A Modern Way to Write on Paper

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Updated 4/2021

The Everlast Notebook is for writers who like the feel of writing on paper, but don’t want to give up the convenience that comes with technology. Some writers are old-school and prefer paper, some are new school and love computers, and then there’s a little group like me that are stuck somewhere in between. I grew up right when computers and technology were beginning to boom, and always had this yearning for computer writing (no scribbles and cross-outs! Just backspace and delete, so clean…) but spent most of my time using pen and paper because we didn’t have a computer at home yet. Now, as an adult with easy access to a laptop and mobile phone and my trusty iMac desktop (computers everywhere!), I write mostly on screens and keyboards. BUT, I have also developed a deep appreciation for the finer points of writing on paper. The feel of the pen, the convenience and “screen free” experience that keeps me more in tune with my mind and my environment, and the lack of distractions from email and social media.

So… as one solution to balancing these two different worlds enter the Everlast notebook by Rocketbook.

Everlast Notebook: What is it exactly?

The Everlast by Rocketbook is a hybrid notebook of sorts — it gives the traditional “write on paper” experience but is also connected to high-tech cloud services for taking your handwritten notes and masterpieces into the digital realm. It has pages that look and feel just like paper. It is paper! It’s just special paper. A little smoother than some types maybe, but definitely looks and feels like paper. The magic happens when you write on it using any pen from the Pilot Frixion line. The ink goes down just like you’d expect but with two distinct differences:

The ink looks and feels permanent to the touch (it needs about 20 seconds to dry or it will smear) but even weeks later add water and a microfiber towel and it completely disappears in an instant.
Use your pen to mark one of a few special places on the page and the Rocketbook app (iPhone, Android) will automatically send your work (after a quick scan with your smartphone) to whatever cloud service you choose (email, Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, etc).

What the Everlast does

It can bundle pages together into PDF files (you can choose which pages are bundled together, and which are not). There are all kinds of ways this could be utilized but for me notes I take while watching webinars and blogging courses is a big one. I can still take notes on paper like I usually do, but no more pages and pages handwritten notes getting lost and disorganized on my desk. Just an instant, appropriately-named PDF file on my computer.
You can use hand-written hashtags on your notes to specify the file name that Rocketbook assigns when it scans in your pages. This is an awesome organizational tool and time saver!
You can’t let written pages sit for more than a month or so — after that the ink may become harder to remove/erase. (This is something I’ll have to be careful of.)
It can read and transcribe your handwriting! As long as you write legibly.
The app has a LOT of features but is still surprisingly easy to use.
Heat also erases the pages, so don’t leave important notes in a hot car, etc or you may come back to blank notes!
The pages are not lined but instead have a faint dot grid. So the Rocketbook works for writing as well as bullet journaling.

What it doesn’t do

Save writing forever. The instructions say you shouldn’t leave writing on the pages for more than a month. So it’s not a notebook to fill up and store on a shelf. Write it, transfer it to digital storage somewhere, and then erase and start again. *I personally have forgotten about a page or two for upwards up 6 months and it removes about 99% of the way. Leaves a slight shadow that (in my case anyway) isn’t picked up by the digital scan.
Have tons and tons of pages. It’s a thin little notebook, designed for a session or two of work and brainstorming. Then erase and start again. Don’t plan a whole semester of notes or a long-term project kept in it all at once (although you can certainly organize the pages digitally to do that).

What I think of it

I’m a sucker for new tech but also often love the old ways of doing things, and so the Everlast Rocketbook presents a fascinating way for me to combine the two when it comes to writing and blogging. And while it’s expensive for a notebook (about $30) based on what it offers I feel like it’s a pretty good deal. I have some serious inefficiencies in my writing workflow and feel like this could really change things up and save me some time! I’m just getting started with it but I’m loving it so far — I haven’t been this excited for a writing gadget in a long time. Click here to check out the Everlast Rocketbook notebook yourself.

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