(Archived) REQUEST: Force LAN sync

[krisnet 4]

I used to be a heavy dropbox user and there is a very nice feature - force LAN sync - it's really handy b/c sometimes it takes a while to connect via EN servers and make a sync. I don't know how much time & effort would it take but it's great to have my devices sync'd between each other. Would this be possible in some time in the future?

[sterlingz 7]

This has been raised before on other threads, and I could not agree more. This is not just a nicety, it's essential functionality.

I just bought a new MacBook Air, and when I installed Evernote tried to do an initial sync (several GB of data), it just totally crapped out and stalled. I ended up having to copy my Evernote database from my master computer, and then go back and delete all of my offline notebooks (which I did not want taking up the limited storage on my laptop due to the fact that Evernote is missing another killer Dropbox feature - selective sync). Very, very poor user experience.

Compare that with Dropbox, where my entire 4GB folder was synced across the LAN (on WiFi) flawlessly, in a matter of minutes.

The way the two services handled the data migration to a new machine could not have been more different. Evernote utterly failed, requiring manual intervention. Even if the initial sync had worked, it would have taken hours to retrieve the data from Evernote servers. This is just not practical. For Premium users, with a 500MB monthly limit and databases growing into the gigabytes, it's just ridiculous to have to re-download data from the cloud that's already on our network in order to have multiple machines in sync. I have a Mac Mini that I use infrequently, but when I do use it, the Evernote sync takes forever because it has to download all the data since the last time I used it from the cloud. And lack of LAN sync makes the prospect of migrating to a new machine quite unpleasant.

Please prioritize this feature for future releases.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I used to be a heavy dropbox user and there is a very nice feature - force LAN sync - it's really handy b/c sometimes it takes a while to connect via EN servers and make a sync. I don't know how much time & effort would it take but it's great to have my devices sync'd between each other. Would this be possible in some time in the future?

Probably not:

viewtopic.php?f=37&t=6854&p=25663&hilit=lan#p25663

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=17721&p=71740&hilit=wifi#p71740

Evernote utterly failed, requiring manual intervention. Even if the initial sync had worked, it would have taken hours to retrieve the data from Evernote servers. This is just not practical. For Premium users, with a 500MB monthly limit and databases growing into the gigabytes, it's just ridiculous to have to re-download data from the cloud

I don't know why you consider it such a big deal to move the database when migrating from one computer to the other. Takes me about oh, 2 minutes or less. Plus, you'd have to do something on this order if you have local notebooks anyway. NBD.

[sterlingz 7]

Evernote utterly failed, requiring manual intervention. Even if the initial sync had worked, it would have taken hours to retrieve the data from Evernote servers. This is just not practical. For Premium users, with a 500MB monthly limit and databases growing into the gigabytes, it's just ridiculous to have to re-download data from the cloud

I don't know why you consider it such a big deal to move the database when migrating from one computer to the other. Takes me about oh, 2 minutes or less. Plus, you'd have to do something on this order if you have local notebooks anyway. NBD.

I do use local notebooks, but I keep multiple GBs in the cloud. I had to copy my entire database, and then go back and delete all of the local notebooks from the database on my copied Evernote library to clear up that space. The whole point is that I didn't want those local notebooks on my laptop - that's why they're local on my master desktop in the first place.

I work with a lot of different computers, and I migrate frequently. The Evernote experience is not good. I've never had a clean download without errors starting a new Evernote install from scratch. I've always had to resort to a manual copy which is not exactly confidence inspiring.

My current issues were with the Mac client Beta 1, but I've had it consistently choke pulling down large amounts of data on previous Mac clients in the past.

[engberg 89]

No, we do not plan to implement local synchronization. This would be extremely hard to do correctly in conjunction with our server-based sync, and we'd rather put those resources into fixing any (specific) server-based synchronization issues you're mentioning.

Thanks

[jfwarrior 6]

I think it'd be immensely useful though if LAN sync was implemented in Evernote. Would be extremely useful to people who have bandwidth caps/really slow internet access.

[Metrodon 2,184]

I think if the top Techie at EN says that they aren't going to do it then it's safe to assume that this won't happen and move on.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I think if the top Techie at EN says that they aren't going to do it then it's safe to assume that this won't happen and move on.

+1

[engberg 89]

Top Techie!

Huzzah.

[Metrodon 2,184]

We can always move you the Helpdesk or QA if you'd prefer?

[akapod 6]

Not sure as to whether Evernote has changed its thinking on LAN sync (which, in DropBox, is a thing of beauty). If this remains a no-go, then what about (a) being able to sync Evernote files via iTunes (not great, but better) or ( being able to store the Evernote database in DropBox (the way 1Password does)?

[Metrodon 2,184]

I think if the top Techie at EN says that they aren't going to do it then it's safe to assume that this won't happen and move on.

+1

Given that it's been less than 3 months since Top Techie said that they aren't going to do this - I think it's safe to assume that they still aren't going to.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

This has been raised before on other threads, and I could not agree more. This is not just a nicety, it's essential functionality.

It's obviously a feature you want. But classifying it as "essential" is definitely not accurate.

then what about (a) being able to sync Evernote files via iTunes (not great, but better)

Wow, that's taking a simple task & making it harder.

[engberg 89]

No, we don't plan to ever implement client-to-client synchronization.

[ddans 0]

While acknowledging that a chopstick wielding Evernote uber techie is indeed impressive, I don't see why the ability to allow at least an option of LAN synchronisation is so difficult to achieve. Nor why Evernote seem to be ignoring their customers.

It appears that Evernote are effectively forcing customers who need their notes synched to multiple devices to consume more download quota from their providers (therefore driving the effective cost of Evernote upwards) to resynchronise the notes to their various devices. Not smart, not efficient and not very green.

Dropbox can do it so why not Evernote.

Each Evernote item (note) must have a unique identifier and a change flag.

If there was an option "Check LAN" then the Evernote client could check LAN sources first for new identifiers or those with change flags set sync and then do the normal check with the Evernote server if it has a connection.

This isn't rocket science, its basic database stuff.

It is certainly a major wish list item for me. I work on multiple platforms and devices (Android, IOS, OSX, Windows) and at some locations where online (Internet) access is not available or patchy.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

While acknowledging that a chopstick wielding Evernote uber techie is indeed impressive, I don't see why the ability to allow at least an option of LAN synchronisation is so difficult to achieve. Nor why Evernote seem to be ignoring their customers.

It appears that Evernote are effectively forcing customers who need their notes synched to multiple devices to consume more download quota from their providers (therefore driving the effective cost of Evernote upwards) to resynchronise the notes to their various devices. Not smart, not efficient and not very green.

Dropbox can do it so why not Evernote.

Each Evernote item (note) must have a unique identifier and a change flag.

If there was an option "Check LAN" then the Evernote client could check LAN sources first for new identifiers or those with change flags set sync and then do the normal check with the Evernote server if it has a connection.

This isn't rocket science, its basic database stuff.

It is certainly a major wish list item for me. I work on multiple platforms and devices (Android, IOS, OSX, Windows) and at some locations where online (Internet) access is not available or patchy.

i agree that it would be a nice feature. evernote is not ignoring their customers. they are reading and responding right in this thread. they just don't agree.

[jefito 5,589]

I don't see why the ability to allow at least an option of LAN synchronisation is so difficult to achieve. Nor why Evernote seem to be ignoring their customers.

It appears that Evernote are effectively forcing customers who need their notes synched to multiple devices to consume more download quota from their providers (therefore driving the effective cost of Evernote upwards) to resynchronise the notes to their various devices. Not smart, not efficient and not very green.

But Evernote is not forcing people to use Evernote. You have choice to use whatever software you wish, for whatever reason, whether it be because of convenience, efficiency, greenness, or whatever.

Dropbox can do it so why not Evernote.

Waving the Dropbox flag all well and good (and folks do it here on occasion), but Evernote is not Dropbox, and doesn't pretend to be.

Each Evernote item (note) must have a unique identifier and a change flag.

If there was an option "Check LAN" then the Evernote client could check LAN sources first for new identifiers or those with change flags set sync and then do the normal check with the Evernote server if it has a connection.

This isn't rocket science, its basic database stuff.

No, this isn't basic database stuff. Basic is "SELECT * FROM MyTable WHERE ID = 12". Synchronizing different clients across across different pathways, with the potential for conflicting changes to occur anywhere is not basic. It's not even basic operations in Dropbox (it's disabled by default and hard to find in the Dropbox online Help Center). Even according to Dropbox's own help (https://www.dropbox.com/help/137), all participants in LAN syn need to be connected to both the LAN and the Internet in order for this to work anyways. Hey, I love Dropbox to death, and use it every day, on a couple of different device types, but have never used LAN Sync.

It is certainly a major wish list item for me. I work on multiple platforms and devices (Android, IOS, OSX, Windows) and at some locations where online (Internet) access is not available or patchy.

Of course you're welcome to request the feature, it's certainly valid, and given that the last response from Dave E was over a year ago, their opinion might have changed since then. Sounded like he was pretty definitive at the time, though. The notion that they are ignoring their customers just because they haven't delivered feature X doesn't make sense though -- they listen all right, but that's different from attempting to shoehorn every request into their product and schedule. Which is the same for most software companies, in my experience.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Of course you're welcome to request the feature, it's certainly valid, and given that the last response from Dave E was over a year ago, their opinion might have changed since then. Sounded like he was pretty definitive at the time, though. The notion that they are ignoring their customers just because they haven't delivered feature X doesn't make sense though -- they listen all right, but that's different from attempting to shoehorn every request into their product and schedule. Which is the same for most software companies, in my experience.

Additionally, as Dave E has said in the past, there are a LOT of features free users can utilize. And users can potentially use EN every day for years without having to pay a single cent. The money maker is the service. So it wouldn't make sense (IMO) to add a feature that would allow users to totally bypass that. IOW, if someone needs to upload more than the free monthly amount, they could skip going premium by syncing computer to device.

IIRC, it was also suggested as a premium feature. But as Jeff pointed out, Dave seemed pretty clear about not implementing this. Possibly b/c it opens up a whole new can of worms wrt support.

[davidg2020 0]

Please add my vote for allowing LAN syncing.

 

I have read some, though not all, of the posts below including the one from Evernote saying that they are not planning to implement LAN syncing but DropBox and Cubby do it... it'd be great if Evernote did it too.

 

BTW - not that it should matter but I am a paying Evernote user (i.e. not using a free account).