52 replies to this topic

[NightStalker]

iPad with latest iOS v6.1 update, on iPad 2 64GB and just updated my Penultimate.

Now - EVERYTHING tries to sync ALL THE TIME. It is so slow as to be unusable. It syncs when I try to open a notebook. It syncs when I do anything. It syncs when I close a notebook. It syncs when I start the app. It syncs when I close the app. AARGGGHHHHH...!!!!!

Also - WHERE ARE THE SETTINGS/PREFERENCES? I can't find any button anywhere that allows me to change any settings - especially whether or not I want to sync everything - I don't!

I can't find the Preferences either on the Home page of Penultimate or within a notebook. It is not listed in the numerous app preferences in the main Settings app for iOS.

Where can I turn off this infernal pestilent syncing? Most of the notes I scribble in Penultimate I do NOT want in Evernote. But the ability to sync specific notes or pages or even an entire notebook would be terrific - but only if I want it synced.

As I said - ARRGGGHHH...!!!! Help.... This is awful! Unusable.

I do NOT want every doodle synced to Evernote. I can't find an option to turn that off. There doesn't even seem to be an option as to WHICH Evernote notebook the doodles go to - they go to my default "Everything" notebook.

EDIT: I just went to look in the trash on the Macbook that syncs the iPad, to see if I could backgrade to the previous version - but the Penultimate.ipa isn't there... Where did it go? And can I get the previous version from somewhere else - tricky for apps that are "keyed" to the iDevice?


EDIT: OK - I found the preferences, cunningly hidden under the Account icon (why the heck is it there?). But there is STILL no way I can turn off the syncing of everything. I just deleted a Penultimate notebook in Evernote as I did NOT want it in there - and it has been deleted from Penultimate...! Helpppppp

[GrumpyMonkey]

Hi. Evernote has unified the iconography across clients with the account badge, so love it or loathe it, it at least does make sense (within the Evernote universe, anyway). As for the sync, I've set it up with my "test" account, because I don't want it syncing with my main one. That's one solution you could try. I think the best way for you to handle this for now is to turn off wifi while using it.

[NightStalker]

Morning Grumpy Good to see you over here in Penultimateland.

The preferences being hidden under the icon still seems strange, but now I know where it is I can work with it. On the Mac, I usually use the Cmd-, (Command-comma) shortcut Apple standard for preferences.

As for turning off WiFi - (1) that's a PITA to have to do that every time I want to scribble a quick note, and (2) my iPad is 3G as well, so it just keeps trying to sync anyway, even when there is no signal (eg in the operating theatre of the hospital where I work).

Good point to set up a "test" account - but while that at least stops my main EN account being cluttered up with scribbles and doodles, it doesn't solve the problem of Penultimate trying to sync all the time. The little syncing icon spins down the bottom right almost non-stop, starting as soon as I open the app. It continues all the time while I'm using the app, and generally slows everything down. Maybe your sync speed is fast, but mine here, even at home via wifi, is slow. With the main EN program, eg on my Mac or on Windows, the sync seems faster, but I can also set it NOT to sync automatically. Or even have it sync automatically, but only every 15 or 30 minutes, for example. Penultimate, on the other hand, seems to be trying to sync everything all the time. I need to be able to turn it OFF - and I don't really want to have to turn off WiFi and 3G via the Settings app every time I just want to scribble a note....

I think they overlooked that option. Surely that can't be yet another deliberate design decision? Given the strange decisions the v5 upgrades have had for both the Mac and iOS Evernote, nothing would surprise me, though.

[GrumpyMonkey]

I think Penultimate was my first iPad writing app, so of course I am here Unfortunately, they do not yet have a zoom feature, so it doesn't fit my use case, but I am glad to see it coming along so nicely, and I think the Evernote sync will make a lot of users happy.

I don't think we typically get control over syncing in our iOS Evernote apps. I want it, and I have asked for it in the past, but so far, no luck. Ideally, we could set up the intervals, turn it off, etc. as we have on the Android client.

[NightStalker]

I take your point about the iOS Evernote client not having control over syncing - but at least that is within the one app across platforms. PU is a different app from EN. If I put something into EN, it is understood and intended that it will sync. But if I put something into Penultimate, that is NOT the case - for me, at least.

The problem I have with Penultimate syncing everything is that I use PU for lots of things that are temporary, (for example a quick diagram to explain something to a patient, a quick note to self, etc). I also like to have a little play with PU - just doodling. And last week I used it to write a message to the colleague sitting beside me in a meeting, where I didn't want to say anything out loud. Once he read it, I deleted it. This new version would have ALL of those synced to Evernote. I use Evernote for longer term storage and accumulation of notes, clippings, PDFs, etc etc. I don't want it to have my scribblings that I do in Penultimate.

I like PU - don't get me wrong. But I would really like the option of NOT syncing, or syncing on a note-by-note basis.

[GrumpyMonkey]

Oh, I completely agree. I don't want anything to sync, to be honest, so I am in even more of a bind when it comes to PU. I'm glad that it can do it, but not that I now have to do it.

[khag]

I am in the same boat here - downloaded the new version which looks nice, but the automatic sync is killing me. I can't alter the note in the Evernote Windows app because it was created in another application (dialog box warning). I tend to use a single notebook in Penultimate for notes, then transfer related notes in batches to Evernote. A 1-page or 5-page note on a meeting goes into Evernote on its own, then I delete the notes from Penultimate. At this point, I need to find a way to either stop the sync, or go back to the prior version. 1 step forward, 2 steps back on this release.

- Kevin

[AFC]

This is probably the most stupid feature I know of....CANNOT STOP SYNC???

Installed it to check whether I'd like to use it or not, and now I cannot even change the login details to another (dummy) evernote account. Like you guys I don't want this to be sync (or even attempting to sync)....

Also, this is a different app then EN so why should we NOT have this option?

Solution for now is to delete Penultimate...and hopefully the login details are gone! Notability is much better anyway!...

really p***** *** with this!!

[steveflowers]

I 'almost' wish I had this problem! For me, syncing doesn't work at all!

[Mark Jantzen]

I really want to like the Evernote ecosystem and was looking forward to the Penultimate update. I really do.

But I keep run into things like this syncing mess that are just less than thought out.

No syncing controls is just a suck into my data plan. iPads are not always near WiFi. Go into Airplane Mode to use Penultimate? Really?

And then there's the new "noise" in my Evernote database. Each Penultimate is a single note in Evernote. How is THAT useful?

I know it will get better but the road is pretty rough.

[cynwren]

I understand auto syncing being a problem where connectivity is limited. Having my Penultimate notebooks mirrored in EN, including stuff I don't need to keep, doesn't seem like a big deal though. It's just backing up to EN instead of Dropbox, with the advantage of being available to search in EN. I can still select specific PU pages and mail them to the pertinent EN notebook, just like always, and delete or leave them in PU as I wish. And for doodles and such, I usually delete them at the end of the boring meeting. Gone from PU and EN automatically. That said, it does seem an option to turn sync on and off should be available.

A bonus is that for those of us with two mobile devices, now our Penultimate notebooks sync. Probably a limited use case, but with the iPad mini it will become more common. I use the mini for field work and as a backup to my full size iPad and love that I have the same notebooks on each.

[NightStalker]

I guess it's a personal use thing, but I don't back up my Penultimate to Dropbox either. I use PU purely for very short term, temporary notes, scribbles, and doodles.

I use it like I'd use scraps of paper - scribble a note, or scratch a quick diagram to explain something, then delete it.

The limited connectivity IS a problem - a huge one. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff that comes out of the USA simply assumes that everyone has always-on internet at high speed and with no data limits. Bit like Steve Jobs famous presentations. But here in Australia, our internet is notoriously slow, there is very little in the way of free wifi (McDonalds is about it, plus the odd private coffee shop), and as mentioned above, some of us work in places where there is no wifi at all - like a hospital.

Problem is - Penultimate simply keeps on trying to connect and sync. So apart from the problem of not wanting my PU stuff in Evernote in the first place, the actual syncing is just dragging PU into the realm of useless due to it's being sooooooo sllloooooooowwwwww.

Then we have the problem of losing notes - which others have reported (I only lost notes in PU after deleting a notebook from EN that had synced and I didn't want it there - it automatically deleted from PU as well!) There seems to be quite a few who have upgraded to PUv4 and who have now apparently lost all their notes, which may be due to some problem with syncing.

We DESPERATELY need the ability to turn syncing OFF. Before more people lose notes or before people abandon PU for Notability due to the syncing problems....

Anyone from Evernote reading this? Anyone taking any notice? GBarry - you there?

[Mike Wood]

@NightStalker Oh dear, same old issues sounds like Skitch 2 all over again! Have you tried "Explain Everything" it's good for doodling and can copy to Evernote if you want to, Even does zoom!

[NightStalker]

@Mike Wood: hi Mike - yes, like Skitch 2 - and Evernote 5 on the Mac, and Evernote on iOS particularly the iPad.

They really know how to stuff up the "upgrades", don't they?

I have Explain Everything - as well as Notability and a couple of others. I've stopped using Penultimate for now, as I don't seem to have the old .ipa file on the Mac with which I sync. I suspect it got blitzed when I upgraded the iOS to v6.1 - Penultimate upgraded at the same time, and for some reason it didn't save the old .ipa file in the trash. So I can't downgrade

Just like Evernote and Skitch (both of which I've downgraded), I'll just have to keep an eye on these forums to see signs of improvement which would let me start using Penultimate again. In particular, the ability to turn syncing OFF, and to sync manually on a note or notebook basis.

Until then, I'm afraid it's one of the others...

[klbz]

Thanks for this discussion. I've used Penultimate for a while and haven't upgraded to the latest and greatest-- and now I won't! Sorry you're having difficulties, but your posts have helped me....

[RachaelM]

I was moving pages to Evernote when they had valuable content. The rest were just "scribbles". I could treat pages as indivdual entities each with their own tag representing a project and didn't have to mange an entire Notebook as one tagged item.

I think I have to break the connection between the two apps, this constant sync of entire notebooks into one Evernote entry is not usable for someone who oversees multiple employees each doing multiple projects (too many to have a notebook for each).

I need to tag a penultimate page with a project name and cannot anymore since they are all in a single jumbled pile.

[RachaelM]

where is the account icon?

EDIT: Perhaps I misunderstood that using this "account icon" we could change our accounts or perhaps alter the settings not to sync all notebooks?

If the upper left corner icon that opens "Settings" in Penultimate is the account icon then neither of those options is available to us. How do we control this train wreck?

This smells like an attempt to force us all to Premium accounts because of all of the upload traffic this will cause.

[JenGrace]

I second this arrgghhh!!! I want control over my syncing, thank you very much.

[CSwain]

What I would like to see is the ability to make notebooks synced or not. That way I can have a scribble notebook that isn't synced and an important notebook that is synced.

[Piddu]

I am in the same crazy problem, I would like to turn off sync! It is so annoying and frustrating feature!!!