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Text Editor in Evernote again - so much weirdness


rpb

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I've read several related requests to fix the text editor in Evernote.  Many ask for further details about what the problem is.  I'm sure I'm not the only one to keep hitting these bugs.

 

(1)  Cutting and pasting lines:

 

Type four lines of text in a new note (even just "a", "b", "c", "d").  If you select, say, line "b" by moving to the front of the line, hitting Shift+Down to select the whole line, Ctrl+X to cut, then move down to line "d" and Ctrl+V to paste you get a blank line inserted after it!  So it somehow copied *2* linebreaks.  Why?  The only other way of selecting the whole of line "b" before cutting it is to hit Shift+End, but then when you cut you get a blank line left there and when you paste in front of line "d" you *don't* get a line break.  Please fix this - it makes it much harder than it should be to rearrange lines.

 

(2)  Bullets:

 

Create a note with two bulleted lists, separated by some text.  Cut or copy an item from the middle of the top list, and paste it after the second list - you get a weird gap between the two.  Why is that?  So now paste it in the non-bulleted line before the second list - you get it separated from the second list by some non-bulleted text.  That's OK, you think, I'll just delete that line in the middle, but again you get this weird gap between them and you have to concatenate two items and then hit enter to get a bullet in front of both again.

 

(3)  Check boxes:

 

What's up with those?  Half the time when adding more items to a list of checkboxes I either end up with two checkboxes before an item or none.  Sometimes hitting enter after a checkboxed item creates a new line starting with a checkbox, but sometimes it doesn't - I haven't found out why, but it seems to happen when you come back to a previous list of checkboxes - if you enter a list all in one go it generally does what you'd expect.

 

(4)  Formatting and paste:

 

A number of times I go to paste some text into a note and the format *should* be the same and everything should line up but it doesn't, and I end up with bullets with slightly different indentation, or slightly different bullet size (has the font gone wonky?).

 

Could a developer at Evernote *please* just get assigned to fixing the bugs throughout the text editor (or could one of them show their altruism and moonlight/do a skunkworks project to fix the text editor for all of Evernote's thousands of users)?

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Seeing much the same behavior in Evernote Mac.  On my list to file a support request, but haven't documented the behavior yet.  It's a (seemingly uncontrollable) mess.  One thing I've found helpful, is to enter line breaks instead of paragraph breaks.  On the Mac, this is "{Control}+{Return}"; I don't know what it is on a PC.

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It is good to see someone taking the time to describe the bugs, but I wouldn't be too optimistic about these problems getting fixed. The text editor has had a lot of annoying bugs for years which have never been fixed. Version 5 has added a few more. It is very strange that Evernote chooses not fix these problems. They do the hard bit of building a large complex distributed system exceptionally well and then don't bother to fix the simple text editor. Strange.

 

Motz

 

PS It was discussed 12 months ago http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/34257-note-editor-just-doesnt-cut-it/?p=201448 but nothing happened.

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I want to start by saying I'm a total fan of Evernote and a *heavy* user... the text editor is the one thing that could get me to change over to Onenote. I've been reading these comments on the text editor for years and not seen any action on it, and it is so disappointing, because this software is otherwise so excellent!

 

I wanted to add two specific points into the mix:

 

1) Comments that Evernote is intended as a repository for documents and not a content creation tool. I totally disagree with that - note creation is a fundamental use case for the software. It has to be - the idea that I would type my notes in some other package like word or dare I say it, One note, and then import them or cut-and-paste them into the system is just weird - it strips all the convenience out of having a centralized repository for my notes - and the ability to create content directly is a major differentiator from dropbox.

 

2) Comments that users here should be specifically requesting features or reporting on bugs in the editor. To me this is just missing the point!  The problem with the editor is not down to a specific feature or bug. The problem is that it is totally not fit for purpose, unmodern, not at all a joy or pleasure to use, and makes taking notes a painful experience. The editor needs a step change and a transformation, not an incremental change.

 

Just my two cents! Evernote - keep up the great work, and please stop being in denial about the quality of the text editor!

 

 

 

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  • 6 months later...

I've been an Evernote Premium subscriber for 4 years & have complained from the outset about the silly problems with the note editor.  I'm really pleased to see folks like rpb and Spun joining the chorus of users who love Evernote & would give it a 5 star rating if only the text editor was not so bug-filled.  I would even give up features like the check box in return for reasonable cutting, formatting and pasting behaviors!

 

As a developer who has reviewed the underlying markup used by EN (called 'ENML', more info here https://dev.evernote.com/doc/articles/enml.php) it just does not seem like it would be a big deal to (1) fix the bugs, (2) give an option to use an editor that ONLY understands text, or (3) allow users to control their own formatting with basic html tags or the popular 'markdown' syntax.

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  • 1 month later...

Apparently Evernote isn't very good for taking notes. Overlapping text is really annoying. Even saving pages/articles is a mess and full of glitches. One thing it's good for is editing offline and then syncing for things like to-do and shopping lists. Yet, while trying to take notes for an online science class I noticed that it doesn't even have subscript and superscript... Hopefully these things are fixed, because the app has great potential.

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  • 2 months later...

I agree with all comments made here.

 

What's more, the text editing weirdness actually prevents potential new customers from looking further into Evernote.  I have been a disciple for a while and I usually capture meeting notes in Evernote.  It is embarrasing whenver I distribute the meeting notes, project them in front of an audience, or share them on a WebEx. Someone sees me struggling with it, they aren't likely to adopt the tool.

 

The presentation mode seems to suggest that Evernote wants you to show off the content you have in Evernote, but I'm not sure I want to show off something that looks bad because the editor is so problematic.

 

The idea that you shouldn't create content in Evernote is so bizzare. For me, the usefulness of Evernote goes down dramatically if you give up on the note taking aspect.

 

I cannot imagine a higher priority area for Evernote to work on.

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  • Level 5*

The editing experience is important, of course, but I would think that rock-solid syncing, security, and data integrity would be a higher level of importance. Just my opinion, of course. In your case, preparing your notes to your liking before sharing them with others might be a good idea, if that's at all possible.

 

I don't think that anyone is saying that you shouldn't be able to create content in Evernote. I do, frequently (though I rarely share it with others). But sometimes there are better tools for creating content, particularly for presentation purposes.

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Someone captures notes in OneNote and shares them, they look good.  Someone captures notes in Evernote and shares them, there's a good chance they look bad.

 

I think the syncing, security, and data integrity are already pretty good and reasons why I'd prefer to use Evernote.  Editing - not so much and a reason why I consider moving away from Evernote.

 

If the content I create is going to look bad (and many share this experience based on what I find with a quick Google search) then OneNote wins.

 

I don't need much - clean bulleted lists that don't have random spaces, tables that can be easily worked with, ability to copy and paste without weird behavior, etc.  I would even give up on tables if the rest worked in a consistent and clean fashion.

 

 

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  • 4 months later...

Among other things I would like to use EN for journal entries which are generally longer than my usual notes and require some clean up and editing as I go along.  Cutting and pasting from a dedicated text editor is the only way to do this without the frustration of the bugs previously described in this thread.  EN, you have me hooked by all of the other things you do so well.  Maybe that's the reason they haven't fixed it.  They know that those of us who have incorporated EN into their daily work and leisure lives can't easily leave.  This is a monumental mistake on EN's part because I suppose it's pursuing other more  valuable functionality (in their eyes) instead of fixing this major existing functionality flaw. 

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  • 1 month later...

I'm getting very excited...

 

 
Evernote for Windows 5.9.0.8665 GA Release Notes

Improved sync

  • Most recently updated content syncs first
  • Changes to notes are synced to Evernote immediately

Improved note editor

  • Hitting tab from the note title now enters the note body
  • Formatting remains consistent when moving between Windows and Mac
  • Enhanced checkbox styling
  • Fixed formatting and performance issues with bulleted, numbered, and checkbox lists
  • Fixed inconsistent copy/paste and undo behavior

New table features

  • Click and drag to resize column widths
  • Improved copy/paste support with external applications

Multiple bug fixes and stability improvements

Give us your feedback! Go to Help > Rate Evernote for Windows

 

Could the Evernote team finally have fixed the text editor?  Or even if not, could this show that they have finally decided to devote some resource to fixing it?

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Just did some testing that looked promising within Evernote itself.  However, the one place it sill breaks down is if you share your note via email.  When you open it up in Outlook, bullets look goofy.  Extra bullets appear in lists for no apparent reason.  Drives me insane!

 

In Evernote it looks like this:

 

This is a formatting test.
  • Will bullets work the way I expect them to work?
    • I wonder how they will work

 

In Outlook it looks like this: 

 

This is a formatting test.

  • Will bullets work the way I expect them to work?
  •  
    • I wonder how they will work
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