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note margins


sr80

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OMG So, Frustrating!  I've updated to version 6.7.5.5825, and I now have this problem.  I have a Yoga 900; the screen is 13.3" and the absurd margins are extremely annoying.  It's small screen to start with and now I'm losing even more real estate.  Even worst I can't seem to find a download for the previous version that was working just fine for me.  If anyone knows where I can find the latest version of desktop for Windows that doesn't have this problem, please let me know.

At a minimum, it would be very much appreciated if the Evernote team would offer the option to turn margin off and on.  It takes up way too much precious real estate on our smaller laptop screens.

Update to my post: I found an earlier version of Evernote desktop for Windows that doesn't have this margin issue.

Evernote version 6.5 GA (6.5.4.4720)

Don't forget to turn on enable on-demand sync. To turn it on, go to Tools > Options > Synchronization and select "Enable on-demand sync."

Link - https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/105063-evernote-for-windows-65-ga-released/

 

Edited by The.eagle
I found a version of Evernote without the margin issue
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I really can't understand why they have made that unnecessary margin over there.

There was no margin, I remember, but now it occupies the place too much! Unless there is a margin, I could see and read a few more words!

On PC, the users who have to deal with a small monitor feel really inconvenient.

Is there any way to go back to the past for it?

 

캡처.PNG

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Same. I was just about to create a new post for this issue when I saw this one. The huge margin cuts down on the available space *especially* if you have side columns for Notebooks and Notes visible. At the very least this should be a customizable option.

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12 hours ago, Tin Tran said:

Thank god someone has already reported this issue. I have just created an account on this forum just for report this problem. REALLY annoy gap!!

Please add your vote by clicking the up arrow next to the thread title at the top of this page.

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10 hours ago, presto said:

I really can't understand why they have made that unnecessary margin over there.

It is because of the new table formatting options.  The left side is used to display the UI elements.  Suggestions were made in the beta thread re this issue and the fact that the drop down in a cell covers the contents of the cell to the right.  All to no avail.  Which seems weird with all the emphasis on pretty the last couple of years.

ScreenClip.png.b16104b23dcc6abcd5445c817fce5972.png

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32 minutes ago, Loster2 said:

Seconding this query.... why have they added this crazy margin?

Adds to the feeling that post-Libin we're going into Microsoft territory...

Again, the design for the new table UI caused the issue.  A different design could solve the problem which would be great.  Haven’t heard there’s anything in the works.  

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This is a ridiculous amount of added margin:

Evernote_margins.thumb.png.e16df89a020b1d4c220d34c7e01f2df8.png

Surely Evernote could at least present a checkbox in settings for whether to display that margin. Even if it means that the table config UI is screwed up when the margin is hidden, it'd remove a massive inconvenience for the great number of users who never/rarely use tables. I would rather not be permanently stuck on an older version of Evernote in order to avoid this margin.

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Yes, this is terrible. They should take them out of books, too. All that wasted paper...

Anyhow, Evernote knows about it; we'll see what, or if, they come up with to address the issue.

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The margin is absolutely insane. Especially since I've never ever had any need for tables in my Evernotes notes yet and I really do not see any.

If the margin is necessary for table editing, fine, show it IF AND ONLY IF there are tables in the note. Until I insert a table, there's no need for the margin whatsoever!

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I am thirding this....

It shows an incredible lack of broader thinking for them to have done this.... we need tables improvements, let's increase the margin on EVERY NOTE to a ridiculous degree...

Again: what kind of hands are we in, post-Libin???? Is it really time to start jumping ship. I REALLY don't want to, but maybe things will just stagnate and get worse from here.

Excuse the negativity overload. Working out my feelings towards a platform I have LOVED for going on ten years....

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The problem is, like with many applications, that they simply can't stop developing. Must always add or "improve" features, eventually loading the application with so much specialization that it's not useful for its original purpose. I started using Evernote for two reasons: portability of notes across devices and the Web Clipper. I have maybe used the table feature about twenty times out of thousands of notes. But now I am considering dumping the product (and I pay for premium because of the volume of uploads) because of this kind of feature creep. 

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On 10/3/2017 at 7:56 AM, brasscrest said:

The problem is, like with many applications, that they simply can't stop developing. Must always add or "improve" features, eventually loading the application with so much specialization that it's not useful for its original purpose. I started using Evernote for two reasons: portability of notes across devices and the Web Clipper. I have maybe used the table feature about twenty times out of thousands of notes. But now I am considering dumping the product (and I pay for premium because of the volume of uploads) because of this kind of feature creep. 

This is not "feature creep", a fun term to toss around, but not all that meaningful (much like the overused "feature bloat"). This is not Unix-based "tie a bunch of separate command-line tools together to build synergy" development. It's development of a general purpose integrated, distributed note keeping application. Table support was extremely rudimentary at the start, and  Evernote users have been asking for improved table support for a long time; there's obvious demand for that. Some people use tables a lot, and they're useful in note templates; I use them daily in my Evernote workflow for work, less so for my personal workflow. Your mileage obviously varies.

And that's the problem / blessing with general purpose applications (think MS Word, for example): everyone uses the core 10-30%, but out beyond that, different people use different parts of the program a lot, and others, very little. If you don't add or improve some features, then you don't attract new users, because you don't solve their problems. But they haven't overdone it either (though there have been some missteps, e.g. WorkChat). In my view, Evernote has actually tended to maintain a pretty good focus on keeping actual extraneous features out of their application (I think that their strategy is generally to promote integration into other, more specialized, applications via their API; I can't speak to how well that's worked out. Aside from a brief flirtation with IFTTT and Zapier, I just use Evernote straight up). They haven't tried to become a serious todo list application, calendaring program, mind-mapper, Slack competitor, etc. etc.. It's still pretty minimal overall, a good general purpose note keeping program, and one that I use daily at work and at home, and has been for over 8 years in my case.

Note that I am not suggesting that they ignore this, by the way. There's obviously a fair amount of dissatisfaction with the situation. But calling useful, user-requested improvements to Evernote "feature creep" is misunderstanding the term, and how software is reasonably developed. It's not all about you, or about me, for that matter. The core features remain; reasonable improvements in usability and functionality over time are expected.

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They know. They are the ones that told us it was because of the new table format. They know many are unhappy with it. I don't know if they are working on it though.

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Support answer to my ticket about this margin space :

Quote

Concerning the wider left margin, this was added to allow spacing for the new tables interface design in Windows versions 6.6+. I appreciate you taking the time to write in with your thoughts on this.

Here are my thougths about this : I really don't like it. :)

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I upgraded and have been annoyed by the wide side margins. So, to the forum I go to see if others share my concern. They do! And here I am!

I figure that the best way to properly inform Evernote of the seriousness of this issue is to join others who have created a trouble ticket about it. But I find that Evernote seems to have scrubbed their app, their website, and the web app of any references to support. Eventually (I've been at this for at least a half hour) I find help.evernote.support, answer a bunch of questions reminiscent of navigating through one of those IVR phone systems that companies that really don't want to hear from their customers have, and end up at a support page. (Here: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=176627 ) Then more questions, which I answer honestly, saying that my topic is general product feedback. The response from the page is "The best way to share your feedback is by posting in the Evernote Forums. The forums are actively monitored by our product and support teams, and allow you to discuss your feedback in more detail."

So, here I am, again. I choose not to be disingenuous to get a support ticket. For the product and support teams which actively monitor the forums and are reading this: I hate the wide margins. It's to accommodate the new table UI? That's just one element in a note, one which appears only if there's a table. I don't see why all text has to shift just because of a table. Go back to your developers, have them make tables independent of the text, and fix the margins! Maybe it's a little bit harder, but do it please.

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Hi,
I created an account here just to comment on this one issue (seemingly like many others), but maybe unlike some other people here, this isn't just an annoyance to me, it's an outright disaster. I've poured my whole life into Evernote over the past few years and use it as my base of operations for a major project I've been working on. Solely on account of this latest change to the margins I'm now thinking the previously unthinkable, I'm thinking of leaving Evernote.

I'm furious about this too. I've delved into these forums dozens of times over the past few years to find answers to all the different problems I've encountered on Evernote. Many of them have been inexplicable, as if the developers don't even use the software themselves. This latest change is unforgivable though.

Like some other people here I work on multiple notes at the same time, with width around 1/4 to 1/6 or so of the size of the screen I'm working on. Evernote is primarily a text-based note taking program. That's what it's always worked best as. If I wanted to jot things down in a notebook like canvas I'd use Microsoft's One Note. These new super wide margins cut-off like 1/3 of the previously available writing space I had.

I could see how people who write on just one or so mostly fullscreen note could deal with the change. ANYONE though who writes on multiple, reduced-width notes should be severely impacted by this change. How could the developers not have considered this!? And all this too just to fit in some change to tables? You had to shrink like 1/3 of the usable area of our notes to accommodate that one change?

I could revert back to an older version of Evernote for some time but if the developers are going to be stubborn and stick by this change going forward than I'll have no choice but to leave. Frankly, I don't trust them at all and it's always bothered me that I've put so much of my life in the hands of these developers.

I need to know that this is going to be fixed if I'm to stay with Evernote. This is intolerable.
Thanks

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On 22/10/2017 at 7:33 PM, trctta375 said:

I need to know that this is going to be fixed if I'm to stay with Evernote

Sorry but Evernote famously (well around here,  it's pretty well known anyway...) do not comment on work in progres or react to threads ike this one.  If you voted in the counter at top left - and I see it's currently at 39 which is a pretty good result so far - then Evernote should take these opinions into account when considering more changes.  But there's no certainty,  and no guarantees.  :mellow:

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Signed in just so I could vote on this.

The new change looks so rubbish that I thought at first that it was a bug. I updated Evernote and rebooted my machine just to make sure but nope - still there!

I also use minimised windows and this is a lousy waste of space as well as just looking absolutely pants. 

 

Great job guys! Everyone thinks your new 'feature' is a bug!

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Really such a half-assed approach to a feature that should have been implemented correct from the beginning. I run a business and employ a team of software engineers. We use Evernote heavily as a way to track assignments, projects, tasks, ideas, and research. I'm usually on the other side, cluing people in that software and web apps aren't as simple as you think, and to give the company a break. This is one situation where, if it was my employee that did this, I would put my foot down and say, "No. This is wrong. Go back and do it correctly. Have the controls float over the table, or have a little popout floating tables toolbar. Don't reserve space application-wide for a feature that not everyone wants, or is using."

Yeah, I know, I'm probably sounding a bit like a dick. Truth is, I've been using Evernote for 8 years now. I have no plans or desires to switch to a different collaboration platform. I pay for the premium version, billed every year, and it will stay that way. I will continue using version 6.5 with updates turned off. I will NOT be deploying the current 6.9 update. I will not be passing Go, and I will not be collecting my $200. I am staying right where I am at until this silly thing is resolved. 

Not that the right person is going to see this, but being a business owner for 10 years, and having never gone to school for it; I've learned the hard way, what it takes to run a successful operation, and just how easy it is to think you have the right people aboard, when in reality, you have the wrong people on the bus, and the bus is headed in the wrong direction. If I were in charge of the Evernote Windows team, I'd fire the guy who's making the design choices. If you don't have a designer, get one, and stop making your Lead Dev fulfill roles that he's not good at. 

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I truly do not understand these fat margins. Excel is far FAR more powerful at tables and it doesn't have fat margins. It just has useful toolbars and right-click menus.

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6 minutes ago, sdadell said:

EdH, Evernote doesn't care about our request to improve margins. It is the only complaint I have about this great program and have been asking for it for several years.

 

I guess my comparison with Excel isn't exactly fair. I mean... Evernote has emoji and Excel doesn't, so there's that. ?

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1 hour ago, ilw said:

I cant't finf fully working version with normal margins.

I will change the program for notes.
This is the most stupid and ridiculous solution developers have on my mind.
A lot of people are asked to make an option, albeit, for changing the size of the margin, but without success.

Depends on your definition of 'notes'

Quote
noun: note; plural noun: notes
  1. 1.
    a brief record of points or ideas written down as an aid to memory.
    "I'll make a note in my diary"
    synonyms: record, account, entry, item, notation, minute, jotting, inscription; More
    memorandum, reminder, aide-memoire;
    informalmemo
    "she took out her diary and made a note of the time of the meeting"
    minutes, records, jottings, report, account, commentary, transcript, proceedings, transactions;
    observations, impressions, details, data;
    synopsis, precis, summary, sketch, outline;
    informaldeets
    "he may be asked to take notes of the meeting"
    • a short comment on or explanation of a word or passage in a book or article; an annotation.
      "see note iv above"
      synonyms: annotation, footnote, commentary, comment, gloss, explanation, explication, exposition, elucidation; More
      marginalia, exegesis;
      rarescholium
      "there were some notes scribbled in the margins"
  2. 2.
    a short informal letter or written message.
    "I left her a note explaining where I was going"
    synonyms: message, communication, letter, missive, epistle, line;
    email
    "he dropped me a note the day he left"
    • a short official document certifying a particular thing.
      "you need a sick note from your doctor"
    • an official letter sent from the representative of one government to another.
      "the Secretariat sent a diplomatic note to the embassy protesting about the sale of arms

 

As opposed to word processing -
Quote


word processor
noun
noun: word processor; plural noun: word processors; noun: wordprocessor; plural noun: wordprocessors
  1. a program or machine for storing, manipulating, and formatting text entered from a keyboard and providing a printout.

 

Evernote is not a word processor,  though it is possible to attached the files produced by word processors - DOCX,  ODT,  RTF etc - to notes so that they can be edited from any device connected to the internet which also has the installed software.

 

  

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Ok, evernote is not word processor (with ridicolous margins :)) - and I'm not your client.
This is not an excuse.

Return all back, as it was before - I will return too.

Sorry, some idiot came up with a definition of rules of notes, and you, re-arranging common sense, introduce them into your application. In a few years, in another clever man, will change the rules of the notes and you will again, like fools, introduce their application.

Be guided by common sense and listen to your users, otherwise they will leave you, not stupid "fashion" trends.

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1 hour ago, ilw said:

and I'm not your client.

Totally agree.  This is a (mainly) user supported forum,  and I'm just another user. 

I user Evernote daily,  alongside mind-mapping software,  Word,  Outlook and a variety of other applications which change depending on what I'm working on.  Using the right tool for the job works for me.  If you prefer using Onenote,  that's your choice.

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Random thoughts re note viewing, if we are in a preferring mode.

  1. I would like to see the new tables with the old note margins
  2. I wold like to control the spacing within tables
  3. I would like a PDF viewer that in essence didn't have two scroll bars. 

There is some humor in the space added within tables and notes and he space removed from the left panel (which fortunately I don't use much).   A balancing of the universe?

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12 hours ago, palmyra said:

Is there any plan to fix the unnecessary margin problem?

Or I want a setting option to select the size of margin in a note.

Nope. It is the new normal. It was done to accommodate the new tables. 

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On 12/17/2018 at 7:15 PM, EdH said:

Nope. It is the new normal. It was done to accommodate the new tables. 

Please, no !!

The gap is ridicules and annoying. And btw: I dont need the tables anyway, there are many other tools for tables, Evernote I use for NOTES !!!

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Started 2017, now it is 2019 and we are still on the same place! Evernote team, it's not cool.

So, the symptoms, the cause and the solution.

The symptom

  1. I save a web page to Evernote with the Chrome Evernote Web Clipper in a "Simplified article" mode.
  2. When I open the saved page in the Evernote for Windows, or in the Evernote for Mac, or online, I see the beforementioned big ugly right margin. I can't get rid of it unless I reformat all of the note.

The analysis

I installed the Сhrome extension called “AlterNote” to dig into the note's source code. It works with online notes.

What I found. The code of the stored note contains the content element with 36em width:

<div style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px 2em; border: 0px; font-size: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; z-index: 200; position: relative; width: 36em;">

A short look into the HTML, produced by Evernote Web Clipper on Chrome, shows that it's a <div id="box"> element for the central column with content. It limits its width.

 

It looks good on the browser's screen, but why they don't clean it up before the saving and store it in the note where it looks terrible?

The solution

For us, users — none. Ball's in the Evernote's court. They should just remove "width: 36em" from the HTML in the Web Clip before sending the simplified article to the server, and the problem will be solved. (The HTML of the simplified article is a complete mess, so probably they shouldn't stop on this element. But you just have to start somewhere.)

I filled the ticket 2870996 and got my portion of “Everything'll be ok, lalala” from the Support.

The workaround for poor forsaken us

  1. Install the “AlterNote” Chrome Add-on. 
  2. Open the note online.
  3. Open the AlterNote window.
  4. Click on the “<>” button at the top to edit the note's source code.
  5. Locate the <DIV> with width: 36em; (not so far from the top).
  6. Delete width: 36em;.
  7. Close the source window.
  8. Save the note (from the menu, or just hit Ctrl-S on Windows).
  9. Close the note.
  10. Reload the page with note to see the changes.
  11. *Repeat steps 2-9 for each note with gaps.
  12. ***** it all and fill another ticket to the Evernote Support.

* optional.

 

 

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I just want to bump this thread again. I HATE THESE MARGINS. I want clean, tidy, utilitarian notes and the margins are massive. I hate them. 

Evernote PLEASE FIX THIS. I have faith that you can make the margins smaller and maintain the table functionality.

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It's now 2020, and we still can't adjust margins and headers! This SHOULD be a simple fix. EverNote, please fix this. If you can't fix it, possibly you should consider a new development staff! Yes, I DO work in the software industry..........as a coder!

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4 minutes ago, EdH said:

I truly do not understand these fat margins. Excel is far FAR more powerful at tables and it doesn't have fat margins. It just has useful toolbars and right-click menus.

EdH, Evernote doesn't care about our request to improve margins. It is the only complaint I have about this great program and have been asking for it for several years.

 

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8 hours ago, EdH said:

I guess my comparison with Excel isn't exactly fair. I mean... Evernote has emoji and Excel doesn't, so there's that. ?

Hate to burst your bubble when you're on a roll (see Animal House: Bluto Blutarsky: "When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor"), but Excel does have emoji support. At least you can type in emojis using the new Win 10 emoji keyboard, invoked by Win+; (Win key + semicolon).They come in as black&white, but they're there...

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7 hours ago, jefito said:

Hate to burst your bubble when you're on a roll (see Animal House: Bluto Blutarsky: "When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor"), but Excel does have emoji support. At least you can type in emojis using the new Win 10 emoji keyboard, invoked by Win+; (Win key + semicolon).They come in as black&white, but they're there...

:facepalm:

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6 minutes ago, CalS said:

@gazumped

Has to be 6.7.6 or later....

Yup. Every version in that old repository is now dead except for a select few that are supported. No more going back to 5x or anything...

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Hmmn.  At least that makes the list a lot shorter...  though a couple of forum folks have claimed they're still using earlier versions.  Must remember to use that word 'deprecated' more often.

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I cant't finf fully working version with normal margins.

I will change the program for notes.
This is the most stupid and ridiculous solution developers have on my mind.
A lot of people are asked to make an option, albeit, for changing the size of the margin, but without success.

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Keep cool, in the meantime you were able to buy Evernote socks ... nothing beats a diversification strategy 😳🤣

1st I agree with you, 2nd I think we will have to wait for the release of the new editor to find out whether this issue got resolved.

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I gave up after several years of asking Evernote to improve margins and page formatting. Apparently they don't understand or don't think it is a big deal. I love Evernote and have close to 4,000 notes. I don't bother creating documents in Word anymore. It is always frustrating when I need to print an Evernote. To be clear, it is better printing from the browser, but there is not control of margins or page formatting on the Mac. It just requires an extra step to log into Evernote on the web to print. As a premium member, I expect to see Evernote respond to our suggestions and requests instead of being ignored.

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27 minutes ago, sdadell said:

I gave up after several years of asking Evernote to improve margins and page formatting. Apparently they don't understand or don't think it is a big deal. I love Evernote and have close to 4,000 notes. I don't bother creating documents in Word anymore. It is always frustrating when I need to print an Evernote. To be clear, it is better printing from the browser, but there is not control of margins or page formatting on the Mac. It just requires an extra step to log into Evernote on the web to print. As a premium member, I expect to see Evernote respond to our suggestions and requests instead of being ignored.

Hi.  Difference of opinions.  I like Evernote too (48,234 notes and counting...) and I produce,  on occasion,  professional reports and print artwork.  In all cases I use Evernote to soak up the emails,  web clips and general background research;  and then draft some things in Evernote,  but transit to MSOffice - Word,  Excel or Publisher for 'polished' layout.  The source files and the document files get attached to the same note.

The scratchpad (and occasionally erratic) level of formatting doesn't generally worry me too much,  because -believe it or not- it's better now than 9/10 years ago and I subscribed to Evernote with my eyes open, knowing what the app's capabilities were.

As to Evernote responding,  IME they have only very VERY rarely justified a decision they've taken,  and only once in 10 years have they reversed one.  If you'd like a personal response,  raise a support ticket - though I'd bet you'll get a "developers are aware of the requests and are working toward improving the editor,  but I have no release date for any new features" response.  Software companies don't usually comment on what's in development or when updates will be released.

A lot appears to be happening in the background - improved features seem like they're imminent;  'till then,  there are workarounds...

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22 hours ago, sdadell said:

I love Evernote and have close to 4,000 notes. I don't bother creating documents in Word anymore. It is always frustrating when I need to print an Evernote

Evernote is my storage and organization tool for all my documents and notes
I use the Evernote editor for creating basic notes

Evernote is not my tool for creating documents, or for printing

>>I don't care how YOU use Evernote

Just expressing my use experience and opinions
You're welcome to ignore posts 🙈🙉,
or you can learn from the experience of other users

>>discount user requests

The request is posted at the top of this discussion
I support the requests that impact my use
To indicate support, use the vote button at the top left corner; this request has 84 non-discounted votes

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2 minutes ago, DTLow said:

Evernote is my storage and organization tool for all my documents and notes
It is not my tool for creating documents, or for printing

DTLow, I don't care how YOU use Evernote. You always discount user requests. Please stop discounting our valid requests like you are the Evernote Guru that controls everything.

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52 minutes ago, sdadell said:

You always discount user requests.

Nobody is discounting requests;  none of the 'gurus' have,  nor will they ever.  We're all just users,  entitled to voice our own views and opinions.  The fact that @DTLow and I are happy with the status quo doesn't mean we couldn't or wouldn't use more features if they were available.  We're mainly pointing out that your perfectly valid request is not currently part of Evernote's feature set,  and while there is every chance that new tricks will be rolled out in the next few months,  there are currently other ways to design and control display and output.

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