Bug: PDF thumbnails missing in note list

[davebe 3]

Does anyone here experience the same problem?

for about a month now, new PDFs scanned to Evernote don't have a preview anymore in iOS.

In Windows and OSX preview works fine and even for older PDFs, the preview in iOS is working. Only new stuff no longer has a preview and only in iOS.

 

Has anyone noticed the same?

 

 

[Vincent Noel 60]

For a few days thumbnails for PDF files within notes have not been appearing in the note list. I see plenty of things like on the attached screenshot -- a big grey file. It is not helpful when searching for a note.

It feels line thumbnails eventually appear, maybe once the notes have been through Evernote on my Mac but I can't be sure. 

[Ron Bauerle 31]

Hi!  Evernote recently discovered a bug with the PDF thumbnail generating processes. We have temporarily disabled PDF thumbnails while we implement the fix, but unfortunately I don't have an ETA for when that will be.

[rbianchi 64]

I have the same problem ...

[Joost72 0]

Same here

[Guest Paul]

Yep same problem for me.

 

[DTLow 5,697]

 

[Wayne C 1]

I go the same problem, not only pdf file, but also for jpg image. 

 

Cant display the thumbnails and only show a broken image in the note. 

 

Please help

[Guest Guest]

Any update?

[sudeepshroff 1]

Same here. Frankly, due to this, I am losing interest in using EN on my iPhone.

[Sergio23 0]

The latest iOS update removed the PDF preview from notes list. Now we get a big ugly gray file icon.

Evernote support responded it is by design and I should submit a feature request! Really??

Please get this fixed ASAP!

[Guest Dave]

Sam here. Makes EN half as useful without this “preview”. Totally not understandable how such feature can get broken and even more so why the can’t seem to fix it within a reasonable timeframe... very sad

[DTLow 5,697]

 

[alanreeder 2]

I'll second that! Please update the thumbnail previews and also allow card view with PDF previews on all versions of Evernote (iOS, Mac, Web, etc.)! I typically bulk scan all documents into Evernote and then simply search for keywords when something is needed, seeing that the system OCRs the text within PDFs for me. Being able to search for text within PDFs and then have visual card previews of the PDFs pop up, plus have the searched text highlighted when a card is chosen, is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

Please keep PDF preview thumbnails on all devices, Card View and Expanded Card View on all devices, the ability to OCR and search within all PDFs, and also to see the searched text locations highlighted within chosen documents.

For me these are the most important elements of Evernote and if feels like they are slowly being taken away. This is what makes the service great and separates it from Dropbox and all other cloud storage options. Taking away the visual card view elements, the backend-OCR function, or the full-text search with highlighted search terms, would be a HUGE mistake.

It seems like the newest Beta Web version (which typically becomes the future aesthetic) is trying to take all image previews out of Evernote and remove the Card View altogether... let's stop that and instead KEEP EVERNOTE VISUAL! The service should feel like a board of pinned images, not like some old boring email client with an endless list of text and dated fonts.

[Sergio23 0]

Same here. Really annoying, and it makes EN half as useful. Contacted support and they answered me this this was by design, not a bug. Hard to believe, but...

[Guest Same for Android]

Same issue on my Android Nexus 6P.

[DavidAmpleford 4]

Well I hope it wasn’t really designed that way!  PDFs downloaded prior to the last update are still able to be previewed in the thumbnails pane, but any downloaded since are not. I definitely want that function reinstated to be able to preview all PDFs.

[Sjano 0]

I can’t open what DTLow posted about the icons. I am missing some, but not all of my icons. Can someone tell me how to fix it?

[EvernoteNYC 1]

This has been a problem with Evernote ever since early September, when I called it to the attention of Evernote support. For a while, a workaround was to create a duplicate copy of the note and then delete the original note. A pdf preview appeared for the duplicate, but this workaround no longer works unfortunately. I am really unhappy with the direction Evernote seems to be going. There seems to be a loss of focus on the core functions of the app that made it great for many years. Let's hope they turn this around soon.

[EvernoteNYC 1]

Evernote: What is the ETA to fix this?

[DTLow 5,697]

On 10/19/2018 at 8:14 AM, Sjano said:

I can’t open what DTLow posted about the icons. I am missing some, but not all of my icons. Can someone tell me how to fix it?

I posted a link to a post from an Evernote employee

Hi!  Evernote recently discovered a bug with the PDF thumbnail generating processes. We have temporarily disabled PDF thumbnails while we implement the fix, but unfortunately I don't have an ETA for when that will be.

[Seerina 0]

On 10/5/2018 at 5:14 PM, DTLow said:

 

Any new yet on this issue. As of today 10--23--18 I am still having this problem

 

[Shane D. 1,798]

Hi All,

I've merged the threads regarding this issue into this individual thread.

That being said, we are still working to fix this issue as quickly as we are able.

I'll follow-up here once I have more information.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any other questions!

[southernforge 58]

On 9/13/2018 at 10:31 AM, Ron Bauerle said:

Hi!  Evernote recently discovered a bug with the PDF thumbnail generating processes. We have temporarily disabled PDF thumbnails while we implement the fix, but unfortunately I don't have an ETA for when that will be.

Thank you for addressing this - the change has been maddening.

[EvernoteNYC 1]

Any updates on this issue? We’re now in November, and this has been going on for months already. Thanks.

[davebe 3]

I've raised a Support ticket and got answer that they turned this off. I'll Keep raising new tickets until they fix this.

[Scott T. 656]

I looked into the current status of the PDF thumbnails. For reasons I can't discuss, we needed to turn off the existing system that created the PDF thumbnails. We are still actively working on restoring the functionality, but it requires investigating and evaluating different options. But we do plan on restoring this functionality soon. I apologize for the inconvenience it causes in the near term. 

[EvernoteNYC 1]

Scott T. or any other Evernote employee, what is the ETA for a fix?

Thanks.

[Scott T. 656]

@EvernoteNYC, I spoke with the developer working on it. He's actively developing and testing the fix. It's his top priority. Sounds like we might have a fix very soon, but I can't promise a specific date, unfortunately.

[trenchantly 15]

Same problem and I've cancelled my subscription as a result.

[Nicolas E. 0]

4 months to solve a vital functionality bug?

A single developer working on this?

An offboarding plan for our accounts is now in process.

[EvernoteNYC 1]

I'm going to bring this to the attention of Evernote's CEO. If he isn't already aware of it, he should be, because it's this neglect of basic functionality that will drive away loyal users. If Evernote loses its reputation for providing a reliable platform for basic note keeping, they can forget about any of their more ambitious plans. Their user base will have abandoned them, and their reputation will be irreversibly tarnished.

[Garrett P 11]

Howdy all,

I want to thank you all for the feedback. 

I'm an engineering manager here at Evernote and one of my teams is responsible for rebuilding this functionality. Due to a security-related bug in the Ghostscript software that underpinned this service, we made the decision to disable it while we worked in parallel on a suitable replacement. We didn't make this decision lightly and keeping your notes secure is one of our first principles. We're working hand in hand with our security team to ensure the new solution adheres to that principle.

While we've been hard at work re-architecting this functionality, I understand the process has not been fast enough for those of you who rely heavily on it. To that end, I'm doubling-down resources on this and we expect to have a working replacement very soon.

In the mean time, our desktop clients (Mac, Windows) support local PDF thumbnail rendering for those of you who have that option

[EvernoteNYC 1]

Thanks, Garrett. The transparency is much appreciated, as is the focus on security. Hopefully your team can get this worked out soon.

[Garrett P 11]

Just a quick update: We've successfully rolled out an early version of our PDF thumbnail rendering service as of this afternoon. We will continue to monitor and adjust as needed but generally you should see thumbnails appear for your newly-uploaded PDFs.

Thanks again for your patience and for sticking with us.

[Sergio23 0]

11 hours ago, Garrett P said:

Just a quick update: We've successfully rolled out an early version of our PDF thumbnail rendering service as of this afternoon. We will continue to monitor and adjust as needed but generally you should see thumbnails appear for your newly-uploaded PDFs.

Thanks again for your patience and for sticking with us.

Great news, Garrett!

The update is already working for me.

Will the old notes have the thumbnails restored too or are they gone forever?

[VitaCasa 0]

I still see no thumbnails..this was one of the only reasons I chose Evernote over many other options! oY. 

[Garrett P 11]

On 12/8/2018 at 4:50 AM, Sergio23 said:

Great news, Garrett!

The update is already working for me.

Will the old notes have the thumbnails restored too or are they gone forever?

Working on getting specific answers for you now but the short of the long is no, you'll definitely be able to get thumbnails for your older PDFs too. The long version: Each of our clients has slightly different behavior in this department but ultimately no client caches the result (i.e. a placeholder thumbnail) for more than a week.

[Garrett P 11]

On 12/8/2018 at 1:08 PM, VitaCasa said:

I still see no thumbnails..this was one of the only reasons I chose Evernote over many other options! oY. 

Sorry about that! Can you share a bit more details about your client (Mac/Android/Web/etc.), the version you're using, and any specifics around the notes you're creating (i.e. are they emailed, shared notes, etc.)? I'll double-check with the responsible team specifically about your client's behavior.

[DavidAmpleford 4]

When did the update come out? It hasn’t yet appeared in my AppStore updates notifications.

[Scott T. 656]

@DavidAmpleford The fix was on our server and should apply to all existing clients. No need to download an updated client. If you're still not seeing the thumbnails, please let us know what client and version you are using. Please note that @Garrett P mentioned it's possible that a client may have a cached placeholder thumbnail for up to a week.

[JimLipp 0]

Thumbnails are showing again, but they are unreadable.  I have the latest version of Evernote on my iPad and iPhone.  I need this fixed, or I have to go elsewhere. I have a premium account. 

[JimPop 0]

Thumbnails are rendering, but are unreadable. 

[Shane D. 1,798]

@DavidAmpleford The fix was implemented from our service side. Meaning, there isn't an update required, and you should see the fix without having to do anything.

@JimLipp @JimPop Have you noticed the issue with image clarify happening with multiple notes, or just specific ones? If possible, could you try recreating one of those notes with unclear PDF thumbnails, and then see if the thumbnail images are still blurry?

[JimPop 0]

Shane, all of the notes are individual scans — no multiple document scans.  The PDFs are clear, but the thumbnails are rendered unreadable.  I attached a scan that I made today.  It came out the same way.  

Again, having readable thumbnails is a very important function to me — one that I put a lot of time and energy into.  It has to be fixed.  It has been months since it has functioned properly.

Thanks for your interest.

Jim

[woodworks 0]

Mmmm....I do love and rely on Evernote to help run my business notes etc, missing thumbnails is annoying and slightly more time used as need to go into the note more often rather than skim over the snip bits. please try to sort this out asap especially when you have paying customers.

 

[Shane D. 1,798]

Hi folks, we've just released Evernote for iOS, Version 8.17.2 that should help address any lingering issues.

Please update to this version, and see if you still encounter pdf issues.

[JimPop 0]

Shane,

I installed the latest update 8.17.2 last night. I scanned a document this morning and, still, the thumbnails are unreadable. 

This “lingering issue” continues to linger.

Jim

[Garrett P 11]

On 12/20/2018 at 3:17 AM, JimPop said:

Shane,

I installed the latest update 8.17.2 last night. I scanned a document this morning and, still, the thumbnails are unreadable. 

This “lingering issue” continues to linger.

Jim

Jim,

Thanks for the feedback; we're working on reproducing and fixing this issue internally. To that end, if you don't mind sharing it, would you mind DM'ing me the PDF in question so that we can use it in our test cases? Thanks!

[JimPop 0]

I am new to this forum. How do I DM you?

[Garrett P 11]

8 hours ago, JimPop said:

I am new to this forum. How do I DM you?

If you tap my name, it will take you to my profile where you should find a green icon with a white envelope that will allow you to send me a direct message.

[EvernoteNYC 1]

I am experiencing the same issue. PDF previews are blurry. Before this stopped working back in the summer, PDF previews were legible. 

I have noticed that if I create a duplicate of a note, the duplicate has a legible PDF. 

Please fix this as soon as possible.

[Garrett P 11]

For those of you experiencing the poor quality thumbnail issue, I'm pleased to report that we now have a fix deployed that we believe addresses the majority of these cases. If you're still experiencing the issue, please reach out to me directly.

[DaneLennon89 3]

On 1/11/2019 at 11:16 AM, Garrett P said:

For those of you experiencing the poor quality thumbnail issue, I'm pleased to report that we now have a fix deployed that we believe addresses the majority of these cases. If you're still experiencing the issue, please reach out to me directly. 

Hi Garret,

 

I'm a premium member and have been experiencing the issue of pdf appearing blurry during annotation for years now. I have tried with many different types of pdf's and confirmed that they are not blurry when editing them in other apps. I have attached an example screenshot showing original pdf and the blurry pdf during annotation in evernote. I'm using the latest version of Evernote: 6.17.6.8292 (308292) Public (CE Build ce-62.1.7539)

 

screenshots of original vs blurry pdf.pdf

[Garrett P 11]

On 4/8/2019 at 4:46 PM, DaneLennon89 said:

Hi Garret,

 

I'm a premium member and have been experiencing the issue of pdf appearing blurry during annotation for years now. I have tried with many different types of pdf's and confirmed that they are not blurry when editing them in other apps. I have attached an example screenshot showing original pdf and the blurry pdf during annotation in evernote. I'm using the latest version of Evernote: 6.17.6.8292 (308292) Public (CE Build ce-62.1.7539)

 

screenshots of original vs blurry pdf.pdf 157.13 kB · 1 download

When you say "during annotation" -- can you clarify what you're doing with the PDF that results in the blurry state? The scope of this thread focuses around PDFs attached to notes directly as opposed to using our PDF annotation feature.

[Shayne Mason Vincent 0]

Same issue with no pdf, when will the update be coming as I use this weekly and it’s messing with my public speaking!!