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Looking For An Evernote Alternative .. Probably found the closest option


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20 hours ago, DTLow said:

I always thought of mind-mapping as a different discussion than Evernote's information management.

Foe example, I have a receipt which I may need in the future.  I can stick physically put it in a filing cabinet; I can scan it and attach it to an Evernote note.  How would you use mind-mapping to store a receipt?

Given that both XMind on the desktop and iThoughts on iOS support file attachments in nodes, rather easy. Drag & drop. You don't get a searcheable OCR inside that receipt.

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Yes, OneNote is prettier than Evernote.  Can you describe how the receipt would be stored/retrieved in OneNote?

Same way you do it in Evernote. Actually multiple ways - see the screenshot from iOS client (I use it much more often than the desktop, simply because my IPad Mini is always within reach). I can photo the receipt from inside ON and insert in the page as a searcheable image, which is exactly what I do with receipts. If I have an existing file (e.g. PDF), I have two ways to insert it - either as a searcheable "printout" on the ON page (I.e.every page of that file is searcheable, visible and readable in ON), or as a file attachment (no searches inside file, takes much less screen real estate). I pick whatever method I need - e.g. for credit card statements, there's no reason for me to search inside, so I use the file attachment method to minimize the amount of scrolling. Inserting any kind of document can be done either from another program by "sending" or "printing" that file to ON, or from within ON. There's also an option to email to "me@onenote.com" email address, in which case it saves the email with all attachments as a new page in a preset default location (notebook / section).

The second screenshot shows the same file inserted both ways, as an attachment and as a searcheable printout.

image.png

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  • 1 month later...

Howdy, EN Power Users:

It is time to pay a COMPLIMENT to the Evernote Team... which is now well deserved.

Yesterday I UPDATED to v. 6.0.6.1769 (301769) Public ...

 

My immediate observation is:

  • **dramatic** IMPROVEMENT in SEARCH SPEED

 

I have been a subscriber since 2003... and have been less than impressed with EN's efforts to listen to Power Users to move EN forward.

I personally appreciate this new robust speed search capability very much!
Thank you Evernote for a meaningful and practical improvement.

 

I hope this post proves helpful.

Sincerely,

~ Alan

 

UPDATE - 5/5/2016 - I actually am **thrilled** with this UPDATE speed performance enhancement... the pain has been relieved! If this is a portend of what is to come with EN's new CEO... it will be much welcomed by Power Users! Thank you, again!

 

 

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On 5/3/2016 at 4:58 PM, ab1kenobee said:

Howdy, EN Power Users:

It is time to pay a COMPLIMENT to the Evernote Team... which is now well deserved.

Yesterday I UPDATED to v. 6.0.6.1769 (301769) Public ...

 

My immediate observation is:

  • **dramatic** IMPROVEMENT in SEARCH SPEED

 

I have been a subscriber since 2003... and have been less than impressed with EN's efforts to listen to Power Users to move EN forward.

I personally appreciate this new robust speed search capability very much!
Thank you Evernote for a meaningful and practical improvement.

 

I hope this post proves helpful.

Sincerely,

~ Alan

 

UPDATE - 5/5/2016 - I actually am **thrilled** with this UPDATE speed performance enhancement... the pain has been relieved! If this is a portend of what is to come with EN's new CEO... it will be much welcomed by Power Users! Thank you, again!

 

 

 

Has anyone else noticed meaningful EN improvements since EN's new CEO has taken charge?

 

~ Alan

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9 minutes ago, ab1kenobee said:

Has anyone else noticed meaningful EN improvements since EN's new CEO has taken charge?

I have not seen a change in the speed of the program (Windows .Evernote version 6.0.6.1769 - 22,800 notes in my primary account)

From my perspective, the CEO has been invisible except for the memo he issued back in September last year.

The only user feedback I have seen since he came on board was a survey asking us what price we will accept.

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7 hours ago, ab1kenobee said:

Has anyone else noticed meaningful EN improvements since EN's new CEO has taken charge?

LOL, I haven't noticed a single meaningful improvement to EN in years.  Nor a single meaningful statement.  The good thing is they've set expectations so low that it doesn't even occur to me to even expect improvement, or even bother posting like a suggestion would ever be listened to, the only reason I'm posting here is I got a thread notification.  If anything, the only thing I'd expect from a new release would be further destruction and dumbing down of the product, aka the "new" web version.  Which I haven't looked at in probably 6 months since once I saw how they had destroyed that, but again, why bother?

My use now is very limited, I don't use much any more.

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  • 2 months later...

Rip Evernote.. Was a paid user for several years, but I will not commit a second more of my time and notes, to a company that requires a lifetime pay for its most fundamental use for me, which was instant access between devices.

we all own a phone. So intersystem sharing impossible unless I don't have it on phone?

so if I am a paid user... And then deside not to pay... 

Watever. I don't care if other options not as good. This is wrong on principle.

we invested time in your product. We invested money, we supported it.. I recommended it to at least 100 people..

 

and you spit in our face like that? (Not to mention conveniently timed with 40 percent more for subscription.

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43 minutes ago, lykoz said:

we all own a phone. So intersystem sharing impossible unless I don't have it on phone?

This is completely untrue. You should educate yourself on the new rules for free accounts and managing your devices. They've been posted often enough; check the original topic by gbarry, where you've already posted and made this untrue claim.

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2 minutes ago, jefito said:

This is completely untrue. You should educate yourself on the new rules for free accounts and managing your devices. They've been posted often enough; check the original topic by gbarry, where you've already posted and made this untrue claim.

I saw that post, and it kills the functionality on demand completely. Especially with regard to phone use.

no goodwill from this company. They forget their place, as a note taker.

they have alienated a lot of people, whose whole lives don't center around Evernote. Some of those more 'casual' users, were paid users for many years, like myself.

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56 minutes ago, lykoz said:

Rip Evernote.. Was a paid user for several years, but I will not commit a second more of my time and notes, to a company that requires a lifetime pay for its most fundamental use for me, which was instant access between devices.

we all own a phone. So intersystem sharing impossible unless I don't have it on phone?

so if I am a paid user... And then deside not to pay... 

Watever. I don't care if other options not as good. This is wrong on principle.

we invested time in your product. We invested money, we supported it.. I recommended it to at least 100 people..

 

and you spit in our face like that? (Not to mention conveniently timed with 40 percent more for subscription.

I own a phone.

I paid for it, and I pay for my phone service, and I pay for my internet service

It never occurred to me that anyone was spitting in my face

Evernote is one of the few companies offering free a free service level

And we can continue to use all our devices.  I added more details here

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  • 4 weeks later...

One of the really popular Google searches these days is "Alternatives to Evernote???"  Why? It's clear that Evernote will keep cutting back on all of the features of the free version to drive everyone out.   That's normally called "shooting yourself in the foot", or "killing an Internet business".

There's nothing wrong with the "freemium" model, as long as you keep adding so many features to the paid version, that free users can't help but start paying.  But no one has successfully implemented a freemium model where the paid version stays the same, and the free version is whittled away to nothing.

So are there alternatives to Evernote for people annoyed with this?  Well, use the popular "alternatives to Evernote?" search and you'll find hundreds.  Are any better than Evernote?  Well, for those who were quite satisfied with free Evernote before it began shrinking, yes... dozens of them are better!

Good luck to Evernote.  Hopefully, your expensive enterprise customers will offset all the potential consumer business you could have had with another approach to monetizing the low end.

 

Cheers & goodbye!

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, cwhaley said:

One of the really popular Google searches these days is "Alternatives to Evernote???"  Why? It's clear that Evernote will keep cutting back on all of the features of the free version to drive everyone out.   That's normally called "shooting yourself in the foot", or "killing an Internet business".

There's nothing wrong with the "freemium" model, as long as you keep adding so many features to the paid version, that free users can't help but start paying.  But no one has successfully implemented a freemium model where the paid version stays the same, and the free version is whittled away to nothing.

So are there alternatives to Evernote for people annoyed with this?  Well, use the popular "alternatives to Evernote?" search and you'll find hundreds.  Are any better than Evernote?  Well, for those who were quite satisfied with free Evernote before it began shrinking, yes... dozens of them are better!

Good luck to Evernote.  Hopefully, your expensive enterprise customers will offset all the potential consumer business you could have had with another approach to monetizing the low end.

What features are you looking for?

The most popular alternative seems to be One Note.

Upgrading to a paid account would have been better, but leaving works well too.

Good bye, Good Luck

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2 hours ago, cwhaley said:

It's clear that Evernote will keep cutting back on all of the features of the free version to drive everyone out.

Clear to you, however, but based on what? One data point? Hardly enough to make a clear trend. You may be correct, but not based on existing evidence. That's normally called "guesswork" or "making things up." By the way, you call it "shrinking", but did you know that the Basic service added a new feature? I'll let you puzzle that one out for yourself...

Cheers & goodbye!

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Just a datapoint from my newsfeed today.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/18/microsoft-helps-mac-users-ditch-evernote-for-onenote-with-new-tool/?ncid=rss

  • Microsoft makes the point the Evernote Premium now costs as much as Office365 Personal.
  • the migration tool for Evernote -> OneNote for Windows (and now Mac) has migrated 71 million Evernote notes.

Seems there's some movement there.

Movement I'm less than pleased with.  The pricing issue doesn't help.  The more people migrating for various thread hammered reasons, means the more my pricing is going to go up while I stay.

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  • 11 months later...
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Just adding to the 'alternatives' library - this is a bit specialized:  http://www.tempuslocum.com/

Android only: Tempus Locum (not the most catchy name for an app...) seems aimed at a slightly specialized marketplace... 

Quote

Easily record your location, descriptions, images, voice recording and other notes across multiple projects and share the details with friends and team mates.

Print & scan sample labels, export details and backup to Google Drive.

Key features include:

 • Record locations with location notes
 • Show location in UTM, MGRS or Lat/Long formats
 • Capture images, audio and notes linked to any item
 • Audio recording works well both inside (for talks or meetings) and outside (for animal calls); recordings are in good quality MP3 format
 • Export to Excel
 • Generate sample labels
 • Scan an manage samples via barcodes on labels
 • Show your locations on a map
 • Backup and restore via Google Drive and local storage
 • Show distance and direction to a location
 • Gallery of all captured images
 • Quickly scan through locations, and review images

But if features like location tracking / sound clips / picture display / label printing are important to you it may be worth a look.  I only saw this one because Book Catalogue (an android app I've used for a long time to scan ISBN codes and track my reading) is promoting this as a new product.

EDIT:  Wow - just noticed my quote text box above now includes a drop-down!  Nice! 59735929d58c3_ScreenClip4.png.41a235dd610e48fceb1bd0db68db1b34.png

 

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Howdy, gazumped:

I appreciate your comment above.

From my point of view... even though EN has been out-to-lunch for several years in making meaningful improvements requested over and over by its subscription base (especially its subscribed Power Users)... MS has languished in its own right with consistent unresponsive development issues as well.

Customer service for both EN and MS are comparably dismal as well.

Taking the above realities into consideration... I have not been able to justify moving away from EN to date.

I hope this proves helpful to some.

Positively,  ~ Alan

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21 minutes ago, ab1kenobee said:

I have not been able to justify moving away from EN to date.

EN continues to do the job for me; stores and sync’s my data ...

I haven’t seen another product that does a better job

The editor is adequate for basic notes; if I need extended features I use a dedicated app

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5 minutes ago, DTLow said:

The editor is adequate for basic notes; if I need extended features I use a dedicated app

Same here.  Evernote is just one of a dozen apps I use daily.  It gets a lot of use,  and I have no plans to move away any time soon;  but like Excel / Lightroom / Word - it's designed for a particular purpose.

I mentioned the Tempus item because a few folks have stressed their need for geolocation with notes - no idea whether this fills a need,  but you never know..  :)

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12 hours ago, ab1kenobee said:

P.S. Both EN and MS One are stagnant and uninspiring at this point.

EN is one of many tools I use daily.  It  gets the job done

I guess my pens are also stagnant and uninspiring but they get the job done

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DTLow:

I guess my pens are also stagnant and uninspiring but they get the job done

I placidly must agreed with your sentiment... however PENS have not the dimensionality and potentiality of SOFTWARE.

I interpret your comment to imply a ho-hum resignation to the anemic failure of EN to expand and blossom in finesse and capabilties... as many of its users were inspired to believe and hope for.

(Yawn).

~ Alan

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30 minutes ago, ab1kenobee said:

I interpret your comment to imply a ho-hum resignation

I think a better word is “acceptance”

This doesn’t mean I won’t switch to a better product if one comes available.  ”Better” is subjective along with “expand and blossom in finesse and capabilties”.  It’s important to me that EN continues functioning with hardware and OS upgrades

I also participate in the forums, adding my vote to future requests I find useful.  I’m not a fan of ranting and raving because EN doesn’t implement a specific feature

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ho-hum resignation = “acceptance”

High expectations have been: drowned... quashed... undermined... let down... WHATEVER.

Choice of vocabulary is less than congratulatory and ebullient.

Bottom line: EN has consistently failed to breathe life into this application for the past 3 to 5 years... it's tired Founder parachuted out... hired a Google exec for Pres... EN is experiencing significant financial difficulties because it can not entice enough users to become paid subscribers.

I don't know what kind of picture this paints for you... however it certainly can not be interpreted as OPTIMISTIC from any angle.

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On 2017-07-22 at 오전 10시 11분, ab1kenobee said:

EN has consistently failed to breathe life into this application for the past 3 to 5

EN has kept their product  “alive and breathing” **.  That’s the most important fact to me
       ** Except for BB and Windows phone

You might consider upgrading your software, 3 to 5 years is getting kind of old

>>EN is experiencing significant financial difficulties

In the past, EN relied on VC money to build the product; that period is over  
I have seen no reports of “significant financial difficulties”, I did see this

  • What people don’t understand about the company is that we’re in a very solid financial position. We’re on the path to sustainability. We don’t have to raise more money. We had a cash-flow positive month in March.

>>because it can not entice enough users to become paid subscribers

They also reported the “freemium” sales model has a successful paying conversion rate
Personally, I'd switch to a time-limited free trial

 

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9 hours ago, ab1kenobee said:

EN is experiencing significant financial difficulties because it can not entice enough users to become paid subscribers.

What is your source on the financial difficulties? Not some comment from years back, but something current in 2017.

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On 22/07/2017 at 6:11 PM, ab1kenobee said:

ho-hum resignation = “acceptance”

High expectations have been: drowned... quashed... undermined... let down... WHATEVER.

Choice of vocabulary is less than congratulatory and ebullient.

Bottom line: EN has consistently failed to breathe life into this application for the past 3 to 5 years... it's tired Founder parachuted out... hired a Google exec for Pres... EN is experiencing significant financial difficulties because it can not entice enough users to become paid subscribers.

I don't know what kind of picture this paints for you... however it certainly can not be interpreted as OPTIMISTIC from any angle.

I have to disagree here - there have been significant improvements in the cross platform editor and the reliability of the sync engine in the last year or so. These aren't big bang functionality announcements, but as a reasonably heavy user of the software, these matter far more to me, Moving to Google infrastructure is another significant and impactful change. Shutting down the previous CEO's ego-based international offices and closing the edge applications and platforms are all good business and product changes in my opinion. Focus is very difficult to achieve and the previous management were hopeless at it. Just because users don't understand the value of these changes doesn't make them important to the company and the product.

Your comments on the finances seem to be completely contrary to everything I've seen in the last 12 months - I'd be interested in seeing a reputable source, otherwise maybe you'd be better off editing your post.

 

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Howdy, Metrodon:

Appreciate your angle and comments.

 

Articles regarding Evernote finances: I hope Evernote is faring better... however here is a small sample of press comments regarding EN's financial challenges:

 

BUSINESS STRATEGY | Increasing freemium conversions: How to use customer engagement to drive revenue

Not all companies that employ freemium models succeed. Cloud-based note-taking software Evernote, for instance, has not been able to convert many of its 200 million users into paying subscribers. As a result, the company was recently forced to placed more limitations on its free service—a move that did not please its end users.

Evernote’s story isn’t unique. Dropbox still struggles to monetize the 500 million users of its file-storage service, with less than 10 percent upgrading to a premium subscription. Other smaller companies like Chargify and Baremetrics almost went bankrupt after failing to turn a significant number of users into paying subscribers.

SOURCE: VisionCritical

 

Evernote Will Shut Down Market, Its E-Commerce Effort, On Wednesday

Some more news from Evernote — the note-taking app and startup of the same name — that speaks to the company’s current rough patch: today it announced that as of Wednesday at 6pm Pacific, it will shutter Market, the e-commerce platform where it sold Evernote swag and Evernote-integrated office products, in an attempt to create another revenue stream around its more dedicated users.

Separately, we’ve also learned that there is another senior departure at the company: Ronda Scott, the company’s longtime head of comms, is leaving at the end of this week.

The moves come at what has been a pretty difficult period for the startup. Developments have included a number of senior departures, including that of the previous, longtime CEO Phil Libin; other underperforming products getting axed, and the startup — once commanding a $1 billion tag — among several whose valuations have more recently been marked down by large fund managers.

SOURCE: TechCrunch

 

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I'm afraid that neither of those point to any facts. Evernote has always been a freemium product with all of the challenges that this brings. This is hardly news.

I also don't think any serious user is really going to complain about the demise of the premium business sock BS. You reference a TechCrunch article that is more than a year old, again hardly news.

Instead I'll point you to a blog post from 2017 from the CEO of the company, so some facts and not general guesses -https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2017/02/13/turning-an-elephant/

Quote

we’re cash flow positive and in control of our financial destiny as a company. From here on, our operations will be self-funding,

The technology and financial online press are focused on clicks and impressions, not always on facts. "Evernote is dying on it's backside" is a much better sounding story than "Evernote is doing kinda OK".  Even if it's not true.

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LOL - If Evernote disappeared tomorrow, it would be a pain but hardly the end of the world, so I'm not sure about bias.

I do however dislike people posting uninformed comment in public places and then behaving like it's gospel. Unsuspecting and casual passers by are easily caught out.

 

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Hi everyone, checking in to share some experience of using an alternative for the past 7 months. 

(Actually, I switched to Onenote about year and a half prior to that, but for all intents and purposes EN and ON are somewhat related services.)

So, seven or so months ago, I finally bit the bullet and decided to try something I've been thinking of for a while - stop using any sort of dedicated data capture and storage service like Onenote or Evernote, and move all of my data to a file folder cloud based system. A very big part of this decision was the desire to never again have to deal with system migration and file conversion.

So, here's my setup. It's been working fine for me, with some things being better and some things being more difficult than using a dedicated service. 

All of my data is kept in Onedrive, and synced to Google Drive using CloudHQ free service. The sync part is not really required, mainly I did this to figure which service I liked better, but grew used to having my data duplicated.

All of my files are in common format - PDF, Office doc and excel, or images. If I ever have to switch over to a different provider, no conversion will be required.

I use Google Drive and Onedrive search. Primarily Google because it's app loads faster on my ancient Mini 2. Both services will OCR a document or image with text. 

For sensitive data, I use an app called Cryptomator. It provides strong encryption, and has very decent clients for pretty much every OS. There's a choice of several similar app, I picked this one for being open source, free, and very cross-platform. (There's also a way to index files hidden in Cryptomator by using another free software.)

For capturing paper documents, there's a very good and wide choice of scanner type software available for both iOS and Android, usually complete with OCR. I settled on a program called Scanbot, which is very well thought through and optimized for batch processing and automated saving of captured documents. I haven't touched my flatbed scanner in months.

For taking notes, I use a number of apps, basically whatever I feel like, as long as it meets a few main requirements - (1) fast (2) automatic saving to cloud (3) common file format. Most usually it's either Goodnotes or Notability on myiPad, set up to automatically save a PDF version of note to the cloud when I exit the program. Goodnotes is especially great for quick handwritten notes because it automatically (and pretty accurately) OCRs handwriting so the resulting PDF can be searched.

There are negatives as well, which for some people may be deal breakers:

1) Storage capacity. AFAIK Google offers 15 GB free (combined with email) and Outlook something like 5 ? (I was grandfathered into 30 GB). Not a problem for me - I only have about 3 GB worth of data, but may be an issue for some people. (But then the cost of added storage is pretty reasonable).

2) Google Drive specific issue: it will not search in large PDFs. Onedrive seems to work fine on them.

3) Another Google Drive specific issue: if you're using Google Drive, it will default to Google Docs format for new documents. I prefer to have physical access to actual files rather than hyperlinks to them. 

4) Google Drive is terrible at handling HTML documents. On the iOS, practically unusable. 

So, if I had to stick with only one service, I'd pick Onedrive. However GDrive has it's own advantages as well: it's faster on older iPads, Chrome's "Save to Drive" command creates a PDF of a web page with hyperlinks preserved, perfect for clipping, and it's generally directly supported by more apps and extensions. Having both services in sync worked the best for me.

Sorry if it was a long-winged post.

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3 hours ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

move all of my data to a file folder cloud based system.

As backup to Evernote, I export all my data to a cloud drive.  Just a flat folder.  

To be really functional, I could also export my EN tags to each note file
I want to maintain tag based organization instead of folder based

>>All of my files are in common format - PDF, Office doc and excel, or images.

I’m using the same formats as Evernote.  
The notes are html, and no change to the format of attachments

If this was my primary source, I’d rethink the html format - I don’t have a good editor

>>For taking notes, I use a number of apps, basically whatever I feel like,

That’s my approach even within Evernote; I don’t feel I’m restricted to the EN editor

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17 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I’m using the same formats as Evernote.  
The notes are html, and no change to the format of attachments

If tnis was my primary source, I’d rethink the html format - I don’t have a good editor

The HTML was not the best choice for conversion, and I wouldn't do it again that way.  Luckily it's old notes that I rarely re-visit. I am converting them to PDF or Doc as needed.

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55 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

For sensitive data, I use an app called Cryptomator

Does Cryptomator encrypts into a standard file format such as encrypted pdf or encrypted zip? Otherwise you have a new dependency to Cryptomator...

 

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1 hour ago, eric99 said:

Does Cryptomator encrypts into a standard file format such as encrypted pdf or encrypted zip? Otherwise you have a new dependency to Cryptomator...

 

Cryptomator mounts as a drive in Explorer so getting data out of it is as simple as entering the password and copying the top level directory. No need to convert anything, or decrypt individual files. It's also open source and posted on Sourceforge, so even if the project ever folds, the program and it's source code will remain available.  

If I ever find a better alternative, switching over would be as simple as moving files between two drives. I switched between a few encrypted storage solutions in the past 15 years, it's about as painless of a process as it gets. Click, drag, drop, done.

There are indeed many alternatives, I just happened to like that one better.

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7 hours ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

Cryptomator mounts as a drive in Explorer 

I’d be interest in other opinions but my first thought is No Way.  The centralized encryption worries me

I use the native encryption for individual files

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6 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I’d be interest in other opinions but my first thought is No Way.  The centralized encryption worries me

I use the native encryption for each individual files

I've used a centralized encryption (first PGP Disk, then FreeOTFE, then TrueCrypt) since late 90s. Almost daily. Never, ever, ever had data loss. 

That said, Cryptomator does encrypt files individually, and not in one huge volume, however there's no way to say which resulting file is what original file without mounting the whole system first.(Perhaps by file size ? But the file names are gibberish).

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All interesting for someone who's unhappy with a present system,  but so far I'm very content (just renewed Premium) and have too many notes and too much inertia to be tempted to look into alternatives.

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1 hour ago, eric99 said:

Evernote doesn't data mine my notes, that's the reason I'm willing to pay for it. What about Google Drive?

I honestly don't care. If I don't want them to know something, I'll encrypt it. Otherwise, it's kind of pointless to hide user manuals, remodeling quotes or travel reservations from Google when people use Gmail and Google search and Android phones. Or Outlook.com and Bing and Windows 10 computers. Your emails and daily location data and search queries (and credit card transactions, and Amazon purchase history, and a myriad of other data bits that  practically all retailers and services share about you) paint a much more comprehensive picture  than a pile of documents and notes you keep somewhere. What worries me more is how good are they at preventing unauthorized access to my data, maintaining it backed up and accessible, and how easy is it to move around. You can always use an alternate paid service like SpiderOak if you're concerned with privacy. Or, just keep everything in encrypted format. I don't know if there's a way to index and search encrypted containers on mobile devices - never had the need - but it's very easy to set up on Windows or Linux while keeping the index itself secure.

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2 hours ago, gazumped said:

All interesting for someone who's unhappy with a present system,  but so far I'm very content (just renewed Premium) and have too many notes and too much inertia to be tempted to look into alternatives.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with this. It was a discussion on EN alternatives, and as someone who used EN religiously for a while and have been looking at various alternatives for the past 3 years or so, I thought I'd chime in. If it works for you, that's great. I am not trying to make people ditch EN for ON or GD or whatever, I am just providing my (unrequested) POV.

Using any service requires a certain degree of trust and hoop jumping. There's simply no way around this. 

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51 minutes ago, Wanderling Reborn said:

Using any service requires a certain degree of trust and hoop jumping. There's simply no way around this. 

Agreed totally - not arguing,  just commenting... ;)

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5 hours ago, gazumped said:

All interesting for someone who's unhappy with a present system,

I'm also a contented (inertia bound) Premium user

I'm also preparing for the Evernote apocalypse when Evernote no longer functions, something like a temporary shutdown for some reason
for example:  2014 http://www.pcworld.com/article/2362100/evernote-hit-by-denial-of-service-attack.html

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4 hours ago, eric99 said:

Evernote doesn't data mine my notes, that's the reason I'm willing to pay for it. What about Google Drive?

Why would anyone suspect an advertising company of mining data?  ;)

I haven’t checked Google's TOS (terms of service) lately, but from way back I had understood this was their reason for offering these services

If you have confidential data, encrypt it before putting it in the cloud.  Trust no one

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  • 3 months later...

Hello EN Users:

I started this thread August 27, 2014... and to my thinking... EN has not made nearly enough improvements of substance in the past 3 years.

I belatedly found Dave544's post starting December 15, 2016, entitled: "It was a good five years"... which specifically discusses EN's Secuity Policy and User privacy compromises.

If you have not already reviewed it... it is worth a serious read... particularly for EN power users.

~ Alan

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1 hour ago, ab1kenobee said:

and to my thinking... EN has not made nearly enough improvements of substance in the past 3 years.

I'm actually not looking for "improvements of substance".  
I need Evernote to continue processing my data.  

The hardware and OS software is constantly evolving, so I need Evernote to adjust their software to keep pace.

Since this is a cloud based service, I need Evernote to provide the server side functions.  
Previously this was Evernote data centers; switched to a service provider in 2016

Evernote is no longer venture funded.  Not an "improvement of substance", but it's the reality of continuing to process our data

>>I belatedly found Dave544's post starting December 15, 2016, entitled: "It was a good five years"... which specifically discusses EN's Secuity Policy and User privacy compromises.

Yes, that was quite the tempest in a teapot;  a "chicken little" scene. 
*** Spoiler Alert ***   The sky didn't fall

The panic seems to have subsided, although I'm not seeing any security changes
edit:  The default was changed to opt out for the Machine Learning Project

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39 minutes ago, ab1kenobee said:

The fact is... EN Power Users have been requesting fixes and upgrades for years

There are many requests posted in the forums.

From your point of view, where should Evernote focus their limited resources
What would be your number one priority.

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DTLow:

 

From my perspective as a marketing professional and former independent Software Beta Tester and Evaluator (from MS to shareware):

 

1. EN has enormously diminished their own revenue stream by being so callously non-responsive throughout the past 5-years to its Power User base.

2. I myself have been a PAID subscriber 2x... only to decline renewal last year due to EN's dismal committment to tech support and development progress.

3. TOP PRIORITY - 1:  Security & Privacy... global support of encryption algorithms.

4. TOP PRIORITY - 2:  Advanced rich-text editing features.

 

Positively,  ~ Alan

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10 hours ago, ab1kenobee said:

TOP PRIORITY - 1:  Security & Privacy... global support of encryption algorithms.

Evernote has a text encryption feature, AES 128
Personally, I encrypt my sensitive data independent of Evernote.  I use encrypted attachments; pdfs, office/iwork documents, ...

>>TOP PRIORITY - 2:  Advanced rich-text editing features.

I find the Evernote editor adequate for basic notes
For serious work, I use dedicated editor apps; Word/Pages for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, Notability on my iPad, coffeemaker ...

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DTLow wrote: "I find the Evernote editor adequate for basic notes"

You just made my point: YOU HAVE ADAPTED.

EN is only capable of basic notes.

I now require advanced rich text capabilities, which EN has failed to integrate throughout the past 5-years.

I am not interested in adapting my needs to EN's low common denominator... in fact there are more basic PIM's on the market that (for years) have provided superior formatting capabilities.

I expect software companies to ADAPT and improve their software on a timely basis.

Simply... EN has not... and likely won't any time soon enough! LOL!

Positively,   ~ Alan

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1 hour ago, ab1kenobee said:

I now require advanced rich text capabilities

I need word processing features; I need spreadsheet features; I need calendar features; I need coffee

My approach is to use the best tools for the job.

for reference, Evernote is completely useless for making coffee.  I "adapted" to a coffeemaker

 

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I've pointed out (many,  many times before) in various threads - I use third party software* (in two or more OS's) for things including mind-maps, email, spreadsheets, publishing, photo-editing, books, multimedia, systems, money, calendars, project management, web chat, audio and system management.  I have around 250 apps on both PC and Android! 

Most of that is linked to Evernote in some way,  with at least my operating notes. I don't expect Evernote to match the features of those specialized applications,  and I wouldn't want the added complication of any menu bar from any single specialist app added to Evernote's layout,  much less a mixture of several of them. 

Apart from the complication issue,  Evernote would have to create (or buy / buy into) dozens of specialist apps that aren't Evernote and merge the coding.  You'd have a Frankensteinian app too big to load onto most devices!

I'm very happy to use Evernote to store and retrieve my information,  and manage various priorities.  It could be faster and more reliable in several areas,  but I see no reason to expand its range.

*And a coffee machine!

 

 

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DTLow and gazumped:

I appreciate the points each of you have made... and you're very kind to give EN sooo much slack.

For me... EN is utilitarian... and can be soooo much more.

Thank you for our friendly conversation!

Positively,  ~ Alan

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On 15/11/2017 at 1:11 PM, ab1kenobee said:

DTLow:

 

 

From my perspective as a marketing professional and former independent Software Beta Tester and Evaluator (from MS to shareware):

 

1. EN has enormously diminished their own revenue stream by being so callously non-responsive throughout the past 5-years to its Power User base.

 

 

Any actual evidence of this? The CEO says that they are currently self sustaining which is a position I don't remember the old guy ever saying.

I'm not even sure what a "Power User" is, but a sensible user picks the best tools to do the job - you won't pick up a hammer to make scrambled eggs (although some of my efforts look like they might have been..). Trying to build a single tool that fits everybody's "power" requirements is the shortest cut to ruin that I can possibly imagine.

I hope Evernote keep it simple, make it work seamlessly and don't try to be too clever. Too clever leads to Context, Work Chat, Socks and who knows what other nonsense.

 

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P.S. Here is an article I just found that most coincidently shares my personal point of view... useful for business people who are not willing to constantly compromise and subvert their own business needs and requirements for EN's lackluster feature updates and tech support:

(There are many long-term EN Power Users who have relunctantly left EN for many of the same reasons that are published in this forum.)

 

I’M GIVING UP ON EVERNOTE AND SWITCHING TO ONENOTE | by Emory Wells |

"While I don't mind paying for upgrades and new features, I don't like feeling like I got tied into something only to have the rug pulled out from under me a few years later.

If I felt like Evernote was continually improving and getting better, I might feel differently than I do."

(NOTE: Reader comments below the article are also important and useful.)

 

 

After reading the above article, I am going to revisit OneNote again with an open mind.

Migration ought not to be taken for granted as a piece of cake... because it's not. It requires significant time and effort.

I have politely stated my point of view.

Take it or leave it... I am not a lone voice on this issue.

 

Positively,  ~ Alan

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  • 6 months later...

Can anyone recommend an alternative to Evernote? It used to be the best thing since sliced bread. Now it seems the developers have abandoned its former staunch supporters.

After months of wasting my time trying to follow suggestions on how to actually get something typed into a note with waiting for the endless blue circle and white screens, I'm about give up. Check this, uncheck that -none of this ever helped. (rebuilding indexes, etc, etc, etc.) This is the same on two PC's. 

I have almost 30,00 notes that I need to access and add to on a daily basis.. I could finish a sandwich by the time I accomplish anything now in Evernote. It used to be snappy, now it's a whale washed up on shore.

Too bad, this app is no longer supported by passionate developers. Now, I just have to figure how to get out from under the pile of ineptitude.

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

-Bill Mozer, A VERY Disappointed Customer

 

 

  

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On my Mac, I can select all my notes, then export in html format 
I actually run this weekly for a full database backup

The result is an html file for each note, with a resources folder for attachments.

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On 5/27/2018 at 9:06 PM, billmozer@gmail.com said:

These are my thoughts. What are yours?

I think overall over the years Evernote got better. But it has grown and changed as well which generally brings other challenges and issues too.

There are definitely complaints about certain things but that happens to many apps and software as you cannot make everybody happy.

Having said that, there are times that the changes | added or removed features do not really make sense which makes it very frustrating to the dedicated users. But in the end, if the progress was on a chart, after the ups and downs, I think it is trending on a "positive" scale.

Currently on my work laptop, with the Windows Version 6.7, it just works fine. It is fast, responsive no issues. However, I keep my home PC which is older with the latest version and that one really is horrible. It is super slow and I get the non-responsive warning all the time. Luckily, I don't use that for work so it does not bother me. But if that was my only machine, I would be on the same boat as you are. Therefore, I would recommend downgrading a version that might have worked for you better.

I have close to 14K notes now and my digital life is around Evernote so I am happy with sticking it to it. But if it comes to a point that it is not bearable I would look into other solutions of course. Recently, I came across "Notion" which looked very promising to me, check that out.

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At this point, I'm done, too. The most important issue is that I don't trust that my data is safe with Evernote. 

The webclipper issue - prior to a certain date (2015 I think), anything you've clipped from the web is a broken link. This destroyed so many important things, and I have no idea where to find the images (some were from a course website that I don't have access to anymore since graduating). I have seen no fixes.

Missing notes - Now and then it's been relevant to search for an older note, and there are maybe a dozen that I'm unable to find no matter what I try. I'm sure a portion of these were my fault - perhaps I exited before the note was saved, or perhaps I thought I made a note but didn't. But there are some that I can visualize the exact wording of, especially if I uploaded an image that I remember so well, and I cannot find them no matter what search terms & synonyms I use, even if I go back to notes I know I created around the same time and scroll through a few hundred, I can't find them. I have 2,000 notes - that's a lot, but not so many that I'm just not finding these notes due to not looking hard enough.

Unsaved edits - similar to above, I'm sure some issues were purely my fault, like exiting before the edit was saved (although usually Evernote is constantly saving changes so it's hard to predict when an edit would or wouldn't be saved). Other issues were due to switching between platforms, and unfortunately a conflicting version wasn't saved.

Like you, I also have issues with bugs that take forever to fix or are still unsolved (bulleted lists being stripped of formatting when opened on a browser; having to double-click to continue writing a note if you clicked outside the Evernote client; fonts randomly changing when I go back to a note). And there are also some features that I want, but don't see coming on the horizon (symbols list for degree symbol, greek letters, accented letters, etc.; different highlighter colors; and so on).

Considering all this, plus the maddening inability to create a ticket if you aren't a premium subscriber, I am planning to leave Evernote.

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  • 7 months later...

I have been an avid user of Evernote since 2010 and a premium subscriber since 2013. Please do not take me otherwise, I love Evernote almost to the point of addiction. After collecting more than 100,000 notes of Internal Medicine through a period pf 10 years [Close to 32 GB of notes], looking for an alternative is quite disheartening.

I was looking for alternatives to Evernote for the last 10 days.. but even considering the slow performance of Evernote at times, Delay in syncing, No Dark theme for windows and non-availability of a Linux version [ I still remember, I requested for a Linux version first time in 2013, several times thereafter], there are not many applications that offer the robust features Evernote has.

In the last 10 days, I tried almost all the evernote alternatives mentioned in Alternative.to site.

Yes we have onenote, i feel much comfortable with the Evernote interface.

After checking out all the options, i selected three note taking applications for a second look [ will be using each for one week ]. My primary criteria were less laggy performance, availability of a dark mode and most importantly a stand-alone application for Linux. [Linux was never a priority for Evernote management, I guess they still think Linux users will not subscribe for premium subscription, thus not good for business]

These three note taking apps are - standard notes [ primary con - still premature and somewhat buggy at times ] , Nimbus note [ primary con - exact replica of evernote, non-availability of a dark mode] and lastly Wiznote [ Primary con - servers located in China and all the documentations in Chinese, so needed to use google translate, otherwise this is probably the one that is satisfying all the needs]

From today, I started using Wiznote. Initial impression is quite satisfying.

* Wiznote does have a stand-alone application for Linux

* An excellent dark mode [ there are some other themes too]

* So far not much lag [ will report about this after heavy use ]

* Import feature was actually quite fast. I imported HTML files from Evernote and Google Keep, and the process was fast. Another option Wiznote has while importing is 'Combine' feature that allows several HTML files to be combined in one note. It also allowed importing doc and PDF files. Doc files were actually stripped down to actual notes.

*I need to tinker with Wiznote a little more to test other features, specially the advanced search.

So far i am quite satisfied to get some alternatives.. that are close to evernote and offers some features that have been overlooked/neglected by Evernote for years.

 

wiznote.thumb.jpg.e7ee9fc60221423b22da99199b2c782b.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, newbi said:

i selected three note taking applications for a second look

I have no problem selecting an external editor to replace the basic features of the Evernote editor/format.
For note taking, I use Notability on my iPad.  For serious work, I use Word/Pages and Excel/Numbers.
The documents are stored in an Evernote note as an attachment.

A bigger concern is replacing the filing features supported by Evernote.

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Hi @DTLow, thanks for your comment.

If you are looking for storing notes, emails etc .. I played with the web app of wiznote for a little bit .. similar to Evernote, it also provides an email address which can be used to store your mail on their server. Tested it..it is working well.

Two more features i noticed are -

Wiznote allows Encryption of your notes ..even in the free version. [Also available in Standard Notes, in the paid version]

As previously mentioned.. one point that may be considered negative by many is the server location of Wiznote [ China ]. I don't mind this as i store only medical notes online. Just found out, the server location of Wiznote can be changed.. though there are only three options Mainland China, Hong Kong and Russia.

1052561953_wizencryption.thumb.jpg.fc50948a5f71c96b9336530a6ea86168.jpg

 

2114112659_wiznoteserver.thumb.jpg.2181130e8e7c1d84fb4a15c10c919e11.jpg

 

Below is the notification mail from Evernote forwarded from my mail box to wiznote app

691668032_everwiz.thumb.jpg.22ad23e23c521f0de8360c91eda9c0cc.jpg

 

I am looking for ways to integrate Google drive, Drop box, one drive.

Thanks

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For today's developments ...

I removed Nimbus note from this trial due to non-availability of a stand alone Linux desktop application and a dark mode yet. [Although read at Reddit, it may be on the pipe lines]

Standard Notes does have huge prospect [ specially the Premium version ] ... but at this moment it is a 'Text Only' editor. May be in near future we can see some major developments .. being open source, standard notes has gathered huge interest and many are contributing to it's development. Let's see how it goes, will keep an watch.

So only one remaining among aforementioned three is Wiznotes ... may give Joplin a try.

Today i tried to create a 'call to action' with the click.to software that could have enabled me to paste all the copied texts, images, screenshots to Wiznote [Similar to the function I use for Evernote] ... but failed so far ..due to lack of documentation and the forum being in Chinese.

Thanks

 

 

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26 minutes ago, newbi said:

For today's developments ...

@newbi  These forums are provided by Evernote for discussion of the Evernote product

You should be posting these notes elsewhere.

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Hi @DTLow

I thought a comparison of the Evernote alternatives, may help other users like me. We all are aware of the problems with Evernote, just wanted to find if there is a comparable Note taking application. I do not think I crossed my limits.

Anyways no hard feelings, Will be posting on Reddit from now on.

Good Luck.

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14 minutes ago, newbi said:

So the server being located at China is not much of a concern for me.

You did mention there as a choice of server locations; Mainland China, Hong Kong and Russia   😏

Yes, I am trusting third parties to look after my data; which I have encrypted and backed up locally
I have minimized the risk of compromise or losing data.

However, using Evernote only my sensitive data is encrypted.  I'd prefer full encryption.

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@DTLow 

Yes i did mention.

Even with Evernote, 99% of my notes are offline, few are synced ..if i need to study them when i am at work.

For sensitive data..better to keep them offline..whether server is located in China, Russia or the US.

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Thanks for your post, since it reveals good alternatives to Evernote for Linux.

I'm a Linux user myself and have been struggling with the EN web version for years. I had to install Chrome to have full new interface for the web version, and everytime I need a reminder or access stacks, I have to switch back to the old version, which is a terrible solution for an app that should work seamlessly.

I tried Nixnote desktop, but it's not at all a substitute for EN desktop (besides, there are compatibility issues with formatting, font sizes, etc.)
 

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Hi ever_coffee

Thanks

Yes.. I have gone through the same problems .. that is the reason i was trying to find a suitable alternative. I guess the staunch supporters of Evernote felt a bit offended. So i have refrained from posting about this topic here. What they failed to realize, we also like Evernote, otherwise would not have used it for over 8 years.

But it's sad ... Evernote always tend to ignore long pending feature requests, without even giving a valid reason.[ I remember, I complained about non-availability of a stand alone linux application 3 to 4 years back] ... just for using Evernote i have to use Windows [ I am dual booting Elementary and Windows 10]

 

 

 

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57 minutes ago, ever_coffee said:

I had to install Chrome to have full new interface for the web version, and everytime I need a reminder or access stacks, I have to switch back to the old version

I understand the new web version is a beta release without the full featureset.
Is there a reason you want to use it instead of the old version?

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Hi @ever_coffee

I just checked out in Elementary... If you like the new web version of Evernote, and do not like chrome or prefer something open source you can use the Chromium browser or for that matter any browser built on chromium ... Vivaldi and others. Just checked it's working.

The New version of evernote is not working for Firefox Quantum..sadly.

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Some very subjective comments...

1) I would never trust a data collection service from China. It is *the* industrial espionage capital of the world. Even worse, with its culture of corruption and using official position for personal enrichment, your data may be misused in many different ways. At least I don’t expect NSA agents to be stealing money from my bank account.

2) The problem with developing for Linux isn’t that the users of that OS are not paying for services, it’s that there’s very few of them compared to other OS. Plus, there is already web access. The number of paying Linux users may not be enough to offset the cost of porting the service to the new platform and maintaining yet another client, especially with the service already struggling somewhat.

3) I am very cautious about moving gigabytes of data to a small and relatively new player. They tend to collapse rather suddenly and leave a mess behind for their users to sort out (does anyone remember Springpad ?)

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1] As I have repeatedly mentioned in this thread..i don't trust any cloud service safe enough to store my bank account details. Servers can be hacked/personal detail may be used in probably any country. Secondly..I have mentioned servers being located in China is a point of concern.

2] I agree, Linux is not the most popular of the desktop operating systems out there. But if you read this zd.net article you will come to know actually millions of users still prefer to use Linux. [ https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-many-linux-users-are-there-anyway/ ]

I wonder if maintaining a linux app is not financially viable for such a popular company as Evernote, how come others are doing it.

3] As i said before, i probably store less than 1% of my 32 GB data in Evernote servers, rest are in local notebooks. As you have mentioned of Springpad, u must know Springpad before being closed gave ample time to download your notes. Anyway anyone should keep back up while using any of these services.

Thanks.

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11 minutes ago, newbi said:

i don't trust any cloud service safe enough to store my bank account details.

Use encryption.

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2 hours ago, newbi said:

1] As I have repeatedly mentioned in this thread..i don't trust any cloud service safe enough to store my bank account details. Servers can be hacked/personal detail may be used in probably any country. Secondly..I have mentioned servers being located in China is a point of concern.

So are you going to audit every single note and bit of personal info you save on their servers? I’d rather avoid known problems, there’s plenty of possible ones already.

Quote

2] I agree, Linux is not the most popular of the desktop operating systems out there. But if you read this zd.net article you will come to know actually millions of users still prefer to use Linux. [ https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-many-linux-users-are-there-anyway/ ]

I wonder if maintaining a linux app is not financially viable for such a popular company as Evernote, how come others are doing it.

There’s not that many “others”. Plenty of open source developers supporting an open source OS, but as far as commercial software and services, the access is rather patchy. And it really depends on the individual companies’ direction, access to resources, and culture. I am running a Mint desktop on an older machine I keep in the basement, just so that I could do some work there sometimes. So I am well aware of both the possibilities and limitations.

Quote

3] As i said before, i probably store less than 1% of my 32 GB data in Evernote servers, rest are in local notebooks. As you have mentioned of Springpad, u must know Springpad before being closed gave ample time to download your notes. Anyway anyone should keep back up while using any of these services.

Oh I know that well enough, I had about two thousand notes that had to be painstakingly transfered. I was not talking about losing your data, but about the PITA and effort required to move it to another system.

In the end, it’s your decision and of course I respect it even if I am hesitant to go that route myself.

 

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@DTLow, Yes , seldom if i upload something in the cloud, i tend to use cryptomator.

@Wanderling Reborn  1. no ..i don't need to Audit what info i save in the cloud, i am rest assured i don't put anything in the cloud that i don't want to. About banks, cards..i remember them.no need to use papers even.

2. You have rightly mentioned, it depends on individual companies’ direction , business models etc. But you will be surprised to know how many proprietary and commercial softwares are there in Linux. For your reference, i gathered some links -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proprietary_software_for_Linux

http://lin-app.com/category/utilities

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxCommercialApplications.html

3. Yes, to migrate all the notes from an application you probably once loved is a painful process. But honestly, what happened to Springpad can happen to any software or internet company... even the likes of Yahoo [ got hacked two times i think]..the Elephant [ aka Evernote ] may also fall some day.

Anyways, it's a personal decision. And let's put rest to this topic..as i am not posting any further 'Evernote Alternatives' here.

 

 

 

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If I was using an app from a chinese company that sync'd to servers in China, I'd be extremely suspicious about what is being sync'd and what isn't. Anyway, you say you understand the risks and the value/privacy of your data so that is fine.

The Linux conversation has been going on for years, there are lots of contributing factors, the size of the user base, the number of distros, the communities preference not to pay for software/services, etc. As a commercial organisation, I'm sure that Evernote (and lots of other mainstream commercial organisations) would jump at the opportunity for a new revenue stream. It does seem pretty clear given the unwillingness for the vast majority of software suppliers to provide a linux solution that this opportunity is not big enough to warrant the risk. If you select a minority OS, this is the risk you take.

 

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@Metrodon

This discussion could go on and on without any fruitful result... Neither of us backing down. So let's stop this topic.

By the way, i self-hosted Leanote In the process of migration from evernote to my servers.

Goodluck and thanks..actually this discussion hastened the process of leaving evernote .

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Em 17/01/2019 at 14:57, newbi disse:

Hey @newbi

Unfortunately, the Wiznote I've downloaded crashes within minutes of use.

You are right, I will insist on the Linux desktop app also. The relevance for a desktop app is specially the fact that you can work offline, and then sync when you have a connection. I work a lot on the go, and Evernote has everything I need to get it done, as pdfs, my plannings, etc. 

 

 

Original message:

Hi ever_coffee

Thanks

Yes.. I have gone through the same problems .. that is the reason i was trying to find a suitable alternative. I guess the staunch supporters of Evernote felt a bit offended. So i have refrained from posting about this topic here. What they failed to realize, we also like Evernote, otherwise would not have used it for over 8 years.

But it's sad ... Evernote always tend to ignore long pending feature requests, without even giving a valid reason.[ I remember, I complained about non-availability of a stand alone linux application 3 to 4 years back] ... just for using Evernote i have to use Windows [ I am dual booting Elementary and Windows 10]

 

 

 

 

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Em 17/01/2019 at 15:10, DTLow disse:

I understand the new web version is a beta release without the full featureset.
Is there a reason you want to use it instead of the old version?

@DTLow, what I really want is to be able to work offline, and Evernote has practically everyting I need, from everywhere I gather, PDF libraries, plannings, ideas... That's the main reason. 

Regarding the web version differences, I like the new interface, closer to the desktop experience, and the fact it incorporates full tables options and templates.

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HI @ever_coffee

Hope you are doing well.

Wiznote is working fine here.. both in Elementary OS and Windows 10.

I am currently using Leanote which i have self-hosted using Mongodb.

U can check out this GitHub article .. both Linux and Windows tutorial is there.

https://github.com/leanote/leanote/wiki/leanote-binary-installation-on-Mac-and-Linux-(En)

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 2/15/2019 at 7:42 AM, Echoreflection said:

Tusk is a great Evenote client that works great on Linux (even though in the link it says for Windows).  Has dark, black, and sepia color themes, as well as default green.  https://www.thewindowsclub.com/tusk-is-a-free-evernote-client-for-windows

Thanks! I was looking for a solution for a while now and nobody proposed tusk! It seems to work! 🙂

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Hi @Echoreflection

Thanks for your suggestion. I was not replying to your comment as i have said before, i will not add new alternatives to evernote to this thread. From now on whatever I need to post i will do at Reddit.

Just tested Tusk ... didn't like it. For a simple reason..

 It's not a proper desktop app. It is just the web version of Evernote encased with Electron framework. Have you tried creating local notebooks with Tusk?

What additional features Tusk is offering can be done in any browser with add ons like Dark reader and others.

Meanwhile you can have a look at Giganotes. [ https://www.ubuntupit.com/thetapad-giganotes-a-data-management-and-note-taking-app-for-linux/ ]

At present I am using Open note [ Self-hosted ] and Wiznote.

Looking closely at Standard notes and Notion development.

Thanks.

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  • 10 months later...

I have been a premium Evernote user since around 2012 - not because I needed the features, but because I wanted to support an awesome company. Well, for several reasons I don't consider Evernote awesome any longer. Yes, this is debatable (I respectfully request this thread NOT to explode in an argument!). But to me, the straw that broke the camel's back was Evernote increasing the price for premium, crippling free features, not grandfathering long loyal customers and not innovating whatsoever (again! let's not argue over this, this is just the way I feel).

Ever since 2016 I have been searching for an alternative that, in order of importance:

  1. can import Evernote notes + attachments without a huge amount of effort
  2. offers an easy way to migrate away, in case #3 - #7 don't apply any longer
  3. is more in line with the max amount I'd be prepared to pay ($3-4/month)
  4. has all the features I consider vital in Evernote (sync between devices, web clipping, attachments, online backup, easy search, note versions)
  5. has most of the features I consider awesome in Evernote (OCR, inline PDF, nested notebooks/categories)
  6. is actively developing/improving the product and offers additional features that I consider a modern must (e.g. Markdown, end to end encryption)
  7. has an open minded community without a lot of rabid zealots who vehemently defend anything the product does (or doesn't) do

It turns out finding that product is a lot more difficult than I anticipated! Here my findings so far:

OneNote: this was the first I tried, of course. I can be brief about that, I hate it. It's convoluted, ugly, crazy in its many versions, plus the editor is even worse than Evernote's, if possible. I imported Evernote (#1) and it's free (#3), but I haven't tested it long enough to comment on the other bullet points because I can't live with it... at all.

Dropbox Paper: it looks lovely and seems very versatile, but alas, it doesn't do #1 (import from Evernote), so that was the end of my experiments.

Zoho Notebook: Imported my notes from Evernote (#1) without a hitch and their helpdesk/support forum is very nice (#7), and of course it's free (#3). It seems to have most of #4 and #5 and they seem keen to develop new features (#6). However, once you use Zoho, you are locked in (#2). So although it's a lovely product, I can't live with a product that doesn't offer a way to export, so out the door it went.

Google Keep: I like it very much, it's cute and whimsical, but hardly a replacement for Evernote. I am currently using it for casual notes-on-the-fly, sort of a glorified post-it app. However,  it doesn't import from Evernote (#1) and lacks most of the other features (#2, #4 to note) so it's going to stay a niche product for me.

Notion: I spent quite a bit of time with Notion, desperately hoping that would be The One. It actually offers all of the features I mentioned above and then some, except... except. Two things are holding me back from moving across permanently: it is VERY slow on my Android machine, as in MOLASSES. There is no way you can quickly look up a note, or make some edits. I'm talking "go get yourself a cuppa and hopefully it'll be there when you come back" slow. Plus, I'm sorry to say, I can't seem to make friends with the blocks approach... so I reluctantly abandoned the app but will definitely keep an eye on further developments.

Joplin: Now, here we're starting to talk. Honestly, this seems to be a very serious contender of Evernote... except it's still a little rough around the edges. It imported my Evernote notes without any hassle (#1) and I LOVE how it converted everything to Markdown. No more fugly web clippings... just clean and straightforward information now... I love it! You can export your notes in numerous ways (#2). It is free and open source, so #3 is n/a. As for #4: sync between devices, provided you use Dropbox or NextCloud, works like a charm! Web clipping works surprisingly well, the app supports any kind of attachments (your own Dropbox space is the limit), online backup, easy search and self defined note versions (default is up to 90 days). Moving on to #5: it has nested notebooks (nested in multiple levels), but, alas.... no OCR or inline PDF. It looks decidedly less polished than Evernote, and I'm missing the little thumbnail image and first few words of the note in the note list. They seem to be actively developing new features (#6) , though I'm a little concerned that there is only one person working on this (side note: it is INCREDIBLE how one person can create a similar product that Evernote needed HUNDREDS of employees and YEARS of development for!). And last but not least: they have an active forum with a pleasant atmosphere (no accusations of being a troll or in crowds constantly confirming to each other how awesome it is to use the product).

Others: I haven't tried any iOS products such as Bear or Apple Notes, because I'm strictly a Windows/Android user. I probably missed some, such as SimpleNote, but then again I don't think that those offer the features I need (such as attachments) so they would be out anyway.

Lastly: why not just downgrade Evernote to the free version? Well, for starters, I have a desktop, a tablet and a phone and I use all three equally much to consult my notes. And second, Evernote keeps crippling features for the free version more and more. Third, I'd like to be prepared. My premium subscription just renewed at the old price, but I saw on the front page of Evernote that it's now $9.99/month - a price I personally consider ludicrous for what I use EN for (friendly reminder: PLEASE do not counter with why YOU are prepared to pay $9.99/month because the product does what you want it to do, we're talking about what I consider too much here).

So :) With that I conclude my lengthy discussion of why I'm definitely leaving Evernote and what alternatives I have considered over the past 3 years.

TL:DR: I'm seriously considering Joplin. It has several great features that Evernote is missing (Markdown, end to end encryption, no features behind a paywall) but I will need to use it for a while to see if I can live with the few features it is still missing (OCR, inline PDF, import from folder, merge notes, thumbnail image on note list).

If anyone has any suggestions of apps that aren't part of this list, I'm all ears. And secretly of course I hope Evernote hears my plea and becomes what I consider awesome again so that I won't have to leave them after all :) 

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