iOS Share (Clip) to Evernote Warning is Repetitive

[Stacey Harmon 1,099]

It's an extra click every single time I share (clip) something to Evernote now because I have to close this dialogue notification box. I wish it didn't exist. I'm finding myself getting progressively more annoyed, the more times I see it.

I'm always looking for taps and clicks to be as minimal as possible, and the new process adds an extra tap to the capture process from my phone. And, capture and search/retrieval are the primary use cases for the phone app in my use case. Don't like extra steps getting added to those core workflows!

[stu_ck 25]

In fact, I've now found the situation is much worse - I'm finding when I share a webpage from  mobile safari on iOS to Evernote (using the Share Share to Evernote), currently most of the time the page doesn't actually get sent to Evernote - it just doesn't appear. This is so lousy. Guys, you cannot release an app that fails on these most basic of things. Really disappointed here.

[Jaya Shekarraju 75]

@Stacey Thank you for your continued support and patience. We are working on providing a user setting to turn this notification off. 

[Stacey Harmon 1,099]

Fantastic...thanks

[stu_ck 25]

Just here to support Stacey's comment to keep this visible. I agree, annoying beyond all comprehension! This is just lousy interaction design. Show the message once - there is no need to ever show it again. You don't need a setting. The old version didn't require this, why now? Is it because syncing has actually got slower? If so, this is a big fail for something that was meant to be a focus for a new release.

[pedrofuhrer 6]

Completely agree with Stacey.

 

And if I can add my 5 cents on the share menu from iOS, I'd kindly ask you guys to include an option to be able to add a tag also and not only to choose the notebook.

 

Thanks.

[Jaya Shekarraju 75]

Thank you everyone for all the feedback. We are working on adding Tag. Also, improving syncing and performance is a very high priority for us. This sync message is a temporary fix in the meantime until the performance improves. I do agree that it can get annoying if we show the message with all the shares. We are limiting it to be shown only the first five times and that fix is going out soon. We want to show it at least few times as some users might miss reading it the first one or two times. 

[Rob van Vliet 43]

32 minutes ago, Jaya Shekarraju said:

Thank you everyone for all the feedback. We are working on adding Tag. Also, improving syncing and performance is a very high priority for us. This sync message is a temporary fix in the meantime until the performance improves. I do agree that it can get annoying if we show the message with all the shares. We are limiting it to be shown only the first five times and that fix is going out soon. We want to show it at least few times as some users might miss reading it the first one or two times. 

The reason you need to show it in the first place is that it is completely counterintuitive. No other IOS app that I know off works this way.

[ObviousBob 140]

20 hours ago, Rob van Vliet said:

The reason you need to show it in the first place is that it is completely counterintuitive. No other IOS app that I know off works this way.

Actually, Bear also works this way - you must open the app on the device where you save the clip for it to propagate to other devices. Ironically, this was one of the reasons I wanted to return to Evernote..

[MissArdbeg 127]

Now I am really confused what the WebClipper will do - does that mean now, that if I clip something on my phone, and next open EN on my Mac, the note will not have synced, because I haven't opened the iOS EN App in the meanwhile? That would be nuts, completely counterintuitive and not how it worked before. I would expect that it DIRECTLY syncs to server.

Please tell me that it is not intended to stay this way.

[PinkElephant 8,069]

How can it sync to the server ? To sync something directly to the server, there must be a program that holds the access information to my account. On the desktop, WebClipper is an app or a browser extension that holds this access information. On an iOS device there is (currently) no such program. I am not a coder, so I don’t know whether this can be build into the share process of iOS.

Just to set this into perspective: No, I do not want to open the App all the time just to make a sync happen. But I would like to understand how the access issue is solved. Nobody needs a backdoor into the account, just because it saves a click or two.

[Jaya Shekarraju 75]

We are working on finding a way to create the note without having to open the app and this is a very high priority for us. This sync message is a placeholder for the time being. 

[DTLow 5,736]

On 9/24/2020 at 11:27 AM, MissArdbeg said:

Now I am really confused what the WebClipper will do - does that mean now, that if I clip something on my phone, and next open EN on my Mac, the note will not have synced, because I haven't opened the iOS EN App in the meanwhile?

Confirmed   
Evernote IOS uses the share sheet, syncing to the app

[MissArdbeg 127]

On 9/24/2020 at 10:00 PM, PinkElephant said:

Just to set this into perspective: No, I do not want to open the App all the time just to make a sync happen. But I would like to understand how the access issue is solved. Nobody needs a backdoor into the account, just because it saves a click or two.

I agree that intransparent backdoors are a very bad idea. Fortunately the backdoors setup on purpose are visible within EN and can be managed there. In the last days I tried to remember how I have done it with the older EN versions. I think why I didn't remember that EN on iPhone needs to be opened was the Pocket integration. Whenever wanting to clip something from the web, I first shared with Pocket to get rid of the formatting and then shared from Pocket with EN. Since that step happened between Pocket and EN backends, I didn't notice and when I opened EN desktop app afterwards I had the clipped content directly in there.

Now it seems like the integration between Pocket and EN is gone. I am not sure on which side this needs to be implemented again - is the EN forum the right place to request it or shall I raise it with the Pocket team?

[PinkElephant 8,069]

From what is communicated on the EN developers page, the API interface has not changed. All integrations should continue to work.

Have you deauthorized and reinstalled the authorization ?

You can review all existing authorizations in the web client, in your account information. You can revoke them there as well.

[MissArdbeg 127]

23 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Have you deauthorized and reinstalled the authorization ?

Yes, I did. From the Pocket application on my computer everything seems to be working smoothly. I even tested by closing EN desktop client (Mac Beta 5) before sharing with EN. Opened iOS App and the shared note was displayed. I didn't even notice any delay fetching the content.

The other way round doesn't work anymore. I try to clip from Pocket to EN via Sharesheet and I get the dialogue mentioned in the beginning of this thread. I am not even asked whether I want Pocket to access my EN account. As already stated by the clipper, the note is not in the Desktop EN client unless I have opened iOS App in between.

That's a pity, because in the past getting content from one explicitly authorized application to EN worked seamlessly.

@Jaya Shekarraju Thanks a lot for acknowledging the problem and letting us know that you are working on the issue!

[Jaya Shekarraju 75]

We released a new version of iOS app yesterday with few fixes related to share extension. It will be great if you all can give version 10.0.3 a try and report any new problem you encounter. We are still working on improving the sync but yesterday's release should alleviate some critical issues. 

[PinkElephant 8,069]

35 minutes ago, Jaya Shekarraju said:

We released a new version of iOS app yesterday with few fixes related to share extension. It will be great if you all can give version 10.0.3 a try and report any new problem you encounter. We are still working on improving the sync but yesterday's release should alleviate some critical issues. 

@Jaya Shekarraju Thanks for posting at least a little content information about the last release.

Could you tell in more detail about the alleviation of „some critical issues“ ? I do not want to waste hours again to try to find it out myself.

[pedrofuhrer 6]

The tags feature is still pending and I keep receiving the warning...

 

Just to make it clearer to everyone I just deleted the app, restarted my iPhone and then i installed from App Store the new version and still doesn't have these couple of features that we asked here.

[pedrofuhrer 6]

2 hours ago, pedrofuhrer said:

The tags feature is still pending and I keep receiving the warning...

 

Just to make it clearer to everyone I just deleted the app, restarted my iPhone and then i installed from App Store the new version and still doesn't have these couple of features that we asked here.

Hey guys.

 

An update here.

 

After 3 notes I shared from pocket to Evernote the warning is gone. 🙏🏼 

 

But it's still without the tag option on sharing option from iOS.

 

And you still need to open EN in iOS to sync the note you shared to the server (I think the prior version used to be the same).

 

Hope you guys implement soon the tag option on sharing too Evernote from any other app at iOS.

[stocky2605 401]

just take a look to the (new?) images in the App store - the Tag selector is already there in the share panel 🙂

[pedrofuhrer 6]

31 minutes ago, stocky2605 said:

just take a look to the (new?) images in the App store - the Tag selector is already there in the share panel 🙂

Yes, I saw this. Is I'm not wrong this is the since the 10.0.0 update.

 

But it's not available yet.

 

Here are the prints of 10.0.3 running and other trying to share from pocket without the tags.

 

[Stacey Harmon 1,099]

17 hours ago, Jaya Shekarraju said:

We released a new version of iOS app yesterday with few fixes related to share extension. It will be great if you all can give version 10.0.3 a try and report any new problem you encounter. We are still working on improving the sync but yesterday's release should alleviate some critical issues. 

@Jaya Shekarraju I clipped the same page 4 times. Here's my report:

1. The warning went away on attempt #4 and does not return on future shares even if I close safari and Evernote and relaunch them later (yay...thank you!)
2. I see a new sync notification when I open Evernote on iOS letting me know that the clip is syncing (helpful). However, if my phone goes into sleep mode, the sync process halts until such time I have Evernote open and active again (undesirable).
3. Still no meta-data (note title) populating on share
4. No tag option on share with this update (as shown in the screenshots in the app store – I presume this means this feature is imminent).

Assessment: Good steps forward. Look forward to more to come. Let me know if there is further user experience info I can provide.

[PinkElephant 8,069]

For an extended sync like downloading notebooks for offline use, I propose this:

• Go to the iPhone/ iPad settings, and switch autoscreen-off to never
• Connect to a charger
• Keep the EN App active, running it in the foreground (at night or else). When autoscreen-off is never, the app will stay open over hours, syncing away

Return to the usual settings once the initial sync is done. The continuous sync is pretty fast on the day to day volume added.

[pedrofuhrer 6]

4 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

For an extended sync like downloading notebooks for offline use, I propose this:

• Go to the iPhone/ iPad settings, and switch autoscreen-off to never
• Connect to a charger
• Keep the EN App active, running it in the foreground (at night or else). When autoscreen-off is never, the app will stay open over hours, syncing away

Return to the usual settings once the initial sync is done. The continuous sync is pretty fast on the day to day volume added.

I think this post is for another thread isn't it?

 

Anyway, it's a great tip. 

Thanks.

[PinkElephant 8,069]

This was related to pt. 2 in Staceys list, concerning sync issues. 

Maybe a little overkill just to make some clipped content sync 🙃

[pedrofuhrer 6]

10 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

This was related to pt. 2 in Staceys list, concerning sync issues. 

Maybe a little overkill just to make some clipped content sync 🙃

Yep. But I think she means that it'll just sync if you open EN. 

 

I don't think it's about the download offline syncing issue that this version still gets.

 

Anyway, great tip.

😃

[PinkElephant 8,069]

I agree - but in general, when the autoscreen-off kicks in, the sync goes dead. If you have it on a short shutdown  time, it can even cut off a regular sync. 

My regular settings are 3 or 5 min - then usually all sync has run through.

[Jaya Shekarraju 75]

We are working on title, background sync and tags currently. They should be available soon. Thank you for your patience. 

[aukirk 367]

@Jaya Shekarraju thaks for the update!   Any chance you could add setting reminders to that list of things you are working on?  Certainly title and background sync are important, but while setting notebook and tags, it would be useful to also be able to set reminders.

[CalS 5,280]

On 10/3/2020 at 11:12 AM, PinkElephant said:

I agree - but in general, when the autoscreen-off kicks in, the sync goes dead. If you have it on a short shutdown  time, it can even cut off a regular sync. 

My regular settings are 3 or 5 min - then usually all sync has run through.

I just did a test.  I still have the old version on my iPad.  I screen clipped this thread. And shared to EN.  I then opened EN on the iPad and the clip appeared in seconds.  All other note changes/deletes seem to be syncing.

I did the same on my iPhone and EN showed a sync running.  My display setting on the iPhone is 60 seconds.  I pressed on the phone 5 times as it dimmed.  I went to Settings and forced a sync.  The sync complete message displayed. Still no iPhone clip on either device after 5 plus minutes.  A very small note no less  

To be sure I share a clip again on the iPad and the clip appears on BOTH devices right away.  I create a dummy note on the iPhone and it appears right away on BOTH devices.  I delete a note on the iPhone and it is gone from the iPad right away.  

Everything but share seems to sync as one would expect in my unscientific test.  Morale off the story don’t share to EN on the iPhone.  That is FUBAR.  Wonder how it got through QA?

EDIT:  Or if you want to share use the email option to your EN email. That works fine. 

UPDATE:  Went to my PC and plugged my phone in with never auto-lock set.  Thirty minutes later and the two screen clips shared directly to EN 90 minutes ago have not appeared. 

As stated above you can email to EN and the note appears immediately on the Phone.  And you can add tags to the email title.  So again, my advice would be to NOT use share to EN, use email instead.  You may only get a link but at least you can click on it from within EN IOS 10 right away.  And you can fix it on another platform if you like.  🤷‍♂️

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:  I've been use the phone strictly as a lookup device since EN 10.The duplicate notes in the beginning and the share stuff were enough for me to leave it be until some fixes were posted.  Anyway, for some reason the last couple of days when I would start EN on the Phone it would immediately transfer to the Weather app.  ?????

So I deleted the app and reinstalled.  Here's where it gets weird to me. 

1. It seemed as not all note data was removed  by the uninstall as the note count when I signed in was in the low 41,000's and recent headers started scrolling on the screen I'm assuming as they were added.  Quickly note count was at 41,867 where it should be. 
2. The note I clipped in the test above is nowhere to be found.
3. I changed my INBOX and Quick notebooks to offline and those 9 notes synced very quickly. 
4. I screen clipped the Offline notebooks screen and it was in my INBOX right away and synced shortly thereafter.  Not at all like the example above.

So a reinstall fixed the issue for now.  Fortunately I don't offline all my notes.  Now I guess it is sorting of search results between me and using EN IOS 10 for real.  Unless I reenter the twilight zone.