Why was (important) functionality removed?

[Jürgen Bayer 5]

I like the new look and some options of Evernote 10.0, including headers and the option to size the notes to an optimized width. But why was important functionality removed? That is (as I found out so far) for the Windows version:

• Dictionaries: Everything is only English now? My German notes are mostly underlined red. This is not readable and not ergonomic.
• Add unknown words to the dictionary: Gone. Even my English notes are now nearly unreadable with all the red underlinings, and I cannot do anything about it.
• Start Evernote with Windows (into the task bar): Gone
• Highlights in code blocks: Gone

Also, now if Evernote supports headers, why is there no table of contents option? And why can the headers not be collapsed?

Is there a plan to (re-)add missing functionality?

[mchang 0]

First of all: thank you for the new version! It looks very nice and I am happy there is some new development.

About the missing functions: It would be better to tell beforehand what is missing in the current #10 release. It came as a surprise after installing the #10 version that getting a screenshot  (right-click on icon to take a snapshot) or offline notebooks were not supported.

And you say the vintage version and the #10 version can run simultaneously, but the #10 installation application has a special "Evernote cleanup utility" which removed the old version.

So can you make a blog post explaining:

• what happens when you install the #10 version
• how you can run the vintage version and #10 version together (is it allowed to do simultaneously for instance)
• things which are not supported in the #10 version but are available in the vintage version

[Vstk 33]

It is obviously a move to cut costs. Management has decided that it is ok for Evernote to be slow, unresponsive and heavyweight, if that makes future development / maintenance easier.

 

I would think their bet is that customers will adjust to the performance drop and stop complaining after a while. Let's see how it plays out.

[PinkElephant 8,115]

There are currently two short lists of functions about what is not included into the first #10 release, but will be added, and another of features that will be discontinued permanently. Probably there is a third list, a backlog of new functions that will be added in the future. This is not communicated. All of the lists are not complete, which means there is more to be discovered.

One advantage of the desktop versions is the ability to install and run both, vintage and rel. 10 in parallel on the same Computer. However this is temporary, since the vintage version will not be updated any longer. So I hope they get the missing stuff released in due time.

Currently any user should review what the new generation of EN can support, and what it can’t. Workflows can run on a vintage installation for some time, so anybody can take an informed decision about continuing, or moving to another software.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,959]

On running the legacy version, see this post: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote.

[mchang 0]

@Dave-in-Decatur thanks for the link! I installed Evernote Legacy. Unfortunately version #10 lacks too many features and is too slow. I have been a happy paid Evernote customer since December 2008. For the first time I am considering to move my Evernote notes to a different platform like Notion...

I am also involved in software development and I know that refactoring is very difficult, but the way version #10 was introduced is unfortunate (to say the least). The iOS client transition was painless for me, so you expect the same for the Windows version.

 

[Frki2 76]

2 hours ago, mchang said:

@Dave-in-Decatur thanks for the link! I installed Evernote Legacy. Unfortunately version #10 lacks too many features and is too slow. I have been a happy paid Evernote customer since December 2008. For the first time I am considering to move my Evernote notes to a different platform like Notion...

I am also involved in software development and I know that refactoring is very difficult, but the way version #10 was introduced is unfortunate (to say the least). The iOS client transition was painless for me, so you expect the same for the Windows version.

 

Just to ask, when you say that is slow, in which way is slow? 

I didnt notice that as for me is nicely quick, but that could also be connected with number of notes.

[mchang 0]

1 hour ago, Frki2 said:

Just to ask, when you say that is slow, in which way is slow? 

I didnt notice that as for me is nicely quick, but that could also be connected with number of notes.

I noticed slowness in:

- startup when you launch the application

- the user interface when clicking from one notebook to another (I See "loading notebook..." a lot in V10, not in V6.25)

- clicking on a link and seeing the note details. It looks like V10 needs to get everything from the cloud, while V6.25 has everything local)

- syncing when I enter something in Windows, and when it is synced to the cloud.

I have 19.000 notes synchronized in my notebooks and use a 200 mbit symmetrical fiber internet connection

[Frki2 76]

23 minutes ago, mchang said:

I noticed slowness in:

- startup when you launch the application

- the user interface when clicking from one notebook to another (I See "loading notebook..." a lot in V10, not in V6.25)

- clicking on a link and seeing the note details. It looks like V10 needs to get everything from the cloud, while V6.25 has everything local)

- syncing when I enter something in Windows, and when it is synced to the cloud.

I have 19.000 notes synchronized in my notebooks and use a 200 mbit symmetrical fiber internet connection

Tnx on info.

Yeah, i didnt experience that. Wierd.

Launch is quick, Win and Mac machine

Never got loading notebook and tbh didnt had syncing issues.

Must be number of notes as i have gazilon less than you, but better optical internet 500 mbs lol

[DMiddleton 302]

1 hour ago, mchang said:

- clicking on a link and seeing the note details. It looks like V10 needs to get everything from the cloud, while V6.25 has everything local)

I have noticed the speed issues with the UI in general and the difference between the legacy (native) app the V10 (electron) app.
I also use other apps that are based on electron and they are always slightly more sluggish compared to native apps in terms of UI responsiveness.
This could be something to do with the way they are rendered being a browser based system, as well as the size of the content being displayed.

I build native business apps for windows and they are snappier and consume much less memory than the electron apps and perform much better, this was one of my first disappointments with EN moving to an Electron app.

[dcon 166]

On 10/12/2020 at 7:16 AM, DMiddleton said:

this was one of my first disappointments with EN moving to an Electron app.

It's also why I now work in surgical robotics (and oddly, I switched from Windows to Linux to do that!)

(I spent 6 yrs working on the EN Windows client)

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,959]

20 hours ago, dcon said:

It's also why I now work in surgical robotics (and oddly, I switched from Windows to Linux to do that!)

(I spent 6 yrs working on the EN Windows client)

I have a daughter who's a nurse anesthetist and spends lots of her working life in the OR. Perhaps she is or will be working around some of your stuff!

[DMiddleton 302]

20 hours ago, dcon said:

It's also why I now work in surgical robotics (and oddly, I switched from Windows to Linux to do that!)

(I spent 6 yrs working on the EN Windows client)

So you left EN because of the client switch to Electron?

Admittedly the surgical robotics gig sounds way better though!

[dcon 166]

1 hour ago, DMiddleton said:

So you left EN because of the client switch to Electron?

Yes. I like working in C++ (yeah, I'm a weirdo). I don't want to work in Javascript.

[PinkElephant 8,115]

If all devs in a company would use whatever programming tool they prefer, no piece of software would be executable.

Luckily there are enough jobs available that ask for the programming language skills offered - I learned they even try to reactivate some COBOL programmers because the old applications coded in the 70ties and 80ties simply refuse to die.

So good luck with the robots, sounds interesting and quite challenging.