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Edit encrypted text


djhendra
Go to solution Solved by gbarry,

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On 1/8/2021 at 4:24 PM, PinkElephant said:

The process is that a Premium user places a support ticket, and it is answered on a 1:1 basis.

It's a shame that only Premium customers are able to open bugs.  =/

Is someone that has a premium membership willing to open this bug on our behalf?

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No shame, if you expect human beings to open, read and answer your tickets.

Imagine, these guys even want to have something to eat in their fridges when they get home after answering „stuff“ all day long. So it is one of the services that really cost money, and are not „scalable“ as software is.

Maybe the shame is somewhere else - like being a user who wants a lot, but does not contribute.

Since I don’t have that problem, I can’t issue a support ticket. Did my bunch of them on other issues, however.

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2 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

No shame, if you expect human beings to open, read and answer your tickets.

Maybe the shame is somewhere else - like being a user who wants a lot, but does not contribute.

Since I don’t have that problem, I can’t issue a support ticket. Did my bunch of them on other issues, however.

I totally understand the decision & as a matter of fact I very much support it as a business decision.  I'm just saying it is a shame it cannot be done.  I'm not saying I don't understand why nor am I complaining too badly.  I'm quite happy that there is at least this forum to post issues in.

I don't feel that I expect a lot as a free user.  I have no problem with waiting as long as it takes to fix the issue.  There are others in this thread that are Premium members.  I hope one of them or someone else is willing to open a bug for this issue.

 

I see that you are VERY active in the forums & I also appreciate you replying back to this issue.

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In the following version, there is still no way to temporarily decrypt > edit text > reencrypt

10.6.9-mac-mas-public (458440)
Editor: v116.1.14913
Service: v1.26.7
 

There is a new capability to "Reveal" (i.e. view), as well as "Decrypt."  However, the desired functionality is to be able to temporarily Unencrypt the note, update the text, then have the entire note re-encrypt.  This is the functionality flow on the Evernote Legacy version, and I suggest should be the goal state for the Evernote 10.x versions.

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I was quite exited to be on the new version of Evernote, but I had to go back to the legacy version to wait for proper encrypting behaviour in the new version.

Slightly shocked to see in the forum that for this question there is written

Go to solution. Solved by ysmchiu, November 1, 2020

Unfortunately it is not (yet) solved.

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Gets worse.  I am running EN 10.76 on MacOS Big Sur.  Today I opened Evernote to find that all my encrypted notes have been unencrypted and are displaying in the clear.  To add insult to injury, all the formatting has disappeared as well - no bold, no indentation, no highlights.  Pages of material carefully formatted and built up over years and all the formatting wiped at a glance.  So much for automatic backup of valuable data.

Since the editing problem first appeared, I have never attempted to edit an encrypted note, nor have I ever decrypted an encrypted note.  Like others on here,  I have been waiting patiently since last October for a proper working system to appear.  I am a "Plus" user rather than a Premium user, so still paying.

I ask myself, why am I paying for all this hassle??

If anyone has found a good alternative notes app and a means of exporting the data, please post here.  I am all ears!

 

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6 hours ago, tongcc8 said:

Goback to the Evernote Legacy app

 

Thanks.  Yes, I tried that but the formatting and encryption have already disappeared, and shown as disappeared in the legacy app as well.

However, agree it is certainly worth using the legacy app in general until the bugs in the new version have been sorted - if they are ever sorted.

I do wonder why I am paying an annual subscription for a program which gives me grief. 

There have been no added features to EN which are useful to me for at least the last five years.  Most likely I will look again at OneNote or MacOS Notes when I have time.

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13 hours ago, rwestcott1 said:

Yes, I tried that but the formatting and encryption have already disappeared, and shown as disappeared in the legacy app as well.

I believe Plus gives you access to note history. (or is that a premium feature - I honestly don't remember...)

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On 2/8/2021 at 8:37 PM, rwestcott1 said:

If anyone has found a good alternative notes app and a means of exporting the data, please post here.  I am all ears!

I am thinking about using Obsidian (+ scripts) for my regular text encryption needs.

Encrypted text data tends to be valuable and I am done with all these proprietary programs leaving you to hang.

Plus search doesn't work for encrypted text in Evernote.

In case you want to learn more, check out - aviaryan(.)com/blog/obsidian-encryption

 

There is also Standard Notes which comes with good encryption or Day One Journal in case you used encrypted text primarily for journalling.

For one-off standalone notes that need to be encrypted, I am considering a password manager like Bitwarden. It allows export of data so I believe I will not be locked in.

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This is outrageous! How can we not edit such important text? And unencrypting text to update it while syncing sensitive information in clear text is ridiculous! You say you're going to fix- when? I'm on the verge of desperately searching for a new notebook app. 

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Hey Evernote -- Get busy fixing this!! This is such a basic function. I just updated -- actually it's a downgrade (sadly!) as far as I'm concerned -- to v10.8.5 on Windows and discovering I can no longer edit encrypted text. What the $#%&! So now I have to decrypt the text and re-encrypt it?? Who decided that would be a good workflow?? I have been paying for Evernote "forever" and you mess up the one thing I use the tool for. And a staff person said 6 months ago that you're "working on it". Would hate to do it, but will have to go elsewhere if this doesn't get fixed soon. Looking up "alternatives to Evernote" now; and stopping my recommendations to others.

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I will be cancelling my 5 + year subscription because of the incredibly misguided decision to drop support for encrypted text editing. You have broken my trust in the product.

The fact that Evernote has not addressed this issue for almost a year tells me that either:
a) the new design has inherent security flaw (synching exposure risk, like other posters have pointed out) OR
b)  worse ... CAN IT BE THAT OUR ENCRYPTED NOTES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN UNSECURED WHEN WE HAVE BEEN EDITING THEM AND THAT EVERNOTE IS COVERING THAT UP?

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Evernote, please, address the encryption issue! There also seems to a limit on how many text characters can be encrypted which is not present in the "regular" Evernote. Note: it's not about not being able to encrypt formatted text, it's about not being able to encrypt regular text over a certain number of characters it appears, something that was not a problem in the previous version.  

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On 10/26/2020 at 9:55 PM, Shane D. said:

Hi All,

Thank you for reaching out!

This is a known issue we're working to address.

I'll provide an update here once I have more information.

Hey!

Stop develop bullshit features every week!

There is half year since most important feature is broken!

 

 

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On 4/2/2021 at 1:10 PM, Alexeset said:

There is half year since most important feature is broken!

Really, nothing is broken. Just stick with the legacy version which has all the features you'll need until v10 supports your workflow. Only then make the switch. Or use both in parallel - that's what I'm doing.  I can use legacy for the few things that aren't yet available in v10 and the new version to become increasingly familiar with new workflows.

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On 4/3/2021 at 1:01 PM, agsteele said:

Really, nothing is broken. Just stick with the legacy version 

I'm sorry-- it's BROKEN. It used to work, it doesn't work now, by definition that's broken. Just install the legacy version? Yeah, right. Been trying to do that for an hour. Keep getting message along the lines of "Cannot connect to server. Try again later". 

So maybe I can just use the online version. Nope, 'fraid not. They graciously "Updated" that to with the same idiotic interface. 

Perhaps the most irritating and downright offensive of all is the fact that NO ONE from EN has made any effort to at least discuss an issue that has so many users upset. It will take me a long time to get everything out of EN into a more capable system, but that's what I'm working on. 

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@tymbee We'll have to disagree. What used to work in the legacy version still works in the legacy version. Many users have chosen to stick with that version to retain particular functions that haven't, yet, arrived with version 10. I'm not sure why the legacy isn't installing for you but I have it working just fine as, I am aware, do many others.

However, the fact is that even the legacy version was an inadequate approach to note encryption. version 10 is poorer I would agree. For that reason I use an external encryption mechanism.  I tested and got two applications working. AxCrypt is my favoured approach.  I create the content I wish to encrypt in a note editor or, even inside another program. Encrypt it with AxCrypt then drop the encrypted document into a note insie Evernote (any flavour will do). From then onI open the encrypted document in the normal method, it opens I do whatever work I need to do. Save then close the document and it sits back inside Evernote. The content is never accessible to Evernote not sync-ed in an unencrypted state. I can amend it, format it, search in it etc. I can include bullet lists (not possible in either legacy or version 10) and so forth.

As for expressing your frustration or annoyance, well I hope that has helped. We've got broad shoulders and have all been frustrated at times. The Evernote staff don't normally engage in the forums which are described as user to user support.

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22 hours ago, RR42 said:

When will this be fixed?

If this is a key issue for your workflow then I'd suggest you revert to the legacy version of Evernote which provides everything you need until this issue gets the attention required in v10.

Near the beginning of this thread I posted a proof of concept which I now use for all text I wish to have encrypted.  It deals with the whole issue plus enabling text layout options, bullet points etc etc which we weren't able to encrypt in the legacy version.

 

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Wow, I was wondering why I couldn't edit my encrypted notebook but I could on my tablet (that was long ago though). I thought I had something wrong in my settings or I couldn't figure it out.

All along, it was a flaw in the web configuration. And many months and a whole year and half later, there still is no resolution. Unbelievable! Has there been a mass exodus of people from tech? Come to think of it, I'm sort of surprised Evernote hasn't been bought out by a bigger tech company such as Microsoft.

Today before reading this thread, I clicked on a popup menu to decrypt (I suppose it was permanent). Now I cannot even encrypt the highlighted text as instructed in the Help answer.

So much for that encryption tool.

I remember the troubles that cropped up from an updated version where there was a host of problems experienced widespread. And increasingly in a push for members to upgrade to premium subscription, now I'm limited to accessing my account with syncing to only 2 devices.

Truth be told, I haven't been using Evernote, as I want to consolidate my notes to Google. Many years ago, there was such a problem with the syncing between devices that too many conflicted note files were created. That caused extra work for me to find the discrepancies in the text.

I'm trying to organize my notes and hopefully transfer to an alternative to Evernote.

On the upside, Evernote does not delete my account due to a set period of inactivity. Whew!

 

 

 

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There are no encrypted notebooks in EN, there are no encrypted notes in EN. Both requested since a long time, still not available.

What exists is the ability to encrypt a portion of text inside of a note. There are posts about  problems with this function, that leave me wondering how good it really works.

I don’t use the encryption build into EN. I would only think about using it if I could create a notebook that encrypts by default. This means everything that goes in there must automatically be encrypted, notes, attachments, else. 

Currently I use the safe document and note storage ability of my password manager.

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2 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

I don’t use the encryption build into EN.

I also don't use the encryption feature in Evernote   
It's limited to specific text within a note, and locks in my data to Evernote

Instead, I use the native encryption of file attachments; pdfs, office/iwork attachments, ...

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You two bring up a good point regarding the relevance/intended use of the encrypted portions of text within EN. My primary use case is to encrypt lower-level, less significant things, like temporary codes, serial/license numbers, gift card codes and the like where I want some level of privacy but want the convenience of access from cross platforms (Mac, Win, iOS, Android). That is the whole raison-d'etre of EN and why I still use EN as a tool, to have a simple cross-platform digital brain.

My logins to sites get stored into a password manager which is highly secure, offline, and not cross-platform. Important docs in the form of pdfs or other formats I use their native encryption. These are all important things to use to secure yourself holistically, but the convenience and utility of encryption in EN is still highly valued, and especially since many have used this feature for years prior to the release of the new architecture six months ago.

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IMHO it makes no sense to use encryption for stuff that maybe does not even need to be encrypted. What is the real danger if a gift card code is lost ? 

EN has good internal security, especially when a strong password is used and 2FA enabled. And it is powerful to handle a massive amount of information. Information like it was mentioned I simply drop into a note, no more measures needed. It is already protected by EN security measures.

The password manager can hold a small set of information safely, but is not good in organizing larger amounts of it. I use it selectively, only where loosing information can do real harm.

I think having an option to set a complete notebook to be encrypted (which means as well not searchable), with all content, would be the only manageable extra layer of security.

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On 5/30/2021 at 7:23 AM, homeplatedave said:

@PinkElephant - I and the many other folks on here, who want to be able to edit encrypted text - without having to first decrypt all of the encrypted text - really don’t cate about your opinion …. EN needs to bring it back or risk losing numerous users. Your opinion on what should/shouldn’t be encrypted is completely irrelevant 

The forum is about opinion, just if nobody told you. My opinion is that it is a complete contradiction „to be able to edit encrypted text without decrypting it first“ - this is IMHO nonsense: Either something is encrypted and not editable, or it is decrypted and editable. With a strong encryption algorithm you flip 1 bit of the encrypted file, and you get complete gibberish in return.

My opinion about a reasonable encryption for EN has already been posted quite a while ago: To make it work we need a container (for example a special type of notebook) that is en-/decrypted as a whole. You open it, you work in it, you close it. On opening it decrypts, on closing it encrypts.

This is how all serious encryption tools for content work, be it a password manager, a secure cloud storage like Boxcryptor or a drive / folder tool like Veracrypt.

It means as well that EN needs to take care that the „container“ never syncs unencrypted. Either it must encrypt on syncing, or it needs to wait until after encryption before it syncs.

The risk of permanently loosing data has been posted already. I will not repeat it - from the forum it is obvious this happens again and again.

The current encryption is simply not up to it, both in handling and in making sure that never decrypted content will be synced and stored, and be it in note history. Who uses such a tool does it at his own peril  - and I will continue to voice my warning to fellow users about doing so, expecting their encrypted content to be safe.

You can continue to promote such „encryption“ method, feel free. But don’t expect others to look away.

P.S. The situation was different in a combination of encryption AND local notebooks. But this is no longer an option.

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I think I found a decent workaround on the newer version of evernote.

I was also really annoyed about this, but I think I like my work around better than the old way.  I create a password protected MS word document and then just drop that file into the evernote note where I want to keep that data.  The workflow ends up being exactly the same - I click on the file attachment in evernote, it pops open a password prompt, and then I can edit my content.  When I save and close the word doc, it is saved in evernote and also locked once again.  AND the added benefit is that I can now use all the normal rich editing that I couldn't use before in Evernote's encrypted text area.  

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Don’t expect ANY change on this feature. If it happens, be happy, but it is nothing waiting for.

You could wait (patiently or not) if EN any time would have said „We are working on it“, for example in the release notes in the „Coming next“ section. If I remember correctly, nothing of that has been said.

Just because you (and maybe some others) think they need to get it will not start to create a single bit of new code.

The status of it is: Encryption works on plain text only, and it is a feature of the desktop clients only. Everything outside of this range of features is wishful thinking, until proven otherwise by an information or best case a release.

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Encryption in note has never been a mobile feature. Far, far better and more secure to use an external encryption product.  I use AxCrypt but you could encrypt a document using the built-in process in Word, PDF etc etc.

Evernote in-note encryption has never been secure - not now and not in the older versions of Evernote. It gives a false sense of security. As it is, whenever you de-crypt your text it is in plain text and that is what is sync-ed to the cloud. On your device, device security is the best means of securing your data. Log out of Evernote and log back in when you need access.

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53 minutes ago, gbarry said:

Hi everyone--improvements to encryption are now available on 10.24. You can now reveal and edit an encrypted block of text without permanently decrypting it first. You can open up the encrypted block, make edits, and also find in note to locate content within the encrypted block before closing. The text will be re-encrypted as soon as you navigate to a different note.

Took you more than 1 year to reimplement it in v10! Way to long in my opinion.

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Saying thank you for something that was already part of the v8?

This is just another proof, that v10 was pushed to soon. We were accustomed to v8 features and then they quicky pushed half baked v10 that was still not ready for stable/public release. Now they are slowly bringing v8 features back. I'm happy that this is the case, but it is taking too damn long. Bringing old features back should be No. 1 priority. Instead they are adding new things. Look at the feature request votes. There is a lot of old stuff that are the most requested one. People want features that were part of their Evernote v8 workflow.

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18 minutes ago, matej1990 said:

This is just another proof, that v10 was pushed to soon.

Imho This is another proof that the Evernote v10 product is a work-in-progress   
  
My personal choice is to use the Evernote Legacy product   
I'll switch to the v10 product when I'm satisfied it satisfies my requirements

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Some people want the same stuff as they used to have „back then“. Other people want other stuff. It is as I understand not the top priority to „bring everything back“, it is not even the priority as I understand it to „bring anything back - ever“. V10 is a different design, it needs 100% new code, this is why it is not possible to bring some stuff back, and other stuff will take its time.

But anyhow: I think the world is a better place with more „Thank You“ and less „I,I,I“. But it may be I am only an old elephant …

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On 11/1/2021 at 5:01 PM, gbarry said:

Hi everyone--improvements to encryption are now available on 10.24. You can now reveal and edit an encrypted block of text without permanently decrypting it first. You can open up the encrypted block, make edits, and also find in note to locate content within the encrypted block before closing. The text will be re-encrypted as soon as you navigate to a different note.

Hi - I have many encrypted old notes that I now cannot open. After entering password nothing happens. Tried on both Web, Mac, Windows and iphone.

If I enter wrong password I get a message.

I can encrypt and decrypt new notes.

Just the old ones, that was encrypted several versions back I cannot open.

Any suggestions?

/Erland

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