v10 is not ready for release

[wrjs 11]

Out of curiosity several days ago I decided to install the new version. Well, good thing I did it on secondary Windows laptop. The v10 is not the update I hoped to receive.

Previous macOS version already had cleaner look while lacking some Windows functions. I hoped new version will take best parts from both desktop clients (ok, maybe with some trade-offs I can live with). Yet they basically ported iOS one. On desktop it feels like an alternative homebrew slow java/emulated client for my EN database.

Certainly NOT going to update EN on my primary device in the nearest future. v10 breaks my workflow.

 

Drawbacks so far:

1.    Improve UX. That was one the main point of v10 I think. If you wanted cleaner look, why there is so many fixed optional elements? Like arrows in left corner (on the same time back and forward media keys are not supported).
Why can't I choose what elements to display in sidebar?
Why can't I hide Recent notes after shortcuts? Why help and feedback take so much vertical space?
And right now I can't hide note list at all to focus on a single note. Why not open it in a new window? See below.

2. It's SLOW. Interaction in "Legacy" version was snappy. Now I have to wait like 4-6 seconds to open a note with 2 strings of plain text(!) in a separate window. Even browsing through notes feels like loading them from web, not from local database.

3. TAGS. The main frustration actually. I use a lot of them. Color formatting really helped to divide them by categories but now they are just gray flat mass.
WHY, JUST WHY there is now double scrollbar for tags?
I can't select several tags to show notes marked with both of them. However, by selecting upper level tags I'll get all its associated tags simultaneously (and usually it's a pointless selection).

edit: Apparently now EN force-collapses tag tree on full quit. Ridiculous.

4. There's still no highlighting for file names during SEARCH. Previous version used system icons for attachments and they at least stood out. With v10 notes are just flat. Now I have to meticulously read whole note to locate required attachment.
I ran several random searches in both EN versions on the same device and v10 sometimes returned less results than "Legacy".

5. So far I've only found option to BACKUP notes and notebooks (which was not obvious btw), not whole database. I do not believe in 100% reliability of any IT system. The system to store years of collected data just screams of regular backups. Baking up each notebook separately every time is not an option.

 

I'm really concerned that developers are not going to considerably improve current functionality. Apparently sooner or later the company decide to support only new versions and it's highly doubtable that by that time all community requested functions will be restored. I started considering some alternative software for the first time.

Gonna write the same text to support channel but expectations are low, sadly.

[Notl 2]

Totally agree with that! It is frustrating me so hard!!!

[deutschtaurus 3]

I agree too. It's SLOW. And the main problem with tags. Where are notes by clicking on tags? All my system is building on tags. I create tags first then notes. Instead of showing i see filtering. Tag tree is EN force but now is ridiculous.

[DTLow 5,736]

11 minutes ago, deutschtaurus said:

And the main problem with tags.

Tags continue to work well for me.  What problems are you having?

[deutschtaurus 3]

3 minutes ago, DTLow said:

Tags continue to work well for me.  What problems are you having?

When I click by general tag I can't see notes by this tag, i see filtering by tags. But in legacy version is working all good. By clicking on tag I can see all notes by this tag. I attach screenshots both versions. I have Windows 10.

[Mike P 2,641]

29 minutes ago, deutschtaurus said:

When I click by general tag I can't see notes by this tag, i see filtering by tags. But in legacy version is working all good. By clicking on tag I can see all notes by this tag. I attach screenshots both versions. I have Windows 10.

When you click on a tag in the sidebar EN selects all the child tags as well. This means it only finds notes that contain the main tag and ALL the child tags. Madness! The possible solutions are:

• Use filter
• Use search
• Use the main tag window where there is an option to  "filter without sub tags"
•  
•  

Definitely not as convenient as the current system

[deutschtaurus 3]

Thanks for help) Yes, it's not convenient)

[Enteecee 23]

I'm on Mac and totally agree and am reposting my comments from another discussion:

I appreciate efforts to add navigation features, and accept that turning the new stuff on by default greatly increases adoption.  But removing basic customization feels like railroading.  Because of the way I use Evernote and other apps, and how I think about organization, I know for certain that I'm never going to use Shortcuts.  I'm unlikely to use Recent items or Work Chat.  At best, that's clutter that's forcing things that ARE useful to me down the list and out of sight.  It may even be a slight detriment because it's just more cruft. 

This is in addition to a layout that already chubbed up that most valuable vertical space quite a bit with search (which I can live with since it makes sense under the new OS's approach to sidebars) and an almost criminal use of an entire line just for back and forward arrows.  I probably won't use those much, but for god's sake, don't use a whole line.  The arrows don't even belong in the sidebar organizationally.  They'd make much more sense in the header for the note, where there's plenty of space for them.  The help button shouldn't have a whole line in the part of UI most important to organization, either - but I guess they expect a lot of people to want a lot of help.

I use Tags all the time, and almost never "shared with me" or Trash, so why can't I put Tags where it would be useful to me?

 

So why can't I hide those items I don't want?  I'm so tired of developers taking customization and efficiency away in favor of features that no one asked for.  It feels like such a middle finger. How do I revert?

[CSI 1]

This update is an adventure in pain and suffering. Core functions are either broken and not even working properly. For example, to Publish a notebook in legacy version took a couple of clicks. In v10 I have zero idea on how to do this. Its seemingly no longer present. Search KB articles points to the legacy method of doing so. With a stated turnaround time of 12+ days on support requests it's a wonder how the lights are still on??

[skidadle 0]

Agreed. This update is a train wreck. I've had to reboot my PC several times to get Evernote content to appear in the righthand pane. Today, evernote froze during a meeting in which I was taking critical notes. When it unfroze, it had created a duplicate copy of my note and now warned me that there were multiple versions of the note with the same title. 

Windows behaviors are now very erratic. It some times takes 6 or 7 tries to resize. When I try to drag an Evernote window, it goes full screen. This is maddening. 

[Notl 2]

It's so good to have an old setup version here on my computer, coz this new version sucks.

[PinkElephant 8,100]

If you are not so lucky you can still download and install the legacy client on PC and Mac:

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote

[Signguy 4]

I have been a Premium Evernote user for years since I migrated from OneNote.  When I first upgraded from 6.25.1 to the new v10 update I was excited for the improvements, many of which I had requested myself.  But for the few real enhancements that I saw, the cost was a large number of unacceptable and puzzling changes that were major steps backward.  On balance, I think the developers destroyed an otherwise solid application.  It's so bad that I went back to v6.25.1 and have begun prepping for the possibility that I will need to move back to OneNote - not a pleasant notion.  Perhaps worse, I tried to comment on some of these issues over a week ago, and apparently the moderators did not like my criticism.  This does not bode well for Evernote.

My observations of v10:

• Web clipping is now broken.  Previous versions preserved formatted HTML well during clipping.  This is important for content like legal statutes which rely heavily on indented formatting.  V10 is useless in this area:  "Article" retains formatting but clips into an HTML container which cannot be edited or highlighted whereas "Simplified Article" is editable but strips out all formatting.  Unacceptable, since previous versions did not have this problem.  Manually cleaning up missing formatting is an absolute No-Go.
• Search feature is now functionally useless.  Previous versions allowed targeting searches to notebooks, folders and individual notes.   V10 provides NO search controls.  I have some 6,000 notes in my database, so this change renders the search utility absurdly worthless and entirely inexplicable.  Who would design a database with only global search options?
• Sloooowwwww.  As others have mentioned, the new version now moves at a glacial creep.  Hard to understand why this is so.
• No manual Sync feature.   This is a bigger deal than some may think.  I do a lot of web-based research and use the web clip utility a lot.  Previously, I could manually sync right after clipping an article to begin markup immediately.  Now one has to sit and wait for the content to be available, which can take several minutes.  Multiply that wasted time over several hundred articles and we are talking about significant amounts of time.
• Can no longer choose app to edit PDF's as in previous versions.  6.25.1 menu provides "Open" or "Open with" to allow user to decide which software to edit PDF's with.  I run both Adobe Pro and Reader DC, depending on what I need to do.  I can't understand the elimination of that flexibility.

Others have noted many other areas which have seen a step backward, but I was so disappointed with v10 that I ditched it and went back to 6.25.1 a day later.  The broken web clipping and broken search feature were plenty frustrating to convince me. 

Please, Evernote developers.  Listen to your users.  Implement the enhancements without breaking the core functionality which was excellent prior to the "upgrade."  I hope you folks can fix these problems before you create a mass exodus from your software.

Todd

 

 

[wrjs 11]

So, I received a letter from support. Basically a lot of copypasted yada yada without any meaningful answers (funny, there *is* a button to focus on a single note, which I finally noticed, but I did it myself; not a word about it from support).

Still, I strongly believe that all of us should WRITE TO SUPPORT and TWEET with @evernote mention about our problems with new version. Do not write just here.
If I understand anything about corporations, it's the only way for public opinion to get into their reports and/or their attention.

I'm not talking about spamming. Write about your way to use Evernote, be constructive and elaborate. Tell them about your existed workflows they kinda forgotten.