How do I prevent Evernote from minimizing to system tray?

[Art2345 2]

When I close a program, I want it to close.  I don't want it to simply minimize to the system tray, or send another feature I never use to the system tray (such as the scratch pad).  For that matter, I respect software developers who provide control of their product's behavior to the end user.  The lack of significant control of any preferences in Evernote is quite irritating.  

I want control of the items that run in the background on my machine.  If you have a fix, I'll be incredibly grateful.  If you don't, I'll just uninstall and move to a different product that respects their users enough to allow them to make their own choices.

Thanks very much.

[gazumped 11,666]

1 hour ago, Art2345 said:

If you have a fix, I'll be incredibly grateful.

How are you exiting Evernote?  It's a Windows standard behaviour that clicking the top-right 'x' will just close the window but leave the app running.  To exit Evernote completely try File > Exit.

[agsteele 2,950]

Yes File | Quit or right click the tray icon and select Quit Evernote

[dcon 166]

On 12/1/2020 at 1:15 PM, gazumped said:

  It's a Windows standard behaviour that clicking the top-right 'x' will just close the window but leave the app running.

That's not a standard Windows behavior. Standard behavior is to close the program. Evernote's standard behavior is to continue running. (Unless you're running legacy and uncheck the 'sync in background' option!) A program has to go out of their way to change the 'X's behavior.

[gazumped 11,666]

13 hours ago, dcon said:

That's not a standard Windows behavior.

My bad.  You are,  of course,  completely right and I was confusing myself (not unusual) - thanks for the correction!

[Justin88 0]

I agree I wish that you had given us the option to change the settings such that the app fully closes upon clicking the "X"

[John Cardinal 0]

I also wish the app would at least give you the option in preferences to set the app to close when you click the X. For me, if I click the X but the  program minimizes to the tray instead of closing, it feels invasive.

[PinkElephant 8,115]

There is a command to quit EN, if this is what you want to achieve.

Why do you want yet another command to to the same what the first one already does ? Just use it !

Closing but letting it open in the background has its use cases as well.

 

[agsteele 2,950]

Reminders, tasks, calendar, sync and probably more work best if EN runs in the background. File, Quit is the way to go.

[dbvirago 502]

Just tried it on mine, Win 10, EN 25.10.6 and the X closed the program, but left background processes running, as expected. Are you sure you don't have it pinned to taskbar and are looking at that?  

[MrLoux 0]

I have the same problem. Brand new Windows and EN installation. Pressing the X does not close EN, but simply minimizes it to the taskbar. There is no option to change or disable it.

Its a shame though. I was trying EN for the first time on recommendation from a colleague, and so far this is a complete no-no from me.

[gazumped 11,666]

9 hours ago, MrLoux said:

There is no option to change or disable it.

Try File > Sign Out?

-Evernote stays active in case you wish to clip web pages or have the inspiration to create a note.  If you had to restart the app and log in each time that happened,  you'd spend a lot of time waiting for things to happen.  If you don't want to use Evernote that way,  just quit out of it.

[agsteele 2,950]

15 hours ago, MrLoux said:

I have the same problem. Brand new Windows and EN installation. Pressing the X does not close EN, but simply minimizes it to the taskbar. There is no option to change or disable it.

Its a shame though. I was trying EN for the first time on recommendation from a colleague, and so far this is a complete no-no from me.

Evernote needs to run in the background for reminders, import folders, scanning into a note, sync across devices and probably more. As noted multiple times above Sign Out or Quit.

[PinkElephant 8,115]

BTW this is standard behavior of Windows: Clicking the X means close that window, not necessarily quit the program.

It is not often seen that clearly, because many times a) a program will indeed quit if the last window that is open is X-ed and b) many smaller programs only run one single window. But this does not change that ctrl-W (or clicking the X, or File menu-close (window)) is not the same as ctrl-Q (or File menu-quit).

One reason to keep it running beside what was mentioned is that the little EN helper icon for quick notes and screen grabbing is only running while the EN app is still executing - be it active or in the background.

[IDontCare.Evernote 0]

This is an incredibly frustrating thread to come upon and read. Evernote does more and more to drive me away. I'm not a paid user, I'm not even an active user, but I use it for critical items (such as saving travel documents while traveling so that they're synced on pc and phone).

First, it is not "standard behavior of windows" to click the x and have it minimize to the tray. If you think it is, please point to another program/app that exhibits this behavior. More to the point, identify a program/app that does not allow you to change this behavior so that "x" exits the program. For those saying, "Use File|Quit" or "right click|exit," you understand that that is an additional click, correct? I don't want an additional click. I want to open Evernote, do what I need to do, and close it. I don't care about reminders, importing folders, scanning into a note (without actively choosing to do so), or randomly syncing across devices (Evernote syncs before it closes and again when it opens; this last is a horrible use-case for this). In the meantime, sitting in my tray using resources, it steals my hotkeys to give unwanted and at times unpredictable behavior. If you're interested in learning why users are upset, then listen to them and stop telling them to do the very thing they're complaining about having to do.

[PinkElephant 8,115]

Yes, this IS standard behavior that clicking on the "X" on a program window closes this window, without stopping the entire app. Some programs will quit when you close their last window - but not all of them do.

Clicking the "X" is equivalent to the "Close Window" menu command, or the ctrl-W keyboard shortcut. Since the app window is often the only window open for the EN app, the main window closes. The app keeps running, because the window was closed, not the entire app. The advantage is that you can always quickly reactivate the app from the background, and that certain services (like the helper, some useful keyboard shortcuts etc.) remain active.

The "X" in the Windows UI is not meant to terminate a program entirely. This is done by the File / Quit menu command or by ctrl-Q. And I know of no program where you have a setting as a user where you can decide that the GUI "X" is switched between "Close Window" and "Quit Program".

So instead of asking EN to change a reasonable and GUI-compliant logic, you should simply train yourself to decide what you want, and quit the program whenever you want it terminated.

If you want to argue about it with EN, contact support.

[agsteele 2,950]

I have used at least two other applications where the X button minimised the program to the system test on Windows (Thunderbird for Email and ToDoist).

Both, like Evernote, need to be loaded in order sync, update and provide reminders. Given that this is a key function in Evernote, I consider this to be a logical function.

If I don't want the icon to clutter up the tray then I use the OS option not to show the icon in the tray.