Evernote attachments frustration

[flame1carol 3]

Hello!

Could someone please explain to me or point me to an explanation of how attachments such as Excel spreadsheets are supposed to work in EN.  I’ve had trouble for years with spreadsheets coming up with a (1) version instead of the original, though not every time.  

For example, a couple of weeks ago I made a lot of changes to a spreadsheet.  Tonight I opened the spreadsheet only to discover the changes weren’t there, I assume because they were actually made in a (1) version and I didn’t notice it at the time.

I think I’ve read in the past that the spreadsheets are stored in EN somewhere and when you click on one in your note, a copy of it is put in Evernote\Database\Attachments so you can edit it. I think when you are done editing, it is somehow saved back in EN, and the file in Attachments is supposed to be deleted, but sometimes it isn’t, so when you open the note again, a (1) version is created.

i just had a situation where I got a (1) version when editing.  I deleted it and the file without the (1), but then when I tried to open the spreadsheet, it came up as missing.  
 

How is this supposed to work?  i’m using EN for Windows 6.25.2.9198.

[PinkElephant 8,077]

If on Windows 6.25 you are posting in the wrong thread.

On the old clients including legacy, you open the attachment from EN. You edit it, and then you save (into EN) and close the document in the program (like Excel), better leaving the program itself running. This will write the document back to the EN note. Go back to EN, let it do the saving into the note, and then close the note.

The edited file now should be there, saved back to the original note. If you leave out a step, the attachment in the note will not update.

In v10, from my experience this will not work any longer. There you have to safe the attached file out of the note, edit it, save it, and then put it into the same or a new note. I could not get an update of the original file. 

[agsteele 2,942]

54 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

In v10, from my experience this will not work any longer. There you have to safe the attached file out of the note, edit it, save it, and then put it into the same or a new note. I could not get an update of the original file. 

On Windows with Evernote v10 I find that I open the document, make the changes and then - this is the crucial step - click SAVE. Only after saving can I then close the edited document.  If I go to close and then respond to a save prompt it will demand that I save a copy outside of Evernote.  The key is to click SAVE first before closing. Doing it my way I find all the changes are always saved back into Evernote.

[gazumped 11,652]

10 hours ago, flame1carol said:

How is this supposed to work?  i’m using EN for Windows 6.25.2.9198.

Sadly,  Windows is not very smart.  It's not possible to open a file directly from the Evernote database,  so it is exported to the \Attachments folder for Windows to access it there.  You can then open,  edit and save it. 

It gets saved back to the Attachments folder and Evernote re-absorbs the file when it's no longer in use.  However if you then edit the file a second time,  it gets exported again and runs into the original version which is still stored in that folder.  (Evernote doesn't lnow whether or not it's still in use,  so can't delete it.)  Windows therefore applies the magic (1) suffix and carries on.  Evernote doesn't know anything about the added number and will happily re-absorb the original file that was saved last time,  regardless of any editing carried out to <myfile>(1).

You can avoid the problem by clearing out the Attachments folder regularly,  making a point of deleting the (n) suffix when saving a file,  or always saving to your desktop and drag/dropping the saved file into your note.  It's sometimes handy to have a history of changes,  and two or more copies gives you some backup in case of problems - but mostly I just 'Save As' files to close them and remove any numbers that I didn;t allocate.

[flame1carol 3]

Thank you for the replies.  My apologies for posting in the wrong thread.

Gazumped, your explanation helps this make some sense, but I still have a couple of questions if you'll indulge me.

1. Why do I occasionally run into a problem that I delete the attachments files, but then when I try to open the Excel file from within a note, it tells me the file is missing?

2.  When you say Evernote re-absorbs the file when it's no longer in use, does that mean that I need to close the Excel file, even though I've already saved it to EN?  In other words, if I save the file, but don't close Excel, does EN consider it to still be in use, or does it even know?  (I am guilty of leaving files open, though I'm careful to save them.)  If it doesn't know, then what determines when EV reabsorbs it?

3.  So to restate, if I get a (1) or even a (2) on my file, as long as I Save As and use the original filename, I shouldn't lose any data, because the original file is the only one that EN will re-absorb, correct?

Thanks!
Carol

[gazumped 11,652]

7 hours ago, flame1carol said:

when I try to open the Excel file from within a note, it tells me the file is missing?

Erm.. you got me on that one.  I've not encountered the problem,  but I suppose if you opened a file in Excel,  which creates the Attachments copy,  then saved and closed the Excel file,  and immediately deleted the Attachments folder copy,  Evernote might still have a 'flag' showing the (now missing) file as being edited.  Better to save the file without the number,  and ignore any warnings that 'this file already exists' - just go ahead and save anyway.  Clear out the attachments file every month or so just to tidy it up.

7 hours ago, flame1carol said:

does EN consider it to still be in use, or does it even know?

I had it on good authority that the Windows system does not give other software any sign whether or not a file is in use - that's why Evernote leaves files in the Attachments folder;  they might still be in use.  I don't know at what stage Evernote re-absorbs the content - I'd suspect it might be next time you sign out of the software or when you shut your system down;  part of the house-cleaning process that Evernote runs when shutting up shop for a while.

7 hours ago, flame1carol said:

as long as I Save As and use the original filename

...that should be the case.  With an abundance of caution,  you might want to duplicate a note and test the theory out to make sure it works as you understand it!!

Good luck...

[flame1carol 3]

gazumped, 

It is possible that when I got the "file missing" it is because I cleared out the attachments file too soon.  It was while I was trying to find the data that I had unknowingly saved in a (1) version, and I had multiple files in the recycle bin that I had to restore, check if it was the right file, and then delete if it wasn't.  I very well could have "cleaned up" more than I should because I was frustrated.

Now, having a better idea of what happens, and that just because I saved the file in Excel doesn't necessarily mean it was also immediately absorbed into EN, I think I'll have fewer issues.  

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain it!

Carol

[gazumped 11,652]

8 minutes ago, flame1carol said:

I very well could have "cleaned up" more than I should

Yup.  Welcome to the club.  I have that t-shirt too....  😎

[flame1carol 3]

Oh, one more question!  Is EN version 10 now production-ready?  Last time I downloaded it, I could see all my tags and the column that showed 3 lines of the note, but the actual note itself didn't display.  I was given the link to go back to the legacy version, which I did.  I saw an email that made it sound like it was ready.  Are they still working out bugs?  I'm fine being on the legacy version, but I don't want to miss out on any new features whenever the new version seems to be working well.  Thanks!

[gazumped 11,652]

1 minute ago, flame1carol said:

Is EN version 10 now production-ready?

Difficult question!!  If you think that it's working well enough that you have few complaints about the features,  then I guess you could use it.  Personally I would be very reluctant to use anything but the Legacy version (or the previous public releases) for some time yet.

(My previous draft for this answer was "Oh my gracious,  no" - except I used fewer -and ruder- words...)

[flame1carol 3]

9 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Difficult question!!  If you think that it's working well enough that you have few complaints about the features,  then I guess you could use it.  Personally I would be very reluctant to use anything but the Legacy version (or the previous public releases) for some time yet.

(My previous draft for this answer was "Oh my gracious,  no" - except I used fewer -and ruder- words...)

Hahahahaha!  Thanks for your honesty!  I'm good with that!

Carol