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CATASTROPHIC, SLOW and IMPRODUCTIVE update!


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CATASTROPHIC, SLOW and IMPRODUCTIVE update!

I can not believe it! 😞

I used to have version 6 but when I clicked on update it kept telling me it was the latest version. After a year, I went straight to the site and installed version 10, thinking it was better!
A disaster!
I use Evernote on Windows 10 on a Notebook an Acer Predator 17!
Evernote used to be fast, now notes open slower!
I am a PLUS USER, so I PAY TO HAVE A FLUID, MINIMALISTIC and WORKING EVERNOTE.
Among all the editors to manage workflows, I chose EVERNOTE for two main reasons:
1. its immediacy and ease of use
2. his minimalism in managing all the ten thousand notes that I have produced in more than 10 years.

The new version has DESTROYED EVERYTHING!
I wonder if you have any reference BETA TESTERS, users like me who write ALL DAY ON EVERNOTE and not on other programs, and I wonder if you LISTEN TO THEIR ADVICE, instead of chasing a market that aims only at new GRAPHIC FEATURES, and to use OBJECT DISPLAYS that burden systems unnecessarily and are used are by children and not by people who PAY FOR THIS SERVICE!

Now the system is very slow, the notes are slow on opening, there is less space to find the information that really matters!
WHERE DID THE STATUS BAR THAT BEFORE TOLD ME IMMEDIATELY HOW MANY WORDS I WRITE?
Now you need to do CTRL + SHFT + I.
Before, it was immediate information.
You have paid developers to completely rewrite EVERNOTE, but YOU HAVE NOT STILL IMPLEMENTED AUTOMATIC CAPS, DESPITE IT IS A FEATURE REQUIRED BY MANY USERS FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS ON ALL INTERNATIONAL FORUMS.
What sense does it make then TO PAY TO HAVE THE HOME WITH POSITIONABLE CARDS?
A really bad choice of MARKETING, which makes it clear that the company now only thinks about accumulating BONUSES like mass videogames do.
Buy the COVERS, GRAPHIC CUSTOMIZATIONS AND BACKGROUNDS, pay us money, but does the company think about productivity?
If they don't fix it and it's back to the practical, fast and convenient version it was before I don't think I'll pay again for this service that can die for me here!

 

😞

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Hi.  I can appreciate the frustration if a previously reliable app suddenly stops providing the service you're used to.  But please don't shout at us - this is a (mainly) user-supported forum.  As I see it you have three options - 

  1. Sync Evernote up to date and uninstall the app completely.  Restart your device (power off,  then back on...) and download and install the 'old' version of Evernote from here:  http://cdn1.evernote.com/win6/public/Evernote_6.25.1.9091.exe.  You'll need to go to Tools > Options and disable 'check for updates'.
  2. Leave your present installation as it is and use the Support feature that you subscribe for to raise specific issues with Evernote direct:  https://help.evernote.com/hc/requests/new
  3. Install the 'legacy' version of Evernote,  which is an old version that runs alongside the new version,  so you can have a foot in both camps.  See also point 2 for any issues that arise.  https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote

Good luck with whichever you choose...

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13 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Hi.  I can appreciate the frustration if a previously reliable app suddenly stops providing the service you're used to.  But please don't shout at us - this is a (mainly) user-supported forum.  As I see it you have three options - 

  1. Sync Evernote up to date and uninstall the app completely.  Restart your device (power off,  then back on...) and download and install the 'old' version of Evernote from here:  http://cdn1.evernote.com/win6/public/Evernote_6.25.1.9091.exe.  You'll need to go to Tools > Options and disable 'check for updates'.
  2. Leave your present installation as it is and use the Support feature that you subscribe for to raise specific issues with Evernote direct:  https://help.evernote.com/hc/requests/new
  3. Install the 'legacy' version of Evernote,  which is an old version that runs alongside the new version,  so you can have a foot in both camps.  See also point 2 for any issues that arise.  https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314-Install-an-older-version-of-Evernote

Good luck with whichever you choose...

If this is how you respond to user frustration with your bad choices, then let me tell you that your service is bad!
And I'll stop using your service, looking for a better alternative.
You are talking to a paid user who has been using your service for 10 years!
And you don't even ask me questions?
The only thing you can say is "uninstall if you find yourself wrong and go back to the version you liked"?
Bah! 😞
You lose customers, plus you get a bad word of mouth, and for sure I will not recommend your application to anyone!
(Which, in the past, I have done, I had many of my collaborators install Evernote).
Many users were dissatisfied with this update!
Think!

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19 minutes ago, MentalCompiler said:

If this is how you respond to user frustration with your bad choices,

I'll repeat THIS IS A MAINLY USER-SUPPORTED FORUM and I'm not employed by or connected with Evernote other than as a user of the product.  

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Totally agree with MentalCompiler:  this update is a dumpster fire.  I fought it until today and decided to upgrade to stay current.  Wow, is it bad. 

I've been a paying customer for 10 years and this is the worst update I've seen by far.  I had a very refined, minimalistic view and workflow.  I'll have to roll back to a previous version, thanks to gazumped on the process to do this.

Not a slam on any users who help out in the forum, just hoping someone from Evernote actually listens.

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44 minutes ago, MentalCompiler said:

If this is how you respond to user frustration with your bad choices, then let me tell you that your service is bad!
And I'll stop using your service, looking for a better alternative.
You are talking to a paid user who has been using your service for 10 years!
And you don't even ask me questions?
The only thing you can say is "uninstall if you find yourself wrong and go back to the version you liked"?
Bah! 😞
You lose customers, plus you get a bad word of mouth, and for sure I will not recommend your application to anyone!
(Which, in the past, I have done, I had many of my collaborators install Evernote).
Many users were dissatisfied with this update!
Think!

Hi @MentalCompiler  There are other long-term premium level users who are experiencing frustrations along the lines of what you are going through. I'm definitely one of them.  10 year user and > 20,000 notes in the app.

Folks like us have been using the previous software versions long enough to have deeply engrained workflows which depend on the software functioning the way it has.  

Any change to the fundamental way the software was built was probably going to cause a lot of trouble for folks like us, no matter what they did.

Unfortunately for us, the codebase for Evernote (and there was more than one) was on a path of self-destruction. It was becoming unmanageable (multiple flavors per operation systems like Windows, Mac, android, etc. and each with their own unique features which had to be maintained).

A total revamp was inevitable, whether we like it or not. It had to be rebuilt from the ground up, which is exactly what they are doing. I have been in software development and tech for several decades now and I have no doubt that this had to be done or risk implosion one day.

One thing you may want to consider in your thinking about all this is that folks like us are actually a minority in the big Evernote picture. Most people are just using EN for basic note taking. Very few are as dependent upon it in the way you and I would be.

Speaking for myself, EN's "legacy" feature set is embedded in my world in much the same way the plumbing and electrical pipes of my house are embedded in my home.  To just come tear it all out and install some new-fangled plumbing and wires would make my house almost unusable until the work was done.

But again, we are the few, not the many. EN has studied and segmented their user base and they do recognize and appreciate our existence, but they also have to code for the majority while releasing features that help us too. 

It's a non-trivial task to say the least. We can express our frustrations in every way possible, and I myself have already done so here in these forums, but it doesn't change the urgency of the problem and the scope of the solution.

Could it have been managed better: definitely (example: could have done way more testing before releasing first new version). Are they quickly releasing updates to make good on their promise: seems that way to me so far.

Meanwhile, I myself did some extensive searches taking a new look at possible replacements. For what it's worth, none measured up for my personal needs. It's a tall order since Evernote is the center of my work & personal worlds and manage all my thoughts and tasks and everything in between. It's truly my "one ring to rule them all..." if "all" is everything about my life.

I could fashion something out of two or three different systems, but I wasn't happy with any of them, if I'm being completely honest about it. (I guess that speaks somewhat to the popularity of Evernote over the years.)

For someone who doesn't have that depth of use when it comes to EN, maybe there are many alternative candidates.

One thing that helped increase my understanding of this whole area (after I get my initial frustrations out of the way) was to watch a series of the Behind The Scenes discussions with Ian Small (CEO of EN) where, through several videos over time, he goes into their reasoning for basically redesigning the app from the ground up, what their intentions are for making good on the promise of a better app and where they are in getting to that new and improved place as quickly  as possible.

I've also installed the Legacy app on my Windows devices and turned off the auto-update feature on my mobile (so I keep the legacy app for a while longer--it's not getting good reviews yet for Android).

On my laptop (which is not my main workstation), I have the latest version as well and keep updating it when notified of a new update by the app. This lets me tinker with the latest releases and see how they are without causing me a lot of anguish by being forced to use the new app (since I'm still happily using the "legacy" 6.25 version).

You can run both Legacy 6.25 and the latest at same time to if you only have one device to work with.

Having the latest version (10.x) also let's me contribute to the development effort by providing feedback to the development team via the new app. 

It's not perfect, but I find it to be the most productive approach for one and all.

So far I have not been able to think of a better way to approach it at this point. 

Software is messier business than people realize. Something like 80% of all software projects fail completely in the end. The note-taking app landscape is as strewn with the evidence of this as any other digital playing field. You might find another app that's close enough feature-wise, but will they survive long enough to become profitable (which is kind of necessary for me because I'm using the s/w to run my whole life)? Or will you one day find out they had to shutter their operations because they didn't have enough traction? It's a big factor in my opinion.

Evernote knows they have a lot to lose if they ***** this up. Millions of users at stake, not just our minority group. I feel I have to recognize that in estimating the odds of their success. 

I have no idea how this is going to turn out. But I'm willing to keep betting on the EN horse for now, especially since they are making it easy for me to do so by providing version 6.25 so I can keep working unmolested while they do what the have to do.  I could go months this way without disrupting my business and personal life. That buys them time too.

Not sure if this helps you at all. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone and some possibly constructive suggestions for continuing to move forward with least disruption while you decide what's best for you in the long run.

In short, I empathize completely and this is how I'm looking at it all.

Cheers.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, hanseric said:

Hi @MentalCompiler  There are other long-term premium level users who are experiencing frustrations along the lines of what you are going through. I'm definitely one of them.  10 year user and > 20,000 notes in the app.

Folks like us have been using the previous software versions long enough to have deeply engrained workflows which depend on the software functioning the way it has.  

Any change to the fundamental way the software was built was probably going to cause a lot of trouble for folks like us, no matter what they did.

Unfortunately for us, the codebase for Evernote (and there was more than one) was on a path of self-destruction. It was becoming unmanageable (multiple flavors per operation systems like Windows, Mac, android, etc. and each with their own unique features which had to be maintained).

A total revamp was inevitable, whether we like it or not. It had to be rebuilt from the ground up, which is exactly what they are doing. I have been in software development and tech for several decades now and I have no doubt that this had to be done or risk implosion one day.

One thing you may want to consider in your thinking about all this is that folks like us are actually a minority in the big Evernote picture. Most people are just using EN for basic note taking. Very few are as dependent upon it in the way you and I would be.

Speaking for myself, EN's "legacy" feature set is embedded in my world in much the same way the plumbing and electrical pipes of my house are embedded in my home.  To just come tear it all out and install some new-fangled plumbing and wires would make my house almost unusable until the work was done.

But again, we are the few, not the many. EN has studied and segmented their user base and they do recognize and appreciate our existence, but they also have to code for the majority while releasing features that help us too. 

It's a non-trivial task to say the least. We can express our frustrations in every way possible, and I myself have already done so here in these forums, but it doesn't change the urgency of the problem and the scope of the solution.

Could it have been managed better: definitely (example: could have done way more testing before releasing first new version). Are they quickly releasing updates to make good on their promise: seems that way to me so far.

Meanwhile, I myself did some extensive searches taking a new look at possible replacements. For what it's worth, none measured up for my personal needs. It's a tall order since Evernote is the center of my work & personal worlds and manage all my thoughts and tasks and everything in between. It's truly my "one ring to rule them all..." if "all" is everything about my life.

I could fashion something out of two or three different systems, but I wasn't happy with any of them, if I'm being completely honest about it. (I guess that speaks somewhat to the popularity of Evernote over the years.)

For someone who doesn't have that depth of use when it comes to EN, maybe there are many alternative candidates.

One thing that helped increase my understanding of this whole area (after I get my initial frustrations out of the way) was to watch a series of the Behind The Scenes discussions with Ian Small (CEO of EN) where, through several videos over time, he goes into their reasoning for basically redesigning the app from the ground up, what their intentions are for making good on the promise of a better app and where they are in getting to that new and improved place as quickly  as possible.

I've also installed the Legacy app on my Windows devices and turned off the auto-update feature on my mobile (so I keep the legacy app for a while longer--it's not getting good reviews yet for Android).

On my laptop (which is not my main workstation), I have the latest version as well and keep updating it when notified of a new update by the app. This lets me tinker with the latest releases and see how they are without causing me a lot of anguish by being forced to use the new app (since I'm still happily using the "legacy" 6.25 version).

You can run both Legacy 6.25 and the latest at same time to if you only have one device to work with.

Having the latest version (10.x) also let's me contribute to the development effort by providing feedback to the development team via the new app. 

It's not perfect, but I find it to be the most productive approach for one and all.

So far I have not been able to think of a better way to approach it at this point. 

Software is messier business than people realize. Something like 80% of all software projects fail completely in the end. The note-taking app landscape is as strewn with the evidence of this as any other digital playing field. You might find another app that's close enough feature-wise, but will they survive long enough to become profitable (which is kind of necessary for me because I'm using the s/w to run my whole life)? Or will you one day find out they had to shutter their operations because they didn't have enough traction? It's a big factor in my opinion.

Evernote knows they have a lot to lose if they ***** this up. Millions of users at stake, not just our minority group. I feel I have to recognize that in estimating the odds of their success. 

I have no idea how this is going to turn out. But I'm willing to keep betting on the EN horse for now, especially since they are making it easy for me to do so by providing version 6.25 so I can keep working unmolested while they do what the have to do.  I could go months this way without disrupting my business and personal life. That buys them time too.

Not sure if this helps you at all. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone and some possibly constructive suggestions for continuing to move forward with least disruption while you decide what's best for you in the long run.

In short, I empathize completely and this is how I'm looking at it all.

Cheers.

thank you very much for your kind and long explanation.
I agree a little on everything you say, but there are some points that I absolutely disagree with.
The new version has some absurd inconsistencies, first of all, the effort made to integrate the html that I can also understand, but then I realize that the functions that FIRST made EN an immediate app, have now disappeared, I will mention some of them .
1. The INFO bar under the notes with the info of the written words is gone!
2. impossible to write the font values in the drop-down menu, you have to depend on those entered with a deviation of 2 (eg, from 14 to 16)!
3. In previous versions there was font 15, many of my notes used this size, now or 14 or 16 ... it doesn't make any logical sense!
4. The use of tags that made EN a very convenient app has gotten worse!
5. The slowness in opening the notes!
6. After more than 4 years of requests from many users, the caps lock via button is STILL not implemented!
7. It is still not possible to write in the middle-side of a photo!

And much more that has not been done ...
But all their efforts have gone into HTML integration ... and the result is an app that many users don't like.
I'm sorry, I can understand certain problems, but what emerges is a company that does not aim to create a product that is truly effective in its use, does not solve users' problems and does not ask them for their opinions and feedback, otherwise many of these characteristics would have already been additions!

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4 hours ago, MentalCompiler said:

 

If this is how you respond to user frustration with your bad choices, then let me tell you that your service is bad!
And I'll stop using your service, looking for a better alternative.
You are talking to a paid user who has been using your service for 10 years!
And you don't even ask me questions?
The only thing you can say is "uninstall if you find yourself wrong and go back to the version you liked"?
Bah! 😞
You lose customers, plus you get a bad word of mouth, and for sure I will not recommend your application to anyone!
(Which, in the past, I have done, I had many of my collaborators install Evernote).
Many users were dissatisfied with this update!
Think!

Just wanted to reiterate that this is a user focus forum. There are Evernote employees here and you can tell who they are by looking at the badge on their avatar. It will say employee. 

I get the frustration but yelling at fellow users isn’t going to get you anywhere other than putting them off of trying to help you if they can. 

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@MentalCompiler Don’t understand why it is so hard to say „sorry“ to fellow users.

No need to say „sorry“ to EN - which is a company, not a living person, so you can call it what you want. If what they decided to offer for the future does not suit you, say „sorry“ to yourself, and move on. Be it for not showing font size 15 on the editor, be it for an app that is slow and consuming too many resources, be it for the feeling of being ignored. Any reason that is important for you is a valid reason to decide where to put your money and your data.

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I'm not the first to complain about upgrades on this forum!
Are there no programmers or personnel from the Evernote company?
It seemed so, as you use the official Evernote logo.
If there is none of Evernote here, is there an OFFICIAL forum run by Evernote that I can write my comments on?
many years ago I wrote on this forum, writing ideas and suggestions, and no one answered me telling me that they would not read my ideas ... I find out today!

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6 minutes ago, MentalCompiler said:

is there an OFFICIAL forum run by Evernote

This is a user discussion forum, and is "an OFFICIAL forum run by Evernote"

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On 3/4/2021 at 2:24 PM, MentalCompiler said:

thank you very much for your kind and long explanation.
I agree a little on everything you say, but there are some points that I absolutely disagree with.
The new version has some absurd inconsistencies, first of all, the effort made to integrate the html that I can also understand, but then I realize that the functions that FIRST made EN an immediate app, have now disappeared, I will mention some of them .
1. The INFO bar under the notes with the info of the written words is gone!
2. impossible to write the font values in the drop-down menu, you have to depend on those entered with a deviation of 2 (eg, from 14 to 16)!
3. In previous versions there was font 15, many of my notes used this size, now or 14 or 16 ... it doesn't make any logical sense!
4. The use of tags that made EN a very convenient app has gotten worse!
5. The slowness in opening the notes!
6. After more than 4 years of requests from many users, the caps lock via button is STILL not implemented!
7. It is still not possible to write in the middle-side of a photo!

And much more that has not been done ...
But all their efforts have gone into HTML integration ... and the result is an app that many users don't like.
I'm sorry, I can understand certain problems, but what emerges is a company that does not aim to create a product that is truly effective in its use, does not solve users' problems and does not ask them for their opinions and feedback, otherwise many of these characteristics would have already been additions!

Ok understood. I don't have the exact same concerns/complaints, but I definitely understand you have yours and they should be communicated.

Best way to get that back to the developers is use the Submit Feedback feature here (also present at very bottom-left of screen) in v 10.x:

image.png.f62b3b3c741480c184a697d86ea25d5d.png

#4 - Tags have improved lately from what I've seen. Used to be the F3 (windows) "add tag" shortcut key didn't work at all in certain situations. Now they are rocking pretty well for me. I must have sent in feedback at least 2-3x on that (every time I would try it and be frustrated by it as I moved back over to Legacy to keep working.  In a couple week's I'd test it again. Just tried it this weekend and it seems good to go. So they are fixing these things but they do need the feedback to judge where the hotspots continue to be.

For #5, I had very same complaint there and was not able to us the app at all in the beginning. But they performance has GREATLY improved. I can now use it on the side while still having Legacy handy for the more occasional moments that v10 lags.  Personally I find this to be workable for now while they continue to enhance performance. For an app of EN's broad functional scope, I expect performance to ebb and flow as they find the right balance between the new features and what they nee do do after implementing new features. E.g., if they release, let's say, 5 new features, I would expect to maybe see it adversely affect performance at first. Then they'll put their attention on resolving the new perf. issues and then go release some new features, etc.  

They are releasing "new" (catching up the new app) features at a pretty impressive rate compared to most software release schedules). So my vote is to give EN a wide berth as they come racing into the finish line, if that finish line is "an app that is pretty much what we all need to be functional in our own worlds". 

#'s 6-7: I've not heard of those requests before, nor do I personally have a need for them. But I'd submit Feedback using above method so that you at least know you've gotten it over to the developers.  They are no doubt triaging a TON of requests (millions of users who all have access to Submit Feedback). So it might just be a ways down the roadmap. We all have our priorities. EN has the almost impossible job of managing them all. I've been there at a puny scale compared to theirs and it's a completely unenviable and, frankly, thankless position to be in. 

Re: "but what emerges is a company that does not aim to create a product that is truly effective in its use, does not solve users' problems and does not ask them for their opinions and feedback, otherwise many of these characteristics would have already been additions!" 

We may have to agree to disagree here. Having said that, we can all look for and move to alternatives at any time, as I'm sure you know. 

I've been unable to find such, as I mentioned in my previous response, so I've decided to sublimate my initial emotional reactions into hopefully useful feedback contributions. 

Now that some time has passed, I can say that I see them working hard to rapidly release new features since this all started. Frankly I've never seen developers of an app of this scope get the number of releases "per square month", if you will, at the rate EN has been kicking them out. Those actions speak loudest to me, and I was a HUGELY disappointed user when this all started. I'm coming around based on the visible activity I can see they are engaged in to catch this up. Was the first v10 all handled perfectly in the initial planning? No, I don't feel it was. But that is in the past. We have to stay in the present moment in our judgments, in my opinion, and "keep moving forward..."

Or move on. That's ok too.

Definitely agree with what others have posted about this being a user-support forum. EN employees may or may not peek in here, but assume they don't for managing your own frustration levels and move feedback you wish to direct to EN over to the above Submit Feedback feature.

Or, if an existing (already released) feature is not working as designed, then use Support and create a ticket so you can get that working the way it was designed to work.  

It's still true that the "squeaky wheel gets the grease", but if you really want results and to see your contributions matter, you sometimes have to send the right "squeak" to the right place. 😉  

 

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On 3/4/2021 at 5:11 PM, gazumped said:

I'll repeat THIS IS A MAINLY USER-SUPPORTED FORUM and I'm not employed by or connected with Evernote other than as a user of the product.  

Well, you behave and sound like a Evernote support employee and that's probably why you are threated accordingly. 

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A lot of users would probably be pretty lost if they would get this type of an answer instead of the good advise @gazumped offers.

EN employees have a „Staff“ badge, so in the rare cases when they show up, it is easy enough to know who is who. Personally I believe (support) employees should be treated with respect as well - they receive their salaries to help others, not to serve as punching ball for a special treat of „users“.

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