Evernote 10 Pain Points

[gazumped 12,078]

Here goes my Evernote Guru badge...

I had an interesting email from Evernote a couple of days ago.. it has been noted that I'm still using Evernote Windows 6.25 and EN wondered why I haven't moved up to the new app. (Seems like the powers that be aren't reading any forums...)

Anyhow I gave them my views - missing features (import folders) and speed issues - on which they wanted more details, which I gave.

I wondered if you'd like to contribute too. Here's a survey with some admittedly basic question. It'll take about a minute for you to complete this anonymously.

I'll post the results. It is NOT an official survey, and I have no standing with the company other than (semi) loyal user!

Help point Evernote in the direction of better takeup on v10!!

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NGRNDFQ 

Changed to a Google form (sorry) because SurveyMonkey says I have to pay to receive more than 40 answers! (Note: sometimes the small print actually matters....).  The same survey is now here>>  https://forms.gle/nPptQpzNQ5xFJWCU8

Edited March 29, 2021 by gazumped
Updating link

[jbenson2 2,149]

I wish I could help with the survey, but due to large number of user complaints I have avoided upgrading.

I have been surprised at the reluctance from some of the long-time power users to upgrade.

And your comment (Seems like the powers that be aren't reading any forums...) speaks volumes about my experience with Evernote. I trust comments from other users far more than anything an Evernote employee "claims".

 

[DTLow 5,745]

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

why I haven't moved up to the new app

I would answer that Evernote Version 10 is not ready for general use
Not just my opinion, Evernote itself restricts me to Legacy on the web (10k+ notes)
                             also Evernote restricts us to selecting 50 notes

[gazumped 12,078]

If you already filled in the form - Thanks! 

SurveyMonkey just informed me that I'm only allowed 40 responses on a free survey,  so I switched to a Google form so I can keep on collecting data for a while.  It's not necessary to fill in the form again - all responses so far are saved. 

Here's the initial results (ironically in a Workflowy bullet) - I'll add these stats into the Google results and report again in a while...

The new Google survey is here if you want to complete it or share it around... https://forms.gle/nPptQpzNQ5xFJWCU8

EDIT:  Forgot to add in the takeaways so far:

1. Slowness seems to be the main bugbear - the new app just takes too long
2. Import Folders, Local (unsynced) Notebooks and a more convenient way to get an automatic local backup are all missed
3. Features that still exist but don't work as well - got us back to slowness again.  The word 'unusable' came up a lot...

[buckethead 221]

The survey is very biased and geared to only pointing out problems. All questions are only asking the respondents to provide negative points only so it is not shocking that your takeaways show that as well. There are quite a few positives with the new v10 also. 

I get and understand that v10 is a struggle and not usable for some. However, I would think that there are quite a few folks that are using it daily without problems. The initial switch and rollout was a bugger for sure. Shoot I know I was complaining about white screens, stuck imports, and other things as well. I think it took till 10.6 or so on the Mac and iOS to work well for me. And v10 might not ever reach feature parity of old. Lately I actually find myself using v10 more than I did previous versions and I have been around using EN a while now.. 

[gazumped 12,078]

7 hours ago, buckethead said:

The survey is very biased and geared to only pointing out problems.

Hi.  Its a fair point - but given that I'm trying to find out why users are sticking with legacy versions and not using v10,  I'm hardly going to find out they're not using it because it's too nice...

I've been using Evernote for 12 years or so and have 50k+ notes - and I'm amazingly grateful for the fantastic software and the friendly support I've received over that time. 

In my case I'm waiting for Import  Folders and missing Local Notebooks (though I have a work-around in place for that) and -as a beta-tester for the Linux app- I'm not impressed with the speed or reliability of that version yet.  I'm just waiting for more updates...

[s2sailor 2,458]

6 hours ago, gazumped said:

and missing Local Notebooks (though I have a work-around in place for that)

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on that?  I have tried a few ideas, but none that I'm happy with yet.

[DTLow 5,745]

6 hours ago, gazumped said:

Local Notebooks (though I have a work-around in place for that)

My work-around was to move my sensitive data to local file storage, and replace the embedded data with a file link     
Problem with Version 10
1. Not able to create local file links   😐
2. It actually removed the local file links I created with Evernote Legacy ☹️

[gazumped 12,078]

35 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on that?  I have tried a few ideas, but none that I'm happy with yet.

Sure - there have been a few good and bad experiences...  I looked at Cloud storage - obvious drawback: that's what Evernote are now proposing. 

So I need something reliable and completely local.  There's a subscription app called RightNote which has a similar user following to Evernote (but way fewer complaints!).  It's my goto app for 'proper' nested folder action,  and also supports tags and detailed searches.  Even more interestingly it 'syncs' with Evernote so you can pull notes from your account into a hierarchical structure if you feel the need.  In my case the interest now is in importing my local notebooks and gradually transferring their management over to Rightnote.

Another factor that caught my eye - it performs automatic backups (with various options).  And it does Encryption...  I haven't done a full comparison with Evernote but I'd imagine they'll pretty much match each other for main features - with RN a little ahead. 

You'd need to browser around their website to decide your preferences.  There's the usual 30-day free trial...  https://www.bauerapps.com/evernote-tree/

It's Windows only (Sorry Apple users) but it suits me...

[CalS 5,310]

On 4/2/2021 at 8:52 AM, s2sailor said:

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on that?  I have tried a few ideas, but none that I'm happy with yet.

Most of my local notes contain PDFs or attachments of some sort.  The paperless bit of my use case.

1. I created a folder tree (parent with years as children) on OneDrive.  OneDrive user so logical place to put it.  Pick the cloud of your choice.
2. I use BoxCryptor on that folder tree.  In this fashion the files are visible on my PC but are encrypted on the web. 
3. As I port the PDFs to the folder structure they are encrypted and synced to the OneDrive. 
4. I use Windows index/search on that folder tree.  In File Explorer from the parent I can search titles and contents.  Frankly with preview pane on it looks a lot like EN.  File list on the left and attachment view on the right. 
5. I can view the attachments on mobile via OneDrive with BoxCryptor active.  Can only search on name though.  Which works for my use case.
6. I am printing any non attachment notes to PDF before porting.
7. This set up provides version recovery though I have not ironed out the actual recovery process.  Probably entails turning BoxCryptor on/off for a bit or sorting by size.  Not too worried, key is not to have a DAA as most of this data is static once it is saved to the tree.  We'll see.  A hole in the process though.

I'm taking my time and have about 75% of the notes moved.  I am leaving them in EN at the moment.  I tag with Moved when I actually move them, so easy to see what is left to address.  I have been doing some combining of PDFs, trades for an account for a year as an example. 

To be clear most of this is low access stuff for me, more a part of my paperless strategy.  May not work for everyone.  But I do end up with a very fast and reasonably familiar search process.  I just searched by the numbers of an old address and  got 1,101 files back as I hit enter.  And that address is not in any title.  Same instantaneous response time as 6.25.1 EN .  YMMV.

Side note.  My main system is a docked laptop.  As a test this past weekend I put V10 on a Surface Pro I have.  It was painful.  The combination of so many more clicks to get get anything done, missing features, so much air on the page, and the miserable slowness really put me off.  Put the Surface back to 6.25.1 after about 30 minutes. 

I really hope EN cleans up the response time issues.  That's enough to make the product untenable for me.  I can AutoHotKey some of the increased click stuff, but I can't fix native speed issues.

 

[CalS 5,310]

On 4/5/2021 at 5:23 PM, CalS said:

This set up provides version recovery though I have not ironed out the actual recovery process.  Probably entails turning BoxCryptor on/off for a bit or sorting by size.  Not too worried, key is not to have a DAA as most of this data is static once it is saved to the tree.  We'll see.  A hole in the process though.

The fix for recovery is easy assuming you are willing to not encrypt the file names on the cloud service.  Then it is easy to access file history in the cloud to recover a previous version should a DAA occur.  Visible file names doesn't cause me any angst.

Also, I've added tags of a sort to the end of the file names in the form [FY20 Stmt] for example using a tool called Bulk Rename (go figure).  Just like tags in EN these added tags help cull a search.  A search for abctirecompany fy20 in File Explorer will return all PDFs containing abctirecompany "tagged" with fy20.  Very fast.

Again, downside is two places to search but this is a viable option for my use case of local notebooks.  YMMV.