PDF attachements will not open

[pkb 0]

Hi,

PDF files I attache to a note will not open. I receive an error that the path is not found (see picture). It happens with a lot of attached PDF files. Also, if I make notes in a PDF file and I save the changes, it won't save it to the PDF file in the note. So I have to save it on my desktop and re upload it again, which is frustrating.

The last time I reached out here I did not receive an answer. This time I would like that to be the case. I am a payed subscriber and I would like Evernote to function as it should. 

-Paul

[agsteele 2,944]

Hi @pkb

I'm not absolutely clear how to reproduce the issues that you describe.  I think, though, that they may be two different issues.  I'll take them is reverse order if I may.

If you open any document that is attached to a note the way to save the changes back into the note is quite limited.  Make the changes, then press save, and only then close the note.  If you choose, instead, to close the note and save the changes at the same time the document will be saved outside Evernote.

If you can describe how you are creating and attaching the PDFs to a note then that might give a clue.  For sure, if you scan into Evernote or use sendto or drag onto the Evernote shortcut then there is a known issue which drops the file suffix.  THis make it difficult to open the document from inside Evernote.  Take a look at the file name at the top of the PDF.  Does it have the PDF suffix?  If not then this could be your issue. Right click on the PDF inside Evernote and rename to add the suffix. Otherwise, please tell us how we can try out reproducing your issue and I'll give it a go and see what results.

[nomadtacey 0]

I am seeing similar issue with video file attachments.  Evernote on my laptop Win10 I can click on the video files and view them.  Evernote on my surface pro I get the pop-up that the file cannot be found and then the file is deleted and my note is saved without the original file.  Basically any attachment in a note that I create on my laptop gets deleted by the surface pro version.

[pkb 0]

Hi @agsteele,

Thank you for your reply. Lets tackle the "open pdf from the note" issue first. I made two snapshots so you can see what the problem is. When I drag a pdf or add it via the upload function I will be able to see the pdf in the note. I just cannot open it from the note in a pdf viewer and I also cannot save the pdf on my desktop. If I try that, it will say "all files" in stead of "pdf". So that must be the problem. But it used to work fine, suddenly it doesn't. And I don't know how to change it. Because there is not a space in between the actions were I can do something about it.

 

Greets,

Paul

[agsteele 2,944]

OK. Thanks for the explanation.   I just tried this in my installation and it works just as expected.  I can right click in the body of the PDF and select OPEN. This opens in the default PDF viewer on my computer (I use Acrobat). I can click the three dot menu icon '...' in the title bar and select OPEN and that does the same thing.

SImilarly I can save to my desktop following the same steps but choosing SAVE AS rather than OPEN.

I can also drag the PDF from Evernote to the desktop. Does that work for you?

I think I would try a complete uninstall. Close Evernote. Uninstall and be sure to also delete the data and program directories to ensure that you are starting with a clean installation. You'll find these at %AppData%\Evernote and %LocalAppData%\Programs\Evernote

The main issue with uninstalling is that any settings you've personalised will be lost and you'll have to do them again but my experience is that this can be the best way to resolving an issue like this.

If this fails, you should take advantage of your Premium status and raise a support ticket.

[pkb 0]

Hi @agsteele,

Thanks for the reply and the suggestions. I uninstalled EN yesterday and today I re-installed it. But unfortunately it did not solve the issue. Realy weird that something works fine in your account, but not in mine. 

How do I raise a support ticket?

Greets,

Paul

[agsteele 2,944]

@pkb https://evernote.com/contact and choose additional support options.

Just checking that you deleted the directories when you did the uninstall.

 

[pkb 0]

@agsteeleI could not find the %AppData%\Evernote and %LocalAppData%\Programs\Evernote locations. But when I re-installed, I was logged in already. So maybe that did not went the way it should? 

[agsteele 2,944]

Normally %AppData% is c:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming

and %LocalAppData% is c:\Users\yourname\AppData\local

 

If you copy and paste the two paths I gave into File Explorer it should take you directly to the directories concerned. The reason for using these %% paths is to overcome any tweaks you might have created in your installation and avoid the need to guess yourname on your PC.

But you do need to delete the directories otherwise reinstalling just uses the old data and will continue to reproduce the error.  If you get stuck and would like some advice while you do the task, I could look over your shoulder with a Zoom conversation.  I'm in the UK so I suspect on a time zone close to you.

Send me a PM if you'd like help.

[pkb 0]

Hi @agsteele,

Thanks, I found the file locations using your path en deleted the files. I then deleted evernote and run the installation again. Unfortunately, it did not solve the issue. So I will contact Evernote. I will let you know how it went when it is solved.

Greets,

Paul 

[jackbrucesimpson 0]

I'm having exactly the same problem on my Windows 10 laptop!

[pkb 0]

hi @agsteeleand @jackbrucesimpson,

 

I received the following reply from customer service. Bottom line is that it will be treated as a feature I guess. So no solution for now.

Melvin D. (Evernote Help and Learning) Apr 16, 2021, 8:12 PDT Hello Paul, Thank you for writing back to us. I acknowledge that you're unable to save your PDF files in your note as a PDF and it only shows a All files on your end and also having issues with opening your PDF files on your Evernote for Windows. We thank you for confirming this issue to us. We want to let you know that we can reproduce the said issue when saving a PDF file, it shows All files rather than PDF. Thanks for sharing this idea with me. I’ve gone ahead and made note of this for our development team. While we can’t commit to getting all feature requests into the product, we do rely on our community to tell us what they’d like to see in the future. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any other ideas. I'm sorry to hear of your experience on PDF files attachment on your notes and I really appreciate the feedback. We strive to provide the most delightful customer experience possible, though it appears we did not quite meet your expectations in this case. I'll make sure to forward your feedback to our team so they're aware of your experience. Now, I will close this ticket, but if you have any other questions please reach out to me and I'll be more than happy to help. Stay safe! Best wishes, Melvin D. Customer Support Representative

[MJPMOTW 3]

Same here. Any PDF "embedded" as preview or attached. I chose "open" from the dialoge, Adobe Acrobat will start and will simply say "file not found". So any document I want to view in an external viewer or editor I have to download and view or download, view, change, upload. Evernote 10.12.5 and reinstall didn't help.

[pkb 0]

Hi, @MJPMOTW

That sounds familiar indeed. Maybe it is wise for you to also make a ticket with customer support, so that Evernote will have some more motivation to solve this problem. Cause it is a pain in the ass, right.

 

Greets,

Paul

[Jeff510 95]

I have this same problem. When I try to open a PDF from a note, I get a file not found error. I've tried Acrobat and Foxit Reader as default pdf readers, and the error is the same in both.

[Jeff510 95]

And it's not like this is something that isn't supposed to work, there's a selection to open the PDF right in the menu in the note...

 

 

[MJPMOTW 3]

There is a big difference between the legacy app, the windows store app and the installable, executable windows app.

Do not install the Microsoft store app. Download the executable from the Evernote site and all works as expected.

[PinkElephant 8,088]

… the same is true for the Mac: Avoid the AppStore version (which is the same, but runs in a sandbox) - get the direct download.

[egberto00 0]

Hi pkb,

I had the same problem and It's still the same, eight months later.

It doesn't seem like the Evernote team is in a rush to fix it.

Here the link: 

 

[agsteele 2,944]

Some methods of attaching a document to a note strip the file suffix. Right click on the document and choose rename - if that has happened add .pdf or whatever to the filename and that is likely to provide the solution.  THis isn't,  apparently, a requirement in the Mac world.

[pkb 0]

HI @egberto00,

 

Thank you for commenting. Yeah, it does not seem like it indeed. I have some attachements that will work. Even though de file is not saved as pdf, it opens the file as pdf. So, that's better I guess. It does not happen every time however.

@agsteele I tried that, but it did not work a while ago. I will try it again if I run into the problem again. 

[Mays 5]

On 6/16/2021 at 1:33 PM, MJPMOTW said:

There is a big difference between the legacy app, the windows store app and the installable, executable windows app.

Do not install the Microsoft store app. Download the executable from the Evernote site and all works as expected.

Exactly, if you use the version downloaded directly from Evernote then you will not have this problem.  Even though Evernote says they are the exact same application, this is not true.  It seems the Evernote experts could have reproduced this, it took me 3 minutes.

[Austin G 527]

this issue should now be fixed in version 10.17.6 of the app store version. This version is in the process of rolling out to all customers now. If you still see the issue on 10.17.6, please try these steps:

1.  Select File  > Sign Out
2. Select the option to delete the local app data
3. Sign back in

Thanks

[Dogan_ 2]

On 7/15/2021 at 11:35 PM, Austin G said:

this issue should now be fixed in version 10.17.6 of the app store version. This version is in the process of rolling out to all customers now. If you still see the issue on 10.17.6, please try these steps:

1.  Select File  > Sign Out
2. Select the option to delete the local app data
3. Sign back in

Thanks

In some cases also need to uninstall the program and re-install it back then it should be fine as it worked for me.

Tip* I downloaded the latest version from the website, didnt install it from the microsoft store.

[Langosta 0]

I have this same problem. 

just started using a new laptop (PC) last week. Pdfs opened from Evernote on the old pc. Using this version: 

I don't see local files in the locations listed above. 

I have 14000 notes and at least 11000 of them have pdfs so this is a problem I would like to fix. Any thoughts?