The True Power of Evernote.

[TheGrudge 11]

I'm a visual person. I like seeing images to help me find my way through a bunch of files, and I like structure -- things to be visually organized.

Evernote's true power is in the fact that it'll accept anything you throw at it (pain text, an attachment of any kind, a screen shot, a web clip, and audio file etc etc). And you can put all of this together into a single "note".

It's not always the case, but let's say I buy a lawnmower this summer. In a single note I can store a scan of the receipt, the instruction manual, a photo of the serial number, the URL to the manufacturer's website, and any extended warranty information.

You can house all that in Obsidian or Dropbox, but Evernote makes getting all of those media types into your note easy, and that's huge. I realize apps like Devonthink and Joplin likely provide the same kinds of functionality, but to me, this it the biggest EN selling point.

Whenever I think "oh, I'll just use OneNote" or "Apple Notes should work", they usually work fine for a while and then something like my new lawnmower comes along and I realize "this was much easier in Evernote", so back I come.

I will say I've been dabbling in Obsidian, but despite it's amazing power, my lawnmower example wouldn't be implemented quite as well as in EN.

But EN is a bit sluggish.

Perhaps our beloved elephant is a jack of all trades, master of none.

[eric99 810]

59 minutes ago, TheGrudge said:

I'm a visual person. I like seeing images to help me find my way through a bunch of files, and I like structure -- things to be visually organized.

Evernote's true power is in the fact that it'll accept anything you throw at it (pain text, an attachment of any kind, a screen shot, a web clip, and audio file etc etc). And you can put all of this together into a single "note".

It's not always the case, but let's say I buy a lawnmower this summer. In a single note I can store a scan of the receipt, the instruction manual, a photo of the serial number, the URL to the manufacturer's website, and any extended warranty information.

You can house all that in Obsidian or Dropbox, but Evernote makes getting all of those media types into your note easy, and that's huge. I realize apps like Devonthink and Joplin likely provide the same kinds of functionality, but to me, this it the biggest EN selling point.

Whenever I think "oh, I'll just use OneNote" or "Apple Notes should work", they usually work fine for a while and then something like my new lawnmower comes along and I realize "this was much easier in Evernote", so back I come.

I will say I've been dabbling in Obsidian, but despite it's amazing power, my lawnmower example wouldn't be implemented quite as well as in EN.

But EN is a bit sluggish.

Perhaps our beloved elephant is a jack of all trades, master of none.

I fully agree!

EN 10.11.5 has again substantial performance improvements. Every release, the slow elephant is getting faster, and hopefully once at full speed, it can't be stopped anymore 🙂

 

[Kolmir 162]

5 hours ago, TheGrudge said:

Whenever I think "oh, I'll just use OneNote" or "Apple Notes should work", they usually work fine for a while and then something like my new lawnmower comes along and I realize "this was much easier in Evernote", so back I come.

Did you notice, that if you copy an image from web-browser to the EvN -> it is saved as a link to it, not as an image attachment..?

(BTW AN and ON do this properly)

Example:

I have just clicked "copy image" in FF browser and inserted it into EvN. Then clicked properties of an inserted image...

If source pix is deleted so is the content of the note... (it's opposite to the way how it was done in legacy...)

[Mike P 2,094]

7 hours ago, Kolmir said:

Did you notice, that if you copy an image from web-browser to the EvN -> it is saved as a link to it, not as an image attachment..?

This is only an issue if you copy the image into the web version of EN. If you copy it into the desktop version it works as expected. In earlier version of V10 it didn't work correctly in the desktop app either. Some comsistency would be nice.

[Kolmir 162]

4 hours ago, Mike P said:

This is only an issue if you copy the image into the web version of EN. If you copy it into the desktop version it works as expected. In earlier version of V10 it didn't work correctly in the desktop app either. Some consistency would be nice.

Thanks! This reassures me that EvN isn't and most probably will not be able to produce something coherent and serious in any near future...

[eric99 810]

2 hours ago, Kolmir said:

Thanks! This reassures me that EvN isn't and most probably will not be able to produce something coherent and serious in any near future...

Please, give me one example of any software without issues or hick-ups?

In the mean time, performance wise EN starts as fast as Joplin now, EN re-implemented many small features and shortcuts that make workflows easier again,I really like the new unified GUI with dark theme and it is very intuitive to the rest of my family as well. I believe in the global strategy (not so much in how they introduced it several months ago)

By the way, in my latest web version, images seems to be stored properly...

 

[Kolmir 162]

1 hour ago, eric99 said:

Please, give me one example of any software without issues or hick-ups?

In the mean time, performance wise EN starts as fast as Joplin now, EN re-implemented many small features and shortcuts that make workflows easier again,I really like the new unified GUI with dark theme and it is very intuitive to the rest of my family as well. I believe in the global strategy (not so much in how they introduced it several months ago)

By the way, in my latest web version, images seems to be stored properly...

 

LOL! There is a significant difference between stable core plus some temporary functional bugs on the surface, and poor design of a fundamental structures and someway polished surface.

If you are unable to see a difference, I cannot help you…

BTW EvN is reactive not preventive therefor we can't talk about a strategy... They only have tactics and vague goals.

However, if fast-food alike standards of EvN are enough for you, it's OK. My best wishes. EOT.

[eric99 810]

53 minutes ago, Kolmir said:

If you are unable to see a difference, I cannot help you…

I don't ask for help, but please, don't start complaining again and again in the few positive topics on this forum. There are sufficient topics available were you can complain as much as you like...

[Mike P 2,094]

6 hours ago, eric99 said:

By the way, in my latest web version, images seems to be stored properly...

Interesting. I'm still getting only the link when I copy and paste an image into the web version. Here is an example workflow:

• Copy an image from a website (right click -> copy image)
• Paste (ctrl-V) into a new note in the web version of EN
• Wait a few seconds for the note to sync to the desktop app
• Looking at the image there is no ability to edit which is characteristic of it being a link and not the actual image. This can be confirmed in the developer tools (F12)

 

• Now ctrl-V into the same note in the desktop app and again examine the image. This time the edit icon is available.

 

[eric99 810]

Yes, in both the desktop and web version I see the pencil edit icon... probably image dependent ?

I took this image from the web: https://www.google.com/search?q=apple&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz-6D_0P7vAhVGgf0HHSedDmgQ_AUoAXoECAoQAw&biw=2208&bih=975#imgrc=WP9Fk8tkDdDa2M

[Alvin C 121]

12 hours ago, Kolmir said:

LOL! There is a significant difference between stable core plus some temporary functional bugs on the surface, and poor design of a fundamental structures and someway polished surface.

If you are unable to see a difference, I cannot help you…

BTW EvN is reactive not preventive therefor we can't talk about a strategy... They only have tactics and vague goals.

However, if fast-food alike standards of EvN are enough for you, it's OK. My best wishes. EOT.

If you view apps and their companies from their ways of doing, you can't easily have trust on the company who will provide a stable and reliable app in the short and long run. The foundation is the point.

Long-time users have tolerated Evernote for long, and they always created workarounds while those bugs were annoying but acceptable on the whole. Evernote's announcement of rewriting apps gave them hope, but turned out much worse scenario after releasing v10. Some users realise that they have to change.

I agree with the thread starter on the true power of Evernote, and I like some of the UI compared to past version. Over the half of a year Evernote has indeed improved, but doesn't mean the app is ready to use / reliable in some cases. For example, some of the downloaded notes still can't be accessed offline, and the iPhone is very hot especially when NOT connecting to the Internet. I have of course submitted the ticket, and the staff asked me to follow the steps to redownloading the notes, and things seem solved at the moment. However when he handed over my case to senior staff, he/she asked me to clear all the notes and download again. I think it's enough, and I am not here to pay you to become a beta tester. (I have registered to become a beta tester for upcoming version for many times, but the company never invites me.) To a certain extent I insist on the team actively finding bugs before users report.

I also agree with @Kolmir on consistency. For example you still can't adjust the width of column in a table on phones and tablets, and you can only copy web note links (https://www.evernote.com/...) on mobile but can't copy app links (Evernote://...). These differences seem to be out of random rather than having reasons for that. Maybe the codes are still complex that they are not able to achieve consistency at this moment (more issues / bugs may be created as a result).

That's why I switched to Bear. Bear also has some inconsistency (like find in note can't be done on mobile) and bugs, but it is useable, fast and reliable overall. And they did tell users that while being busy on a new editor, they are addressing some of the issues I have just mentioned. Bear may not be as powerful as Evernote, but it doesn't waste my time to test every part of an app.

[Mike P 2,094]

8 hours ago, eric99 said:

Yes, in both the desktop and web version I see the pencil edit icon... probably image dependent ?

When I copy that image into the web browser version of EN I get the link (no edit icon). Very strange.

[eric99 810]

10 hours ago, eric99 said:

Yes, in both the desktop and web version I see the pencil edit icon... probably image dependent ?

I took this image from the web: https://www.google.com/search?q=apple&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz-6D_0P7vAhVGgf0HHSedDmgQ_AUoAXoECAoQAw&biw=2208&bih=975#imgrc=WP9Fk8tkDdDa2M

I took the smaller apple at the left side. If you take the big apple at the right side, it doesn't work indeed...

[Mike P 2,094]

48 minutes ago, eric99 said:

I took the smaller apple at the left side. If you take the big apple at the right side, it doesn't work indeed...

Yes that one works. Obviously something that still needs sorting.

[eric99 810]

8 minutes ago, Mike P said:

Yes that one works. Obviously something that still needs sorting.

the one that works is a jpeg, the other one a png ?

[Mike P 2,094]

2 minutes ago, eric99 said:

the one that works is a jpeg, the other one a png ?

No both apples are png. The one with transparency doesn't work so that might be it. In my testing jpgs don't work either.

[stocky2605 387]

I fully agree - everything in a note is also my preferred method incl. handwritten stuff / sketches - or if some more notes are needed just "link" them together via Tags and/or internal links incl. a TOC.

Don't to forget being able to have real checklists within a note - it sounds simple, but, ever tried to do this in e. g. DEVONthink?

And I like to have build-in reminders, too - on Mac, on iOS and Web Client - don't need another tool to manage follow-ups. And, finally, integration of 3rd party Apps via API like Livescribe, Noteshelf and Filterize.net.

 

[DTLow 5,721]

On 4/13/2021 at 9:36 AM, TheGrudge said:

Evernote's true power is in the fact that it'll accept anything you throw at it

Keeping all my files in one place is also important for me.  
Also maintaining native format, not conversion to a proprietary format that locks us into the product  

For organization, I appreciate the Tags feature.  
I'm not interested in Notebooks, but it's a feature for those still using folder methodology

Evernote's secret power is scripting; I use the Applescript integration (Mac)    
also APIs allowing integration with third party services     
Sadly scripting integration is still MIA with Evernote's v10 product