Allow to skip home screen and give optional recent menu

[crawfordpatterson 21]

Anyone know how to remove the new home screen from IOS. I am not a fan and prefer just to have my notes showing when I open the App

[itoldusoandso 32]

Suggest:

1. Allow skip the pretty home screen and set the main view as default start screen.  

Allow to skip the home screen the way it was in previous version of EN on iOS and go right away to the notebooks. Most of time I need to go right to the notebooks list. When iOS reboots or the app restarts, it would start with the home screen again.  

2. Give us option to have the ugly old recent menu...  

I don't mind the home screen, it's ok, it shows well and sells well to new users. I'm not into dashboards, like how often I need that.. but ok, it looks nice, I agree. When we talk Recent Notes in home screen, give us option to skip the chotschke home screen and go to notes list and give us a folder called Recent notes as it is on the classic version of desktop clients.  If you move the Recent to Home screen because it's pretty, ok, do whatever pleases people but dont remove stuff from users who use things in a certain way ... without being absolutely absolutely sure people don't want and don't like the old ways..........

Please.  Otherwise it's arrogance.  Thanks.  'Nough emails to Evernote support.  Never ever received any response.  I guess they are busy fixing bugs.  But I see progress in iOS.  It sucks less. LOL

[Thorz 54]

For over 10 years that I have been using Evernote I have loved that you could come back fast to the notebook and note you were previously working on when opening the app.

SInce the last update to v.10.8.2 you have decided that we want to start in Home when we open the app without asking us and even worst, without letting use choose if we wanted this change.

Please give us the option to start the app in the latest notebook used as it has been since the start. Many of us do not use or want to use your new Home page.

If you have decided to invest resources in things like Home that the vast majority of your user base didn't ask for it is your own (wrong) decision, but please don't try to shoehorn things like this into our workflow, the only thing you do is alienate your user base.

It's puzzling how you dedicate resources to things like Home instead of working in really useful features like e.g., a way to create an in-note table of contents with internal note hyperlinks, something your user base have been screaming for almost since day 1 and that your competition offer years ago.

[DTLow 5,736]

3 minutes ago, shekala said:

Is there a way to remove the Home Screen and go straight to All Notes? (Mobile and desktop)

I merged your post with an ongoing discussion and future request   
To indicate support, use the vote button at the top left corner

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

On 4/19/2021 at 12:28 PM, itoldusoandso said:

Suggest:

1. Allow skip the pretty home screen and set the main view as default start screen.  

Allow to skip the home screen the way it was in previous version of EN on iOS and go right away to the notebooks. Most of time I need to go right to the notebooks list. When iOS reboots or the app restarts, it would start with the home screen again.  

2. Give us option to have the ugly old recent menu...  

I don't mind the home screen, it's ok, it shows well and sells well to new users. I'm not into dashboards, like how often I need that.. but ok, it looks nice, I agree. When we talk Recent Notes in home screen, give us option to skip the chotschke home screen and go to notes list and give us a folder called Recent notes as it is on the classic version of desktop clients.  If you move the Recent to Home screen because it's pretty, ok, do whatever pleases people but dont remove stuff from users who use things in a certain way ... without being absolutely absolutely sure people don't want and don't like the old ways..........

Please.  Otherwise it's arrogance.  Thanks.  'Nough emails to Evernote support.  Never ever received any response.  I guess they are busy fixing bugs.  But I see progress in iOS.  It sucks less. LOL

I don't have an opinion on the aesthetics. Maybe it is beautiful. Maybe it is not. But, the home screen definitely does nothing for my workflow. Se the default to "home screen" for everyone if you want, but please let us turn it off if we don't want to use the app that way.

And, while you are at it, let us turn off any other popup tutorial. I just want to use the app. 

How does this look in the real world? This is my anecdote from today. Cue the world's tiniest violin to provide background music for it. I open my phone (Android / Premium subscription), press the icon, and wait several seconds for the app to load. Why is the new app slower than the old one? Then, I get ready to search, but the entire screen is covered by some kind of home screen tutorial. Meanwhile, my colleague is waiting for me to find the document I said I'd have in just a second... I navigate through the home screen, search, and finally locate the document. Great! But, it still isn't downloaded. So, it's going to take a bit longer. Actually, I've been waiting for days to get this notebook offline, sometimes leaving the phone unlocked and the app open on my desk for an hour or two. I am kind of unsure I'll ever get to see the file. Eventually, the PDF comes up, but by then my colleague has fished his own version out of his own pile of papers. What's the point of having this productivity app if I'm less productive than a pile of papers? I can pile up my papers on my desk for free

My recommendation is to help us use the app to get stuff done instead of slowing it down, hijacking the app with tutorials / home screens, or degrading functionality (notebooks downloaded for offline use not working properly, for example). I don't see how this experience is "better" than what I had last year.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I am not sure what the subscription has to do with it. I am a premium user with the Home window. I don't want it. But, now I am forced to use it. If I crashed one of the Zoom development meetings at Evernote, I would recommend having some of these concepts / questions at the front of my mind for any design issues.

1. Does it require more clicks / taps? If so, then it probably isn't worth it. For example, we now have to tap several times just to edit a note on mobile. I have no idea why more clicks / taps were added to the process.

2. Does it increase the information density while keeping things easy to read / making them easier to read? If not, then it probably isn't worth it. Why in the world would you remove data about our notes and make it impossible to know some basic stuff like how many notes have been downloaded in an offline notebook? There is space for it. A while back in mobile (a few versions ago) we could see it. Not anymore. Days and days I have been waiting for the notebooks in my Android to download. Maybe next month will be the one when I finally get to see everything.

3. Is it faster (to do what you want to do)? If not, then it probably isn't worth it. The entire app is slower (on iOS and Android). I don't see how that makes it more productive. My notes aren't downloaded, so that slows me down. I have to tap more to edit notes. That is definitely not speeding things up. And, now we have a home screen to tap through as well. It's as if Evernote re-designed the app to be slower to use.

If anyone is still around reading this, I'd suggest re-thinking how resources are prioritized and getting back to some of the core features of the app that have kept some of us around all of these years. Search, for example, is one of the most important features of the app for me (on OSX, Windows, Android, and iOS). Sometimes it has worked better than other times over the years, and we have often had long discussions about search discrepancies. I don't know about other folks, but my search results are all over the place (working with CJK, so that may have an effect). In my opinion, new search features, better search quality, and so forth will pay off more in the long run than any visual enhancements or widgety / portal screens (in general, it is never a good idea to add new screens to anything, in my opinon).

OK. That's enough. I can see that Evernote has invested a lot of time and effort into developing the Home screen, and they are probably loathe to backtrack. Maybe they even think I will learn to like being slower, less productive, and irritated Until that day comes, please just give me a way to turn it off--an added benefit is that I won't be able to complain about it on the forums anymore!

 

[Angry 45]

Home is absolutely useless for me! 

Can I have please propper user settings to switch it off?

I want to start evernote with the list of all my notes. 

Regarding how often I use EN a day there must not additional klicks!

[cel4145 20]

40 minutes ago, SWSL said:

I suspect that this is where we start to glimpse the real goals behind the latest corporate "improvements"  called "Home"

Now that our OWN choices for what to see when opening Evernote have been "improved" and turned a promotional page that makes it more like, what?   a Yahoo home page ?  - now that they have hijacked that and taken control over what we see first, well, don't worry because if you REALLY don't like what the corporation decided you should want to see, then SURE, you can change it.  

But it will cost you!  Pay up and ..you can have a bit of that control we just took away back. Yes ! That's right!  Premium subscribers can choose!  Otherwise, WE decide what to show you. 

And I'm a Plus user, and I can't choose. So I'm already paying evernote, but apparently they want to make it less user friendly for me.

[Zendobi 5]

As said by everyone. This "feature" is absolutely useless to me, and in fact just makes it take longer to find what I am looking for. Pleae provide an option to disable it.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

To tell the same story short: Let us have a setting where we can choose between Home Screen or note list view as start screen.

[danielccolon 0]

Just gonna add my voice to the many complaints here before sadly beginning a search for another service. The majority of changes over the past year have done nothing but slow down my workflow with bad UI design, unnecessary steps, and unwanted features that cannot be disabled. This restricting of functionality is intentional--it seems like Evernote's trajectory is no longer aligned with its established user base. 

[shekala 56]

Is there a way to remove the Home Screen and go straight to All Notes? (Mobile and desktop)

[itoldusoandso 32]

I bet, in Evernote'sque fashion, they could add:

1. Saved sarches

2. Sticky notes

3 Favorite notes

4. Quik message box to send an email to Evernote recycle bin about how much I hate the new evernote.

However, this doesn't come free. I suggest Evernote requires a subscrition to premium account to include the above. To skip the home screen entirely, a suscrition to premium account will also be required.

The only item that I believe will be free is the message box. Free

EVERNOTE - STOP - STOP FOOOLING AROUND. WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU, AN ARMY OF DEVOTED USERS - JUST ASK.

[DarkUltra 7]

I agree! And sideways horizontal scrolling is not very user friendly.

[SWSL 66]

I suspect that this is where we start to glimpse the real goals behind the latest corporate "improvements"  called "Home"

Now that our OWN choices for what to see when opening Evernote have been "improved" and turned a promotional page that makes it more like, what?   a Yahoo home page ?  - now that they have hijacked that and taken control over what we see first, well, don't worry because if you REALLY don't like what the corporation decided you should want to see, then SURE, you can change it.  

But it will cost you!  Pay up and ..you can have a bit of that control we just took away back. Yes ! That's right!  Premium subscribers can choose!  Otherwise, WE decide what to show you. 

[itoldusoandso 32]

No we didn't receive the invites to any of the previous Evernote's management Zoom meeting either. But thanks @GrumpyMonkey for articulating our valid concerns so eloquently and yet in a such a congenial manner to Evernote so I trully wish their team will become a bit more approacheable, less avoidant and hopefully stop shunning negative feedback and join our discussions.

Just quickly to your point 1: Hopefully I understand what you meant correctly, please let me know if I misunderstood. On iOS in Settings / Notes there is switch "Edit protection" .. says protect your notes from accidential taps.. double tap in the note to edit.. If the switch is on you have two choices: Tapping on the note twice or Tapping the Edit button on the bottom.  If that option is not turned on, I can edit the note on first tap (the fact it doesn't always work is probably a bug in the interface).

[CalS 5,280]

Just make it optional for everyone's sanity.

Slightly off topic but a part of the nanny state herein - make landing on saved searches an option when pressing the search icon.  I have to press search and then saved EVERY time.  I have no idea what the logic is for presenting me with suggestions, Netflix?  I typically have a purpose when going to do a search....  unaided in any way by suggestions.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

6 hours ago, itoldusoandso said:

No we didn't receive the invites to any of the previous Evernote's management Zoom meeting either. But thanks @GrumpyMonkey for articulating our valid concerns so eloquently and yet in a such a congenial manner to Evernote so I trully wish their team will become a bit more approacheable, less avoidant and hopefully stop shunning negative feedback and join our discussions.

Just quickly to your point 1: Hopefully I understand what you meant correctly, please let me know if I misunderstood. On iOS in Settings / Notes there is switch "Edit protection" .. says protect your notes from accidential taps.. double tap in the note to edit.. If the switch is on you have two choices: Tapping on the note twice or Tapping the Edit button on the bottom.  If that option is not turned on, I can edit the note on first tap (the fact it doesn't always work is probably a bug in the interface).

Thanks for the kind words. I always welcome developer and staff engagement here, but if they are too busy, I also appreciate them just taking our suggestions and implementing them

tl;dr  I was speaking about the checkmark, actually. 

<What’s my deal with the checkmark?>
In iOS we now need to tap the checkmark to confirm an edit. That is an extra tap of literally no utility. For example, is there an X to reject the edits? No. In fact, you can close the app, open it again, and find the edited content saved, so the checkmark doesn’t even funtion as the icon suggests! It’s like the Hollywood version of Ghost in the Shell when the main character refuses to give her consent to a medical procedure and her owner/creator says they never needed her consent and goes forward with it anyhow (kind of—watch the movie for more). If it’s not serving a purpose, and increases the tapping we have to do, then it fails for all of my criteria. Instead, you could accomplish the same result as the checkmark by just moving away from the note, and then you would be someplace useful. Perhaps they thought we would want to hang out in the note admiring it after finishing our glorious edits. But, it is wisiwyg, so what is the point of staring at the same note after you tap the checkmark? 

<How do we fix it?>
By the way, perhaps because I am several generations behind on my iOS devices, no home screen on my phone and on my ipad I am even running the old version of the app. Whatever good intentions the developers had, and I am sure they had many, as evidenced by comments and peeks behind the scenes,   the new app objectively fails to improve the experience in several key ways for the users.

On my iPad, I only need one tap to edit a note. Tap in the note and start editing. That’s it. When you are done, just tap in a note from the list displayed on the left and edit another one (in that case, you’d have two taps: one on the list to get the content of the other note to display and another in that note to begin editing). This thing has basically been streamlined to achieve maximum efficiency. How did it get that way? Lots and lots of work by the developers. I know that because users (including me) were brought into the process to help redesign the interface from the ground up, including video calls, so my Zoom meeting reference above was partly a joke / partly a suggestion for inprovement to the design process. Can we get to a single tap in the new app on all iOS devices? Where there’s a will, there’s a way. I have no doubt the developers could do it if they wanted.

<Priorities>
How do my priorities look in practice? Well, a lot like the old app. One tap to search on the iPad. One tap to access shortcuts. One tap to add a new note, even if you are in the middle of editing another one. Elegant simplicity.

Is it perfect? Well, no. The old app could have used some improvements. When you tapped to make a new note on the ipad, the note filled the screen, and there was a word (完了 in Japanese for me) in the upper left corner you had to tap to confirm the content and go back. Basically, it was detritus from the earlier iterations of the app, but instead of taking this opportunity to excise it, the developers added checkmarks into every edit, and put a home screen on for good measure. New crud on top of old crud, if you ask me, and their redesign time could have been better spent building on the great work earlier developers did in refining the app.

By the way, using three different versions of the app (old ios, deprecated ios?, and android), some of the problems are glaringly obvious in daily use. ios downloaded all of my notebook content for offline use in a timely manner. Android still hasn’t after about three weeks, and that was after reinstalling the app when it became unable to recognize the existence of any content at all in some notebooks. Yes, it’s a bug of some kind, and I am not suggesting they abandon development of new things for debugging, but the layering of a home screen on top of a poor experience was especially unwelcome. Timing and execution—fix the broken stuff in the premium features I pay for first and then give me the option to upgrade to the new features rather than hijacking the app (if I am using it you can assume I am working) to show me a tutorial about a feature I don’t even want.

Definitely too long. Sorry about that. And,  totally the opposite of my message: Keep it simple! In practice, that could mean making it faster, reducing the effort involved, making sure the core features work as intended, and gently rolling out new features (including the option not to have them at all or to turn them off).

 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I know your screen all too well! I figure, though, that there isn't much point in making a stink about it. I've had some of the same problems ever since the new versions were rolled out (sticking with legacy on OSX), and if they haven't been able to fix the bugs by now, the QC problem is so hopelessly gummed up that being a squeaky wheel isn't going to help us get any grease. I just kind of assume I won't be able to view things at times, the searches are not going to turn up the correct results, and the app will be slow. That seems to be baked into the new version.

The problem, though is a bug. By definition, that is an unintended result of the design, though perhaps a known problem that has not been prioritized. This thread is about design, and what bothers me is that they have purposefully designed inefficiency into the app, ignoring lessons learned over the last decade. I've obviously got pretty strong opinions about anything that increases my workload. If you are a casual user of Evernote, maybe a click or two doesn't matter, but someone who does use it a lot will have an extra fifty, hundred taps a day. It really adds up, and what bothers me is that we have already been through this and designed the crud out of it, so I cannot even begin to imagine why they would re-invent the wheel, and on top of that, do it in a less efficient way.

My anecdote earlier in the thread addresses what happens when a bug (content failing to appear) intersects with a poor design decision (hijacking my app to introduce a new feature, not asking me to opt-in, and not giving me an option to opt-out). It's all entirely predictable, and the chances that I would encounter this perfect storm of problems are probably pretty high because, like nearly everyone using the app, it is supposed to be about productivity, and I am usually working when I am using it. 

For some reason, there appears to be a willingness to roll out things even when it is pretty clear that it will disrupt or obliterate workflows. They may have met a deadline and met their short-term, tactical goal, but in the process they are undoubtedly driving away or irritating paying customers, which endangers their long-term, strategic goals. I hope they get this sorted sooner than later. Rethinking the home screen is a great opportunity to turn things around, in my opinion.

[Twitchly 27]

What is the scratch pad for? Is it essentially a new note? Do any of you use it, and if so, how?

[Angry 45]

Yea, the same for me. The last five years when s.b. mentioned a note app I raised my voice and recommended Evernote. 

Now with v10 it is: Use what you like, but stay away from Evernote. Slow like a turtle, old workflow busted. "Improvements" are making things worse.

[Ccow 0]

Home adds unnecessary taps for me and slows me down. Speed is one of my top priorities when it comes to writing a note down (I don't want to use the scratch pad) and finding previous notes I've written.

[vancinad 4]

The new Home window is unavoidable, useless, and insulting in that if you want to customize it to make it less useless, you have to pay more. (I'm a Plus subscriber.)

I find myself using Evernote less and less and less every month that goes by. Soon it's not going to be worth the money or, more importantly, the aggravation. 

[wauden 1]

How can I get rid of Home? Only adds an additional tap to get to the notes I need!

[CVJ 61]

15 minutes ago, Sayre Ambrosio said:

You can’t remove it. 

 

Make sure you tap on the blue help bubbles directly and it should be good to go. I thought it was freezing for me and I just had to tap each one to get past it. 

I don’t have any blue help bubbles, I am stuck at this on both devices.

 

 

[Sayre Ambrosio 520]

29 minutes ago, CVJ said:

I don’t have any blue help bubbles, I am stuck at this on both devices.

 

 

Gotcha. That's definitely different than what I ran into. I'll have a look around the forums and see if I can find a solution to this and report back.

[Sayre Ambrosio 520]

@CVJ I'm not finding anything other than the tooltip/help bubbles issue that has a remedy to it. I did find quite a few others though that are having the same issue you are. I tagged an EN developer in a comment and will report back anything I hear when I hear it.

[Powerfab 43]

Bah....Humbug... Mines stuck too. 

[cel4145 20]

I do not have any use for this new Evernote home screen that came with the recent upgrade. I just want it to open in the Notes view, both in Windows and on my Android phone. 

Is there anyway to do that? I can't find a setting for it. 

[Mike P 2,637]

Which platform are you using? My Windows desktop version never starts in Home.

[CalS 5,280]

IOS has no choice.  Remove all the widgets and you still have the welcome component.  Only use I've found for home screen is if you have shortcuts as a widget more shortcuts are displayed.  Not sure that it's worth it for just that.  Adding saved searches to home screen would be an improvement, or just have default for search be saved searches as opposed to the useless suggestions.

[itoldusoandso 32]

I bet this home screen ends up being just another name on the Evernote graveyard of toys they play with. They blow the money.  I thought first a few years back they have easy money, some extraordinary generous donors or investors but when the news came about how they have to make cuts then the whole sorry situation of theirs came into spotlight.

Think of the Evernote food, Skitch (although a great product I never find it was a good fit being outside of Evernote and too amazing for the basic Evernote needs), think of the work chat (they launched with great fanfare but it was working on and off), think of the presentation mode (underwhelming and over the top at the same time) and so on........

On the other hand they never really understand the potential around encryption of notes and text (implemented poorly), they removed the Evernote Lightly (or whatever was they readability add-on in Chrome browser).

On Mac they have "Insert a new FaceTime Camera Note" for instance but when you realize opening notes over a few MB size is painfully slow so I don't know what was the idea behind it, like creating a VLog?

No sticky note feature on Android (good that the Japanese friends are so amazing and they create the best 3rd party add-ons and tools for Android and iOS... Without the dozen or so apps mostly Japanese (for some of them you have to create Japanese Apple App store and Google Play store accounts to download them), without them I would be long gone off and forgotten Evernote.  

Now they come with this homescreen and nobody understand and I bet even they don't know what is it they want. 

I bet it's just another trick for somebody to show is work or for EN to show to investors, hey we do something cool. It's a LIPSTICK. Whatever their intentions are if they continue on the same path they are going to see users leaving.  

[BBZ 8]

In the Evernote iOS app, please provide the option to disable or skip the Home screen and go directly to Notes view. None of the current options on the Home screen are useful for me.

[mfl_jr 1]

Yes Evernote, where is the option to start directly into "Notes" on the Android app?

 

Why would this "Home" screen be forced on users with no way to choose how we the paying customers want to use our notes?  Considering that in your own words from here (https://evernote.com/blog/see-evernote-like-never-before-with-home/) you said "Because your Evernote should look the way you want and work the way you think" I kind of expected that there would be an option to use "Home" or not...

 

Thanks for your attention.

[itoldusoandso 32]

And they are already trying to monetize the home screen even though it's just a fresh concept. Without customization it's useless. It's going to be a nag-screen and I bet free users will see advertisement there asking for upgrade to paid. So I guess that's goig to be the price of being on free version - the home page nag. 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

They improve their product by adding home. All users get it for free (some less happy than others, as this thread tells). Not money paid so far.

Now to make real good use of it, you need the subscription. Sure you can complain about it when on Basic, who wouldn’t like to get the steak and not only the bread ?

They put the good stuff into the window, and then they sell the tickets to get access. This is why probably the whole Basic plan expenses are booked as marketing cost, not as a charity.

If you look at it from ENs perspective, they need to balance the Basic user experience between „good enough“ and „just not too good“. Else conversion to paid accounts would stop, or even reverse itself.

Basic for EN probably means as well „No pain, no gain“. By using the product for free, the deal includes some nagging. In the end, if you don’t like it, you can quit using EN any time.

P.S. I know what I am talking about. Since v10 I run a second Basic account to avoid testing with my main account. On this second account I get it all, and it really is not that bad. Just a little nudge from time to time ...

[itoldusoandso 32]

Thank you for reminding us @PinkElephant that you are also NOT in favor of this design decissions. 

And I appreciate you playing devil's advocate here, so at least we don't need to feel we are ranting here alone. 

Encouraging expression of opinions about what's going on is what one would hope can mobilize brains and to some degree change because being quiet certainly didn't help in the past. 

I don't need to be brave to say whatever steps Evernote was taking in the recent past are making the prospects for folks to sign up for any of the paid plans a bit more remote now than before except maybe through coercive means. 

We are doing a free unpaid consulting to them and that's what's called in my industry so I don't think at this time I am free-dining at the expense of the house (Evernote). 

Many of us like Evernote and if we didn't like the product we wouldnt' be here and it's unfortunate that I don't remember seeing even a slightest recognition or appreciation coming towards any of the suggestions or ideas even towards the giants of Evernote discussion board (like yourself @PinkElephant) coming from the Evernote team.

Thank you again for helping to channel the comments and suggestions to Evernote and let's hope for the best.

[itoldusoandso 32]

Well if you look at the number of "votes" in he forum, the request like yours is nowhere to be found. What lands on the top is "Different colors for text highlight..." well I guess it kind off makes sense, seeing and hearing the "text literraly singing" in notes in multiple colour tones can potentially make people feel a little less depressed and promote introspection, lighthearted self-expression and thus may lead to potentially healthy outcomes and life satisfaction full circle. What a noble holistic goal for humanity and environmental causes and climate change too.... Ok, I am done now.

[itoldusoandso 32]

Yes, you don't need to click that checkmark. 

I think they added it there for easier onboarding new users or anybody who feel worries by exiting the note and then go back to check to "make sure it was saved". 

To be honest, I have done this ineffective habit quite often when saving something important or for example when I was on an unreliable connection and note was a shared note so it wound't save it locally. 

The question is, whether the checkmark gone is a confirmation of the note saving was completed successfully or it is just a pretty button to do the same as leaving the note.

It feels good if we can move beyond the drama and discuss some finer aspects of the user interface.

But I can't even load many of my shared notes, despite of reinstalling the cliet app on iOS multipe times and redownloading notes. It's not just mess but it's like a mess hitting the fan. Screenshot saying note not available. I get this plenty and for no reason. I'm in no hurry to criticize the checkmark yet, I'm not even there yet

[BBtoronto 2]

Home is nothing but irritating. You need to give us the option to disable it. It’s impeding my workflow, and I’ll need to look for another solution if you don’t address this.

[Cate Staid 0]

On an iPhone 8, how do I get the "Introducing Home" screen to go away?  I've tapped everywhere and it just keeps recycling the graphic.  I can't access any of my data.  HELP!  I've attached a screenshot of what I get when I open the app.  GRRRRR.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

As I understand the concept, it is to quickly jot down an idea that may cross your mind. Maybe you just don’t need to conserve it, because it is done 5min later. Or you want to come back to it later. In this case you can edit and convert it into a new note.

IMHO the issue is not the idea to have something like this on the app, but rather the question whether it is there when „that“ blitz of an idea strikes you. Having first to open Home to use it goes a bit against the basic idea.

Personally I think the helper icon in the menu bar works better in these cases. Or many other options, like a quick entry into my task manager or taking a audio note on my watch. I have not waited to get the scratchpad, but ok, now it is there ...

[itoldusoandso 32]

Exaple of what would be more useful for the scratchpad:

They could have made the scratchpad as part of iOS or Android Widget and then it can be kind of useful.

You could quickly jot things and then there would be a button to select the notebook I want to send the note to and it would send the note to that notebook and create the title from the 1st jotted line (and maybe I could write there a date like June 1 and it would create a reminder.

That's what could be a useful application of it.

Otherwise, waste of space. There are already tools like the Sticky Note for Evernote app that is available for Windows only and worked flawlesly. 

 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Maybe they will do so once there is an iOS widget ...

[itoldusoandso 32]

Remember the old days, Japanese community around Evernote was vivid, the guys know how to think efficiently.  3rd party product but it's cool how they inserting referencing links in documents. https://scrapbox.io/product. Evernote should just buy them out I would say. It may save the day for Evernote.

[mfpole 0]

I agree - I use Evernote to quickly load up notes. Now I am presented with a bloat-ware type Home Screen. I use a bigger font on iPhone SE (2020) too so it just looks terrible. Just let me turn it off! 

[aukirk 367]

I am not opposed to the idea of the home page, and put my shortcuts list at the top with scratchpad under, which isn’t a bad place to start.  HOWEVER, even with the update to 10.9... the app never loads the notebooks I have in my shortcut list. Usually the home page ends up half off the screen and the other half is blank. I hoped the update would help... but no. 
 

It also seems the notebooks no longer properly sort by title. Very annoying to have to take a step back over these past two updates to gain a feature that really isn’t very useful (for me). 

[Tony Maden 0]

On 4/20/2021 at 7:06 AM, GrumpyMonkey said:

My recommendation is to help us use the app to get stuff done instead of slowing it down, hijacking the app with tutorials / home screens, or degrading functionality (notebooks downloaded for offline use not working properly, for example). I don't see how this experience is "better" than what I had last year.

Why cant we just have beginner mode that experienced users can switch off. 

Over time the IOS experience has gone downhill in a big way. I cant even just see a list on notes now as my home page, oh but I can if I buy an upgrade for $7.99/month. 

I'm pretty much done with EN and all the downgraded "upgrades" that reduce functionality for long term users (2011). I'm again in my annual search for alternatives: looking at Nimbus at moment and Notion, or even possibly Airtable with a Jotform front end. Onenote has continued problems with zombie notes/notebooks that Microsoft deems unimportant to resolve. Anyone else got a viable EN replacement that clips the whole page  in iOS (not just the URL)?

[arunpms 0]

I wanted to create a new idea suggestion for "Home" but since I saw more action in this thread, I thought I will add my points here. I hope the veterans in the forum and EN employees can agree with some of my points.

How to make the widgets in "Home" useful:

1. Add a "Notebook" widget wherein the user will choose a Notebook and all the notes in that Notebook are shown as a list
2. Add a "Tag" widget wherein the user will choose a Tag and all the notes in that Tag are shown as a list
3. Add a "Shortcut" widget wherein the user will choose a Shortcut and all the notes in that Shortcut are shown as a list
4. Add as many of these "Notebook", "Tag" and "Shortcut" widgets as the user wants

How will this make "Home" useful?

1. All EN users have a system that they follow; it could be GTD or TSW or anything else
2. All these systems are based on Notebooks, Tags and Shortcuts
3. By showing the crucial Notebooks or Tags or Shortcuts information in one view, "Home" will add some sort of automation or intuitiveness to the user's existing system
4. For example, if I have a tags that say "To Do", "Doing" and "Done" to keep track of my tasks, then adding these three tags as widgets next to each other will give me a Kanban board view of my tasks

What will these changes make "Home" now?

1. Not a "Home", but a "Dashboard"
2. We do not need a "Home" for Evernote
3. Call this a "Dashboard" and make it an optional view that is not opened by default
4. Let the user navigate the the app the way it is happening before

At least for me, the above functionality is what will make "Home"/"Dashboard" useful. Until then, I will continue to ignore "Home" on my Windows app and use the legacy version on Android.

[fcocchiano 1]

Please allow us to disable this annoying Home screen. I find it extremely irritating to have tap around in order to go to my notes.

[RoboRobbie 1]

I agree as well with having the option to disable it, why shouldn’t we have the choice

some ideas are good, some not so, this one not so...

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Don’t double post …

[CalS 5,280]

On 5/4/2021 at 3:34 PM, arunpms said:

I wanted to create a new idea suggestion for "Home" but since I saw more action in this thread, I thought I will add my points here. I hope the veterans in the forum and EN employees can agree with some of my points.

How to make the widgets in "Home" useful:

1. Add a "Notebook" widget wherein the user will choose a Notebook and all the notes in that Notebook are shown as a list
2. Add a "Tag" widget wherein the user will choose a Tag and all the notes in that Tag are shown as a list
3. Add a "Shortcut" widget wherein the user will choose a Shortcut and all the notes in that Shortcut are shown as a list
4. Add as many of these "Notebook", "Tag" and "Shortcut" widgets as the user wants

All good ideas, particularly when coupled with making Home optional.  

You can sort of do this by adding all the above to Shortcuts (in your preferred order) and having Shortcuts be the only widget in use.  This is the only value I have found with Home.  That said, given the choice I’d still as soon not have Home . 

[Evernote Veteran 4]

Hi, I would like to know how to disable the “Home” view on IOS devices. I find the home view not only worthless, but it now takes two steps to get back to the view that I use on my MacBook, with the notebooks on the left side of the window and selected note on the right. Unfortunately, it seems every update makes Evernote worse. I would really like to go back to the old functionality. I don’t care if the codebase or framework is updated — I just miss the simple usability that is now gone. 

[markjl 54]

I would like to be able to make the home screen optional.

I find it of no use and I would like to start the app as before on Notes

[PinkElephant 8,091]

There are already a lot of voting threads about this. Better check and vote there - splitting votes is probably not leading anywhere.

[SWSL 66]

On 4/22/2021 at 7:18 PM, PinkElephant said:

They improve their product by adding home. All users get it for free (some less happy than others, as this thread tells). Not money paid so far.

Now to make real good use of it, you need the subscription. Sure you can complain about it when on Basic, who wouldn’t like to get the steak and not only the bread ?

They put the good stuff into the window, and then they sell the tickets to get access. This is why probably the whole Basic plan expenses are booked as marketing cost, not as a charity.

If you look at it from ENs perspective, they need to balance the Basic user experience between „good enough“ and „just not too good“. Else conversion to paid accounts would stop, or even reverse itself.

1) "Improve"  is more like  "change"  their product, introducing a new layer

2) all users get it for free.  Yep, sorta like you take your car in for an oil change but they decided to spray paint it a different color.  It's an improvement!  And free!  Of course, it's not what you wanted and you now have a problem, but if you pay up, they will finish the job.  Hope you liked the color we chose.

3) No, they didn't put the good stuff in the window - they sold me a room to keep my data in I paid for the locks and then suddenly they put a heavy rollup door in front of it.  If I want the same access I used to have, I can lift the new door and get to where I was.  It's no advantage to most of us, it's an imposition. And paying doesn't even make it go away. 

4) I have a paid account.  Paying customer for many years.  They are looking for ways to force me to upgrade to features I don't need to a level of subscription that I don't want.  HOW?  By hindering my access to the content I create.  Creates a sense of adversarial disrespect to be honest.   The opposite of customer loyalty.  Will they get more or less money from me in the long run?  Less - because even though I will probably stay- I've stopped recommending EN to anyone else.   I am a negative marketer now. 

[hdave 7]

New home screen is awful.

Everything is slow now.

No manual sync.

Devs don't listen.

Goodbye...time to switch to competition.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

@SWSL Oh yes, the PLUS accounts. Still on a plan that once a marketing genius invented, but probably did not work out in the end (for EN). So they have frozen the amount of money you pay, but they have frozen the features as well. I know companies that would give you 18 month or so to decide about plans, up or down, and discontinue the old plan. Does not lead to satisfaction, but makes handling expectations easier.

Personally I think EN is treating the PLUS customers pretty decent - when it does not feel very comfortable in case of HOME it maybe is that there really isn’t that much to differentiate the feature sets. So if they want to set a range between Basic and Premium, and match Plus into it, they run out of features fast..

About receiving an unwanted feature: This happens all the time. For example I am sure MS Excel has received hundreds of new functions since I started to use it a long time ago, and most of them I have neither requested nor am I using them. This enrichment is in many cases only less visible than in case of HOME. Therefore I think we users should have a switch to en- / disable it showing at startup. 

Personally I was against it being my start screen initially - but this has changed. I have picked an individual picture that has the right mood and good vibrations, I have moved stuff around a bit, in the recently changed I find a lot of notes my wife has put into our shared notebooks etc. So if there were that switch, I would probably not use it any longer.

My view - everybody has to make up his own mind.

[Randy Cain 5]

I too have zero use for the Home Screen. The only thing it serves to do is to make it more difficult for me to get to my notes, and also to make me mad at the people at Evernote.

[hanstallis 1]

I'm not a fan of the new Home screen.

Workaround?  I deleted all widgets; on restart EN went straight to my normal view.

[BlakeAD 0]

Why do you guys work so hard to ruin Evernote?  Why would you make us start with the Home feature?  I hate it.  Why change a program we love and make us use the new feature that no one wants.

[gazumped 11,661]

Evernote appear to have made the ultimate mistake - they listened to their users.  Everyone was so keen on 'Dashboards' a while ago (which is all that "Home" actually is) and wanted a way to use them in Evernote.  Evernote delivered.  Evernote got shouted at. 

So don't use it.  It's one click to hide the page.  And we (mostly) don't care - this is a user page,  not Evernote central.

[itoldusoandso 32]

On 5/30/2021 at 7:11 PM, gazumped said:

Evernote appear to have made the ultimate mistake - they listened to their users.  

Listened the users? OK. The first time I hear that one. And who are these users? I never got an invite to express an opinion. These users who wanted dashboard did so because they wanted Evenote to look different.  Why do they even bother to keep using Evernote if there's no shortage of products with the type and feel of interface similar to how the new dashboard is setup. The only way out of the dashboard fiasco I can imagine is for Evenote look to exit the market before it looses all it old glory and sell it to the highest corporate bidder that will keep it for 2 years around before shutting it down. Like Salesforce did with Quip and have to sign up on their Salesforce platform. That's the way things are now. They don't specialize and don't diversify successfully either.  They don't even bother to do the very simple way to market the product - win users trust - how .. for example by introducing privacy features like robust encryption. Don't people want privacy for information in Evenote?  I have my whole life there.  One of the reasons I am hesitant to even sign up for subscription is because I don't want to leave any trail behind. I constantly scan the database to see if I didn't upload in error credit card numbers or passwords and such or other personal information I would perhaps call a confidential diary. There was time I used to pay Evenore subscription with gift cards but it's costly to maintain.  Anywayd, they are totally messed up and if they would listen to it users they wouldn't have come with the dashboard so pathetic and if they want to try things new , ok, do it, but do it after you fix the other mess first.  And do it so that I don't get interrupted in the way I am used to do things.  

[PinkElephant 8,091]

If unhappy I would look elsewhere.

The dashboard „contest“ was in the forum, who wanted to contribute could do so. Some pretty nice stuff, some good ideas. What we have at the moment by the home feature is a tame version of what users did for their own use.

Personally I think we have to wait how it is evolving. Interesting stuff like a reminders widget, maybe some templates or some information feed from the web ( like weather, news and financials) ? I doubt it will stop where it is today. 

If the much desired switch to bypass home on startup will be among the gimmicks of „Home 2.0“ remains open.

[CobaltJacket 3]

On 6/2/2021 at 1:31 PM, itoldusoandso said:

Listened the users? OK. The first time I hear that one. And who are these users? I never got an invite to express an opinion. These users who wanted dashboard did so because they wanted Evenote to look different.  Why do they even bother to keep using Evernote if there's no shortage of products with the type and feel of interface similar to how the new dashboard is setup. The only way out of the dashboard fiasco I can imagine is for Evenote look to exit the market before it looses all it old glory and sell it to the highest corporate bidder that will keep it for 2 years around before shutting it down. Like Salesforce did with Quip and have to sign up on their Salesforce platform. That's the way things are now. They don't specialize and don't diversify successfully either.  They don't even bother to do the very simple way to market the product - win users trust - how .. for example by introducing privacy features like robust encryption. Don't people want privacy for information in Evenote?  I have my whole life there.  One of the reasons I am hesitant to even sign up for subscription is because I don't want to leave any trail behind. I constantly scan the database to see if I didn't upload in error credit card numbers or passwords and such or other personal information I would perhaps call a confidential diary. There was time I used to pay Evenore subscription with gift cards but it's costly to maintain.  Anywayd, they are totally messed up and if they would listen to it users they wouldn't have come with the dashboard so pathetic and if they want to try things new , ok, do it, but do it after you fix the other mess first.  And do it so that I don't get interrupted in the way I am used to do things.  

It's clear that this is a company in decline. Apple introduced several features today that will hasten that demise. That's what Evernote gets for not listening to the users. I've been with the service for years, but I have turned off subscription autorenew.

[Twitchly 27]

15 minutes ago, CobaltJacket said:

It's clear that this is a company in decline. Apple introduced several features today that will hasten that demise. That's what Evernote gets for not listening to the users. I've been with the service for years, but I have turned off subscription autorenew.

What features? 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Hey, guys, just watching the WWDC keynote.

No spoilers, please 😉

[Twitchly 27]

56 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Hey, guys, just watching the WWDC keynote.

No spoilers, please 😉

I watched some of it but don’t recall anything that resembled Evernote functionality. What did I miss?

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Just a short list of upcoming features related to notes and productivity, from memory just having watched the WWDC21 keynote:

• Reading text from pictures - even text that is positioned or distorted in a way EN will not OCR. And the ability to use that text, not only search it. Works in all apps, not only in saved content in notes
• Tags in Apple Notes
• Quick note feature feeding multiple quick notes from all over the iOS / MacOS devices into the notes app 
• Full multitasking capability of the Notes app on iPadOS 
• Notes widget for the home screen 
• Watch app
• Improved sharing capabilities through iCloud+,  more interactive and with a notification when another user updated a shared content 
• complete integration between the different apps belonging to the Apple ecosystem, supported by a ton of 3rd party apps

Wrap up: There is a lot of stuff I would like to see from EN. Maybe for a Basic user who is running in the Apple ecosystem it may be good to go to replace EN.

It does not work in a mixed environment of devices (surprise, surprise), and I think who is on EN Premium would feel being downgraded when switching over.

Plus with most Apple stuff you have to be aware it is quick to enter, and fun to use - but usually there is no easy way out.

[Twitchly 27]

Thanks for the Apple summary. Very interesting. I just took a quick look as well, and I must say it’s very intriguing.

I wonder if Apple Notes will have anything similar to Evernote‘s ability to clip articles from the web. That’s my primary use case for Evernote. (Which sadly isn’t working as well after the update.) And shortcuts, the ability to quickly pull up certain notes. 

Looking forward to trying out the new Notes in the fall. Maybe with Apple’s addition of tags functionality, I’ll be able to export my Evernote files into Notes without losing my tags. (I currently can’t figure out how to do this.)

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Currently you can’t export your tags to Apple Notes because they have none.

Maybe they catch and convert them now when importing an ENEX file into Notes.

About clipping: The current Note saves a URL  - not the content. 
 

Edit: Tags are announced for Apple notes with iOS 15 & MacOS 12. Whether the importer will pick up tags from EN export is unknown.

[chronistin 187]

Another vote to make the home screen optional. I can see how it would improve some workflows, but it hinders mine. Just by one click, but still annoying. 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

No double posts please.

[DanJ50 0]

Just adding my name to the list, Home looks nice but isn't for me, please bring an option to open on recent notes (on mobile and desktop)

[MADonnelly 0]

PLEASE can we make home optional?  Strategically I believe I understand what you are trying to do (I think).  I find Home an unwanted steps in my work flow, its slow to load and quite frankly a pain.

[Mike P 2,637]

On 8/31/2021 at 3:51 AM, DanJ50 said:

Just adding my name to the list, Home looks nice but isn't for me, please bring an option to open on recent notes (on mobile and desktop)

On Windows desktop for me EN opens at the last view before it was shut. If you don't want to see Home just don't go there. My be the mobile version is different but it's certainly shouldn't be an issue on desktop.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

On 9/3/2021 at 1:05 AM, Mike P said:

On Windows desktop for me EN opens at the last view before it was shut. If you don't want to see Home just don't go there. My be the mobile version is different but it's certainly shouldn't be an issue on desktop.

For me it is just on iOS and Android that I encounter the issue. I am using Legacy on OSX, so I do not know how the home screen is progressing there, but I think it would make sense for them to unify the experience, so if it isn't now on Windows, it might be in the future! Then again, if the desktop doesn't have to have it, then I would like it to be removable / avoidable on mobile as well. Basically, anything that hijacks my screen is a mark against the app in my eyes--I want to see my notes, not the home screen, and definitely not a tutorial. I am sure that for plenty of people the home screen is the best thing since sliced bread. I think that way about multiple sort options, so I get it. But, I also don't like to be forced into a workflow that doesn't work well for me. Much like the sort views, why not set a default (the home screen) and let us customize our experience (not just customize the home screen we don't want, but have the app open up to the note view we were last using)? It seems like a no-brainer to me, but there is some kind of deeply entrenched desire to hijack my screen.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

On both desktops Win & Mac the last view open is saved, and it will reopen there.

If you like home, leave the app with it, if not, use your preferred view, and the app will skip Home.

[AlJaafari 9]

Another vote to make the home screen optional.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

On 9/11/2021 at 8:51 PM, PinkElephant said:

On both desktops Win & Mac the last view open is saved, and it will reopen there.

If you like home, leave the app with it, if not, use your preferred view, and the app will skip Home.

On iOS and Android, the environment when I am more likely to be pressed for time, it is not an option. On OSX, I have generally been able to avoid the home screen. A similar path to avoidance on mobile would be appreciated.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

On mobile, the only way I have found currently on mobile is to start the app (then one time Home will open) and after bringing it to the preferred view leave it running in the background. It will keep this view as long as the app remains open.

However, as for desktop and web, a „Home“ switch would probably make many users happy.

[DianeT 1]

Add my vote! I've used EN since 2009, I use it on desktop and 2 mobile devices, and it's been a great application - until recently. Not only do I despise the new "HOME" thing and the fact that I can't disable it, it has made the app on my Android tablet almost unusable. I refuse to be extorted for more money (I've had a PLUS sub for years) to be able to at least get some control over this horrid new 'feature' they think is so great.  I have not updated my desktop app, that's still on version 6.25, and I'll continue to use that as long as I can because it's USABLE. 

EN needs to hire some decent UX/UI people and they need to LISTEN to it's user base. On my tablet, since that 'home' atrocity appeared, the app freezes up frequently, takes me FOREVER to find what I'm looking for (search by tag is now an abomination!), and the re-arranged navigation, search and note functions are a UX nightmare (I work on a UX team).

It appears that their corporate masters want to treat EN as a whole task/project management tool rather than it's original purpose as a notes/organizational tool,  and have added all kinds of "features" for that while removing many others.  I get it, they want to compete in that space, but I suspect, from the comments I've seen, they're also losing users. I may be one of them before long at the rate their going.

Just give us the option to go back to the notes list w/o having to suffer this HOME thing!

 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

As far as I understand your post, you are unhappy with the Home dashboard.

As posted above, the desktop apps will remember from which view you have closed the app, and will return to this view when you restart it. So on desktop nobody needs a „Home“ switch, it already exists, by not having Home open before closing the app.

It is different on mobile - here the app always opens on the initial Home view.

You can only open the app, take a last look at Home and then move on to a view you like better. Now don’t close the app, just let it run in the background. As long as it stays running, it will take you where you have been before leaving it last time.

About your subscription I personally don’t care. I just want to mention that with higher subscription levels the options increase to modify things. If you feel Home is slow, or slowing down your device, with a full subscription like Personal you could remove a lot of widgets from the Home screen, reducing the load on the system and maybe speed things up.

EN thinks more about adding content to Home instead of reducing it, so they won’t grant you the extended editing features on the Plus subscription level. If you feel otherwise good with staying on Plus, there is worse in life than tolerating a Home dashboard.

[Wintermute 0]

I would like the option to disable the Home feature entirely on iOS app in particular. I really prefer a list view that I can customize than the "tiles" user interface. It's OK on the Windows desktop app but for a smartphone screen it feels in the way. I find myself using Apple Notes more frequently because of how quick and easy it is to jump into a note versus Evernote where I have to get past the slow, dumb interface of the Evernote Home page.

I'm a Personal plan subscriber and have been using Evernote since 2009. So please just give us this feature.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

If you want to reach EN (instead of us fellow users), use the feed back function of the clients, or issue a support ticket.

[Elshad 22]

Could you not just remove all of the widgets except Notes? That would give you just your notes list.

[CFW 2]

And now, you can't see the home even if you want to. The view icon just promised more views in the future, but all you have now is the old notes/notebooks view. That should make everybody in this thread happy, but I'd like to use the Home dashboard occasionally and now I can't even do that!!!!

Maybe time to give up on Evernote. . .

[agsteele 2,944]

32 minutes ago, CFW said:

And now, you can't see the home even if you want to. The view icon just promised more views in the future, but all you have now is the old notes/notebooks view. That should make everybody in this thread happy, but I'd like to use the Home dashboard occasionally and now I can't even do that!!!!

Can you tell us which OS and application you are using? I have the Home in Evernote on all my devices/computers.

[PinkElephant 8,091]

If on desktop, the app will memorize your last view, and open it again on launching the app.

On mobile the app will always open with Home.

[Furball 0]

There definitely HAS to be an option to disable the Home screen. I have TOO MANY notes for a dashboard to properly present them in any effective way.

I mean, what's the point of putting in tags and organizing notes into notebooks, right? We already have a search bar for that.

Again, give us the option to turn this off!

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Desktop: Will open on the latest view that was used when last closed.

Mobile: Will open on the latest view, even „when you come back hours later“ (citation from release notes). This was introduced with EN 10.29 for mobile.

Given this current status, I really don‘t see what HAS to be changed any more. You will see Home once a day, and only when on the mobile client. But this is just my personal opinion.

About having too many notes to show on the Home Screen: On my iPad/iPhone I can view 7 notes (and a little of the 8th) in notes list view. I can see as many (depending on my widgets) on the Home Screen. For everybody  the views will only show a fraction of all notes.

But this is beside the point: Home is not primarily meant to show notes. It is a hub for integrations like calendar and tasks, plus show selections of notes, notebooks and tags that are not easily accessible through the list views. 

[Boot17 1,446]

What @PinkElephant is saying is what I experience.

I don't hardly ever see the Home screen so I forget that it's even there sometimes. On Desktop (MacOS and Windows) I usually leave Evernote running the whole time on Desktop, but even when I reopen, it remembers the last note that I had opened.

On mobile, I opened the app this morning after not having it opened all night and it loaded to the note that I had opened last night.

[CalS 5,280]

If you are using EN via a browser like Edge or Chrome you can go to the context of your choice in EN and then use the Apps function to create an app from the tab.  That app can be put on the taskbar and one click will get you to your EN window.  Works the same as in the browser and depending upon menu set up you can end up with some incremental vertical screen real estate.  FWIW.