Bring back the manual sync button

[doktorzirb 54]

Syncing takes more than desired sometimes in the EN Windows client. It interferes with your activity slowing down or even blocking the client, severely interrupting your workflow and playing havoc while you're at a critical meeting taking notes or looking for important info. To top it all off, when you must dash out by just closing the lid of your laptop or even orderly shutting down your desktop PC, there's no way you can ensure the latest changes have synced. EN does not always synces the latest changes before closing the client on Windows.

So please bring back the precious traditional sync button . You could also allow back the user to stop background syncing for those situations where you're on a rush and need all the EN client power working locally.

Keep the good job

-- JL

[kodama 3]

Hi,

I agree : please bring back the manual sync button ! It creates many copies and this is a huge mistake to have removed it. Many people complain about that, do something !!

Thanks

[PinkElephant 8,241]

Do you use a browser ? To roam the internet ? Sure you do.

Now is your browser only syncing manually ? No, for sure it doesn't. It is always syncing. 

EN does the same. EN legacy does it as well - I don't need to click the sync button to make it sync. It generally tries to keep the server copy updated all the time. v10 does it even when there is no button to click. The button only made the legacy client sync one more time.

So thinking when there is a button it will only sync when clicked is obviously not what it would be. This means that having a syncing button will not avoid any syncing issues, and specifically no duplicates. This needs to be taken care of by other means.

Then you want to sync manually. OK, do it: Press ctrl-R (on a Mac cmd-R), and it will produce a Reload, which is effectively a sync. The option is hidden in an extended help menu. No button needed.

[Kaceybeth 0]

"It is always syncing"

Except when it ISN"T syncing. My EN for windows is woefully behind (whereas the browser EN and Android EN are fine), and without the manual sync button I can't force it. 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Kaceybeth
My quote didn't work the first time

[PinkElephant 8,241]

Yes you can - but obviously you did not read my post carefully.

It is no button any longer, but a keyboard shortcut. And it is a menu option in help, it is only hidden in normal use. On a Mac you need to hold <opt> before clicking on the help menu, on Windows try opt or ctrl.

But if your Windows client is not syncing itself, it is more likely your local database is corrupted. In this case no syncing will help. You need to fix the main problem, not play with symptoms. This is how:

1. Go to File > Sign Out [name] from the menu bar.
2. Select the "Remove my Evernote data from this device" option, then click Sign out.
3. Restart your computer.
4. Sign back in to Evernote

[Dave Green 212]

2 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

it is a menu option in help, it is only hidden in normal use. On a Mac you need to hold <opt> before clicking on the help menu, on Windows try opt or ctrl.

Just an FYI for those hunting for this...

On the Mac at least, it has to be the menu when the main window (with the sidebars) has focus not any of the other windows you may create with show in another window.

[WildHair 1]

On 5/8/2021 at 5:15 AM, doktorzirb said:

Syncing takes more than desired sometimes in the EN Windows client. It interferes with your activity slowing down or even blocking the client, severely interrupting your workflow and playing havoc while you're at a critical meeting taking notes or looking for important info. To top it all off, when you must dash out by just closing the lid of your laptop or even orderly shutting down your desktop PC, there's no way you can ensure the latest changes have synced. EN does not always synces the latest changes before closing the client on Windows.

So please bring back the precious traditional sync button . You could also allow back the user to stop background syncing for those situations where you're on a rush and need all the EN client power working locally.

Keep the good job

-- JL

YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!  Evernote coder: yeah, let's take away control from the user. Yeah, we know what they need and when they need it. Stupid users, what do they know?

I really hate the auto sync. I used to play around with notes and formatting and such and then decide if I wanted to sync it back or not. Now that option has been removed from my control.

They also decided that I should no longer have control over where check boxes are inserted and my control over indentation.

I am liking Evernote, less and less with each new release, to the point of looking for a replacement

[PinkElephant 8,241]

You can continue like this, and won’t reach anything. EN is practically a browser running an app as front end. It syncs, that is natural to its design.

There is a very simple solution for your problem: Go offline while you tinker around. When done, go back online. Only the last version will sync.

How you can force a sync I have explained above. You decorated it with a negative emoji - did you know from some people I regard this as a Medal of Honor ? It means you run out of arguments - sorry for that 😎

[RTL 0]

I have used EN for a number of years and have been very pleased with it.  However, I'm having a problem and I don't know how to fix it.

I have the free version... I only need two devices.  So I have my laptop and my phone (Samsung).  I can view all my notes and info on my laptop but not on my phone.  Most of the time when I need to access info that I have stored in EN, I use my phone which is always with me.  This has worked beautifully for years... but not now.

Two-thirds of my notes on my phone devise only show the title with no details of the note.  I need it to work.  What do I do?  There is a sync button on the settings of my phone device and after hours of syncing (yesterday) it did finally sync up all my notes.  But today, I'm right back there again with mostly titles of the notes with no detail in the notes.  I don't know what's wrong...  help needed.

[PinkElephant 8,241]

If the problem is on a mobile device, you are probably out of luck (and maybe out of memory, check this).

On mobile it will only download header data plus some metadata. The full notes stay on the server until opened. Then it will download the rest.

A full download (which includes offline use) on mobile is a subscribers feature.

[RTL 0]

I'm confused.  In the past, all my notes (full details, photos, etc) would show on my laptop and my phone (two devices).  Now, I can see all of the notes with (full detail) only on my laptop.  The phone just slowly downloads the details for approx the first 1/3 of the notes.  All of the "headers" (for each note) are showing on my phone, but without the note content.  Everything was working fine until recently.  So, has something changed with EN so that two devices (my laptop and phone) no longer will show all of the notes details on both?  And if that is the case, what can I do.  I don't carry my laptop around with me every day every where.  That's the point in having EN on my phone.  But that's not happening now.  What do I do?  Thanks

[PinkElephant 8,241]

The phone will not load all note content, by design of the app. It is not set up to fill all the precious memory you may have available with tons of content - at least not by default. It will only make a partial download, headers, metadata, thumbnails, maybe some text content. Attachments will not be preloaded.

Once you open a note, the missing content is loaded from the server. This is no bug, it is intentional.

As a Free user you do not have the option to download the content of notebooks (selectively or "all") to your phone - this is a subscribers feature. On desktop a full copy of the database can be installed for offline use, Free or not.

[swbouton 0]

I wish I had the words to describe how sick I am of having at least 2 -3 sync problems EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Today was a four-bagger!  WOO-HOO Evernote, you are outdoing yourself.  I keep looking for a replacement.  Some day I will find one, probably before Evernote ever restores the sync button they once provided.  I understand the toll the sync problem can put on servers, so, EVERNOTE, server-UP!  This long-living situation truly SUCKS! 

[PinkElephant 8,241]

You don’t need a sync button - it syncs with or without it. The new EN client is practically a browser with an app as user interface, and it needs to sync because it is how it is build. You don’t need a sync button, because it syncs, permanently.

What you are asking for is a „no sync“ button.

Currently only 2 solutions:

• Install and use the legacy client
• Go offline with the computer, or install a local firewall that explicitly stops all traffic to the EN server, putting the app into an offline situation while the rest of the computer remains online. Don’t forget to take it online from time to time - many functions are only done on the server, not on the local copy.

Personally I don’t have any syncing problems. But for those who have, the long term solution is probably the new syncing layout announced by the EN CEO for 2022. Let’s hope it will not be released on the 31st Dec.

[RTL 0]

Your above note: "The phone will not load all note content, by design of the app..."  was helpful.  I finally get it!  But the reason I was slow to figure it out is that the notes were taking a long time to load... in fact, I didn't think they were loading.  The progress wheel just kept turning and I would assume it wasn't going to load at all.  Then when a few did load, again I was confused because only a dozen or so would load and still leave all the remaining notes with no detail.

I think I understand now that what you are saying is, when EN initially signs on (on my phone), it will only load up full detail of the first 20-30  notes... then after that I have to tap the header and wait for it to load.  Is that right?

Thanks for helping me understand.  I was getting really frustrated and wondering if I was going to be able to use EN going forward.  So thanks again for the help.  

[RTL 0]

Also, would you explain a little more what you meant when you said this (above):  "As a Free user you do not have the option to download the content of notebooks (selectively or "all") to your phone - this is a subscribers feature. On desktop a full copy of the database can be installed for offline use, Free or not."

Especially the part where you said ...On desktop a full copy of the database can be installed for offline use Free or not."

Thanks again

[PinkElephant 8,241]

On the phone, EN only loads some stuff that makes notes appear in a note listing, and allows for some searching and sorting of views. Not more. The full content is only loaded as you decide to open a note, maybe even edit it. Full content is available if a note was created on that phone.

To see how much is downloaded, just switch the phone to flight mode. This cuts it off the internet, by silencing WiFi and mobile network. Then open the EN app, scroll down to a note you never opened on that phone, maybe one with attachments, and open the note. Just play a little with it, try open attachments etc.

There is an option "Download offline notebooks" for the mobile client. Then it will download the full database, including the full content and the attachments. It can be switched on per notebook, or for all notebooks. This option is restricted to subscribers on the mobile clients.

More details here:

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005917

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005177

[PinkElephant 8,241]

On desktop the building of a full copy depends on a switch in the apps settings. It is on or off - no notebook selection there.

The switch is in the File menu (Windows) or the Evernote menu (Mac). On the PC it is called "Remove my data ...", on the Mac "Keep my data ...". If it is off, the app will not build a local database for offline use.

If it was off and is then toggled on, the download and organization into a local database will take a while.