Smart Quotes Not Working

[Peter W. 2]

I am on a Mac (macOS 11.3.1) with the latest version of Evernote (10.13.4), and although the smart quotes feature is turned on systemwide in System Preferences, it is not working in Evernote. When I type in note, and I use quotation marks, I am not getting the “smart” version—just straight ones. Is there a fix for this?

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Could reproduce this on my Mac.

Best way to get this fixed is to issue a support ticket.

[Peter W. 2]

Yeah, I submitted a ticket and then got this ridiculous response:

Quote

As much as I wanted to help, unfortunately, we haven’t built this feature into the new Evernote app. This is one of a handful of  features we are still considering. Thanks for letting us know this feature is important to you. I will share this information with our product team.

But that’s nonsense. Smart quotes are a systemwide feature of macOS. They work everywhere else, but Evernote seems to block or break that feature within its note editor.

Even worse, smart quotes do work in the iOS app. So I can start a note in iOS and have smart quotes, but then go edit or add to the note on macOS, and then everything I write in that context will have straight quotes. I don’t think it used to work this way. I am pretty sure smart quotes used to work on the macOS application.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Tried it today, but got stuck on another issue, so the ticket I intended to write was not written.

As I read the answer, maybe the really need to write some code. The desktop and the mobile clients AFAIK don’t use the same underlying framework. Or maybe the answer is plain BS, by some help desk clerk who uses some standard text to settle a ticket.

Will try again tomorrow.

[davidtderrick 54]

This needs to be reintroduced urgently. It's basic.

[davidtderrick 54]

On 5/11/2021 at 5:07 PM, Peter W. said:

Yeah, I submitted a ticket and then got this ridiculous response:

But that’s nonsense. Smart quotes are a systemwide feature of macOS. They work everywhere else, but Evernote seems to block or break that feature within its note editor.

Even worse, smart quotes do work in the iOS app. So I can start a note in iOS and have smart quotes, but then go edit or add to the note on macOS, and then everything I write in that context will have straight quotes. I don’t think it used to work this way. I am pretty sure smart quotes used to work on the macOS application.

Yes, they did work in the old version. This is not a fix they should be "considering" or waiting for X number of requests for. It just needs doing.

[davidtderrick 54]

And especially since the idea is that the software should now work in a similar way across all platforms.

[davidtderrick 54]

I have received this advice from Support:

I would like to let you know that I have tried this on my end using one of our test devices and I was able to use the smart quote or the curly quotes. Please see the attached image in this reply for reference.

With that being said, below are the keyboard shortcuts I used to input the smart quotes in Evernote:

• To produce an opening single smart quote, press simultaneously on Option + ]. To produce a single closing smart quote press on Option + Shift + ].
• To produce an opening double smart quote, press simultaneously on Option + [. To produce a double closing smart quote press on Option + Shift + [.

[Peter W. 2]

That’s nonsense. I’m not going to use their idiotic and unintuitive key combos for something that is a systemwide feature in macOS BUT BROKEN IN EVERNOTE!

Good god I do not understand why Evernote developers are so damned sense.

[davidtderrick 54]

They add the following -- and this contradicts the point PinkElephant often makes about the best place to get a point across being via a Support ticket:

We would also like to let you know that the best place to submit feedback is through the app. From the menu bar click on Help > Share Feedback. That feedback gets sent directly to the product team. However, I will make sure this feedback you shared with me today is relayed to the product team, as well.

[Peter W. 2]

Thanks. I just left them a nice big steaming pile of feedback through the “Share Feedback” option.

[davidtderrick 54]

Good. And yes, it is ridiculous to have to hit 3 keys to do a simple apostrophe s. It makes one wonder what else they don't think through -- eg in security.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

On 7/20/2021 at 3:36 PM, davidtderrick said:

They add the following -- and this contradicts the point PinkElephant often makes about the best place to get a point across being via a Support ticket:

We would also like to let you know that the best place to submit feedback is through the app. From the menu bar click on Help > Share Feedback. That feedback gets sent directly to the product team. However, I will make sure this feedback you shared with me today is relayed to the product team, as well.

The difference seen from the support clerks view is that feedback is not answered, support tickets are - and have to be.

So if I would be sitting there, watching at a growing inbox of tickets, it might be this answer would cross my mind 😇

But OK, support is to understand users requests, solve them if possible and pass the rest on to where things are sorted out and fixed. Feedback goes directly on the desk where things are sorted out.
Why not 🤷‍♂️

[Michael Norris 0]

Was this ever resolved? Finding the same problem today.

[ecr822 0]

Did anyone ever find a fix for this? I have this issue too and it's extremely annoying. Bizarrely, I have Evernote on two different MacBooks, both running Big Sur 11.6, and smart quotes work on one but not the other! Did a fresh install of Evernote 10.22 on both, and both MacBooks have smart quotes enabled in system preferences. 

[4hgtfrfv 1]

+1 needs a fix

[davidtderrick 54]

ecr822, Yes, there is a rather awkward workaround a few entries up in this discussion.

[ecr822 0]

5 hours ago, davidtderrick said:

ecr822, Yes, there is a rather awkward workaround a few entries up in this discussion.

Thanks, but I have to agree with the poster above that this is really not a practical solution. I might as well copy and paste the smart quotes. For typing at speed, the smart quotes just need to work.

[davidtderrick 54]

II

Quote

It's completely ridiculous, I agree. What worries me is why it hasn't been fixed.

 

[coco26 0]

This issue is still present in Mac evernote - web and client - smart quotes not working despite having them on in System Prefs. So frustrating, it's incredibly basic and urgently requires a fix.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Can you explain the „urgency“ and importance of such a gimmick for a note taking app with an editor build for speedy, basic interaction ?

My opinion is this is a typical „nice to have“ feature, not important and for sure not urgent.

“Can anybody call a doctor - we have a comatose smart quote laying here“ … THIS would be urgent.

[davidtderrick 54]

It's about basic typographic literacy. Yes, that's important even in a note. And many people use Evernote for more than just notes. Also, the whole point about the new Evernote was that it should operate in a similar way across all platforms.

[Peter W. 2]

Since when is Evernote “speedy”? It’s massively bloated and slow. That’s not a valid rationale. What you’re effectively saying, given the context of how Evernote actually works, is that being slow, bloated, buggy, and inconsistent is what it’s supposed to be. Nonsense.

And I completely agree with @davidtderrick. The issue is mainly about cross-platform consistency and typographic literacy, which is important not just within Evernote, but for when things leave Evernote. I work on notes from multiple platforms, and then very often I am copying and pasting out of Evernote into other things. When some parts of a note look one way and some parts look another way, because I worked on different parts from different platforms, it means I have extra work to do when I’m copying out—extra work that Evernote is creating for me. 

I hope that @PinkElephant is not associated with Evernote, because if so then that ridiculous comment might just be the straw that finally breaks this camel’s back and drives me to another product. I am sick and tired of tech people telling me that my problems with their shoddy systems are not actually problems because they think I care about the wrong things.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Fun post …

Bloated - oh, this is why we have people in the forum asking for features. Not to take them away, to add them. Not a sign of bloating, if you ask me.

Slow - is a relative term. Open a new note when app is open - 1 sec. Open the app on iPad or Mac - 3-4 sec. You can define this as slow, as you please.

Basic typography - if I want it, I use an app that is build to make it. I don’t say it would not be a nice feature, but we now have come from a „basic feature“ to a „basic typography feature“. And I can still not see „urgency“ in the context of adding a specific feature to a piece of software. 

Boah - and now we lower our voice for the juicy part: Yes, PinkElephant is somewhat associated with EN, and (hear, hear) it is done through MONEY. This guy is even laundering money: He pays it to EN, and gets a full year of amazing features in return. WTF - we always thought it must be something like that 😮

[Boot17 1,450]

I think the cross-platform consistency goal was for the UI and feature-set of Evernote to look and behave similar across operating systems: Windows, Macos, Linux (in beta), iOS, iPadOS, Android. Before v10, the UI and feature-set was massively different in those environments - now it's very close. The only real difference between MacOS and Windows in UI and feature-set that I can think of off the top of my head now is that the keyboard shortcuts are different.

[davidtderrick 54]

You must have a lot of time on your hands, PinkElephant.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

24 hours a day, and if it is not enough, we can use the night as well.

[Amy_K 1]

Is there still no way to turn on smart quotes? I'm just discovering this problem as the Legacy update forced me into the new Evernote. I need to be able to cut and paste notes onto our website, and this requires smart quotes. I can't take the time to type a special character every time I use an apostrophe. It's just not a workable solution. If there's something I'm missing, someone please let me know. Thanks!

[davidtderrick 54]

I don’t think this is ever going to happen, to be honest.