Can't start Evernote. Error alert message says restart or shut down.

[mibapa 3]

Since about 2 weeks my Evernote (version 10.21.5, build 2931) keeps crashing when trying to use the application on my MacBook (Mac OS 11.4, big sur). Restarting the program does not help; it just crashes again, within 5 mins, giving me the same notification (see screenshot attached). I've tried several things, including deleting the program from my computer and reinstalling it, but that does not work either. 

The only way I'm now able to use evernote is through the web application. How do I make the program work again on my laptop?

Hoping to get some advice soon!

 

 

[Michael Flower 3]

The same thing here; however, it only started happening to me today (Monday, September 20). Does "our end" have anything to tell us at this time?

[PinkElephant 8,049]

No, the message is just as it is. I would read it as "the internet worked and brought the request to our server, but here something went wrong".

Just to see in what direction we need to look:

@mibapa @Michael Flower What is your account status - Free plan or subscription ?

[Michael Flower 3]

I am subscribed...Premium. (I have been at this for a long time--since July 2008; current number of clippings: 82,013.) Evernote is my most-used tool.

 

[PinkElephant 8,049]

OK, this takes the device limit out of the equation.

Can you access the web client ?

Is EN working for you on other devices, except the Mac ?

 

We are here in the wrong subform (it is for iOS), but for the Mac these are the options, with escalating time to perform:

1) Log out of the app, shut the Mac down, power it up again, log into the app

2) Follow this procedure

• Go to the Evernote menu, Preferences, and uncheck „Keep data when leaving“
• Lag out of EN (File menu), quit EN (cmd-q)
• If you want to be very sure, restart the Mac
• Open EN, log back in, wait for it to run an initial sync. 

3) Follow the above procedure, but before restarting the Mac, do a full uninstall of the app. Use the app AppCleaner to do so, and make sure all program components are checked for uninstalling. After rebooting the Mac, reinstall the EN app, using the installer from the EN website (not the AppStore).

 

An alternative to all this is to contact support.

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

[Michael Flower 3]

"...wrong subforum (it is for iOS), but..." Oops. I didn't look closely.

I am going to give your suggestion procedure a go. Right now I am in the middle of updating my iPhone and iPad to iOS 15 and so can't answer your second question. As for the first, I can access the web client.

Thanks for the help.

[PinkElephant 8,049]

OK, if you can access the web client, your account login is generally working.

It seems to be the client that has trouble.

[Michael Flower 3]

Yes, that seems to be the case. Both my iPhone and iPad (now updated to iOS 15) are accessing the EN database. I had problems with the EN client off and on over the past year. The current version had been working fine for a couple of months...until yesterday. The most recent app update to my iMac was that of Readdle's email program, Spark. And so nothing dramatic. 

Now to try the procedure you suggested...

[mibapa 3]

Hi @Michael Flower & @PinkElephant

Many thanks for your responses. Apologies for posting in the wrong forum. I've used evernote for years, but haven't really used the user forums at all and got a bit flummoxed trying to figure out where to post. Anyway, you might be interested in follow up from my side. I managed to submit a query to the Evernote team through the chat function. Based on the evernote task log I supplied, I got the response below to address the crashing. I've followed the instructions and my evernote is working again! Obviously, I have no idea if the problem is/was the same on your end, but it might be worth a try. 

Warmly, 

Michelle

-------

My name is Oleg. I'm with the Evernote Technical Support team. Thanks for your patience. I will continue assisting you with the issue where your Evernote for ac app crashes shortly after launch.

There appears to be some corruption in the local Evernote database on your Mac, which is causing the crash. I made an adjustment to your account from my end that should address this issue, but it will require to re-sync your notes back to your Mac using the steps below to make sure it works.

1. Open Finder
2. From the menu bar select Go > Go To Folder...
3. Paste ~/Library/Application Support/ and press Go. If you don't find this directory, try ~/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library/Application Support/ and press Go.
4. Locate the folder titled Evernote and rename it to Evernote.old.
5. Launch Evernote and try signing in.

I appreciate your patience and cooperation. Please let me know if the issue continues after completing these steps

Best regards

Oleg T
Technical Support Specialist
Mon-Fri, 9:00-5:00 CST

 

 

[PinkElephant 8,049]

Hi, thanks for the feedback.

Always nice to learn new🪄 - even old 🐘 can do, when the right 🎶 is played 😉

[Michael Flower 3]

When I updated to the most recent EN client version (10.22.3), the repeated crashes disappeared. However, a new problem has arisen. The web clipper will no longer allow clippings from any site that is "Not secure" if I am using Safari; it works with Chrome (I don't use Firefox and so I don't know if the problem exists there). The technical folks were able to duplicate that problem and are working on it. I am running the more recent versions of MacOS, of Safari, of the EN clipper...on the newest iMac. I have no idea what will happen when I install the soon-to-be-released new OS for the Mac.

[PinkElephant 8,049]

Same with me, could reproduce the problem.

I think Safari 15 (which was released for the Mac together with iOS 15) is blocking browser extensions on websites that are not encrypted, which means as well they don’t have a valid certificate.

Will be interesting to see if EN manages to work around that restriction.

As a workaround you could try to clip on mobile, or use another browser.

It is not the first time EN was surprised by Safari releasing earlier than the rest of the new MacOS. 2 years ago I remember web clipper to stop completely on Safari for 6 weeks, because EN was caught with their pants down when it was released in sync with the iOS release, instead of waiting for the MacOS.

Seems their project planning still works with the wrong release date.

[magnus110 0]

I'm using an iMac 24, M1, 2021, macOS Big Sur.

Upon starting Evernote I get an error alert that forces me to choose between restart and shut down. Same message after restart. See attachement in Swedish.

[PinkElephant 8,049]

Are you on a free account, or any subscription ?

[magnus110 0]

Free account.

 

[PinkElephant 8,049]

OK, then a possible cause is that you exceed the device limit.

Go to your account settings, tab devices. The maximum is 2 (Web Client counts as well as a device), if you want to add a device you need to be down to 1. Revoke as many devices as necessary to get back into the limit.

Try again to log in.

[magnus110 0]

Thank you for the information! On my iMac it will not even let me click on account setings before the alert message pops up and on my phone I can't use it...perhaps because I'm logged in here now. On the setting here in the browser it says recently logged in devices is browser and iMac only though...

[PinkElephant 8,049]

You mentioned iPhone, Mac and browser - this already makes 3 devices.

My impression is that the devices tab does not always update itself perfectly. Mine is for example showing the last login into the web client as 9 months ago - but I use it pretty frequently, on different browsers. Have no problem, since I am a subscriber.

As a user, I can think of 3 options here:

1) Try to unsync one of the devices, see if it logs in now.
Caution: The number of unsyncs is limited to 2 per month as well, so not much room for experimenting here. It might result in a complete lockout for 30 days, that can only be lifted early by subscribing for a month.

2) Try support, choose „Account“ as ticket type
https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

3) I could try to flag your post to EN staff - the devices tab should work correctly, because it is important in cases like this.

Up to you which road you want to take. For option 3 I need a feedback from you.

[magnus110 0]

The problem has actually occured for a few months on my iMac only, and without being logged in on browser. No problem on iphone.

Yes, you can notify EN staff.

[PinkElephant 8,049]

OK, I have flagged the thread. Since they work US west office hours, and sometimes may be out of office it may take a little.

[Shane D. 1,818]

@magnus110 Thank you for reaching out!

This is an issue we're aware of, and working to address.

As a workaround, please try these steps to see if helps to fix the problem.

1. Open **Finder**
2. From the menu bar select **Go > Go To Folder...**
3. Paste `~/Library/Application Support/` (DDL) or `~/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library/Application Support/` (app store) and press **Go**.
4. Locate the folder titled `Evernote` and rename it to `Evernote.old`.
5. Launch Evernote and try signing in.

Let me know if this issue persists after trying these steps.

[coeurdelakaur 1]

Hello, 

I'm also have this issue and it's a nightmare. I tried the workaround and it's not working. I can't open Evernote on my Mac and when I do, I get the following black screen popping up. 

I only have it synced to two devices and I'm using the free version. I was considering purchasing the upgrade, but with all of the bugs over the last year, I'm really not so sure anymore.

Thanks!

-k.

[magnus110 0]

On 10/15/2021 at 6:20 PM, Shane D. said:

@magnus110 Thank you for reaching out!

This is an issue we're aware of, and working to address.

As a workaround, please try these steps to see if helps to fix the problem.

1. Open **Finder**
2. From the menu bar select **Go > Go To Folder...**
3. Paste `~/Library/Application Support/` (DDL) or `~/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library/Application Support/` (app store) and press **Go**.
4. Locate the folder titled `Evernote` and rename it to `Evernote.old`.
5. Launch Evernote and try signing in.

Let me know if this issue persists after trying these steps.

Hello Shane! It seems to be working so far, but I think it thinks I'm on a new device. Not sure if I should recall (Återkalla) the iMac one or the one named iMac (2)?

[Marianna Karas 0]

when can we expect a resolution to this issue?

[Marianna Karas 0]

On 10/15/2021 at 5:20 PM, Shane D. said:

@magnus110 Thank you for reaching out!

This is an issue we're aware of, and working to address.

As a workaround, please try these steps to see if helps to fix the problem.

1. Open **Finder**
2. From the menu bar select **Go > Go To Folder...**
3. Paste `~/Library/Application Support/` (DDL) or `~/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote/Data/Library/Application Support/` (app store) and press **Go**.
4. Locate the folder titled `Evernote` and rename it to `Evernote.old`.
5. Launch Evernote and try signing in.

Let me know if this issue persists after trying these steps.

this isn't working for me? when can we expect this to resolve?

[PinkElephant 8,049]

Personally I do this as a measure of last resort:

If you don’t already have it, get the app AppCleaner from the internet, install it, run it.

Drop the EN icon on the designated area.

A popup window will show - part of the content is checked (Program files), part is unchecked (settings & data files). Make sure you check them ALL. Scroll down to the very last position, check every single one. By this you remove every trace of EN from the Mac.

Execute 

Shut the Mac down, restart it. Log in. (*)

Open evernote.com, click on Download. Open the dmg installer file, install EN. Log in, and now wait until the initial sync has run through before starting to use it.

(*) If a Free user, first go to your account setting, and unsync any device except the one you want to keep. You need to be down to 1 device to allow a new one to open. If the old Mac install is still there, remove it before you install the new one.

[Jaylakenkins6 0]

This finally worked for me after over a week of troubleshooting. I wish it had been easier to find.

I must say, the journey to get here was unnecessarily frustrating. I am a free user and when I went to contact customer care, I would have had to upgrade my plan to actually talk to a someone. Why on earth would I start paying you for a service I cant even get to work!? Absolutely asinine to expect people to spend hours digging through online forums to get your software to work properly.

To add insult to injury, I now cant even sign into evernote on my mac (where I had been having the trouble) because I signed into other devices to try to fix the issue.

Everything about this has been truly disappointing and infuriating.

[PinkElephant 8,049]

Well, using AppCleaner is not really a secret - this tool is well known and communicated in the Mac community.

About the problem solving: Anybody can subscribe for a month, get access to support and lift the devices limit at the same time. This allows sorting things out, structure the fundamentals and have everything set up to fall back to Free again without a problem.

But a selected few prefer to avoid the 1 month expense, better suffer through a complex problem solving process and then come back here and rant along. OK, self inflicted pain feels double painful - but why exposing it in such a way ?

In the end nobody is forced into using EN - when we do, we think it is in our own best interest.

[Boot17 1,439]

14 hours ago, Jaylakenkins6 said:

Why on earth would I start paying you for a service I cant even get to work!? 

Have you been using Evernote before and getting value from it, or did you just barely download and install it and started getting this error right from the start?

I think I saw somewhere that something like 99% of Evernote users are free users. Why on earth would any company offer free human technical support to that high of a majority of people that don't pay (and most likely don't intend to pay) anything for their product? Evernote doesn't make any money selling user data or showing ads; subscription fees are all they've got.

 

[bwmoore1 0]

I have been an Evernote Personal customer since Aug '13, now running on my 2nd Mac during this span & I am likely Evernote's least technical global customer. I sell technology for a living, I don't understand it. ;-)

I have been unable to use the Evernote App for MONTHS, maybe a year. Consequently I have been using the web version (sucks since I'm paying) and I have continued looking off & on for a simple technical solution. Today, I FINALLY found Shane D's post from Oct '21. First, it was super simple. Even I could follow those instructions. Secondly, I wondering how to make this process easier for people like myself. I know - offer a technical support/customer service global call center for paying customers! My hunch is a human like Shane or PinkElephant could have had me back using the App in minutes. Did I overlook this option in the process? (Please tell me "No".) Lastly, I really appreciate PinkElephants engagement & depth of information. I wish I could have used it.