Evernote Conflicting Notes is Driving Me Crazy

[R.Cooksey 4]

I am having conflicting notes nearly daily. It is driving me crazy. I contacted support and they said I need to close the note on one device so it doesn't conflict on another device (I use Mac, iPhone, and iPad). That is crazy. I am paying $9.99/month for a system that can't sync instantly? I may quit EN and go back to Apple Notes which does sync instantly across all platforms. When will EN fix this?

[gazumped 12,071]

1 hour ago, R.Cooksey said:

When will EN fix this?

You can fix it with some simple housekeeping.  Evernote can't prevent different devices from syncing with the server periodically,  and if one of those devices has your note open,  it will save it's 'vanilla' version over the complicated changes that you're still making from somewhere else.  The server can't tell which of the two logged in devices is in use,  and which is on autopilot - it'll save both versions to try and be helpful...  There's no other 'fix' coming for this.

[Okke 2]

So why is this a problem now? I am using EN for many many years already and this never used to be a problem. I used EN on my windows laptop and 3 iOS devices and never had problems in the past. I have the feeling that since the old offline version of EN was replaced by the new online redesign, these kinds of problems started to occur.

[gazumped 12,071]

23 minutes ago, Okke said:

So why is this a problem now?

As I said - this is linked with syncing;  and as you point out - v10 is now more 'online' than ever before so syncing is a vital part of the process;  although there have also been many changes in routers,  internet architecture generally,  and browser processes.  Wondering why things are different now is a bit like being frustrated when it rains - it was perfectly fine tomorrow...  but the times they are a changing*.  All Evernote and their users can do is change with them...

* That's familiar from somewhere...

[Brauhaus 1]

 

I’ve been seeing a good bit of this lately too, and agree, as a long time (paying) user, its been much less prevalent in the past. Surely there’s a way for EN to maintain some idea about when edits are occurring to notes, apply some versioning and/or time-stamping, and sanely recognize which version is the most current, even if I have something open on two devices. Even if there are truly synchronous collisions occurring inside a note, why duplicate the whole note? Why not provide time-stamped highlights of what changed in a note and ask to reconcile which change is the one you want to save, rather than duplicating whole notes and making people guess which is the right one? 

 

EN used to be straight forward, simple to use, fast, accurate and cross platform. Its getting to be bloated and annoying. 

 

 

 

 

[gazumped 12,071]

2 minutes ago, Brauhaus said:

Why not provide time-stamped highlights of what changed in a note and ask to reconcile which change is the one you want to save, rather than duplicating whole notes and making people guess which is the right one? 

Evernote is now mostly server-based and therefore depends on changes being synced there.  Because different devices sync their copies of notes there at different times,  device A may be actively being used to make changes to the server.  Device B will chip in from time to time with an update of its unedited version of that note.  The server can't see any difference between the two devices - they're both logged into the account with the same user details and both have the same permissions to save any changes,  The server can't 'read' both notes and choose differences - if it's presented with two different versions with the same or similar times stamps,  its fall-back is to save both and let you sort it out.  Same applies if there's any minor glitch in the connection - as far as the server is concerned it's like listening to two TVs at the same time,  trying to sort out one coherent message.  Any confusions are above its pay-grade.

More noticeable now maybe because Evernote is more server-based,  and / or the network is busier with just more post-pandemic traffic.

[Brauhaus 1]

 

Um… I’m seeing this on a note that is (I presume, I haven’t actually checked) open on my Mac, which I’ve not used/logged into since last night sometime, and an iPad which I’m actively using now. There are literally hours worth of time between when I would have edited on the mac and what I’m working on now on my iPad. Server based or not, there’s absolutely no reason (short of really really lazy programmers) that the app and back end server can’t intelligently be syncing changes with that much time differential. Changes - and sub-document level changes - should be time stamped. Any modern computer or device should be able to get down to microsecond resolution, frankly, but with humans as the editors, you don’t even really need that. 

Further, I’m going to call BS on your “the server can’t read” — sure it can. It doesn’t need to understand whats in the note, just highlight the changes, ALA the “diff” command thats existed on Unix for forever (or small values of, which approximate, forever). 

And, busy? Again, calling BS. This worked in the past, has worked well for years. Its not working now. It needs to be fixed. EN will lose users (me among them)  if they can’t get basic stuff like this right. If fixing it means they need to buy a few more flops from their cloud provider, then then need to buy a few more flops from their cloud provider, or hire capable programmers and support people. Quit making excuses. 

 

 

 

 

[Brauhaus 1]

And, I checked, the note wasn’t even opened on my mac. So there’s no two editors. It’s just EN having problems keeping track of edits on a single device. 

[gazumped 12,071]

Hmmn.  OK - generic answer,  generically wrong;  but I'd refer you to my previous and/ or.  Good teching always asks "what's different?" when things that used to work,  no longer do.  What's different is (unless you're editing in Legacy,  which I should have checked) that Evernote now lives in the Cloud and phones home much more intensively.

So I'd guess that this is more a connectivity issue than a multiple connections one.  Best way to confirm though - and to help Evernote identify and fix issues - is to contact Support and share some logs if they ask.  They can do more under the hood than I can by just guessing from incomplete data and the more reports they get,  the higher up the flagpole this issue gets...

(It's fractured metaphor day)

[Brauhaus 1]

Ok -- whats changed? EN has rev'ed the product, added some features (I want EverNOTE not EverTODO, dammit) and ... sync's not working. 

 

I did look for support, btw, but opted for the Forums here to see if anyone else was seeing similar issues. Turns out, yep. Hopefully now, EN's watching this and can provide some useful help. I'll (go look for how to) put in a ticket a bit later - you're right, I should be able to get some support as a paid user. 

 

[Xds588e4d 1]

I'm having the exact same problem and I'm NOT using multiple devices. I deleted Evernote on my iPhone and iPad because it took too long to sync stuff. So, now I only work on my Mac and nearly every morning when I log in, there is a duplicate note that has less information.

The local copy of the note I am working on is always up to date, because I assume, it's saved locally first.

But the copy on the server always create one or two duplicates. This tells me that the server is not syncing regularly enough.

The problem increases when the note gets bigger. After it's larger that 4 MB, I start getting multiple notes several times per day. On Evernote Legacy, I can manually sync every once in a while and never have issues, but on the "new" Evernote, there are issues.

Sync is not working. There is definitely an issue with it.

[gazumped 12,071]

4 hours ago, Brauhaus said:

I'll (go look for how to) put in a ticket a bit later

OK - you might start here - https://help.evernote.com/hc/requests/new 

[zennietz 1]

Same problem. Every time when I open and change the same note…

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

5 hours ago, zennietz said:

Same problem. Every time when I open and change the same note…

Hi, and welcome to the forums. "Same problem," when several people reported various possibly related problems almost a year ago, is not yet enough info for your fellow users here to work with. To start with, what Evernote client are you using: Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, Web...?

[zennietz 1]

I just got an answer from Evernote and they say it is a known issue and they are working on it…

the problem is that notes are conflicting every time I close and open it. I only use iOS and nothing else. And yes, my “housekeeping” is good. Evernote was in the beginning much more stable and that was my biggest reason to start using it. Last couple of years i cannot rely on it anymore…

[gazumped 12,071]

15 minutes ago, zennietz said:

it is a known issue and they are working on it…

They're presumably referring to the current work on syncing in general.  I am confused as to why duplicates keep popping up if as you say your housekeeping is generally good - are the duplicated notes being viewed or changed before the duplication?  Or does a dormant note on a specific topic just decide to duplicate itself without an obvious trigger? 

[agsteele 3,060]

24 minutes ago, zennietz said:

the problem is that notes are conflicting every time I close and open it. I only use iOS and nothing else. And yes, my “housekeeping” is good.

If this is as you say then you are not facing the common reason for note duplication. I've never come across anyone getting duplicates when they only work with one device and application. I think I would be pressing the tech support people to try again. I suppose that there could be some local account corruption. It might be worthwhile trying a complete uninstall of the app then reinstall and try again.  It certainly won't do any harm other than taking a few minutes. I would certainly try this as an early attempt to resolve a mysterious issue.

I might also explore whether the note in question is part of a notebook that has been set to store locally. I could conceive of a situation where you edit an online version of a note which is then out of sync with the offline version.  I've never heard of this happening but I suppose it might just be possible.

Note duplications are invariably hiccups between the online and offline version.

[mrav 0]

I don't have sync issues with any other apps (apple note, google keep, onenote, notion, etc..) . It is really a shame that such a basic feature is not working reliably. 

Hope evernote is prioritizing this 

[gazumped 12,071]

17 hours ago, mrav said:

It is really a shame that such a basic feature is not working reliably. 

It's a fact that duplicate notes are being created when Evernote's servers are presented with more than one version of the same content and can't tell which has priority.  How much of that is directly under Evernote's control is unknown.  There are multiple reasons why this sort of thing happens,  and Evernote is already actively working on minimising the occurrence.  

[doctorkeo 25]

I have the same problem using V10 on Windows and Android so much so, I now NEVER update the same note on two different devices. If I really need to, I create a different note and merge the information on the note original device.

Doc

[bmcl26 578]

I use EN V10 on Windows 11 Desktop,  Android Samsung A70 Phone and Internet website and never have any issues with note duplication.  However, I do ensure I do not have more than one of these open at the same time.

[ElleEmm 1]

One thing I can add to this discussion: I too get conflicts while working on the SAME device (latest iPhone, updated version of Evernote) from one day to the next.

Interesting thing, when I look at my log for other devices (within the app), it shows recent “activity” for devices that I know for a fact have been off or sleeping for days. Are these delayed “syncs” coming down thru the server, and are these old versions creating the conflicts? Who knows, but all this is very frustrating.

I’m no programmer, but this seems like an incredibly elemental glitch to have persist for so long. Other note apps don’t seem to have this issue 

[Stephen Rockower 0]

It would be nice if, when there was a conflict, that EN would highlight what the conflict was.  I have a note with multiple lines of text, but if there is a conflict, I have no way of knowing what EN has discovered.

[gazumped 12,071]

8 hours ago, Stephen Rockower said:

EN would highlight what the conflict was.

I usually just open the notes in their own windows and compare them side-by-side.  In extreme cases it should be possible to export to PDF or copy/ paste into Word and use any inbuilt features in those third-party editors to compare content.  (Word,  for instance,  can compare versions).  If you find conflicts arise quite often it should be possible to avoid them completely by creating and editing notes in an external app and then attaching the output file to a note.