Scans disappearing

[Tucker.Lentz 2]

Since 2015 I have scanned all my receipts into Evernote. I use the camera on my iPhone to scan the receipt as a document in Evernote, then I throw the receipt away. Then at the end of the week (or month if things get too busy), I go through my receipts and record expenses into my bookkeeping software. Lately, some of the scans disappear. It doesn't happen a lot. Maybe one in 10 scans. But there will be a note titled "Snapshot", but then there will be no content. The scan is gone. And since I threw away the receipt, I have to go line by line through credit card statements to figure out what is missing. This is such a problem I have started looking at ways to migrate from Evernote to some other app. I am so tired of all the bugs.

This bug(s) sometimes manifests where the note on my iPhone will still have the scan, but no amount of syncing will get it to show up on my desktop app. On one note, the scan appears in the app preview card in card view but won't be there when you look at the note. I have tried deleting and reinstalling the Evernote app on my phone several times, which sometimes resolves bugs, but I am still having this problem.

[PinkElephant 8,077]

Maybe you describe in more detail how you do the scanning. There are several ways to get content scanned and then into an EN note - but maybe one of them has a defect. So it would be good to know how you perform the scanning operation.

[Tucker.Lentz 2]

I almost always scan receipts or other documents using the "scan" button, highlighted in the attached image with a red circle. I have the Create button in Evernote on my iPhone set to Orbs, and the Orbs I've chosen are (1) Note, (2) Scan, and (3) Camera. So when I have a receipt to scan, I tap the scan icon, scan the receipt, then save the note. Occasionally, I will already be in a note and use the little camera button.

[lhb 65]

Some anecdotal evidence from about a couple of weeks back. I was not sure what was causing it and had no time to investigate or reproduce it. 

I had something like that happen on Android, probably 10.22 or 10.23, when taking a scan of a document before throwing it --- the document --- away. I also had reopened the note to change its name and possibly a tag, at which time it was still OK, containing the images.

A while later, the images were gone. It was mildly annoying since I was rather sure the note had synchronized because a thumbnail showed in the note list. I had therefore, as intended, thrown away the document. Later I noticed that the thumbnail was there, but the content had disappeared, and the note looked perfectly blank. 

Still later, and still mildly annoyed, I opened it on Windows using the Legacy version to see whether the were visible there. Here, two "broken image" symbols were shown. (You know, the same kind you get when copy-pasting an image from the web into Evernote, Evernote decides just to paste a hyperlink instead of images, and said hyperlink is later not available because you are offline, or the original web resource is gone.)

The note history did not contain a version with the images. Or at least I could not find it.

I exported the offending note from the Legacy Windows version. It did contain references to images, such as

<en-media style="--en-naturalWidth:3010; --en-naturalHeight:2030;" hash="cb9ab22495eacbbcc0b3f9fb3671c874" type="image/jpeg" />

but no image body. I blame the Android version, and possibly the exceedingly slow internet where I was. Modern software is sometimes fickle to use without a permanent broadband connection, and old-fashioned features such as easily accessible "sync" buttons are on the way out. 

The experience has taught me to take my scans/images outside Evernote and then import them.

 

 

[PinkElephant 8,077]

My experience: Scanning with the in app scanner works ok. You hit save, which moves the scan to the note.

You are now still in edit mode of the note. You see you are when the save swash is showing on top:

Only after you stop edit mode, the note and the new content will really save. When you see the back arrow edit mode is terminated.

Usually nothing will happen. But to make sure the content has been saved, hit the save swash to quit edit mode before proceeding.

[lhb 65]

That was my experience at other times, too.

But I did have a thumbnail in the note preview and two broken embedded pictures on Windows. That points to a problem rather than mismanipulation. 

At least on Android, the pictures taken by the scanner part are temporary and will not show up in the gallery.

[PinkElephant 8,077]

In iOS they added a switch some releases ago, in the apps settings, camera. When it is ON, fotos taken in EN will be saved in parallel in the camera roll.

About the disappearing scans: Can only be a bad sync then, if a thumbnail is there the content was saved and stayed some time on the server.

It should be possible to recover through note history. It runs on all accounts. Subscribers have  access using the desktop client. Free users can unlock the existing history by subscribing for a month.

[lhb 65]

51 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

In iOS they added a switch some releases ago, in the apps settings, camera. When it is ON, fotos taken in EN will be saved in parallel in the camera roll.

About the disappearing scans: Can only be a bad sync then, if a thumbnail is there the content was saved and stayed some time on the server.

It should be possible to recover through note history. It runs on all accounts. Subscribers have  access using the desktop client. Free users can unlock the existing history by subscribing for a month.

I can confirm that this also exists on Android, looked for it and found it. Ttthank you, PinkElephant!

I tried note history ,.. that's how I ended up with the broken Windows version of the note. I could not check the problem in Android.

Yes, must have been a bad sync. With the spotty cellphone internet in some places I am permanently worried about those.

[PinkElephant 8,077]

Note history is only available on the desktop clients. This is by design - maybe they don’t want to risk a weak internet connection while setting back.

[alivenjes 0]

I have been using Evernote to scan all my receipts for bookkeeping purposes. I use the camera on my iPhone to scan the receipts as documents in Evernote and then throw the physical receipts away. At the end of each week (or month if things get too busy), I go through my receipts and record expenses into my bookkeeping software. However, lately, I have been experiencing an issue where some of the scans disappear. It doesn't happen frequently, but on occasion, there will be a note titled "Snapshot" with no content. Since I have already thrown away the physical receipt, it makes it difficult to reconcile my expenses and track them in my bookkeeping software. This issue has become so problematic that I am now considering migrating from Evernote to a different app. I am tired of dealing with constant bugs and technical difficulties. This bug also sometimes manifests where the note on my iPhone will still have the scan, but no amount of syncing will get it to show up on my desktop app.

[agsteele 2,942]

There was an issue like this in one of the beta programs.  The solution was to export the 'empty' note to an ENEX file on the desktop then reimport the note and the content was recovered. Then delete the broken version. You could try that to recover the missing receipts. Probably not the same cause but it may be a solution to get you going again.

 

[PinkElephant 8,077]

When I scan (using the build in camera scanner), it creates a new note, and is awaiting me to give it a title, and save it.

This is maybe overlooked when I scan several receipts in a hurry. When I let the saving out, and go directly back to scanning, it can happen that the note with the scan that was created before will not be saved.

And then I have missing scans - no surprise with this outcome.