Showing images in the summary pane of a notebook

[cumfnum 8]

As you can see from the screenshot, in the left hand pane of the 2022 notebook I have 2 notes which show an image and 2 that don't. I've added images to all of the notes at the same size etc. but some won't show and I'm hoping that someone out there can shed some light on why this happens?

Thanks in advance for any answer,

 

Rob.

[gazumped 11,658]

1 hour ago, superrobwalker@gmail.com said:

someone out there can shed some light on why this happens?

The server takes a little while to process thumbnails and sync them back to the device you're using?

[cumfnum 8]

Yeah I thought that initially but they've been like that for a few days now

[Mike P 2,637]

14 hours ago, cumfnum said:

I've added images to all of the notes at the same size etc.

By size do you mean dimensions or number of kB or MB? My experience is that thumbnails of images with large file sizes may not  be displayed.

[cumfnum 8]

I've tried reducing the size and I'm still getting the same result. I'm not sure how to reduce the kB or MB tho?

[Mike P 2,637]

40 minutes ago, cumfnum said:

I've tried reducing the size and I'm still getting the same result. I'm not sure how to reduce the kB or MB tho?

I'm sure you realise that you need to reduce the size of the image in an external program so that it actually resamples the pixels and reduces the real dimensions of the image. This will also reduce the file size (in kB or MB). Just changing the size of the image displayed in EN does not change the file size or the dimensions of the real underlying image.

You can find out the file size of the image before you upload it in your operating system or you can dispaly the image as an attachment in EN which will give you an approximate file size. Images of the same dimensions are the not the same file size, mainly because of the compression alogrithms used to reduce the file size. 

If you look at the file sizes you may be able to see a cut off point where the thumbnail is or is not displayed.

[agsteele 2,944]

I'm not sure that once the thumbnail is set that it is easy to change. So the size of the image needs to be reduced before the note is first created then added to a new note.

I, at least, still find thumbnails never change. Always the first one chosen by the program.

[cumfnum 8]

Yeah I've tried this Mike, and I am aware. Below are their sizes. With the size of image 3 which is showing against the smaller sizes I'm really stumped with this.

Image 1. 167kB   

Image 2. 79 kB

Image 3. 4 MB 

Image 4. 127kB 

[cumfnum 8]

@agsteele 

I've just tried that with a reduced image and it's still not showing.

[cumfnum 8]

I think you must be right agsteele... Always the first one chosen by the program. I'll go with that, thanks.

[agsteele 2,944]

4 minutes ago, cumfnum said:

@agsteele 

I've just tried that with a reduced image and it's still not showing.

Just to check, that's in a new note rather than updating an old note? 

[cumfnum 8]

17 minutes ago, agsteele said:

Just to check, that's in a new note rather than updating an old note? 

Yes I made a new note.

 

[agsteele 2,944]

I'm not sure I can suggest anything else.

[cumfnum 8]

2 minutes ago, agsteele said:

I'm not sure I can suggest anything else.

I think you  were right to say that the app will only accept the first image and I'm hoping there is a way around it and that someone will know? Thanks for helping though, both of you it's very much appreciated.

[gazumped 11,658]

In the Windows Legacy version it's possible to use the 'super' help option available via Ctrl+help to refresh some indexes - anything there on thumbnails in v10?  Legacy just has text search and the like...

[cumfnum 8]

34 minutes ago, gazumped said:

In the Windows Legacy version it's possible to use the 'super' help option available via Ctrl+help to refresh some indexes - anything there on thumbnails in v10?  Legacy just has text search and the like...

That's very interesting, thanks. I'll give that a go when I get back later this afternoon.

[Mike P 2,637]

29 minutes ago, gazumped said:

In the Windows Legacy version it's possible to use the 'super' help option available via Ctrl+help to refresh some indexes - anything there on thumbnails in v10?  Legacy just has text search and the like...

There are some very limited troubleshooting options but nothing like the "super help" in legacy.

As an experiment I did the following:

• Created a new note and added an image. As expected the thumbnail was created
• Deleted the image and added a new image. The thumbnail briefly disappeared but then reappeared as the old thumbnail
• I then exported the note as an enex file 
• I then re-imported the note. Within a couple of seconds the correct thumbnail appeared.

I examined the enex file and it the thumbnail does not seem to be in the file so must be in the database somewhere. I seem to remember that at one stage of the developement of V10 it was actually possible to have different thumbnails for the same note on the web and windows version. 

Conclusion. If you want to refresh the thumbnail you can export the note and then reimport. It's actually a pretty fast process. The easiest way of importing is simply to drag the enex file into the note list. So if you export to the desktop it isreasonably straightforward.

 

[Mike P 2,637]

Just a quick add on. If you import an enex file of a note which contains two images, the first image, irrespective of size, will be used as the thumbnail.

[gazumped 11,658]

8 minutes ago, Mike P said:

the first image, irrespective of size

Wow!!  If only I'd known this about 50,000 notes ago...  

[PinkElephant 8,091]

@Mike P That is a nice one !

I assume by "first" it is in the order of appearance in the note (the topmost image), not the chronological sequence which picture was added at what point in time (if this information is preserved somewhere anyhow).

[Mike P 2,637]

13 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

I assume by "first" it is in the order of appearance in the note (the topmost image)

Correct. Thanks for thinking of that different interpreatation.

[agsteele 2,944]

34 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

@Mike P That is a nice one !

I assume by "first" it is in the order of appearance in the note (the topmost image), not the chronological sequence which picture was added at what point in time (if this information is preserved somewhere anyhow).

Actually if you are slow to add the second image then it will be the first image added regardless of where it sits inside the note. The thumbnail is created typically within about 30s of the image being added... The imported enex will get the top-most image since all images will have been added at the same time.

[cumfnum 8]

1 hour ago, agsteele said:

Actually if you are slow to add the second image then it will be the first image added regardless of where it sits inside the note. The thumbnail is created typically within about 30s of the image being added... The imported enex will get the top-most image since all images will have been added at the same time.

TBH I'm a little lost here now...I've exported the file an an enex. file and then reintroduced it back into Evernote in the same folder, yet it's still not showing a thumbnail image. 

[agsteele 2,944]

You may need @Mike P to pitch in. He's the one with the esperience of the enex import. He's around a fair amount.

[cumfnum 8]

6 minutes ago, agsteele said:

You may need @Mike P to pitch in. He's the one with the esperience of the enex import. He's around a fair amount.

Ha! See? I'm a little confused lol 🤗 nws and thanks.

[agsteele 2,944]

That said I followed his instructions and it worked for me. I had to ensure that the image I wanted as the thumbnail was the first available to be used Evernote to create the thumbnail image. Once that was done all worked well.

I wonder if there is something unusual about the images you are using or is there a hidden image in the text you're working with. It could be as simple as the hidden tracking images that get attached to Emails. Evernote could pick these up and display as a blank image.

Copy the text of your note to a text editor such as Notepad (Windows). Then copy from Notepad into a new empty note in Evernote. Don't add any images at this stage.

You should not see any thumbnails appearing. Now add your desired image to this new note. What do you get now?

[cumfnum 8]

10 minutes ago, agsteele said:

That said I followed his instructions and it worked for me. I had to ensure that the image I wanted as the thumbnail was the first available to be used Evernote to create the thumbnail image. Once that was done all worked well.

I wonder if there is something unusual about the images you are using or is there a hidden image in the text you're working with. It could be as simple as the hidden tracking images that get attached to Emails. Evernote could pick these up and display as a blank image.

Copy the text of your note to a text editor such as Notepad (Windows). Then copy from Notepad into a new empty note in Evernote. Don't add any images at this stage.

You should not see any thumbnails appearing. Now add your desired image to this new note. What do you get now?

Ahhhhh I was really really hoping that'd work! I uninstalled then reinstalled first and then did what you said only I'm still having the same problem 😮

[agsteele 2,944]

In that case I'm guessing that there is something unusual about the image. If you're happy to attach it to a post I can take a look and see what happens at my side.

[Mike P 2,637]

There is definitely something funny going on. I just tried a 5M jpg file and the thumbnail was created. It did take a bit longer than normal but still only a few seconds. So it isn't size. File format? - although it's difficult to see why it should display OK in the note but not in the thumbnail. One other standard piece of advice is to look on the web version of Evernote. I believe the thumbnail is local so it would definitely be worth seeing if the same problem is there on the web.

The enex export/import was more about what to do if you get stuck with an old thumbnail.

[cumfnum 8]

A simple image of a strawberry is all it is. It's in PNG format and it's 363 kB in size.

[cumfnum 8]

1 minute ago, Mike P said:

There is definitely something funny going on. I just tried a 5M jpg file and the thumbnail was created. It did take a bit longer than normal but still only a few seconds. So it isn't size. File format? - although it's difficult to see why it should display OK in the note but not in the thumbnail. One other standard piece of advice is to look on the web version of Evernote. I believe the thumbnail is local so it would definitely be worth seeing if the same problem is there on the web.

The enex export/import was more about what to do if you get stuck with an old thumbnail.

Ok thanks Mike 😀

[Mike P 2,637]

Doesn't work for me either! It's a png with transparency. That rings a bell with previous problems ages ago which I hadn't connected. When I comverted to jpg it works fine.

[Mike P 2,637]

The other thing you can do if you can't convert it is to annotate the image in EN (can be a very minor addition) and then export and reimport the note.

[agsteele 2,944]

Interestingly... When I saved the image to my desktop my browser converted the Strawberry image to a jpg as it identified a problem with the PNG.

I opened in Photoshop and resaved as a PNG and everything worked well...

The issue is with the PNGs and Evernotes handling of these specific images. Resave them either as a jpg or a new png with Photoshop or similar and see if that works.

[cumfnum 8]

7 minutes ago, Mike P said:

Doesn't work for me either! It's a png with transparency. That rings a bell with previous problems ages ago which I hadn't connected. When I comverted to jpg it works fine.

It's working well for me too Mike, we finally got there! Thanks very much for helping me, much appreciated 👍👌🥳

[cumfnum 8]

4 minutes ago, agsteele said:

Interestingly... When I saved the image to my desktop my browser converted the Strawberry image to a jpg as it identified a problem with the PNG.

I opened in Photoshop and resaved as a PNG and everything worked well...

The issue is with the PNGs and Evernotes handling of these specific images. Resave them either as a jpg or a new png with Photoshop or similar and see if that works.

 

[cumfnum 8]

1 minute ago, cumfnum said:

 

 That's exactly what I did and it's working fine! Thanks very much for being there 😎

[cumfnum 8]

In Summary: Thumbnails for notes need to be jpeg, they can be PNG but must not have any transparency saved with the image although this will sometimes work and will always be 'the first' image that was attached to the note.💣

[agsteele 2,944]

Actually the can be PNG but must not have any transparency saved with the image. My test above was with a PNG

[cumfnum 8]

14 minutes ago, agsteele said:

Actually the can be PNG but must not have any transparency saved with the image. My test above was with a PNG

Thanks m8

[Mike P 2,637]

45 minutes ago, agsteele said:

Actually the can be PNG but must not have any transparency saved with the image. My test above was with a PNG

I have examples of PNGs with transparency working! So it must be even more subtle than that. I agree though that the safest bet is PNG without transparency or even safter still, use jpg and then you know it will work.

[C.H. 4]

Hi,

I hope my question fits here in this thread.

Is there a place in the forum where the questions or problems about handling thumbnails are listed in context?

I only work in Evernote via the browser. So far, my understanding is that Evernote grabs the first photo as thumbnails. However, with notes that I continuously add photos to, I find that Evernote also sometimes changes the thumbnails completely arbitrarily.

Here I also don't consider it helpful to recreate the note as a new copy, arbitrarily changing the thumbnail repeatedly occurs on different individual notes.

Are there plans at Evernote that users can reliably determine the thumbnail themselves in the medium term or is it just that I do not know how?

Thanks!

[gazumped 11,658]

On 1/21/2022 at 9:35 PM, C.H. said:

Is there a place in the forum where the questions or problems about handling thumbnails are listed in context?

Hi.  Short answer - no.  But if you read the posts above you'll see a discussion about exporting/ importing to refresh and potentially change the thumbnail shown.  Does any of that work for you?  It may help us if you confirm what device,  OS and Evernote version you're using...

[C.H. 4]

Thanks! I'm using Evernote version 10.29.7 and work with the latest Firefox version 96.0.2.

For notes that only have one image, it works most of the time if I replace the photo and insert a new one. But I also had the problem described above, that despite deleting the image, the deleted image was created again as thumbnail instead of the new one. For this I will try to consider the hints described above in the future.

The problem seems to be bigger with notes where I continuously add photos or graphics. Mostly the first object is kept as thumbnail for a long time, but then completely arbitrarily it comes to changes and the thumbnail is replaced by a graphic or a picture which I have added last.

I then tried the familiar tricks. I created an empty note and inserted a first image, which is then also selected as thumbnail and then either the old note completely copied in or both notes connected. Over a certain time the thumbnail stays like this. However, not always and it then takes on a life of its own again.

I also found the thread  https://discussion.evernote.com/forums/topic/80084-control-which-image-shown-in-a-notes-thumbnailsnippet-view/page/8/   and saw that the desire to determine the thumbnail itself already exists for a long time in the forum. I think it's a pity that Evernote does not pay more attention to it. Ultimately, the preview of the note with a thumbnail should serve a purpose. Which one - if so often completely arbitrary photos are selected from the note?

Please don't go to much trouble for a possible answer.

I think the problem is there and I have to live with it. With the hope that Evernote besides the new achievements like Tasks will start working again on its original strengths - which I see in the easy storage, retrieval and formatting of the notes.

 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

A thumbnail that was created once AFAIK is kept. 

The known workaround is to create a new note, and copy the content from the old note into it, minus the picture you do not want as thumb. Save it, let it sync, wait until a thumbnail shows. 

Now you should be able to copy the retained picture into it - it should keep the other thumbnail that was already created and saved.

Much better would be if EN would allow us users which picture we want as thumbnail - they could keep the automatic creation, but install a manual choice to override it. But no news on that …

[C.H. 4]

Right. It's not just about keeping a thumbnail but also being able to update it.

The workaround via a new note is quite complex, as often as the problems occur and in my opinion it does not always work, especially if the notes have many images or consist of clipped websites ...

Thanks, I think my questions are answered and we must rather start a petition to EN