Evernote creating multiple versions of my notes

[eugeneguy 5]

Beginning 1 to 2 weeks ago Evernote on my iPad has been creating multiple copies/versions of a note I'm editing over time.  The attached screen shot shows 4 versions of a single note.  When I open them the most recent note shows everything I had typed into the note.  As I select each version backward in time it shows my note shorter by one or two sentences.  This isn't the only instance of this occurring.  I've had another note I created in the last week or two that I've come back to edit and found 2 copies of the note.  I believe this has happened exclusively on my iPad, but it's possible I edited the original problem note on my desktop Mac version of Evernote.  

Anyone else experiencing this issue?  This seems like a bug to me.  It may have coincided with version 10.25 install.  I don't know how to find that information on my iPad.  This is annoying, but not a huge issue as I just delete the older copies.  

Evernote made 4 copies of a note.pdf

[gazumped 11,666]

Hi.  Evernote tries to save your changes back to the server,  and if that connection fails for any reason the server will save one note,  then another note,  and so on.  If that's happening it could be a connection,  a firewall,  AV or VPN,  proxies...  You'd need to do a bit of investigation to follow that up.  The way to avoid repetitions is to maybe use a series of shorter notes rather than keep on editing one long one,  or use a device-based word processor to create and edit notes,  keeping the output file as a note attachment in Evernote.  Since that attachment can be uploaded or downloaded as one operation,  you should be able to get around any comms interruptions.  Plus you always have a complete backup on the device.

[BPBear 5]

The above is NOT a solution. It is another example of Evernote trying to push onto users workarounds for basic Evernote flaws. Creating multiple, shorter notes is not consistent with one of the advertised uses of Evernote, namely as a ‘note’ taker. Please, stop trying to push solutions to Evernote problems onto the user.

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Oh, you ask for no solution, instead of a least getting some workarounds that can make things a bit easier ?

So I have a good hint for you: Just ignore the good advise fellow users offer in the forum. Avoid the exchange of experience, that can make using EN better for everybody interested. Ignore bugs posted here, you will find out yourself anyhow.

Why did you come to the forum in first place, I don’t remember ?!

[BPBear 5]

I do look for a solution - a solution from Evernote that stops the proliferation of copies of notes in progress. Workarounds can help users - while the developer finds real solutions. And those workarounds are helpful. However, the suggestion to which I responded was presented as a ‘solution,’ which it is not.

[Boot17 1,450]

10 hours ago, BPBear said:

However, the suggestion to which I responded was presented as a ‘solution,’ which it is not.

I'm pretty sure that it was marked as a solution by the OP eugenguy -- a fellow user. So it was most definitely a solution for them.

12 hours ago, BPBear said:

It is another example of Evernote trying to push onto users

How is it Evernote pushing that? Gazumped is also a fellow user who has spent countless hours trying to help people maximize their use of Evernote and workaround issues. 

12 hours ago, BPBear said:

Creating multiple, shorter notes is not consistent with one of the advertised uses of Evernote, namely as a ‘note’ taker.

I saw one person the other day that said that a lot of time their only note content in Evernote is the 'title'. So is that not a real "note" for them? 

Some of my notes are rather long, but I've started making a lot of them shorter and easier to find by title so I can access them faster with the 'Switch To' command. One experienced Evernote user suggesting to another user that they should try shorter notes seems like a great suggestion to me and I've found it to be very useful in my own usage of Evernote.

Evernote has had syncing and duplicate issues for years. The shorter your note is, the less likely it is to be impacted by that -- it's just a fact. Experienced users know that. Perhaps if Evernote one day implements block-level syncing (rumored to be in the works) and a table of contents feature, then long notes could make more sense.

And, if you want to get technical -- a note is "1. a brief record of facts, topics, or thoughts, written down as an aid to memory, 2. a short informal letter or written message". Nothing about that strikes me as saying a note is something really long.

[RoyMan 14]

This issue has become way more common for me as well lately. Not very “long” notes either. Maybe a bulleted list with 20 or so items…

[gazumped 11,666]

On 11/14/2022 at 8:52 PM, RoyMan said:

This issue has become way more common for me as well lately. Not very “long” notes either. Maybe a bulleted list with 20 or so items…

Hi sympathies,  but there is no magic solution to 'fix' what might be any one of a dozen causes.  Please see the comments above for suggestions and work-arounds.

[eugeneguy 5]

Y'all, 

I believe I know what caused my problems with Evernote saving multiple versions last winter.  A few months later my desktop computer was struggling with frequent disconnection to WiFi.  After a month or more it occurred to me the problem might be with the WiFi radio on my computer and not with my WiFi router, so I purchased a third node for my WiFi mesh network, connected my desktop directly to that router via Ethernet cable and turned off the WiFi on my desktop.  Connection issue is no longer a problem.  

I suspect the difficulty I was having with Evernote last winter was the earliest symptom of my computer's failing WiFi radio .  Evernote software may be more sensitive to dropping connection to the Internet bc it's designed to save notes locally whenever Internet service isn't available.  My solution may not apply to other's situation.  As said above, there are multiple causes of duplication of notes.  

Responding to Gazumped and some of others in this thread.  

I do not want to break my notes into shorter notes and later combine.  My notes don't tend to be long, especially in one sitting.  The day I need to start using another app for typing my notes during a meeting as a first step before pasting into Evernote is the day I dump Evernote.  Notes taken during meetings is the number one reason I purchased and continue to use Evernote; it needs to keep up with my not very fast typing.

I'm going to try an experiment next time I'm taking notes where I've got a poor connection to the Internet by turning off the WiFi radio on my 5th Gen iPad.  I want to see if the Evernote app stops lagging when I take away the need to save my note anyplace but my local device.  This should also stop creation of multiple versions of my note.  

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Thanks for the observation. I think it can explain a part of the problems reported by users. WiFi can give headaches - especially because a connection that may be good in one hour can go bad the next. WiFi means sharing the airwaves with other networks and users. Capacity is split between ALL networks on a certain channel, even if they use different SSIDs.

So your WiFi performance may drop drastically when your neighbors get home and start to view the latest ***** hot stuff on Netflix.

The best countermeasure is to connect by Ethernet. In the future the crowding is avoided by WiFi 6 - but it will take a decade or so before all old WiFi modems will be replaced.

[Boot17 1,450]

For those in this thread that haven't seen it yet.

This post just today by Ian Small, Evernote's CIO -- https://evernote.com/blog/evernote-next-move-joining-bending-spoons/:

"As I write this blog post, our new collaborative editing capability, which allows multiple people to edit the same note simultaneously, and individuals to edit the same note on multiple devices without note conflicts, is in early days of beta testing around the world."

Hopefully that helps address duplication of notes -- regardless of note size.

[harcott 0]

I must say I agree.  ‘Work arounds’ become a general degradation of popularity for an app. They give me the shivers. It’s a death knell if not fixable. I am a paying and avid user, mostly only on one device/ platform, and have multiple thousands of notes but yes they are beginning to breed overnight! I have tried other apps which also have issues. It’s a case of using the app that works easiest with less hassle I guess. If Evernote can’t fix it then I’m off again . Way too much time involved in work arounds and deleting,  sorry. Thanks for the memories☺️

[PinkElephant 8,114]

Some report on having the problem with duplication, many don’t or (like me) only have it very rarely. This means in my case still countable on the fingers of one hand, for all the 2 years and some since v10 launched.

My conclusion is there is a third factor, like something special on the internet connection.

Sure the app should be more allowing. It seems that this has been identified on management level as well as a top notch priority. I am glad they now announced new collaborative working (which means a completely new syncing) in beta - hope it leaves beta faster than the (in)famous Linux client.

[RoyMan 14]

On 11/16/2022 at 2:51 PM, harcott said:

I must say I agree.  ‘Work arounds’ become a general degradation of popularity for an app. They give me the shivers. It’s a death knell if not fixable. I am a paying and avid user, mostly only on one device/ platform, and have multiple thousands of notes but yes they are beginning to breed overnight! I have tried other apps which also have issues. It’s a case of using the app that works easiest with less hassle I guess. If Evernote can’t fix it then I’m off again . Way too much time involved in work arounds and deleting,  sorry. Thanks for the memories☺️

Thats is exactly. Workarounds are horrible. Here go tap 6 times through some menus to manually sync (eyeroll). Its especially bad if it worked great in the past... I hope that multi person editing in beta comes out soon.

[Boot17 1,450]

1 hour ago, RoyMan said:

Workarounds are horrible

Nah - workarounds can be quite useful at times as not all workarounds are created equal. Sometimes someone wants a very narrow and specific feature -- they want an app molded to fit them or their workflow, when with a slight adjustment (aka "workaround") they can accomplish what they need very simply.

Note that I am *not* saying that about this particular multiple version sync issue... just in general with Evernote or any software.

[gazumped 11,666]

Seems to me on a productivity level that failing to use an available work-around is like marching across a road in front of a high-speed oncoming car because you have 'right of way'.  You're correct in your opinion,  but liable to lose out in the exchange... 

[Studge 1]

> collaborative editing

It's about time! My wife and I shared a shopping list in Google Docs for years. Sometimes we'd both be editing at the same time and we could send each other messages inside the document in close-to-real time. In contrast, our shared shopping list in Evernote keeps spawning additional copies or failing to record changes one of us has made, possibly (we suspect) because we had multiple instances open on different devices at the same time. If Google could handle this in a tiny corner of their sprawling business, I should think Evernote could find a way to do it since it seems a pretty essential feature of their only product.