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[ajschmidt 241]

Feature Request: Add Outlining Capabilities to Evernote

Evernote is great, but it's dying for the ability to create Notes that contain Outlines which are easily collapsed and expanded during creation and in use.

One way to implement it would be a switchable editing mode, between standard formatting or outline mode.

In outline mode, pressing the Enter key creates a new outline item, and pressing the Tab key changes the current item into a sub-item.

Clicking on an item's action icon causes its sub-items to collapse out of, or expand into view. That's the way the Ecco Pro PIM did it, and something simple like that would be a good start for Evernote.

The name Evernote implies a product that takes notes -and collapsible/expandable outlines are a huge part of note taking.

[aukirk 363]

1 hour ago, Boot17 said:

It's my understanding that before v10 there were a whole bunch of cool features that Evernote wanted to implement, but had difficulty doing so consistently on all 5 platforms and so a lot of them were invariably put on the back burner.

I have had similar hopes that this feature would have been implemented by now under v10, with the common editor.  However, now I fear that it is not "splashy" enough to be big release that can be promoted (like tasks and calendar integration).

While I still hold hope that this feature will be released... I am starting to think it is wishful thinking, as they could have integrated this with a number of other long-requested features that were integrated into the new editor when it rolled out in beta at least a year before v10 hit, such as different color highlighters, "grabbable" bullet lists and headers.  In hindsight, the fact that collapsable sections were not part of that rollout makes me wonder whether it will ever come.

[agsteele 1,834]

8 hours ago, aukirk said:

In hindsight, the fact that collapsable sections were not part of that rollout makes me wonder whether it will ever come.

I think that is spot on. There is not evidence that this has ever been on the agenda. I think it could be useful but there are still a good number of existing issues to be resolved. I'm not expecting Outlining in my lifetime.

[PinkElephant 5,515]

My feeling is that as long as EN treats the entire note as an entity, it will not happen.

If they really renovate the syncing, they need to split up notes into smaller, atomic elements. Then only a changed element will sync, not the whole note as it is today. This would lead to each element become addressable - then outlining would be relatively easy to add.

Wait and see what will happen with the syncing renovation.

[leonemadureira 6]

Id to have toggle list, would be very healpful and you a lot of text

[todsandberg 0]

OneNote can do outlining that can collapse/expand. 

This is a critical feature to me and is missing from Evernote.

Here is a link showing how OneNote does it, it's pretty clean (screenshot from link shown below).

I'm sure  there are other ways to make outlining even better, but starting with this simple implementation would be a great improvement.

I would hope that the state (expanded/collapsed) would be remembered from one session to the next.

To Evernote Staff: Where does this feature fall in the priority list for evernote? Is this on the roadmap?

[gazumped 9,806]

2 hours ago, todsandberg said:

To Evernote Staff: Where does this feature fall in the priority list for evernote? Is this on the roadmap?

Hi.  Welcome to the Evernote User Forums which are pretty much exclusively supported by (drum roll) Evernote Users.  Evernote the company haven't indicated whether this issue is actually on their priority lists,  and if it is they're highly unlikely to predict any delivery date,  having not done either for any feature in the past 12 years or so.

As has been said many times in this thread so far - if this is truly an 'essential' feature for you,  you should maybe look to find an app that will provide it.  If it's not,  carry on with Evernote - we may see something in coming months   - or we may not.

Personally I use Workflowy for any collapsible listing that I need to do - it operates on different principles to Evernote but links between the two apps are possible,  so I can switch from one to the other as necessary.

[gazumped 9,806]

Hi.  One of these you mean?  

 

[leonemadureira 6]

8 hours ago, gazumped said:

Hi.  One of these you mean?  

 

Yep. But this post is 10 years old. When it will available?

[gazumped 9,806]

37 minutes ago, leonemadureira said:

Yep. But this post is 10 years old. When it will available?

Hi again - I merged your query with the main thread since you're asking for the same feature.  As to your question,  see my response here - 

 

[gazumped 9,806]

5 hours ago, SteveAbbot said:

I finally committed to using Evernote

5 hours ago, SteveAbbot said:

sooooo disappointed at the lack of this really basic feature.

Hi.  Sympathies,  but Evernote does not have collapsible sections.  Evernote has never had collapsible sections.  Evernote may never get around to providing collapsible sections.  As already said a few times in this thread.  If you really really need 'em,  you may be using the wrong software.  If you can manage without (or use another app*) then stick with it - you never know what Evernote will announce,  because they do not give advance notice of what's in development.

* I use Workflowy,  and it's possible to link between the two applications so I can jump from note to list and back again easily.  Other list apps are available...

[mlondon 1]

On 2/21/2019 at 12:42 AM, Shane D. said:

This was done in order to better enable us to quantify and qualify user requests, and amplify their voice.....we certainly want to relay user feedback/sentiment to our various teams.

I'm sorry, but after more than 10 years of ignoring one of the most requested items for Evernote (The ability to collapse/expand sections of a note as an outline), it is clear that Evernote has no intention of actually listening to its paying customers. 

I'm not sure what user feedback/sentiment you ARE passing on to various teams, but they sure don't seem to be based on any kind of priority with regards to MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR YOUR USERS !!!

PLEASE IMPLEMENT SOME KIND OF OUTLINE WITHIN EVERNOTE !

It can't be that difficult...

Thank you

[agsteele 1,834]

32 minutes ago, mlondon said:

It can't be that difficult...

Perhaps it could be that difficult. Few of us could say. I'm not sure that responding to a three year old post adds much. @gazumped has hit the nail on the head. If you need collapsible sections then Evernote isn't, currently, the tool that you need. Perhaps the Workflowy integration he suggests would work.

[Deepakzorbabuddha 0]

I'm a premium customer of evernote, why are you not adding this basic feature. Lack of toggle list is one of the main reason I'm thinking of moving to notion. 

[gazumped 9,806]

9 hours ago, Deepakzorbabuddha said:

I'm a premium customer of evernote, why are you not adding this basic feature. Lack of toggle list is one of the main reason I'm thinking of moving to notion. 

If you read the previous posts in this section you'll be able to understand what's going on. Also that we're (mostly) not Evernote,  just other users.  Hope you enjoy Notion - bye.

[gazumped 9,806]

31 minutes ago, CraigD said:

Hey Evernote Team,

It's been a while since we've requested this with no response. I've moved to WorkFlowy since this feature is critical to me (I'm kinda ADHD). Evernote served me very well for many years so thanks!

Best,
Craig

Hey yourself.  Did you miss the bit about we're (mostly) not Evernote here?  The company do read posts but there's a lot of content and they don't (usually) respond anyway.  Best option is a support request.

And as posted above - I'm also a Workflowy user. It's not an either / or situation - you're allowed to use both...

[JDG Lab 0]

With this feature becoming so commonplace in user interfaces, I'm guessing Evernote doesn't have a good measure of business lost owing to its lag on this, both actual and potential, else it would have been addressed long ago.

[PinkElephant 5,515]

Obviously EN is doing fine without, else they might have implemented it a long time ago … 

If you want to add your vote to the request, use the voting function at the top of the thread. I did so quite a while ago …

[Boot17 664]

19 hours ago, JDG Lab said:

I'm guessing Evernote doesn't have a good measure of business lost owing to its lag on this, both actual and potential, else it would have been addressed long ago

I kind of doubt they could have implemented it consistently across platforms pre v10. Maybe the inability to create this feature then is precisely along the same reasoning for moving to the v10 model.

Stuck in a quagmire of legacy tech debt and getting their lunch eaten by new competitors, EN puts all effort into the new v10. It is released and there are is a ton of legacy tech debt to resolve and address... lots of fires to put out. They also wanted to get some big wins with the new version after that -- and for them that was Tasks and Calendar integration. A synchronization overhaul is now also already underway.

Perhaps they do have a measure of business lost due to this feature not being implemented and it pales in comparison to other things they felt they had to do first.

I'd give it some time first since v10 is still relatively new. We may yet see it.

[gazumped 9,806]

52 minutes ago, Bill C said:

I suspect if it were developed it would not be Windows specific.

One of the many reasons for Evernote developing v10 a couple of years ago was to unify the appearance and features of the app across all clients and all supported operating systems.  If collapsing outlines or headings are ever introduced,  then it will be across the board.

[ChrstnaLne 5]

On 7/12/2018 at 7:32 AM, CraigD said:

Dear Evernote Dev Team,

I am an long-time Evernote Premium user, fan and advocate. It is part of my daily workflow, for hours per day I might add. You guys have done a wonderful job with this product and my hat goes off to you... However, this feature would be HUGE to me, and apparently many others. PLEASE consider adding this feature sooner than later. As mentioned, I am loyal but I have begun to research alternatives that would offer this feature. I really don't want to switch though. just being honest You guys rock!!!

Best Regards, Craig

I have to agree, collapsible sections/headers would be a great feature. It's been 3 years since this post, and it appears to be showing great support at 855 votes. Does anyone know if this has been taken into consideration by the development team?

[agsteele 1,834]

4 hours ago, ChrstnaLne said:

Does anyone know if this has been taken into consideration by the development team

I doubt that this is anywhere near the top of the list of things to work on. But Evernote doesn't comment publicly on its plans.

[matthieu. 4]

I miss that for years now, and considering using Notion as Evernote never reply to this kind of request

[gazumped 9,806]

2 hours ago, matthieu. said:

I miss that for years now, and considering using Notion as Evernote never reply to this kind of request

Evernote's version 10 was a response to hundreds of user requests for a client that looked and behaved the same on all devices,  including the web.  They added calendars and tasks and many other features for the same reason.  The fact they didn't (yet) get around to your specific interest doesn't mean they are ignoring it.  And Evernote hardly ever respond to feature requests here...

[ChrstnaLne 5]

7 hours ago, agsteele said:

I doubt that this is anywhere near the top of the list of things to work on. But Evernote doesn't comment publicly on its plans.

That's very interesting. Why is this forum here...

[WilliamL 368]

17 minutes ago, ChrstnaLne said:

That's very interesting. Why is this forum here...

For users to ask questions, get help where possible from other users and to discuss Evernote.  

[ChrstnaLne 5]

1 hour ago, WilliamL said:

For users to ask questions, get help where possible from other users and to discuss Evernote.  

lol more specifically, why is there a feature request. I hope they view these

[Boot17 664]

1 hour ago, WilliamL said:

For users to ask questions, get help where possible from other users and to discuss Evernote.

Yeah - this is the best place that I've found online to get tips. tricks and workarounds from other users about Evernote and to discuss Evernote in general.

Just now, ChrstnaLne said:

lol more specifically, why is there a feature request. I hope they view these

I think it's just to separate the "problem/bug issues" discussions from the "feature requests" discussions.

I think they do view them as I've seen Staff comment here and there, but like @agsteele said, they rarely comment on feature things they might be working on...

Do companies broadcast features they are planning to implement? If I had to guess I'd think some do (especially smaller or startup companies), but probably most don't.

 

[gazumped 9,806]

36 minutes ago, Boot17 said:

Do companies broadcast features they are planning to implement?

In general,  that would be a hard 'no'.  In any competitive market everyone is going to be adding new features and worrying that the company down the road will hit on some far better idea. It takes time to develop something new,  and if you let everyone know up front that you're working on a new picture widget,  not only is your competition is going to start working on the same thing,  but...

• existing users who want something else will complain endlessly that you're prioritizing the wrong thing.
• existing users who want this feature will demand that you include their particular workflow.
• everyone will want to know when the new feature will be ready - especially your competition who'll want to launch before you.
• should you make the launch on time there's a good chance everyone will have been playing with the competition's version for a while and think it's much better than yours
• should you encounter problems and be late to launch,  your staff will be inundated with demands that the new feature be released now

Or.  You could keep very quiet and let the new feature be a pleasant surprise when it is launched.  At least any fuss happens after the release date!

(I used to work in R&D...)

[WilliamL 368]

1 hour ago, ChrstnaLne said:

lol more specifically, why is there a feature request. I hope they view these

Staff do come into the forum and respond to things every now and then, so yeah i think they are aware of what users are asking for. How much of that makes it into the product and the timeframe of that, that’s Evernote’s call. 

[PinkElephant 5,515]

On 8/16/2022 at 6:07 PM, ChrstnaLne said:

lol more specifically, why is there a feature request. I hope they view these

LOL maybe to make users ask „but why is there a feature request“. You ask the wrong people here, go ask EN support. You will get a nicely worded and very „flexible“ answer, I think.

From our observation EN staff seems to be too busy to usually hang around here.

[Mannato 0]

I think the best way to implement this is just like OneNote does. Any bulleted list is collapsible

[ChrstnaLne 5]

On 8/18/2022 at 4:15 PM, PinkElephant said:

LOL maybe to make users ask „but why is there a feature request“. You ask the wrong people here, go ask EN support. You will get a nicely worded and very „flexible“ answer, I think.

From our observation EN staff seems to be too busy to usually hang around here.

Feature request: EN Forum Administrator.

I came from an environment like Craft and Walling. It was very easy to submit bugs, feature requests and questions. It was also nice being heard and having your suggestions acknowledged by a member of the team. They were transparent with their plans and had a public roadmap. Maybe this is how they are competing with EN.

[PinkElephant 5,515]

The feature request is „toggle list“ - not „do it as the others do“.

You can open your own „do it as the others do“ thread.

[agsteele 1,834]

31 minutes ago, ChrstnaLne said:

Feature request: EN Forum Administrator.

I came from an environment like Craft and Walling. It was very easy to submit bugs, feature requests and questions. It was also nice being heard and having your suggestions acknowledged by a member of the team. They were transparent with their plans and had a public roadmap. Maybe this is how they are competing with EN.

My colleague may have been a little short with you.  However, it can become frustrating when folk jump on the back of other discussions and ask questions which go off on a tangent to the one proposed. Suffice to say that these forums are only other users helping one another.  Occasionally Evernote staff do pop by but it is infrequent that they join in the conversation. 

By all means open a thread which discusses how bugs and feature requests are heard - perhaps in the General Feature Requests area. You are unlikely to get a response from Evernote but staff may notice it as they pass by. In that area other users will be able to add their vote to your idea if they want to support it.

[Just somedood 0]

I'll create an outline note with links to all of my top level items then click on those and bring links or copies of/from those into items into the outline note.  If I do copies I can edit the info to be most updated and summarized better. 

Yes, it would be nice to do hide/show subnotes.

You can put a structure together with tagging too to get something a little more dynamic and almost like the standard outline feature but still not quite and a bit of a pain.

I feel like evernote used to do this like about 10 years ago...

 

[RImbaud 1]

Expandable sections is absolutely essential functionality that OneNote does very well and is far more important to me than the new barebones Task system.  I cannot move from Evernote easily as I have 15 years of Notes.

[gazumped 9,806]

6 minutes ago, RImbaud said:

I cannot move from Evernote easily as I have 15 years of Notes.

Similar situation here,  but if I did decide to move 1) it wouldn't be One note* and 2) I'd probably live with having two lookups - one in Evernote and one elsewhere.  Most of my (almost) 60,000 notes are reference material and archived stuff,  with about 5% (maybe) relating to ongoing activity.

I'd use a triage system to move the 5% - as each new topic comes up I'd copy the old notes across to my new system - either in total or via a comprehensive "previously on" summary.  That would add a one-time hour or so extra to my initial processing for that topic,  following which it's entirely on the new system. 

I have maybe 100 active projects,  so in a week or two I'd have all current (and new) activity on the 'other' system.  I can downgrade my account to Free and go from there.

Compare that with trying to convert 60,000 notes to a new format - it'd take a week just to get the notes across,  plus careful editing to fix obvious errors and ensure data wasn't lost...  And I'd still probably check the new system against the old one for another year to make sure some notes hadn't hit a black hole along the way.  I'd do no other work for a week or more and still be unsure of where I stood...

And oddly I am a big user of expandable notes - I've built up a substantial account on Workflowy which is a deceptively simple - looking outline app.  It now acts as my data index,  linking back into Evernote (and some Cloud drives) for more in-depth document storage.  WF runs in my browser and can jump me to standard texts and/ or links into Evernote,  and Evernote can jump me direct to index entries for given topics in Workflowy.

WF also has desktop and mobile clients and runs in Linux - check it out here 

* The architecture is too different! 

[bbrito 0]

It's easier to migrate to Nimbus Note that Evernote implement toggle lists.

[gazumped 9,806]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:46 AM, bbrito said:

It's easier to migrate to Nimbus Note that Evernote implement toggle lists.

 

 

[Krachan 0]

Seriously the only thing really missing from Evernote. 

I realize that Evernote isn't designed as a "bullet-style" notetaking app, but for taking quality notes, and using your notetaking as a thinking enhancement, you really can't live without proper outline style notetaking, which includes collapsible lists.

Hugely missing feature currently! I ditched Evernote because of (and came back IN SPITE OF) the lack of this feature. It's hugely important to me

[gazumped 9,806]

On 10/23/2022 at 6:13 AM, Krachan said:

It's hugely important to me

I find bullet lists useful too - as well as being a daily Evernote user I'm a Workflowy user which is handy because links to Evernote notes and Workflowy sections can be buried anywhere - like here.  The two apps complement each other in my workflow,,,

[Jeremy Gentles 0]

This is probably the one feature that prevents me from committing to EN 100%. 

[Krachan 0]

On 10/24/2022 at 6:08 PM, gazumped said:

I find bullet lists useful too - as well as being a daily Evernote user I'm a Workflowy user which is handy because links to Evernote notes and Workflowy sections can be buried anywhere - like here.  The two apps complement each other in my workflow,,,

I've also used WF quite a lot, it has a lot of strengths in a simple package. Honestly I'd not be using EN at all, if WF had a better mobile app and searchable text in photos :p 

My problem with it was mainly that it wasn't "version" focused, ie either I'd rewrite something loosing older history/versions of it. Or I'd spent a lot of time manually restructuring and coping thing to give myself record of past solutions and decisions. 

 

[gazumped 9,806]

21 minutes ago, Krachan said:

Honestly I'd not be using EN at all, if WF had a better mobile app and searchable text in photos

Yeah - most of my Evernote notes have attachments and Workflowy doesn't handle third party file storage very well either - theirs are not readable inline,  and have to be downloaded to edit.  But using WF as an 'index' mirroring my 300+ notebook names (with links back to the EN notes) and making quick notes in WF under that heading means I can use the best features of both.  And because I can link and mirror from and to anywhere in WF,  if I need an EN note to be in three places I can file it in all three places in WF to maximise the chance of my fading memory coming up with the correct names.

[CalS 5,030]

After I left EN I started saving images to PDF to enable indexing when need be.  I now use Windows Indexing and search to find things.  I now use WF for notetaking and task management and use links between WF and my file store.  FWIW.

[Caladrio 8]

This request is marked as "solved" by an answer that says, "While this does not mean this is a feature that will be coming, we certainly want to relay user feedback/sentiment to our various teams."

I'm assuming it being categorized as "solved" make it unlikely that anybody's working on it, despite it being an incredibly simple request that was made ELEVEN YEARS AGO.  It's also an extremely simple request that many users would find extremely useful.  A LOT of Evernote users have switched over to Notion, and this kind of stalwart resistance to even the simplest improvement is just mystifying.  It just doesn't bode well for a company when your customers are frequently made to feel vaguely like suckers for continuing go give you their business.

Requested in 2011. Marked as solved in 2019. Another three years and no action taken.

Seriously?

[PinkElephant 5,515]

„Solved“ just means that the user request was answered - not that an underlying request was implemented.

Seriously …

[Caladrio 8]

If your point is that they use the word "solved" disingenuously, I concur.  That certainly isn't how the word is used in real life.

[Dave-in-Decatur 2,213]

3 hours ago, Caladrio said:

This request is marked as "solved" by an answer that says, "While this does not mean this is a feature that will be coming, we certainly want to relay user feedback/sentiment to our various teams."

I'm assuming it being categorized as "solved" make it unlikely that anybody's working on it, despite it being an incredibly simple request that was made ELEVEN YEARS AGO.  It's also an extremely simple request that many users would find extremely useful.  A LOT of Evernote users have switched over to Notion, and this kind of stalwart resistance to even the simplest improvement is just mystifying.  It just doesn't bode well for a company when your customers are frequently made to feel vaguely like suckers for continuing go give you their business.

Requested in 2011. Marked as solved in 2019. Another three years and no action taken.

Seriously?

Clearly a lot of people would like to see this improvement, and find Evernote less useful without it. I get that part. I myself have little use for and no interest in having collapsible lists. I'm confident that I'm not alone, and I hope that others will get that. What I don't get is the implication that Evernote's developers are either incompetent or uninterested in what users need. Evernote is very different from what it was in 2011. A number of things were implemented in the change to v. 10, although that rollout was incredibly clumsily and prematurely handled IMHO. Since the rollout, many things initially missing in or wrong with v. 10 have been added or fixed.

Maybe the answer is (a) it looks simple when it works right, but it's not that easy to get it to work right in Evernote's specific development environment, which has to work on Android phones, etc., as well as Windows desktops; or (b) despite this long and loud thread, this improvement is not important enough to enough existing and potential users to get top priority; or (c) sync issues, which have even more numerous and louder threads on these forums, are a critical problem to which large resources are being devoted, and other things will have to wait; or (d) none of us really  knows what's going on in Evernote's development plans, and while frustrating, this is actually normal.

If Evernote gets collapsible lists going at some point, yay, I'll maybe even find a use for them, and hundreds or thousands of users will truly benefit. If Evernote doesn't get cross-platform sync and note duplication issues fixed PDQ, then they really may be in trouble. But for reference, search the forums for "Evernote is dying" or the like and sort the results by date.

[agsteele 1,834]

5 hours ago, Caladrio said:

It's also an extremely simple request that many users would find extremely useful.

I'm not sure that it necessarily is an easy request. Easy to say and describe but I cannot say what would be needed in the editor to achieve it. Neither do we know who marked the answer as solved. It is usually the original poster of the question. In any case that resolution related to the old, now unsupported version of Evernote. I'd recommend you raise the issue with Evernote devs via Feedback or a Support ticket to get attention for the current version of Evernote apps.

[Bestranger 0]

It's very sad how the developers only consider the community useless. The community can write, a request, but unless you stop paying the premium, they probably won't even deal with it. This app has not brought any innovations to date since I started using it in 2012.

[agsteele 1,834]

I doubt that you could support that claim with evidence. There have been a number of new developments since 2020.

Unless you are still using the older version of the application. In that case download and use version 10.

Of course the new features/functions may not be what you need which I fully accept is the case for some.

[LukaszK 0]

+1 from premium user if it only make difference for evernote team

[MartinKu 0]

Please add this collapse/expand functionality 🙂👍

[Swader 0]

Hello Evernote Team,

I wanted to lend my voice to the many users who feel that being able to collapse sections of a note would be a huge boon to workflows and managing information. 

Thank you!