Evernote is now HORRIBLE for bulk actions… And why.

[TheMagicWombat 68]

If you use Evernote in a linear pattern of storing information and rarely reclassifying it or moving said information records around, this probably does not apply to you.  If, however, you do a lot of research, and your work method has you reclassifying and retagging or mass moving and deleting, the new version of Evernote runs at roughly 1/190th the speed of the older Evernote Legacy.  (At least that was my number when I tested bulk actions on New Evernote and legacy.)

Perform this simple test yourself:

In Evernote Legacy:

1.    Create a TEMP tag
2.    Select 1,000 records. 
3.    Retag the 1,000 records with a timer running.
4.    When it is done retagging, stop the timer, and record how many seconds it took.

In New Evernote:

1.    Create a TEMP tag
2.    Select 1,000 records. 
3.    Except you can’t tag 1,000 records at a time. Because new Evernote is so slow at any bulk actions, the developers have made it impossible to work with more than 50 records at a time for bulk actions. That means to retag 1,000 records, you will have to manually retag 50 records 20 times. So….
4.    Select 50 records.
5.    Retag the 50 records with a timer running.
6.    When it is done retagging, stop the timer, and record how many seconds it took.
7.    Take than number and multiply it by 20—that is how long in Evernote time it would take to retag those 1,000 records. (And that is NOT counting your overhead in manually performing what should be a single select action 20 times!)

Divide the Legacy results into the New version results. That is how much slower new Evernote runs for bulk actions.

My results are that for bulk actions new Evernote runs at 1/190th the speed of Legacy.

A lot of people will state that you have an “old machine” or your broadband that is sufficient for video conferences isn’t fast enough for Evernote, or your graphics card isn’t fast enough to update New Evernote like it should. These are all excuses and not factual. New Evernote and Evernote Legacy running side by side on the same machine will show that the new Evernote is horribly slow for bulk actions, and the reason is that for every change made in a bulk action your records must be processed like this:

1.    A change is made to record #1 on your computer.
2.    Evernote program contacts the Evernote servers over the Internet and tells it of the change.
3.    Evernote server then modifies the record there.
4.    Evernote sever then sends over the Internet information to the Evernote program that the update has been made. 
5.    Change is now made to record #2 on your computer.
6.    Evernote program contacts the Evernote servers over the Internet and tells it of the change.
7.    Evernote server then modifies the record there.
8.    Evernote sever then sends over the Internet information to the Evernote program that the update has been made. 
9.    Change is now made to record #3 on your…

Oh, you get the idea—just multiply the above steps by 1000 and you have a clear picture of why new Evernote is so horrible with bulk actions compared to Legacy—Legacy does all the actions on your computer, and then processes a sync update copying your database file to the remote server as one file upload, and in the background. (And just to prove your internet speed is fine, this action normally only takes a few seconds for syncing your ENTIRE database with Legacy.)

In short, retagging or moving or any other bulk action in Evernote now treats each change as a unique Internet communication event. Retag 50 records and your computer must communicate with the Evernote servers 100 times. Retag 1,000 records and… well… You have to manually retag 50 groups of records a total of 20 times and then wait for 2,000 internet communications (1 out, 1 in) to take place, along with all the overhead that involves with your machine, the internet hops, and the Evernote servers.

But don’t take my word for it—grab a copy of Legacy and run your own test. 

If you don’t do bulk actions, as I have said, this doesn’t affect you. If you do bulk actions, then you have some deciding to do whether or not Evernote is still usable for you.