note link change

[Brent R. Coyle M.D. 1]

I am using Evernote Legacy  7.14.1 on a MacBook Air M1 processor running Monterey 12.3.1, and it seems the "copy note link" function has changed recently. It previously would display the note NAME when pasted elsewhere. It now resembles the "copy sharable link" (although not the same). The NAME is much more helpful to me. Is it some setting that got changed?

Related question. The given keyboard shortcut for "copy note link" has never worked. I could use a keyboard maestro shortcut, but I was also curious. 

I appreciate any help you can provide. 

Brent R. Coyle, M.D.  

[gazumped 11,713]

Hi.  Evernote's systems may have changed,  but since Legacy is now deprecated on all systems it's most unlikely that the app itself has been updated.  Using v10 I have a similar issue in that if I copy the App Link and paste it outside Evernote I get the URL,  not the note title.  However if I paste it in a note I get the title.  The code used for the link itself may have been updated.  My fix is to paste the link into its own note (though you could use any note with the same result...) and then copy and paste that entry text (including the link) to the required external destination.  It requires an extra operation,  but it does work.

[AlbertR 550]

I don't know what "Legacy" on a MacBook means (as version #) as I'm a Windows user. But if I remember correct, some features of the last pre-V10-version have been changed in Legacy after V10 has been released. One of these features has been the format and handling of (internal) note links - according to what you described.

This was done not only by changing functionality of Evernote.exe. Format and structure of the Windows clipboard and some registry settings were changed to allow other programs to paste EN's links appropriate to possibilies of the paste-destination programs.

For example: a plain text editor (like Notepad) takes the URL portion of the link in paste operations. More intelligent programs that support HTML-formatted links take the NAME together with  the URL behind to form a clickable link.

On Windows we've no Keyboard Maesto from Microsoft - but may use a small program "AutoHotKey" to map keyboard shortcuts to special functionality. Maybe an AHK-crack is able to implements a workaround like @gazumped has described before 😉

 

[agsteele 2,957]

Nothing has changed in the Legacy program since it was locked down prior to the launch of Evernote v10. However, some things change in v10 which the Legacy program does not support. For example a Checklist created in v10 will display as bullet points in Legacy. Tasks and calendars are not supported in Legacy and will not display.

The note link function in Legacy has not changed since v10 was released but other programs may interpret what is being pasted because their own updates. For example, it is possible that Microsoft has updated its Word program so that when a note link is pasted NOW the URL is displayed and not the note name. Or you need to do a special paste or similar.

So explore what else may have changed. For sure the Legacy program has not been touched or improved since 2020 when v10 was released.

[gazumped 11,713]

29 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

but may use a small program "AutoHotKey" to map keyboard shortcuts to special functionality.

For the record "Legacy" is any of the old pre-v10 Evernote versions.  Autohotkey is kind've a sledgehammer if you're just looking to run a few keystrokes - any text expander (Phrase Express,  Textexpander) should work - do a web search for a list.  I think you'd still need human keypresses - even AHK isn't going to easily find a blank space in an Evernote note to paste into and copy from...

[AlbertR 550]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:52 PM, gazumped said:

For the record "Legacy" is any of the old pre-v10 Evernote versions.

Hmm, Evernote itself calls 6.25.2.9198 "LEGACY" in its Help dialog. This is an apapted pre-V10 version wheres really older (not adaped) versions does not carry a "LEGACY" name.

On 10/29/2022 at 6:52 PM, gazumped said:

Autohotkey is kind've a sledgehammer

For me it is  a scalpel that i.e. inserts current and other dates (related to now) in a pretty formed format and may other helpfull things 😉 . But you maybe right: It's somewhat exaggerated for simple use cases...

[AlbertR 550]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:44 PM, agsteele said:

For sure the Legacy program has not been touched or improved since 2020 when v10 was released.

O-Oh - I think during installation procedures of pre-V10, Legacy and V10 there have been some changes to softly force users to use V10...

One example: In older versions a user was able to cut & paste text with internal URLs to foreign documents like Word or OneNote. By clicking on such URLs from outside (means: inside OneNote i.e.), the destination note opened in Evernote.exe (IIRC because the link started with "evernote:" that forced Windows to search for the propper handler programm - Evernote.exe).

If you paste such an URL from Legacy to Legacy, the "evernote:" prefix is retained. If you click on it in Legacy, you will reach the destination note in Legacy 👍. This is done internally to Legacy whilst clicking on such an URL link.

If you paste such an URL from Legacy to V10, the "evernote:"-prefix is changed to "https://www.evernote.com/..." . If you click on it in V10, you will reach the destination note in your browser - not in V10 and not in Legacy 👎. At least this (pasting "interally" URL to Windows' clipboard to enable other applications to retrieve it as "https:"-prefixed addresses) has been changed from pre-V10-EN to LEGACY.

If you open a note containing an "evernote:"-link in V10 (even if a Legacy window is open in parallel), the destination note opens in V10 🤔. OK, this makes sense if V10 is installed and open. But there is no possibility force any program (including EN-V10) to open destination note in Legacy. I guess Legacy does not change registry settings for that if V10 has been installed anytime on a maschine... 😞

[gazumped 11,713]

6 hours ago, AlbertR said:

If you open a note containing an "evernote:"-link in V10 (even if a Legacy window is open in parallel), the destination note opens in V10 

If you open a link in an external note and want it to open in Legacy,  you'd need to close down v10.  And in any event since Legacy and v10 are effectively different entities that just happen to share the same device,  with syncing going from Legacy <> Server <> v10,  I wouldn't willingly have both open at the same time anyway.  Sometimes you just have to pick one and get on with it...

[AlbertR 550]

I'm working >95% of my time with Legacy but have in mind they plan to really force me to use V10 anytime in future. So I try to work with V10 from time to time just to check whether it may fit to my needs. Up to now this is not the case.

It's not a good idea (to me) to have different machines to check out V10 because it should work together with all other stuff.

[gazumped 11,713]

23 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

It's not a good idea (to me) to have different machines to check out V10

No one is suggesting that you should do so,  but since the apps keep separate databases both connected with the server (unless you opt out of v10 offline working) and a change in one app has to sync out and back again to appear in the other,  having both open at the same time seems a step too far IMHO.  I'd have a session on one and hold over jobs to be done on the other until I can close the first app and open the second... 

[AlbertR 550]

Yes of course (it works - but is confusing 😉). But even if I close V10 and have Legacy open and running, an Evernote:-Link opens in V10 (which is restarted by windows) - so I cannot use Evernote:-Links to jump from outside to Legacy 😞 - that's my (OK - not biggest) problem...

[gazumped 11,713]

18 hours ago, AlbertR said:

Evernote:-Link opens in V10 (which is restarted by windows)

Hmmn.  That's probably a Windows issue - v10 must show as the default app for opening evernote: links.  Fixable (probably) with a little scripting,  (to switch default apps) but still a nuisance.  Hadn't thought about that...

[AlbertR 550]

Ha - I found a solution to open evernote:-links in Legacy even if V10 is installed: You have to modify registry key 

• HKCR\evernote\shell\open\command to point to Legacy's installation path
• "C:\Program Files (x86)\Evernote\Evernote Legacy\Evernote.exe" "%1" 🙂

But: Everytime V10 is started it changes this key back to its installation path 😞

 

... Fixable (probably) with a little scripting ...

 

Yes - if You use a startup script that first changes the registry and then starts Legacy, ...

 

... but still a nuisance.

 

Yes - because you cannot use V10 in parallel as it changes the registry key every time by itself 😤

 

They want to force us onto V10 with all their might. 😢

[gazumped 11,713]

28 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

They want to force us onto V10 with all their might. 😢

There's no 'forcing' other than by circumstance.  Evernote gave everyone due notice that they aren't supporting legacy apps,  and if they need to ensure the new app has specific accesses and their actions overwrite legacy code,  that's just evolution in action.  MacOS's latest update seems to be causing some issue with Legacy too,  and no doubt iOS, Windows and Android will update their respective OS's,  possibly causing conflicts - as will Chrome, Firefox et.al.  We know Legacy has a very limited shelf life.  Have to embrace v10 or move on...

[AlbertR 550]

OK, one last try to keep me carrying on with Legacy - before getting calm on this 😉
Here's my script to startup Legacy:

'
'. Register EN as handler for evernote:-URLs - then start EN-Legacy itself

    image = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Evernote\Evernote Legacy\Evernote.exe"
    key = "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\evernote\shell\open\command\"
    value = """" & image & """ ""%1"""

    Set sh = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    sh.RegWrite key, value, "REG_SZ"
    sh.Exec image

 

[jtpicard 8]

another problem with copying note link--tasks

unlike copying into another notes (e.g. a table of content or a note with a list/checklist), when I copy a link (in-app) for a note in to a task (so it has contextual information), it doesn't appear as the note title, it appears as the evernote note title/name, it appears as the evernote database URL (much longer and not as informative).