Web Clipper randomly closing

[CorsairKM 4]

I am using Evernote's web clipper as a Chrome extension on my Windows 10 desktop and my Macbook Pro. In both cases, over the last few weeks it often happens to me that the clipper decides to shut down either in the middle of me taking notes and highlights on a particular link, or specifically when I try to change the notebook to which I wish to save a particular set of notes/highlights. It is extremely frustrating, particularly where it refers to long articles I've been reading, because then it brings me back to the start and I have to re-read the article and make the notes from scratch. It really is a deal-breaker for me and I am thinking of cancelling my subscription if this is not fixed soon.

 

Grateful for any advice anyone might have on whether there is something that I am doing wrong, or it's a bug that others have faced as well. 

 

Thanks! 

[Kimberly Purcell 341]

There were some updates to WC a little while back to add the TASKS feature and after that time many people have had to reinstall the extension and log-in fresh. I had to do it myself. 

Try removing WC, doing a fresh install into your chrome browser and log-in again. See if that doesn't help. 

If not, you'll need to enter a support ticket. 

[CorsairKM 4]

My apologies if my post was unclear or confusing.

Below is an attempt for me to reproduce my experience, I hope it is helpful:

1. I open a random article on the internet;

2. I open the web clipper, which displays over the article

3. I usually use the 'simplified article' format

[PROBLEM #1 - Sometimes the console is minimized and I have no way of opening it to the full extent, I click the arrows in the upper right corner but there is no reaction]

4. I read the article and highlight parts that I find interesting or important to remember;

[Problem #2 - it sometimes happens to me that in the middle of doing the highlights, the web clipper just decides to shut down and takes me back to the original article. if I just reopen the web clipper, I obviously have to start the highlighting process all over] 

5. In the web clipper console, I choose the notebook under which I want the clipping saved ("Save to")

6. In the web clipper console, I choose tags that I want to add to the clipping

[PROBLEM #3 - sometimes when I hit 'enter' to add a tag, instead of adding the tag and letting me add a second tag or opting to save the article - the console just closes without actually even saving the clipping, which means that I have to start over]

[Problem #4 - beyond the issues described above, sometimes when I do manage to get to the point of clicking 'Save' - it gets stuck at "Saving your clip" and remains like that for minutes on end - which has not always happened]

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I have made sure that I am using the latest version of Chrome, in case it might be a compatibility issue.

 

I hope some of this is helpful. I can try to record my screen while doing this and hope to catch the glitches like that. 

 

Thanks in advance! 

[Paul A. 615]

6 hours ago, CorsairKM said:

4. I read the article and highlight parts that I find interesting or important to remember;

I'm sorry that I don't have a suggestion for your issues, but I just wanted to say that I've used the Web Clipper for years and never realized that I could highlight text prior to clipping! 🤯 This will be very useful; thank you!!

[PinkElephant 8,092]

Are you talking about the web clipper, or the web client ?

You say „clipper“, but for me it sounds like the client.

[CorsairKM 4]

Hi!

I am quite sure I am referring to the web clipper (the Chrome extension).

[agsteele 2,944]

I'm sure that you know what you are doing but your initial description also seemed to me to be describing an issue with the Evernote browser interface rather than the web clipper.

I'm sorry to be dense, could you describe in steps how we might reproduce what you are experiencing? 

Will be happy to respond with hopefully useful insight.

[CorsairKM 4]

Thank you very much, Kimberly! 

I just reinstalled the extension as you advised and if the first article I've tested it on is any indication - it has worked! I will write back here in case the problem resurfaces.

Meanwhile, I am in touch with the support team in case they might find clues that help others as well. 

[Kimberly Purcell 341]

8 minutes ago, CorsairKM said:

Thank you very much, Kimberly! 

I just reinstalled the extension as you advised and if the first article I've tested it on is any indication - it has worked! I will write back here in case the problem resurfaces.

Meanwhile, I am in touch with the support team in case they might find clues that help others as well. 

Excellent - you're very welcome. 

 

[PinkElephant 8,092]

@CorsairKM Most of what you posted to me looks like it is related to an existing online access to the connected EN account. Web Clipper has access to the account through the API. Many actions in the background send a request at the account through the API, and uses the answer in the clipping process. If this is not stable, it probably can cause the clipper to crash (which would be bad design, but still …).

How solid is the internet connection your are using ? Not only in terms of speed, but in quality parameters like Ping, Jitter and Latency as well.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

7 hours ago, CorsairKM said:

Thank you very much, Kimberly! 

I just reinstalled the extension as you advised and if the first article I've tested it on is any indication - it has worked! I will write back here in case the problem resurfaces.

Meanwhile, I am in touch with the support team in case they might find clues that help others as well. 

Good news.

These extension problems are a pain to troubleshoot. If the problem comes back:

1. Fresh reboot. Then run a bare-bones browser (I think you said FireFox?) with scripting enabled and only the EN extension enabled, try to reproduce.
2. Fresh reboot. Then run a bare-bones alt. browser (Safari? Think you said Mac) with scripting enabled and only the EN extension enabled, try to reproduce.
3. See if it is related to how long you spend in the Web Clipper. Try not putting much content in your notes but leaving it open for a while before saving the clip.
4. See if it is related to how much you put in the notes section of the clipper dialog box. I don't think it is meant to have more than a few lines.
5. See if it is related to how large the article is. Try clipping and annotating a small article.
6. Include screen shoots if you're still having trouble.
7. YMMV good luck and write back what you find. Include screen-shots!

[CorsairKM 4]

@PinkElephant I don't expect that the quality of the connection should be an issue. I'm attaching a Speedtest screenshot in case that might be of any help.

Many thanks, @John in Michigan USA, I will indeed try running a bare bones alternative browser to check (I am using Chrome). I know it is not related to the notes (because I never add notes, only highlights and tags) and it is not related to size as some of these problems have surfaced on articles as big as thousands of words, or as big as dozens.

I will try to catch screenshots and post some back here in the coming days if it comes back.

Thanks so much to everyone for lending a hand to help out! 

[John in Michigan USA 129]

On 3/15/2023 at 8:13 AM, CorsairKM said:

4. I read the article and highlight parts that I find interesting or important to remember;

If I want to highlight parts of an article, I clip it, sync, and then make highlights in the resulting EN note using the EN editor.

I didn't know you can (if I'm understanding correctly) highlight part(s) of an article in your browser and then have those same highlights appear in the EN note that the Web Clipper tells the server to create on your behalf. When you say highlight, do you mean applying some formatting (.e.g. changing the text background color) to the article while displayed in simplified article format? Or do you mean just selecting the text with the mouse then leaving it in the selected state when you hit save in the clipper window? Either way, I didn't realize the clipper was smart enough to pass those highlights on to the server.
 

[a3dho3yn 0]

I removed the WC and installed it again, but again it suddenly closed in the middle of reading and highlighting an article 😞

Edge / Mac OS 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,954]

On 4/6/2023 at 7:28 PM, a3dho3yn said:

I removed the WC and installed it again, but again it suddenly closed in the middle of reading and highlighting an article 😞

Edge / Mac OS 

Welcome to the forums. Can you say a little more about the process you are using? The normal process with the Web Clipper is to clip the article to Evernote and do any highlighting, etc., there. I'm not sure how "reading and highlighting" in the Web Clipper itself would happen.

[PinkElephant 8,092]

If I use "Screenshot" instead of "Article" to clip, I can use the annotation tools known from the app itself, as from Skitch. But since it makes a picture first, I don't think this is a good method to keep on reading while annotating.

 

When I use the other options (not the screenshot), I can't pick from tools, but I can simply select a text, and it will change the font color and highlight it at the same time.

It looks as if the original page would be altered, but in fact it is a (cached ?) copy of the page that is manipulated. 

 

In the web clip stored in the EN account it looks like this:

 

Even if I simplify the web clip, the highlighting is kept:

 

[PinkElephant 8,092]

Conclusion: The highlighting while reading works, but it works on a cached version of the page, not the original. This means a copy of the HTML is kept in local memory, and the highlighting takes place by altering the HTML code of the page while it is held by the web clipper.

Any little disturbance will probably cause the cached and "fluid" content to be destroyed. Maybe there is an upper limit to the volume of data and/or changes the web clipper can handle before it becomes unstable. Troubleshooting this will be difficult, my personal bet would be a network lapse.

The safer approach is to clip without annotating, then simplify the clip and use the editing tools available in the EN app to annotate the clipped content.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,954]

Thanks, @PinkElephant. I don't use screenshot clipping, hence my confusion. I agree, much safer to clip what one wants to clip, then do highlighting, etc., in Evernote.