Ventura 13.3: Missing PDF Plugin when trying to show note with PDF

[gadget 23]

Hi,

I upgraded to Ventura 13.3 today and now Evernote  7.14.1 does no longer shows PDFs in Notes but complains about "Missing Plugin". Is there a workaround for this ? I know Evernote 7 is no longer supported, but I still have not found the time to move all my notes to a different note keeping app. Evernote 10+ is not an option, I need a soltution that allows me to have all my notes accessible while offline.

 

TIA.

[gazumped 11,677]

Hi.  The missing plugin is presumably to display the PDF,  which should be available in the database.  If you can verify that through the web browser you can at least be confident the information is waiting for you to export it to another provider.  7.14 though is no longer supported and will not be updated to follow the new OS.  v10 is the only option for offline access if you need it...

[gadget 23]

Yes, the notes are fine. I see the pdfs in Evernote Web and in the mobile app. It still worked until I upgraded to Ventura 13.3 today. Everything was fine with 13.0 (welll almost fine:  that anoying resize Error was there, but hitting alt-cmd-s twice has become second nature to me). My Premium Subscription ends in a few months, looking into Paperless-ngx now.

[Heinrich 1]

I can't open Excel and Number spreadsheets and PDFs in Evernote notes. This applies to Evernote Legacy and the current Evernote version on
a MacBook. Can't find anything under "Help".  Evernote does seem to be of priority for Bending Spoons. Ciao. H.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

A PDF will open on a Mac in Preview, without any problems. Click on the PDF (it gets a blue border), click on the 3 dots above, click open.

All changes done in Preview will save into the PDF in the note, just hit "Save" (cmd-S). When done, hit "Close Window" (cmd-W) to make the changes save, close the PDF and return to EN.

Preview of Office documents is a subscribers feature, on the Teams and Professional plans. Opening an office document works the same as a pdf. It will open in your preferred app for the file type - in my case an XLSX-file will open in Mac Numbers. From Numbers it will not save back into the note, however. No idea with O365, I don't use it.

This is how it works for me, with Ventura 13.3 and the direct install EN 10.54. We always had issues with Macs that use the AppStore version instead of the direct install. AppStore software is the same code, but it runs in a sandbox. Usually it can be solved by changing some Security & Privacy settings - but the problems can return any time, either by updates of MacOS or when EN updates. The best solution is to uninstall the AppStore version (use the app AppCleaner, the uninstall via trash is not enough), and switch to the direct install.

About legacy I don't care anymore - it is known that with changing OS versions it will loose track. Since it has a display problem on Ventura, I finally decided to uninstall it. I can reclaim the disk space used by the double installation this way.

[gadget 23]

6 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

A PDF will open on a Mac in Preview, without any problems. Click on the PDF (it gets a blue border), click on the 3 dots above, click open.

 

Does not work here. Only way to show the PDF is opening the note in presentation Mode. I do not have Office and I do not use Microsoft File Formats.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

This is on the new client.

Do you have the AppStore version, or the direct install ? Which version of EN (although it worked for me in all versions, at least for more than a year) ? Which is your standard app for opening PDFs ?

[gadget 23]

My standard app for opening  PDF is MacOS Preview Version 11.0 (1044.2).

Evernote is Version 7.14.1 (458325 Direkt) from Evenrote Download (not AppStore).

Problem with "missing plugin" is since update to Ventura 13.3. Still worked with 13.1. So it may be something that was added  13.2, 13.2.1 or 13.3

Nothing supicious in the release notes or security notes, so it may be a tricky side effect.

 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Thanks.

What I described is with v10, not on the legacy client (7.14). The legacy client is deprecated, it does not receive any changes or support any longer. If an OS update breaks it, it is broken and will stay broken. If it still works for you in general, you can try as I suggested to fix it through Ventura Security & Privacy settings. If this doesn't work, you have to accept that the client has taken another step to the grave.

v10 is supported and can be downloaded from the EN website.

[gadget 23]

2 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

What I described is with v10, not on the legacy client (7.14).

That´s why I posted this in the V7.14 Section of the forum ... and asked for a possible workaround. I am aware of the EOL situation and I do not hope for a solution from Evernote but there still might be a workaround on OS level. V10 is not an option for me. I need to have a complete offline copy of my notes as Plan B when there is no cloud / internet or Evernote goes belly up.

[ohjasonj 28]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:17 AM, gadget said:

Hi,

I upgraded to Ventura 13.3 today and now Evernote  7.14.1 does no longer shows PDFs in Notes but complains about "Missing Plugin". Is there a workaround for this ? I know Evernote 7 is no longer supported, but I still have not found the time to move all my notes to a different note keeping app. Evernote 10+ is not an option, I need a soltution that allows me to have all my notes accessible while offline.

 

TIA.

Exactly the same issue for me. I much prefer 7.1.4 Legacy (hate the lack of decent fonts) and pdf's have worked fine til Ventura 13.3. All we want is to be able to see our docs. I've also a Premium member since the beginning of Evernote. I think this is the final straw that will finally make me bail on EN.

[gazumped 11,677]

12 minutes ago, ohjasonj said:

I think this is the final straw that will finally make me bail on EN.

It's not their fault that MacOS changed to make EN's now unsupported 'old' software suffer from this glitch - Evernote have a perfectly good v10 you can use if you choose to - Evernote Web may be a viable option since it has some older UI choices.  There may even be a solution within MacOS if you  can find it - but Evernote is very unlikely to continue to support an app for an unspecified -but likely small- number of users against unexpected changes from OS engineers.  Maybe try Mac support to see if they have any suggestions?

[ohjasonj 28]

1 minute ago, gazumped said:

It's not their fault that MacOS changed to make EN's now unsupported 'old' software suffer from this glitch - Evernote have a perfectly good v10 you can use if you choose to - Evernote Web pay be a viable option since it has some older UI choices.  There may even be a solution within MacOS if you  can find it - but Evernote is very unlikely to continue to support an app for an unspecified -but likely small- number of users against unexpected changes from OS engineers.  Maybe try Mac support to see if they have any suggestions?

If v10 was perfectly good everyone would be using it. OP is asking for help. Telling someone to use a different version or another program is not helpful. 

[gazumped 11,677]

1 minute ago, ohjasonj said:

Telling someone to use a different version or another program is not helpful.

Not even if it's the only help available?  Thanks for your opinion,  but if you have some actual help to give,  please do.

[ohjasonj 28]

5 hours ago, gadget said:

My standard app for opening  PDF is MacOS Preview Version 11.0 (1044.2).

Evernote is Version 7.14.1 (458325 Direkt) from Evenrote Download (not AppStore).

Problem with "missing plugin" is since update to Ventura 13.3. Still worked with 13.1. So it may be something that was added  13.2, 13.2.1 or 13.3

Nothing supicious in the release notes or security notes, so it may be a tricky side effect.

 

Trying to figure this out. I had hoped saving a .pdf with Adobe Reader instead of Preview would work but I get the same result -- missing plug-in. If I find a workaround I'll be sure to let you know.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Just reinstalled legacy to give it a try.

"Missing plugin" - I think this is another brick out of the wall. Since it was not necessary to install a plugin to make pdf Preview work, this will be a tricky thing to resolve. It is known that Apple frequently removes code from the OS, to avoid security issues caused by old, unsupported code. Probably this is the case here.

Maybe asking Apple support could be an approach.

[ohjasonj 28]

Just now, PinkElephant said:

Just reinstalled legacy to give it a try.

"Missing plugin" - I think this is another brick out of the wall. Since it was not necessary to install a plugin to make pdf Preview work, this will be a tricky thing to resolve. It is known that Apple frequently removes code from the OS, to avoid security issues caused by old, unsupported code. Probably this is the case here.

Ah. Thank you. That's helpful. Scouring what remains of the Apple Discussion boards it seems like 13.3 has caused a lot of issues with photos not displaying, video errors, etc. Perhaps a 13.3.1 will fix some of the latest issues. 

[Jan G. 2]

I have the same issue. Now I'm forced to work with the Electron app, that can't sort on tags. My whole workflow revolves around this...

[PinkElephant 8,127]

You better get your workflow adapted. I think this „missing plugin“ thing is there to stay.

You could try saved searches to find notes based on tags. Or switch from tags to Tasks, to define and select notes with open issues.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

On 3/30/2023 at 7:38 PM, ohjasonj said:

Ah. Thank you. That's helpful. Scouring what remains of the Apple Discussion boards it seems like 13.3 has caused a lot of issues with photos not displaying, video errors, etc. Perhaps a 13.3.1 will fix some of the latest issues. 

I have checked the German Apple Community.

Nothing (NOTHING means not a single posting) points into the direction you are suggesting. 13.3 does not cause trouble to users. Except maybe those few who insist on running deprecated, outdated software forever. These folks usually install an older MacOS in a VM, and use this little shielded, happy world for their hobby.

[keesje 5]

11 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

You better get your workflow adapted. I think this „missing plugin“ thing is there to stay.

You could try saved searches to find notes based on tags. Or switch from tags to Tasks, to define and select notes with open issues.

Or it's time to drop Evernote. Many still prefer the legacy version because Evernote 10 lacks essential features, like scripting. I have been using Evernote as a filing cabinet in combination with Noodlesoft's  Hazel for many years. Because Evernote 10 doesn't support scripting, I am stuck with the legacy version.

Now that documents like PDFs are no longer shown in the legacy version; it's time to move on.

Can anyone advise me on an alternative to Evernote? In other words, a note-taking app that does support scripting that I can use in combination with Hazel?

[gadget 23]

I am currently looking into a self hosted Paperless-ngx installation . I already run a small local proxmox server, where parperless-ngx can easly added as a docker container. Just have to figure out how to migrate my > 10.000 notes wihle keeping links to other notes functioning. I already have a full enex-export of all notebooks via the legacy client as a starting point.

As a interim solution you may use Evernote 10 alongside the legacy version, which is what I am currently doing. With Evernote 10 I can see all my PDFs in notes, the legacy client still syncs with the cloud and allows me to keep my offline copy current and work with existing apple automator scripts.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

The links will break, period.

Each note has an unique identifier. Without it the link will stop working. Relying on links creates a nice lock-in situation (nice at least if it means your subscribers will stay with you).

Paperless is OK if your main use case is an archive for documents. But you need to rely on search and tags - links won’t help you in that environment.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

1 hour ago, keesje said:

Can anyone advise me on an alternative to Evernote? In other words, a note-taking app that does support scripting that I can use in combination with Hazel?

DEVONThink 

Apple Notes

Done…

[Photogolf 7]

Come on Evernote. Being able to open and read a PDF is a basic function. Many of us have 1000s of pdf documents in our Evernote. This needs to be fixed. Contacting Apple will get us nowhere - Evernote has to find a solution that works under the new AppleOS.

In the interim, my work around is to still create notes on my Mac, but if I need to open a pdf, I have to revert to my iPad to read it!

Not a viable long term solution.

[gazumped 11,677]

2 hours ago, Photogolf said:

Evernote has to find a solution that works under the new AppleOS.

I thought the answer was not to use a 2-year old deprecated product?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

We see what happens with this „marvelous“ native apps once they are deprecated.

Native means the app borrows capabilities from the mother OS, by using code that is provided by the OS. Now, Windows never removes code (so it seems), which allows to run completely outdated apps in „compatability mode“, like that venerable WinXP game. This makes for great vulnerability as well - it should not surprise anybody that Windows PCs are the typical entry devices for mal- and ransomware. But I strain OT.

Apple does it differently. They actively remove outdated code from their OS. They may warn that an app will stop working for a while, but one day, the app DOES stop working, because supporting code was removed from the OS. They killed ALL 32bit support 3 MacOS versions ago, and they are currently preparing the next leap in cutting some mildews. I get warnings on some apps I use.

Usually the dev will then take action (or not …), and port the app to newer, supported code. In case of EN. It is clear since more than 2 years that this is NOT going to happen. EN has removed all dev support from legacy, and they made it very clear nobody will ever touch a legacy client again. So what happens now is that Apple is streamlining MacOS, and the „native“ EN legacy client gets amputated by accident.

One cut too much, and it is finally dead. Can happen tomorrow, can take a while. The writing is on the wall, and it’s time to say goodbye.

[Boot17 1,457]

2 hours ago, Photogolf said:

Not a viable long term solution.

Can't you still double-click on the PDF attachment to open it in Preview? My understanding was it just won't render inline in the note anymore.

The viable long term solution is to upgrade to the new v10 version or to find an alternate product to use.

[Boot17 1,457]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

We see what happens with this „marvelous“ native apps once they are deprecated.

We see what happens with any app once it's no longer supported. Native or no.

[ohjasonj 28]

50 minutes ago, Boot17 said:

Can't you still double-click on the PDF attachment to open it in Preview? My understanding was it just won't render inline in the note anymore.

The viable long term solution is to upgrade to the new v10 version or to find an alternate product to use.

Sadly no. The PDF shows up as "missing plug-in" and nothing is clickable. You can see the tiny preview in the left column view but it's essentailly gone on the desktop application. You have to switch over to the newer but worse v10 or view it on your phone.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

I just refer to „nativeness“ because some fellow users in the forum seem to believe the only „real“ app needs to be native, which means designed to work on a specific platform, making use of its capabilities. There are apps that do exactly this, like DevonThink does. But they are usually Mac (iOS) only, and don’t try to bring Mac nativeness to other platforms as well.

What slowly killed the „old“ EN was the weight of 4x nativeness, and the pressure to keep 4 different platforms alive, move them ahead and still keep them aligned between them for a unified user experience. EN failed in doing so, pulled the emergency brake and decided to move everything over to a framework approach, skipping „nativeness“.

So nativeness is not the holy grail, it is at the very bottom of the current failure.

[Boot17 1,457]

22 minutes ago, ohjasonj said:

Sadly no. The PDF shows up as "missing plug-in" and nothing is clickable. You can see the tiny preview in the left column view but it's essentailly gone on the desktop application. You have to switch over to the newer but worse v10 or view it on your phone.

Ah - thanks - gotcha.... 95% 😃 

[Happy Chap 16]

Guess this is  finally the end of the road and I'm utterly gutted.

Have my whole family life in Evernote since 2006 and did absolutely everything I wanted. Have v10 installed but constantly go back to v7.14 for its speed, ease of use and functionality. v10 frustrates me every time I use it with it's 'nanny state' calendar picker, bugs (looking at you preferences option to show all PDF pages by default, like v7.14, that simply doesn't work), folder import that constantly fails and has to be deleted and recreated, etc.

Just so utterly galling that something that was, IMO, leader of its pack has ended in this way. I constantly hoped v10 would catch up with v7.14 but it always disappoints in comparison.

Appreciate I'm shouting at a brick wall, but sometimes you just have to vent.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Legacy Mac had NO import folders, if you mean this by folder import. It is one of the great new features v10 brought to the Mac client.

Works very well, I use it a lot, both to quickly send a file into EN, and to process my scans.

[Happy Chap 16]

1 minute ago, PinkElephant said:

Legacy Mac had NO import folders, if you mean this by folder import. It is one of the great new features v10 brought to the Mac client.

Applescript support enabled robust folder import, but not an option AFAIK with v10.

The native v10 folder import always stops working for me after a few weeks. Only solution appears to be to remove the folder import, then re-enable it. But then you have to make sure you manually remove all previously imported because automatically deleting imported items had been "COMING SOON" (EN's capitalisation, not mine) for what seems like ever.

In all seriousness, I'm not trying to pick a fight - you've done a huge amount for the community over the years @PinkElephant but I genuinely am just so deflated that the day has finally come when v7 has become unusable. Yes, we all knew it would come eventually; doesn't make the sadness any less.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Import folders work for me fine.

If you want to automate emptying it, create a script that does it on shutdown. Or use a tool like Hazel.

EN v10 doesn’t support scripting, and I doubt it ever will. When I searched for scripting with Electron apps, I found none that supported it.

[Jan G. 2]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:06 PM, PinkElephant said:

I just refer to „nativeness“ because some fellow users in the forum seem to believe the only „real“ app needs to be native, which means designed to work on a specific platform, making use of its capabilities. There are apps that do exactly this, like DevonThink does. But they are usually Mac (iOS) only, and don’t try to bring Mac nativeness to other platforms as well.

What slowly killed the „old“ EN was the weight of 4x nativeness, and the pressure to keep 4 different platforms alive, move them ahead and still keep them aligned between them for a unified user experience. EN failed in doing so, pulled the emergency brake and decided to move everything over to a framework approach, skipping „nativeness“.

So nativeness is not the holy grail, it is at the very bottom of the current failure.

They could have used a multiplatform language such as .NET Core. Then you have a big common codebase and just branches with OS specific code when needed. But I think the Electron app could be great if they just listened to all the feedback. The forums are full of people clearly stating what is missing (delete on import, sort notes by tags, optimize tagging > 100 items (currently it takes 5-10 minutes!!!), condens UI so more lines are visible, ...).

Instead they're adding stuff that no-one needed (tasks?) and in my opionion that's not the core business of the software. If they just were to implement these small improvements, no-one would be still using the "old" app. It should be a big red flag to them that many people are still using the old app. Normally you go an find out why and see if you can improve things. If the platform (Electron) doesn't allow for certain items, then that's it and everyone needs to get over it. But the changes I'm listing can easily be implemented.

I run a SaaS company myself and we strive to be the best in the market on our core business. This is what sells our product. If we find out there are nuisances, we resolve them, we are gratefull for everyone doing the effort to report them to us, and we provide a clear statement whether it's possible to implement or not and try to give a timeline. Although reality is that we often don't make the timeline, when I'm honest.

It's just a pity that the move to Electron feels like a move away from customer feedback.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

The legacy client was already dead when it was still active. No new features for years, few bug fixes. Every year a belated update, just to keep up with the yearly MacOS update.

What „could“ have been done was missed years before anybody noticed.

Windows  legacy is even worse - it still runs on a 32 bit code base. It is saved by Microsoft never killing old code, which doesn’t make it any more future proof.

„Too late“ describes in many aspects what happened in the legacy years. The management back then instead started selling merchandise ..

[cifip 270]

One workaround - Presentation Mode. If you open the note in Presentation Mode (⌘ + return), you can view the pdf inline. At least, that's working for me for now. YMMV.

[youdontknowm 0]

Yea I have the same issue.  I really prefer the older version.  I'm hoping devs fix this issue because the newer version of Evernote is unusable to me.  

[Alexs512 2]

On 4/5/2023 at 1:34 AM, Happy Chap said:

Guess this is  finally the end of the road and I'm utterly gutted.

Have my whole family life in Evernote since 2006 and did absolutely everything I wanted. Have v10 installed but constantly go back to v7.14 for its speed, ease of use and functionality. v10 frustrates me every time I use it with it's 'nanny state' calendar picker, bugs (looking at you preferences option to show all PDF pages by default, like v7.14, that simply doesn't work), folder import that constantly fails and has to be deleted and recreated, etc.

Just so utterly galling that something that was, IMO, leader of its pack has ended in this way. I constantly hoped v10 would catch up with v7.14 but it always disappoints in comparison.

Appreciate I'm shouting at a brick wall, but sometimes you just have to vent.

 

absolutely my situation too!

i carefully NOT upgraded old evernote on the phone for years. it was working fine.

i ran Legacy on Mac. again, worked perfectly.

but now both iphone and mac 'usable' old versions are broken.

and v10 is still a disaster, few years since they released it.

i kept complaining on these forums every year and nothing has changed.

 

so company does not listen to customers, its product fell into disrepair.

time to move on.

 

 

 

 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Just go ahead. Fixing your datas fate to a set of deprecated software is no good idea anyhow.

Millions of other users enjoy v10. If you can’t, your use case must be pretty special. You will probably have a hard time to find something that replaces EN in all aspects. If a self hosted alternative is an option, you could take a look at DevonThink (Mac & iOS only).

[gadget 23]

BTW: Ventura 13.3.1 did not solve the issue with missing plugin for pdf. So the change that apple introduced with 13.1 probably was intentional.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Apple is known to remove old code actively. More so if it poses a security risk - pdf readers have been used for exploits in the past. In this case there is nothing obvious in the release notes, so it is most likely an unintended side effect:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-13_1-release-notes

Deprecated software that relies on OS resources (as the famous native apps all do) will loose functions, or worst case stop working at all.

[Mr. GROWF 25]

@PinkElephant I have used a Legacy instance for many years. This issue is not present.  I recently loaded the Legacy instance on a new MackBook and I get the "Missing Plug-in".  This tells me the plugin can be loaded, but isn't by default.

Because I have two different Mac computers on the same OS release with different experiences tells us we can find and "install" the missing plugin and restore performance on Legacy.

Can you tell us exactly what plugin is missing?  It is the Legacy application presenting that message. Everywhere else on the Mac PDFs are displaying fine.  This is a "fixable" if we are told what Legacy is complaining it missing.

Thank you

[Mr. GROWF 25]

5 minutes ago, Mr. GROWF said:

@PinkElephant I have used a Legacy instance for many years. This issue is not present.  I recently loaded the Legacy instance on a new MackBook and I get the "Missing Plug-in".  This tells me the plugin can be loaded, but isn't by default.

Because I have two different Mac computers on the same OS release with different experiences tells us we can find and "install" the missing plugin and restore performance on Legacy.

Can you tell us exactly what plugin is missing?  It is the Legacy application presenting that message. Everywhere else on the Mac PDFs are displaying fine.  This is a "fixable" if we are told what Legacy is complaining it missing.

Thank you

I do not mean to suggest the Plug-in is from EN, rather that EN Legacy is expecting a plugin which it does not find.  Knowing what it is looking for will help us find that plug-in elsewhere, install it, and restore the display capability to EN Legacy.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

No idea what EN legacy used to employ for rendering PDFs. What makes me wonder if there really is a plug-in missing is the fact that it refused to open the attached pdf as well.

In v10 the „Open“ command for a pdf attachment will start Preview, and use it to show the pdf. As far a I remember (I stopped using legacy on a regular basis months ago) it was similar with legacy.

[peekaboo96 1]

I had the same problem and just got the fix.  It turns out I was using Evernote Legacy.  They gave me the link to download the more updated and correct version of Evernote and now it's fine.  Here it is:  https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005257

[gadget 23]

😴

[Ewster 3]

On 4/8/2023 at 6:44 AM, youdontknowm said:

Yea I have the same issue.  I really prefer the older version.  I'm hoping devs fix this issue because the newer version of Evernote is unusable to me.  

I feel the same way. We have 6-9 tabs open at any time to keep track of all our projects. The new version of Evernote dropped tabs, so it's just painful trying to work with it. Even worse on the phone. Guess it's time to get serious about alternatives.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

You are mourning about spilled milk. The moment it was announced that legacy was deprecated anybody knew it could fail every other day.

Tabs are supported in the web client (not in all browsers, I think).

Or as you say look forward to a solution matching your use case.

[Mr. GROWF 25]

3 hours ago, peekaboo96 said:

I had the same problem and just got the fix.  It turns out I was using Evernote Legacy.  They gave me the link to download the more updated and correct version of Evernote and now it's fine.  Here it is:  https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209005257

Many of us want to continue to use Legacy as the current version lacks features of the old client.

I'm my case I want the ability to set both the Create Date and the Updated Date on articles.  I'm going back and scanning old documents from the 60s, 70s, and 80s and want them in chronological order. The new EN client only lets you adjust Created Date. Even worse it forces the use of a Calendar date entry. So if you want to go back to January 1970 you are ENDLESSLY clicking on a tiny arrow (12 times for each year you go back!!).  It is a horrible step back in user experience.

[gazumped 11,677]

1 hour ago, Mr. GROWF said:

I'm going back and scanning old documents from the 60s, 70s, and 80s and want them in chronological order.

I went through a technical library and scanned hundreds of documents of various dates into Legacy.  Any attempt to change the created date took too long as part of the process,  so we just scanned to a folder and added a date as a prefix to the filename/ note title.

A text expander gave us 'instant' year/month/day choices with a keystroke and sorting by title gives a chronological order.  All that works quickly and efficiently in v10 too...

Since I'm pretty lazy about scanning sessions I still use Phrase Express to generate actual document dates as required...

[Yogi Aaron 4]

So based on the current comments above, I just submitted this ticket.

I am curious if the rumors that evernote will not be supporting its customer base is true.

 

Hello

I have been an evernote user for 10 years now.

I am a legacy user. I hate, and I can't stress hate enough, the newer version of Evernote. I complained about it before. It isn't functional, you can't open several tabs (I usually have 5 of them open on my desktop version. 

So now we have updated our mac, (see screen shot) the PDFs are not showing. (see screen shot.)

I need to know what you guys are doing about this?

I heard a rumor that you are going to ignore your customer base and insist that we all move to this dysfunctional new version? Is that true? 

If so, please advise so we can start to process of moving our business elsewhere. 

If you are doing an update, please let me know. 

This is extremely stressful and discouraging that we have a piece of technology we have relied on for the last 10 years start to fail us. 

Thank you, 
Aaron

[PinkElephant 8,127]

There are no „rumors“. All legacy clients are deprecated, out of support, living on borrowed time. They are used at the discretion of the individual user, without any warranty for their continued function.

It is a key feature of the legacy clients that when asked to check for updates they always show to be the latest software - true forever, they will never again update. This update stop was build into them - else they could easily update to the actual clients by accident.

You just missed the chance to buy the whole company - if you wanted to get your pet software back. Out of luck, it seems. I doubt the new owners will see the future of their investment in reviving a code base that was mediocre and always in danger to be disabled by the next OS update even when it was still „supported“ (well, sort of).

[gadget 23]

Well, it seems they do not support their customer base on the new client either. I peeked into the "new" client just to discover you can not set the default for displaying PDFs to "all pages". You either have to klick a PDF 10 times to reach page 10 or you need to change the view option for each PDF individualy (needs 3 klicks). Long thread here in the forum complaining about this. No solution.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Any more problems ? 

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Hope it’s get sorted out between bugs and „it’s just different“. Nobody promised the new clients would be a 1:1 clone of the old one.

[JohnSavage 2]

On 3/29/2023 at 5:17 PM, gadget said:

Hi,

I upgraded to Ventura 13.3 today and now Evernote  7.14.1 does no longer shows PDFs in Notes but complains about "Missing Plugin". Is there a workaround for this ? I know Evernote 7 is no longer supported, but I still have not found the time to move all my notes to a different note keeping app. Evernote 10+ is not an option, I need a soltution that allows me to have all my notes accessible while offline.

 

TIA.

This is ridiculous - EN wants to almost double the subscription and we have a software that cannot deliver basic functionality under the latest Ventura.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Nothing ridiculous - you seem to insist on using a software that is deprecated since October 2020. Out of support, final edition.

You can switch at any moment to v10, which is the supported, maintained code base. It has gotten 55 releases since.

Your choice !

[macfixer 705]

7 hours ago, gadget said:

Well, it seems they do not support their customer base on the new client either. I peeked into the "new" client just to discover you can not set the default for displaying PDFs to "all pages". You either have to klick a PDF 10 times to reach page 10 or you need to change the view option for each PDF individualy (needs 3 klicks). Long thread here in the forum complaining about this. No solution.

You can totally set the default for displaying PDFs to "all pages" — what are you talking about?

The Legacy client is a frozen snapshot of code. It will not be further developed or updated and will eventually break altogether. If you aren't interested in moving to the new Evernote, that's fine… but be advised Legacy will not work forever. 

[Happy Chap 16]

1 hour ago, macfixer said:

You can totally set the default for displaying PDFs to "all pages" — what are you talking about?

That only works for new PDFs you upload after changing that default. Bizarrely (and frustratingly) doesn’t apply to the 100s of PDFs you already have in EN.

[gazumped 11,677]

8 minutes ago, Happy Chap said:

doesn’t apply to the 100s of PDFs you already have in EN.

You're correct.  Changed settings usually only affect the instance to which they're applied - it could be catastrophic to apply them to a whole account. 

Also:  what's the issue  again?  You now know that for every PDF you encounter,  a couple of clicks will show whatever view you prefer. 

Using a common automation tool or text expander like Phrase Express you could even assign your own hot key to save a little effort.

[Happy Chap 16]

I don’t think it’s an unreasonable assumption, to expect any user that goes to the trouble of changing that default, does so because they generally prefer to see all pages of a PDF, and would therefore expect/prefer/welcome that changing the default behaviour would make all PDFs act consistently and show all pages.

I’d also argue that when you say “only affect an instance”, that viewpoint would more sensibly be applied to right-clicking individual PDFs (which only affect that one instance) rather than a default, which I’d suggest most people anticipate a ‘default’ affecting all of something.

….but then again for all I know, we may pronounce ‘scone’ differently to each other 😉

 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

It is likely a simple thing how this is implemented. Every setting means there must be an IF-THEN-ELSE clause in the app, everywhere where an action is influenced by the setting. To keep performance up the "Trees" that result from these clauses must be kept under control.

It is an elegant solution when the viewing is controlled by a tiny parameter stored WITH the attachment, instead of always going to general account settings for a settings request. So it probably was a decision based on a performance evaluation.

We must not like it, but it was not imposed this way to make us unhappy.

[Happy Chap 16]

Interesting point I hadn’t considered; although I’ve never had a performance problem with the traditional way of checking the setting on each note display, that needed such a radical rethink in coding.

The trouble with any UX change is, convention is quite ingrained and the moment you challenge UX convention, people find it illogical (whether it actually is or isn’t).

My kids have no difficulty whatsoever with the “natural scrolling” on a Mac, as it’s all they’ve ever known, and can’t even comprehend why I have to change the default to the traditional way of scrolling to find it useable.

And I guess that is the ultimate point. New users to EN likely won’t have any arguments with the modern client. Those of us that have used legacy for years, just feel like we are having something wonderful taken away from us.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

We had initially some performance issues with v10, maybe due to the "Framework" structure. The app is running inside of a framework, the framework handles OS-interactions. It is like a pretty stripped down VM, inside of which the EN app is running.

The devs then tweaked performance, so today it is not much of an issue any more. But I think they keep an eye on it when they define how new features should work.

[jeromecarney 5]

This issue may be related to updates to the "Quick Look" file preview service in Ventura 13.3.1, following multiple "Quick Look" bug reports in Ventura 13.3. On my M1 MacBook Pro, I've noticed that Path Finder has also lost the ability to preview Microsoft documents since updating to 13.3.1.

[nehoc 3]

I would be willing to move to the new version of EN, but there does not appear to be a sensible upgrade path.  Exporting from the old version and importing to the new EN looses all the creation dates.

This is a mess

[CTM 2]

I agree with all the above, who prefer EVN legacy and stay with legacy [#METOO].

Since it appears that EVN legacy, will not be maintained and the EVN development team has no clue what users want [e.g. EVN NEW uses 5 non-populair fonts (since a few years) instead of the common font set used by billions of people and this is also what you look at 24/7], what is the best alternative?

I have 2 paid  business accounts and thousands of notes, which similar note programme the EVN community advices me to migrate to?

[PinkElephant 8,127]

"The common font set used by billions of people" are used under a licence. No matter if Windows, MacOS/iOS or Android - all fonts are part of the OS, licensed only for use under THIS OS and can't be shared over devices.

EN pushes a platform neutral approach, where notes look and feel alike, no matter on which device you open them. You may not like it, but it is quite understandable that they follow this strategy by installing their own font set..

Your remark about fonts shows either a lack of knowledge about copyright, or you ignore the consequences of hijacking fonts for use out of the licensed cases. As a user you can do it, as an enterprise you can't without risking very costly copyright infringement claims.

[ohjasonj 28]

2 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

"The common font set used by billions of people" are used under a licence. No matter if Windows, MacOS/iOS or Android - all fonts are part of the OS, licensed only for use under THIS OS and can't be shared over devices.

EN pushes a platform neutral approach, where notes look and feel alike, no matter on which device you open them. You may not like it, but it is quite understandable that they follow this strategy by installing their own font set..

Your remark about fonts shows either a lack of knowledge about copyright, or you ignore the consequences of hijacking fonts for use out of the licensed cases. As a user you can do it, as an enterprise you can't without risking very costly copyright infringement claims.

Please stop posting on this thread, Pink Elephant. Your comments are purely negative and unhelpful. We get it, you love the new Evernote. We do not. Us Legacy users HAVE used the new version and tried it over and over again. We loathe the changes. Allow us to try to help each other without you chiming in about why the new code is so universally great. You can go post on threads that from new users who love Evernote’s new abysmal fonts. You’re not needed here. Please, just GO. 

[ohjasonj 28]

3 hours ago, CTM said:

I agree with all the above, who prefer EVN legacy and stay with legacy [#METOO].

Since it appears that EVN legacy, will not be maintained and the EVN development team has no clue what users want [e.g. EVN NEW uses 5 non-populair fonts (since a few years) instead of the common font set used by billions of people and this is also what you look at 24/7], what is the best alternative?

I have 2 paid  business accounts and thousands of notes, which similar note programme the EVN community advices me to migrate to?

10000% yes. Pay the license fee for a few basic fonts and get rid of the trash fonts in the new version. As a designer and someone who appreciates a decent basic font the new and terrible EN doesn’t have a single usable font.

(And before Pink Elephant comes on here to bash us, I’ve been using Evernote for 14 years, I’m entitled to gripe about the awful program it’s become.)

[PinkElephant 8,127]

You can tell whatever you want - it just won't change anything.

Besides I don't think Windows would licence its "holy" fonts for anybody in the competing club (FAANG), and vice versa.

If you are a designer, you know that a licence for global use of a professional font costs easily several hundreds of dollars - per install and per font. Or you use stuff like Google fonts, free, even the full user tracking is included (LOL).

Nobody forces you to use EN, just drop it. Or (what everybody who wants layout control does) use a decent text processor or page layout program, and attach the files to a note.

[gazumped 11,677]

5 hours ago, CTM said:

who prefer EVN legacy and stay with legacy

It's certainly a temporary option,  but as some MacOS users have already found, operating systems and browsers are being developed and updated all the time; and sooner or later the app will stop working as you expect.  There will be no updates for Evernote Legacy to keep it in line with third-party changes - or to close possible security holes created by such changes.  I started out refusing to use the new interface - it took me a year to start - but without wishing to sound like a corporate fanboy,  I eventually got used to it,  and I can work with it.

If you're concerned about fonts,  then the obvious answer is to use a word processor with page layout features and attach a PDF version of your notes for display.  They're just as searchable as Evernote's 'native' format.

[ohjasonj 28]

4 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

You can tell whatever you want - it just won't change anything.

Besides I don't think Windows would licence its "holy" fonts for anybody in the competing club (FAANG), and vice versa.

If you are a designer, you know that a licence for global use of a professional font costs easily several hundreds of dollars - per install and per font. Or you use stuff like Google fonts, free, even the full user tracking is included (LOL).

Nobody forces you to use EN, just drop it. Or (what everybody who wants layout control does) use a decent text processor or page layout program, and attach the files to a note.

Please stop your harassment of forum users and take your negativity elsewhere, Pink Elephant. 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

26 minutes ago, ohjasonj said:

Please stop your harassment of forum users and take your negativity elsewhere, Pink Elephant. 

The only person harassing and not giving any information that would be useful to others is yourself.

You just tell to have no solution and utter your opinion, in a loop. Telling your opinion ist perfectly fine with me - but then you have to accept the opinion of others as well.

[nehoc 3]

Does anyone know how to upgrade from legacy to new EN without loosing all the original creation date data for each note?  That’s why I’m stuck  in legacy. 

[gazumped 11,677]

?? AFAIK there's no change to any dates anywhere in your database once upgraded.  I still have all my original notes with dates going back to 2007 and before.  Updating doesn't overwrite your existing Legacy database,  so you still have all the original dates if you need them...

 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

The usual method is to sync all content from the server. This will maintain the original metadata.

Only for local notebooks that are imported as ENEX files there may be a change to the import date. Not sure about it, I never used local notebooks.

[Dennis Askwith 1]

Here is a somewhat cumbersome workaround if you really don't want to abandon Evernote Legacy:  move your pdf file to Dropbox or a similar app, copy to your clipboard the Dropbox link to the file, imbed the link in the Evernote note.  

[nehoc 3]

Does anyone know how to upgrade from legacy to new EN without loosing all the original creation date data for each note?  That’s why I’m stuck  in legacy. 
 

I wasn’t clear about my problem. I’ll try again:
The problem is exporting LOCAL notebooks and importing them to new EN. The original creation date data is lost in this process. The legacy notebooks that were on the server can be accessed from both versions without problem. 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

The local notebooks need to be moved using the ENEX file method. That’s „by the book“.

Since the local notebooks will end up on the cloud server anyhow, what you could try is this. I can only advise based on my understanding of the database interaction, I never used local notebooks.

1. Export one of the local notebooks to ENEX, just to be on the safe side
2. Try if you can reverse the „local“ setting, switching the local notebook to a cloud notebook.
3. If this has worked, and if the sync to the server has finished, you can check if the dates have been preserved. If yes, you have a blueprint.
4. If no, you can proceed with the ENEX file as it is provisioned

If you want to be absolutely safe, create a new local notebook. Wait a day, to have the date change. Try the above procedure as a test.

[bmcl26 488]

On 3/30/2023 at 11:57 AM, PinkElephant said:

A PDF will open on a Mac in Preview, without any problems. Click on the PDF (it gets a blue border), click on the 3 dots above, click open.

All changes done in Preview will save into the PDF in the note, just hit "Save" (cmd-S). When done, hit "Close Window" (cmd-W) to make the changes save, close the PDF and return to EN.

Preview of Office documents is a subscribers feature, on the Teams and Professional plans. Opening an office document works the same as a pdf. It will open in your preferred app for the file type - in my case an XLSX-file will open in Mac Numbers. From Numbers it will not save back into the note, however. No idea with O365, I don't use it.

This is how it works for me, with Ventura 13.3 and the direct install EN 10.54. We always had issues with Macs that use the AppStore version instead of the direct install. AppStore software is the same code, but it runs in a sandbox. Usually it can be solved by changing some Security & Privacy settings - but the problems can return any time, either by updates of MacOS or when EN updates. The best solution is to uninstall the AppStore version (use the app AppCleaner, the uninstall via trash is not enough), and switch to the direct install.

About legacy I don't care anymore - it is known that with changing OS versions it will loose track. Since it has a display problem on Ventura, I finally decided to uninstall it. I can reclaim the disk space used by the double installation this way.

With Office Documents it opens and saves after editing.

[BBZ 8]

Here's another workaround for the Missing Plug-in message in Evernote Legacy and macOS Ventura v13.3/13.3.1

1. Right Click the Missing Plug-in message so it turns blue, indicating it's selected
2. Select File > Quick Look Attachments (or press Command>Y)
3. The selected PDF will open in Quick Look. You can select Open with Preview from the Quick Look window, if you prefer.

This works for me using Evernote Legacy v7.14.1 and Ventura v13.3.1, running under OpenCore Legacy Patcher v0.6.4

[Fabien Pascal 11]

On 4/29/2023 at 1:54 AM, BBZ said:

Here's another workaround for the Missing Plug-in message in Evernote Legacy and macOS Ventura v13.3/13.3.1

1. Right Click the Missing Plug-in message so it turns blue, indicating it's selected
2. Select File > Quick Look Attachments (or press Command>Y)
3. The selected PDF will open in Quick Look. You can select Open with Preview from the Quick Look window, if you prefer.

This works for me using Evernote Legacy v7.14.1 and Ventura v13.3.1, running under OpenCore Legacy Patcher v0.6.4

The trick works if there is only one PDF file. If there are multiples, only one file is displayed in quick look regardless of what's selected.

[kinoko.chaplin 1]

I am also an Evernote lover of good old days (a premium user since 2009 - I've had a notion that I am enjoying the use of Evernote as well as I am supporting the software company), therefore when I opened Evernote after the macOS upgrade to v13.3 on my main machine on 31March2023, how SHOCKING and annoying it was!

That said, I've been trying to get used/familiarized (forcing myself) to v10 of Evernote, but, apart from the functionality difference between version 7 and 10, I've started feeling some incompatibilities (e.g., syncing issues) between 7 and 10: I've got some other devices of Mac and Windows (v6 of Evernote) which still hold the good-old "legacy" functions.  If neither Evernote nor Apple is providing any solution, am afraid I may be moving away from Evernote (at least I don't feel it's worth the subscription fee).

I wish Evernote will do something for the version 7 lovers.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Legacy is deprecated sind more than 30 months now. It will not be touched. Apple permanently removes older code from its OS. The chances they will bring some code back are dim as well.

To me it seems legacy Mac is practically broken, even if it is technically still running.

[joisky 1]

On 5/17/2023 at 11:22 PM, kinoko.chaplin said:

 

I am also an Evernote lover of good old days (a premium user since 2009 - I've had a notion that I am enjoying the use of Evernote as well as I am supporting the software company), therefore when I opened Evernote after the macOS upgrade to v13.3 on my main machine on 31March2023, how SHOCKING and annoying it was!

That said, I've been trying to get used/familiarized (forcing myself) to v10 of Evernote, but, apart from the functionality difference between version 7 and 10, I've started feeling some incompatibilities (e.g., syncing issues) between 7 and 10: I've got some other devices of Mac and Windows (v6 of Evernote) which still hold the good-old "legacy" functions.  If neither Evernote nor Apple is providing any solution, am afraid I may be moving away from Evernote (at least I don't feel it's worth the subscription fee).

I wish Evernote will do something for the version 7 lovers.

i agree with every word you said!

I’d just change “some incompatibilities”  for many  incompatibilities.
 

I lost a lot of productivity with version 10

[petebrag 1]

i use legacy and the new version is complete garbage. evernote is dead. how can a company actually ruin their own software ? 

amazing. i want to keep using legacy, i really wish I could. now they're forcing our hands. 

evernote: you are not steve jobs. you have  to listen to your customers. you're not artists, you're not geniuses. 

just listen to the customers. 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

EN didn’t touch the legacy client - or did you see a recent release ? The missing plug-in was removed by Apple, with the Ventura update. It was obvious to everybody that when legacy was deprecated, it’s continued function was at the mercy of the OS development. 

Legacy was running on borrowed time for 30 months now, and on the Mac with current Ventura this time is over. Technically it is still working, but it is hardly usable any more.

From one user to another: Your romantic view at the legacy client may be emotionally founded. Be aware that these clients nearly broke the company, being the outdated piece of code they are.

V10 is a new app. If you like it or not is up to you. Define your use cases, and go searching for an alternative.

 

[Brent R. Coyle M.D. 1]

I just installed Ventura, and appreciate the comments. I'm not a programmer, but writing a "plugin" might be a viable option for developers of Evernote?

Using the solution of Fabien Pascal, I then took a screenshot and creates a workable legacy version. It loses the tags, and original dates, but it might be a workaround acceptable to me.

[PinkElephant 8,127]

EN has deprecated all legacy clients 30 months ago.

Deprecated means there is no support, no dev resources, no infrastructure to do anything about it. While it works, it works. When it fails, it fails.

Why is this simple message so difficult to understand ?

Anybody can "work around" deficiencies, if he wishes. How long legacy will function at all is everybodies guess. Since the new syncing (RTE), EN practically maintains 2 separate data structures for all accounts. Legacy can't sync with the RTE database. I don't think this will go on forever. I wouldn't invest anything into keeping this dead code alive.

Switch to v10 (anyhow the better option), or look out for an alternative.

[Brent R. Coyle M.D. 1]

I'm considering that of course. It's been a couple of years ago since I tried the new version, but I totally panicked with its functionality, so I reinstalled Legacy. Is that still an option if I can't stand it? 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Both can still run side by side. First step is to upgrade legacy to v10 by installing v10. I avoid the AppStore version and always use the direct install. After v10 has established itself, you can again install legacy.

The only difference is that since April 23 you need to ask support to get the installer for legacy. Or use one of the internet archives that hold the installer, with a risk you get a shady version.

[Brent R. Coyle M.D. 1]

Sorry about all the questions. I'm just a bit spooked. I'm not sure about the "side by side" comment, and "install legacy." 

1. Are you saying the Legacy goes away with the installation of the current version? 

2. Do I just go to the Evernote Legacy tab in the app, then select update?

3. Would there be any advantage, say, not losing the Legacy, by installing from the app store? 

4. If Legacy goes away, with whatever Evernote upgrade, I can reinstall Legacy?

5. Then, will there be both versions, with all of my data, in my applications? 

[PinkElephant 8,127]

Yes

Maybe, or get the v10 installer from the EN website and execute it

No, makes no difference. If v10 would not uninstall legacy, a useless data structure taking several GB would remain on the system drive, blocking space.

Technically you can install any app if you have the installer. Currently legacy will sync with the server. When this stops one day, it becomes useless.

Each version runs its own local database. It is 2 independent apps, the only connection being the server syncing the data.

[Brent R. Coyle M.D. 1]

All righty then, I'm going in....

[Brent R. Coyle M.D. 1]

Well, for the benefit of others, I've survived the new version so far. Most of the functionality is there, except I've used the screen capture of Legacy a lot. In the shortcuts, it says shift-command-delete for general screen capture, but it doesn't work for me. There are instructions for an upgrade to "personal." Does anyone know if I could get the functionality of the previous crosshair screen capture if I upgrade to “personal”? The workaround is to do a screen capture with native Mac OS using shift-command-4, then drag that onto the Evernote icon. I haven't used Hazel, but I guess there would be a way to automate that using something like that right? Just checking. 

[nehoc 3]

I would upgrade to the new version but I still haven’t found a way to move local notebooks without loosening metadata. The EN recommended procedure looses all the creation dates. If I could solve that I would move. 

[Boot17 1,457]

1 hour ago, Brent R. Coyle M.D. said:

In the shortcuts, it says shift-command-delete for general screen capture, but it doesn't work for me.

I think it's Option-Command-Delete (not shift)... but that also just copies the entire screen contents and pastes as a new note.

For screen snippet captures on MacOS I use the native Command-Shift-5 which lets you position a box around what you want to capture. You can then use Command-C to copy the boxed area and then paste the copied image where you want into an existing note in Evernote.

(I also use the Shottr app which lets you draw a box around what you want to capture with Command-Shift-2.)

1 hour ago, Brent R. Coyle M.D. said:

Does anyone know if I could get the functionality of the previous crosshair screen capture if I upgrade to “personal”?

I think the answer to that question is No. I'm on Personal and there is no crosshair screen capture that I can see. Perhaps that's because the MacOS native Command-Shift-5 works very well.