Locked out. "Upgrade to continue using Evernote on this device" or sign out when only on one device." "You've already unsynced a maximum of 2 times this month."

[Laral 6]

I, like thousands of other users, have been locked out of the only device I am using. I was forced to sign out by the popup that blocked access to my app on Macos. Now I am signed in to 0 devices and can't even log in on Chrome to see what other devices I am supposedly using, without getting this same popup. What happened to the 2 devices that are allowed in the Basic mode? The obnoxious popup even blocked access to other apps on my Mac until I sign out! This is beyond obtrusive. This is malware behavior. Why would anyone then sign up for a paid account after this abusive extortionary behavior? I have been peacefully using Evernote for years and now this.
 

[gazumped 11,737]

Hi. This is a mainly user-supported Forum so we're unable to assist in this sort of case. Evernote are apparently restricting users on their service who do not subscribe but have more than a bare minimum of activity .

They try to recognise devices for this purpose by IP address - which is far from an exact science. You can use the same device to connect from home and work and create "two" device records without any problem. If you get a device warning - or suddenly find that you just can't log into Evernote the device limit may be the issue

Free users are limited to connections from two devices per month, with the possibility to remove device(s) also limited to 2. Evernote emphasize that any form of regular use of the app really requires a paid subscription. Web access via Evernote.com counts as a device. Remove devices here: https://www.evernote.com/Devices.action 

Once the device limit is exceeded the account is effectively locked. There are 3 ways to access notes -

> Subscribe - even if only for a month (if that option is available).

> Wait out the current month - access to remove devices will come back after a period

> Set up another free account to use in the meantime (if you have another email address)

More here - https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/218558068 

[Laral 6]

I found another solution. Solved it by signing in with Google after signing out of the nasty popup. It opens webpage. You sign in with your Goggle account credentials. It sends you a weird link to the Youtube app on your phone if you are logged into the app. You just follow the textual instructions and click 2 buttons (that's the weird part) and go back to the browser. The message tells you to close the tab and continue using the app. It took me about 3 tries before I was finally able to use the app again. So far so good. We'll see how long it lasts.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

If it doesn't persist -- please hear me out on this -- it might be worth your while to subscribe for just one month in order both to contact support to get the best advice about how to operate a free account in your situation, and in order to manage connected "devices," disconnecting all the ones that you don't need. Then return to free. I understand that it seems "extortionary" to you to have to pay. Perhaps another way of looking at it would be that you have had a number of years of free use of a resource-heavy service, and can look forward to as many more free years, by paying for just one month.

[gazumped 11,737]

7 hours ago, Laral said:

It sends you a weird link to the Youtube app on your phone if you are logged into the app.

Good that you found a solution,  though it sounds rather... sketchy.  Never heard of that option before.  Where/ how did you find out about it?

[Metrodon 2,187]

Google do this sometimes as a kind of MFA so it's a Google authentication rather than Evernote.

 

[Notatious D 3]

I second this, Laral!  Well said. I paid for Evernote for many years, but basic functionality issues became too much (especially because it's WAY too slow even if you use a quick note.) So I went to a free account instead of migrating because, well, at some point Evernote made it very time consuming to attempt a migration because you can only select 50 notes at a time now. Which also means you can't easily back up everything locally, which is another reason I switched away. So I have legacy data in there I occasionally query.

Now suddenly I find out I was only allowed 2 devices even though it worked fine for years? Hmm. And it blocks usage with a confusing resolution UI. And you can only change a few times a month, as if people have nothing better to do than switch between which devices are synced? It's so petty and alienating, and feel lucky I stopped using it for current projects. It's not that expensive, but who wants to pay a company that feels like it's run by a sales team that's ultimately working against you? And that's on top of the unacceptable functionality issues, which makes me sad because it seems like the leadership is chasing team project apps, which are so completely different, good luck with that. If you think Evernote competes with Asana, you are in the wrong place.

[PinkElephant 8,241]

Sorry for your experience - you could have avoided it by reading this:

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/218558068

To correct some statements:

You could always export any number of notes by exporting a full notebook. The limit only applies to an individual selection.

There WERE people who had nothing better to do than permanently switching devices, to work around the Free limit. That’s the reason why the unsync limit was introduced. It means you better pick your devices / clients and stick to them.

Your experience simply tells: FREE is for the occasional user. For any extended use of EN, subscribe. Or you will feel the FREE plans limits, and that’s intentional. As with all other Free plans you encounter: Either you pay with your data privacy (which EN doesn’t do), or you have limitations.

 

[Laral 6]

@PinkElephant

Quote

You could always export any number of notes by exporting a full notebook. The limit only applies to an individual selection.

Not with the free version. I was limited to exporting 100 selected notes at a time. No other option.

 

[agsteele 2,964]

36 minutes ago, Laral said:

@PinkElephant

Not with the free version. I was limited to exporting 100 selected notes at a time. No other option.

 

Put a larger number of notes in a single notebook then select to export the NOTEBOOK.  You don't need to select any of the notes.  Just open the notebook. Go to the notebook three dot menu at the top of the snippet/card view column and select export notebook.  Or open the Notebook menu and go via the three dot menu alongside the notebook you wish to export.  Same options.

The 100 limit is for the number of individual notes that can be exported at the same time, not a limit when exporting a notebook.

[Laral 6]

@Notatious D

I was able to export 100 selected notes at a time and then import them all to my new note-taking app:

I have permanently switched to open source FREE Joplin, which is available for most major OSes, including mobile devices. This is the best open source app I was able to find. No limits, easily syncs among all my devices. You can sync it to many cloud services including FREE OneDrive. Notes don't take up much space so the 15GB limit is more than adequate. I have more than 500 imported notes so far.  You can enable Encryption and a Master password for privacy but I haven't explored those features yet. In order to create and edit notes you have to use markdown format in a two-pane interface that you can toggle on and off with a shortcut. You view your notes in the WYSIWYG pane. I have been using markdown since I first used Simplenote. It is also the format used on many software forums. It is easy to learn and very powerful. There are convenient tools at the top that format text in the same way as in this forum's editor so you don't even have to learn markdown syntax really. And you can use the OS's formatting shortcuts such as for italics, bold, etc. and it automatically applies markdown format. You can paste images as well. It is much more convenient to use than EN. You can access your note and scroll naturally with just the keyboard, and the cursor follows the current page. Unlike EN you don't have to use a tracking device to do those things. I always hated such dysfunctionality. Any app that does not allow me to use mostly keyboard shortcuts and requires mouse/trackpad interaction instead, is the work of incompetent developers who just don't get the user experience. Unfortunately this includes many Apple developers too. I have made the switch and I am glad that I did.

[Laral 6]

@agsteele

17 minutes ago, agsteele said:

Put a larger number of notes in a single notebook then select to export the NOTEBOOK.  You don't need to select any of the notes.  Just open the notebook. Go to the notebook three dot menu at the top of the snippet/card view column and select export notebook.  Or open the Notebook menu and go via the three dot menu alongside the notebook you wish to export.  Same options.

The 100 limit is for the number of individual notes that can be exported at the same time, not a limit when exporting a notebook.

And how exactly do you do that? Are you talking about the free or the paid version? I have one notebook that has 517 notes. In the 'File' menu, there is only one option, 'Export Note...'. When I select that, I get 'Export 1 note'. If I try to select all notes, I get 'You cannot select more than 100 notes'. So I have to tediously select 100 notes at a time, export those, and then select the next hundred, praying that I haven't missed any, and so on, and so on….
 

[gazumped 11,737]

Hi.  If you want to export all 517 notes,  go to the 'notebook' tab on any desktop and click the three dots to the right of that notebook name.  Choose 'export notebook'.

To export fewer notes,  create a new notebook from that same page and move or copy your notes into it.  Then export or share from there.

[PinkElephant 8,241]

@Laral Who takes his time to read has a clear advantage: You could always export any number of notes by exporting a full notebook.

All plans, desktop clients only. It was explained in the following posts in detail how to do it.

Goodbye !

[agsteele 2,964]

1 hour ago, Laral said:

And how exactly do you do that?

I did try to explain.  Try following the steps I described and see how you get along.

[PinkElephant 8,241]

@gazumped has nicely listed all the details in his post. Shouldn’t be an issue to follow his step by step advise.

[gazumped 11,737]

18 hours ago, Notatious D said:

you can only select 50 notes at a time now. Which also means you can't easily back up everything locally

Missed this earlier,  but congratulations - you are totally incorrect.

[Notatious D 3]

16 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Sorry for your experience -

> I appreciate you saying that.

you could have avoided it by reading this:

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/218558068

> Avoided what exactly? I figured it out anyway.  By the way, that should have been linked to the blocking screens.

> This is a perfect example of how points are often missed, ignored, and mischaracterized, particularly by PinkElephant. Let me explain my point again: The two device limit appears to be a new downgrade sprung on everyone. Otherwise, why are complaints all coming in now, how did they not enforce it years ago when I switched to free, or make me unlink extra devices at the time?

> Reading those directions wouldn't have helped me avoid anything that happened.

To correct some statements:

> Ok...how is this not an offensive use of the word "correct"? First of all, I didn't say anything incorrect, see below. Second, it's disrespectful. This sort of manner by PinkElephant is literally a huge reason I kissed EN goodbye long ago. Whenever I came praying for fixes, I got dismissals, arduous work-arounds, and "corrections" which were really misunderstandings or misrepresentations of the issues.

You could always export any number of notes by exporting a full notebook. The limit only applies to an individual selection.

> That doesn't make what I said incorrect.  I said: "Evernote made it very time consuming to attempt a migration because you can only select 50 notes at a time now." 

> So let me "correct" the record, you can export a whole notebook, but you can only *select* 50 notes. So, because I have a lot of notebooks, migration is burdensome, backing up repeatedly is more so.

There WERE people who had nothing better to do than permanently switching devices, to work around the Free limit. That’s the reason why the unsync limit was introduced. It means you better pick your devices / clients and stick to them.

> This strikes me as as petty, and not cool; retroactively changing an understanding. Your opinion may vary, but if you want people to sign on, treat them right, make things clear up front, and don't limit functionality after the fact.

Your [sic] experience simply tells: FREE is for the occasional user. For any extended use of EN, subscribe. Or you will feel the FREE plans limits, and that’s intentional. As with all other Free plans you encounter: Either you pay with your data privacy (which EN doesn’t do), or you have limitations.

> Well, I hate to use the word "correct", but here we are again. What you say is incorrect and irrelevant. I was an occasional user, before I migrated off, they put hurdles in the way. That's part of my experience unrelated to the free version, unrelated to your comment. Sure, I can go ahead and do each of my notebooks separately (which I  wouldn't have to if they hadn't chosen to make life harder instead of earn goodwill), but that's not the point.

> The second aspect of the experience I described is that they put in an arbitrary limit to make life harder (50 note selection), AND they changed the account restrictions - both after the fact, which is bait and switch.  If someone got invested on free, then had to pay because they pulled the rug on a specific feature, that's deceptive and unethical. They shouldn't offer a free version if they don't want free users under the established limits. By those rules, you hook someone on a free service, then figure out exactly what functionality to pull to make it not free...that's not really offering a free service as almost any other free service I've used recognizes it. Again, it's bait-and-switch. The proper way to get people to upgrade is make it so useful, they eventually need some more advanced and paid features, which they know up front cost money.

>Your points do not address the points at bar. We all understand what a free account is. And by the way, where does it say free accounts are only for occasional users? Hmm...I don't see that in the sales page, which immediately precedes creating an account.

[Notatious D 3]

3 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

@gazumped has nicely listed all the details in his post. Shouldn’t be an issue to follow his step by step advise.

Sorry, what is the point of posting this? Or the "goodbye"?

[Notatious D 3]

42 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Missed this earlier,  but congratulations - you are totally incorrect.

Wow, you did so well explaining the notebook export and then this.

Let me correct you back:

- There is indeed a 50 note selection limit, in my version of EN, at least. And has been for some time.  (And if it's 100 in some newer version, doesn't solve my issue.)

- This makes it very inconvenient to migrate, and especially do a local backup.

So, to quote a recent post..."you are totally incorrect".

[Notatious D 3]

I just want to say, the disrespect and dismissive attitude present here, I know it's not over-the-top but it's still real, and it really works against EN.

Even "see how you get along"...really? Do you not see how that's patronizing? The person couldn't figure it out (because the option is missing from where he expected it) and you say that. I can certainly see that I can "get along" with Laral just fine, but somehow the peanut gallery always manages to be, at best, socially frictive.

(Get it? "Peanut gallery"...elephants eat peanuts...)

[Notatious D 3]

Laral - I love the tip, thank you so much for the detail. I am familiar with markup, that sounds great.

Personally I've used Apple Notes for most things plus Ulysses for detailed projects. The latter is expensive and does have its share of quirks (including insisting on displaying certain markup, which makes no sense) but beautiful and...wait for it...the customer service is helpful and responsive and the company exhibits respect (as does Apple...and most companies I deal with, certainly those in competitive spaces).

[gazumped 11,737]

Hmmn.  Just for the record,  I'm an Evernote subscriber,  not an employee.  Any perceived condescensions I make should not be ascribed to the company,  they're purely my own.  I would point out that you're still incorrect about the 50-note limit and it being difficult to migrate.  Go to the notebooks tab,  click the three dots menu on the right and you should have the option to export a notebook,  regardless of the number of notes.  

[PinkElephant 8,241]

@Notatious D You could dedicate more posts to help fellow users, than to do cheap talk here.

And if you want to object: I am another user, and yes, I criticize your attitude, with all respect.

[Notatious D 3]

Gazumped - Can you "select" more than 50 notes? No you cannot. Yes, you can export a whole notebook of more than 50 notes, but you cannot SELECT more than 50 notes in a list. Notice the word "select", not export, which means, again, technically you're wrong that I'm wrong.

So for example, can you SELECT more than 50 notes and, say, move them? Good luck. A very silly limitation.

PinkElephant - If I ever post here again (unlikely but possible), please refrain from responding unless you can be constructive and polite? Is that a crazy request?

You guys have been haunting this board for years, but for what purpose. You take offense when people point out bugs, confusing issues, and other problems, and tell them they aren't really problems. Seems counterproductive.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,981]

Quote

- There is indeed a 50 note selection limit, in my version of EN, at least. And has been for some time.  (And if it's 100 in some newer version, doesn't solve my issue.)

What version are you on? If you choose not to update to a newer version, of course, that's fine, your choice. But if you want to select more notes, you need a newer version.

[Laral 6]

Yeah, me too. I was happily using the app on two devices, an old Mac Pro and an iPhone. My Mac Pro suddenly died and I was about to go on a trip to Italy. I had many things I needed to write down for future reference in a note. So I tried to sign in to the newly downloaded app on my iMac and couldn't, as explained in my OP. This was surprising and unexpected, since I hadn't attempted to sign in with any other device, period. I was logged in to the app on a computer that no loger worked and was no longer online. Obviously I couldn't log out, but that shouldn't count against some ridiculous monthly quota, which I didn't exceed anyway. Talk about a confusing resolution UI. I wrote about the bizarre way I finally was forced to accept, in order to log in. Logging in with my Google account, reluctantly, because now Google had full access to all my notes. As if Google doesn't already have way too much of my personal information and usage patterns. I only did this because I didn't have time to diddle around with this draconian  dysfunctional app, and only wanted to export my notes with it. I certainly wasn't going to rely on it while I was away. Fortunately, Joplin worked like a charm after I imported all my exported notes. I used it without incident while I was onboard a ship in Italian waters. I have the app on my iMac, open in Chrome, and on my iPhone, and I have never been locked out. I highly recommend it.

PS
I notice that even this forum reflects the dysfunctionality of the app developers. I can't just reply to your post. Instead I have to click 'Quote', which quotes your entire post (who would want to do that?), and worse, gets rid of your post, so I can't refer to it while composing a reply, forcing me to have to 'Go to topic listing', which opens the entire forum page, staring with Page 1 of 59. What?! So now I have to open Chrome History to get back to your post, open a duplicate of it in a new tab so I can refer to it, and then hit 'Quote' and delete the entire contents, all so I can finally reply to you comment. Excuse me!? And another thing. There is no 'Preview' option, just 'Submit Reply'. Fortunately there's an 'Edit' option after submittal. I guess it's like my father used to say, "If an apple is rotten, it's rotten to the core."
 

[Boot17 1,482]

16 minutes ago, Laral said:

PS
I notice that even this forum reflects the dysfunctionality of the app developers. I can't just reply to your post. Instead I have to click 'Quote', which quotes your entire post (who would want to do that?), and worse, gets rid of your post, so I can't refer to it while composing a reply, forcing me to have to 'Go to topic listing', which opens the entire forum page, staring with Page 1 of 59. What?! So now I have to open Chrome History to get back to your post, open a duplicate of it in a new tab so I can refer to it, and then hit 'Quote' and delete the entire contents, all so I can finally reply to you comment. Excuse me!? And another thing. There is no 'Preview' option, just 'Submit Reply'. Fortunately there's an 'Edit' option after submittal. I guess it's like my father used to say, "If an apple is rotten, it's rotten to the core."

FWIW - you can quote just part someone's comment. You can also just @ mention them like so @Laral if you want to respond specifically to them.

This forum wasn't built by Evernote developers. It's something they licensed/purchased to use. See this example forum post for Affinity Designer (and other apps by a totally different and unrelated company called Serif): https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/189907-invalid-warning-of-missing-fonts-designer/  Looks familiar...

[Laral 6]

But I can't even reply to your post without clicking 'Quote'. And it's obviously more relevant to directly reply to your post than to '@-reply' in a generic post. 

Quote

This forum wasn't built by Evernote developers. It's something they licensed/purchased to use.

But they chose it, didn't they? Thus indicating their own lack of functionality. My point being that the use of this product is, in general, an unpleasant, dysfunctional experience. Not something I would stick with, especially when there are better free options.

[Boot17 1,482]

26 minutes ago, Laral said:

But I can't even reply to your post without clicking 'Quote'.

You can highlight a portion of the comment and then a little "Quote selection" button will popup like this:

[PinkElephant 8,241]

@Laral There is no need to permanently quote anything. It just creates longer, hard to read threads.

Your initial post IMHO just proves your disrespect against those who create value for you and provide services. I will explain:

You violated the limits of the Free account - and all that follows is mimimi and insult. Oh, you wanted to go to Italy, one of your Macs died, and you needed to log in on the other, because your iPhone wouldn’t do. We are talking about equipment here worth several thousands of Euros, and a trip at least costing some hundreds.

But you don’t have the money for a month of subscription, to solve your self inflicted problem ? 10 bucks, up or down. And now you complain you would be treated unfair by a bunch of incompetent devs that somehow force you (?) to use the result of their day to day work.

My opinion: You got what you deserved. Compensate those who create value for yourself, and you don’t need to bother about device limits.

Or switch to another service. I am sure you will be able to locate something to take the heavy burden to use EN away from you.

[lauren813 0]

Hi @Laral and @Notatious D I am having the same issue. There seems to be a bug. I completely understand the device limit. I have actually only ever used EN on 2 devices: the iOS app and the web version. However, just today I decided that the desktop app had some features I liked more than the web app, plus it will be more convenient to access right from my desktop! No need to be distracted by opening up a web browser. Very nice, I thought. 

Well, after downloading the desktop app and following the steps to unsync from the web browser (ONE TIME)... Evernote hit me FOUR unsync requests and locked me out! So this is totally a bug, or a complete money grab to get me to subscribe even though I'm playing by their rules!

Does anyone know how EN determines the "month" timeframe? Is it a month from today or the end of this current month? Though I do worry that even when the sync limit resets and I try again the same thing will happen.

Also, it sounds like they no longer offer technical support to free members. You have to pay to get that too. What a shame. Their email support when I was experience a true bug a few years back was very helpful not only for me, but also their development team, because I was able to bring it to their attention!

[gazumped 11,737]

On 1/26/2024 at 11:11 PM, lauren813 said:

There seems to be a bug.

Hi.  I've followed the process for unsyncing devices several times on a test account and it's never failed for me.  If you are locked out it would be for up to 30 days - I don't know when the time is measured from,  but it would seem logical to go from the date the limit was passed.  If you need access before then it's always possible to subscribe,  even if only for a month or two...