20 broken or missing features in Evernote 10 (and why I'm DONE).

[soundsgoodtome 155]

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of 10 features that are broken or missing from Evernote 10. Until recently I was using Evernote 7, because both of my Macs were running Monterey. But upon purchasing a new Mac, I was forced to "upgrade" to Evernote 10, because Evernote 7 is broken in macOS Ventura.

At first, I was excited—until I discovered the sheer number of broken or missing features, leaving me flabbergasted.

At the time, I was given all sorts of excuses, from both die-hard users and Evernote representatives. The latter claimed that they're "working hard" to bring back features. But why were they removed in the first place? This makes no sense. Developers don't typically remove features, only to claim that they'll put them back "eventually." Well, when is "eventually"? I have work to do today. This, coupled with the fact that we've been BEGGING Evernote to fix long-standing bugs for YEARS and YEARS, to no avail. So now, I'm supposed to just trust that features upon which I rely will be reinstated "someday"? Sorry, Evernote, but you haven't exactly given us great reasons to trust you.

Well, since then, I've discovered another 11 broken or missing features—features that I actually use. And as if that weren't enough, I just got the official notice that my membership fee is NEARLY DOUBLING next month.

This is the purest insanity I've observed in a long, long time—and it's 100% unacceptable.

Well, for posterity, here's my list of 21 broken or missing features (one of which, I've since learned, still exists, but is accessed differently):

1 • Multiple menu commands (such as the commands for sorting options) have been removed, preventing us from using keyboard shortcuts for those features. Instead, sorting can now ONLY be done by clicking on icons. Why remove menu commands?

 

2 • Transparency in images is now ignored. (And yes, I rely upon transparency.)

 

3 • The sidebar is now cluttered with items that we can't remove if unneeded (e.g., Tasks, Shared With Me, etc.) taking away valuable space for viewing things I actually use.

 

4 • The Search field has been moved to the sidebar—which now takes up additional, unnecessary space in the sidebar. The search field was previously located in the upper-right corner (where many other apps' search fields are located). Moving it to the sidebar leaves less room for us to view our actual notebooks! Does ergonomics never get considered anymore? It's as if Evernote's new coders are children who have no clue about application design.

 

5 • Certain, standard font characters are now inexplicably replaced by emoji. After inquiring about this, I was told it's a "feature" called "automatic emoji conversion." What the actual hell? Who would implement something like this without giving us a way to DISABLE it? Evernote has just "decided" that users no longer need standard characters that have existed for decades, so they're now just replacing them with emoji—without the user's consent.

 

6 • Horizontal dividers (lines) appear to have been removed. Evernote 7 had two ways of creating these lines: (a) By typing a few hyphens, then hitting return; or (b) There was a dedicated button in the toolbar for adding a horizontal divider. BOTH have been removed in Evernote 10. (I've used these dividers several times a day for years.)  (UPDATE: I've since located this feature.)

 

7 • They've omitted the search field within the Help menu—the one that lets you search for menu commands. This feature has been standard across *all* Mac applications for at least 10 years. They've literally made it more difficult for us to locate menu commands. How is this helpful to anyone?

 

8 • The ability to choose fonts has been removed, and we're now stuck with default fonts over which we have NO control. Another "brilliant" idea: "Let's take away fonts from the users. No one will notice."

 

9 • The standard, Apple color picker for text has been removed. For years, I've used specific color-coding in my notes on a daily basis. But no more. Now we're stuck with a handful of colors that Evernote has decided are the only colors we need. "Let's take away the standard, Apple color picker that's existed for decades. No one will notice."

 

10 • After adding an image to a note, it takes up to 30 seconds for the thumbnail to appear in the snippet to the left.

 

- - -

 

11 • After deleting a note, it takes up to 30 seconds before the note disappears from the list of notes.

 

12 • When viewing a note, if we move that note to another notebook, Evernote used to continue displaying that note so we can continue working. Now, when the notebook is changed, the note disappears! We're kept in the previous notebook, and we're shown another note in that notebook. This makes no sense. Under no circumstances should the user be shown a note that he or she didn't specify. The moved note should remain in focus.

 

13 • Evernote doesn't fully support .webp images. Although you can place one in the body of a note, the thumbnail never appears in the snippet (or appears as a generic, white image)—and it takes as much as 30-60 seconds before it appears, so that's wasted time that you could have spent on finding another image (or converting the original one).

 

14 • The keyboard short ⌃⌘V to Paste to Evernote is not working. The shortcut brings Evernote to the fore, but no new note with the copied text is created. I used this several times a day!

 

15 • Evernote 10 is not fully syncing images. I have many notes containing images. In Evernote 10, even though the thumbnails are displayed in the snippets, when I actually view a note on a computer other than the one on which the note was created, it takes a full minute or more for the image(s) within that note to be displayed. This might be tolerable for one note, but imagine needing to view 30 notes; that's 30 minutes of waiting. This is an absolute nightmare.

 

16 • After replacing an image, the new image doesn't replace the original in the image snippet (the thumbnail image) until after Evernote is quit and relaunched.

 

17 • macOS services no longer work on Evernote text. For many years, I've used services to manipulate text, among other things. But in Evernote 10, the entire Services menu has been REMOVED! 🤦🏾‍♂️ Way to go, folks!

 

18 • For many years, the shortcut for calling up the color picker has been ⇧⌘C (another standard keyboard shortcut across many apps, not just Evernote). But now, when I hit that command, my text is indented instead, and no color picker appears. "Let's just change a decade-old keyboard shortcut. No one will notice."

 

19 • For years, the shortcut for simplifying text formatting in Evernote has been ⇧⌘F. But now, that shortcut does something else. And instead, we now have to click the "More" button, then scroll all the way down to "Simplify formatting." This takes 5x as long as a keyboard shortcut. 

 

20 • The keyboard shortcut ⌘F for searching within a note has been removed. Because who needs a quick search feature?

 

GENERAL NOTE: It seems Evernote's new developers have NO CLUE about the history of keyboard shortcuts and their importance as a fundamentally faster way of interacting with any application. Instead, various keyboard shortcuts that have existed for YEARS have been inexplicably removed (or repurposed), forcing users to have to click on interface elements—a decidedly SLOWER method of doing ANYTHING. 

-----

Now, with nearly 20 missing or broken features, I'm being told I must pay TWICE what I've been paying—for a crippled app with the promise of new features that I don't need—and NO history of the company even making the effort to fix long-standing bugs.

No.

Goodbye, Evernote.

I've stuck with you—and gladly paid for pro features—for 15 years. But no more. You folks have RUINED Evernote. What a shame.

Goodbye.

[Boot17 1,485]

First, just wanted to say that I think a lot of your points seem valid to me as someone who generally prefers Version 10 over legacy even though I also still miss several things from legacy.

And I wanted to just add some comments to some of it:

2 hours ago, soundsgoodtome said:

10 • After adding an image to a note, it takes up to 30 seconds for the thumbnail to appear in the snippet to the left.

2 hours ago, soundsgoodtome said:

16 • After replacing an image, the new image doesn't replace the original in the image snippet (the thumbnail image) until after Evernote is quit and relaunched.

I just want to say that I concur with these two and I think it's also worse since the thumbnail seems random anyway and pretty much useless if you have more than one image -- at least to me. I wish they'd let us select which image to use or at least make which one it picks consistent. 

2 hours ago, soundsgoodtome said:

20 • The keyboard shortcut ⌘F for searching within a note has been removed. Because who needs a quick search feature?

This one is still there, but you have to click into the note first to select it. (Maybe that's what you meant though -- that it doesn't work after a note first loads?)

2 hours ago, soundsgoodtome said:

19 • For years, the shortcut for simplifying text formatting in Evernote has been ⇧⌘F. But now, that shortcut does something else. And instead, we now have to click the "More" button, then scroll all the way down to "Simplify formatting." This takes 5x as long as a keyboard shortcut. 

Shift+Space is the keyboard shortcut for Simplify formatting. It's listed in the keyboard shortcuts.

[Mike P 2,737]

3 hours ago, soundsgoodtome said:

14 • The keyboard short ⌃⌘V to Paste to Evernote is not working. The shortcut brings Evernote to the fore, but no new note with the copied text is created. I used this several times a day!

I'm also a fan of this shortcut and it has certainly been problematic for me in previous versions of V10. Having said that, it is working fine for me at the moment (10.58.5). 

[PinkElephant 8,279]

This list is mainly a requiem - oh might it be as it was. This is not possible (for reasons often explained), and it’s not desirable, given the deficiencies of legacy.

Many issues in the list point out felt efficiency issues. I just want to remind about this help document, showing the keyboard shortcuts old and new version. Many shortcuts „missing“ from the new client are not missing as such, they just indicate that something like presentation mode has been removed altogether. If the default is not to one’s own liking, many can be edited.

There is no logic behind setting legacy shortcuts as „gold standard“, and complain about any shortcut that got reassigned. There is even less logic behind listing each of the changed shortcuts as a single „list“ position. The linked help documents show this relation, the job to list them side by side is already done.

New shortcuts are frequently added.

Windows

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/209004807

Mac

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313358

[soundsgoodtome 155]

As soon as I see the pink elephant image, I instantly know that there's no need to read anything that follows.

Thankfully, I'll never need to see it again.

[PinkElephant 8,279]

Since writing a lot doesn't mean it makes sense, you are right: You can save a lot of words, that are just telling how good the good old days have been.

Personally I think it is better to invest time and forum entries into the future.

[octopusintell 5]

12 years daily usage and I don’t trust Evernote anymore.

[PinkElephant 8,279]

Just a few comments on the original list:

1. Some shortcuts were added, some removed, that's to expect from a completely redesigned new app.
2. Images that have transparency keep that feature. Since you can't overlay images in EN, there is no use for in app transparency rendering.
3. Side bar items: UI decision, like it or not
4. Position of search field: UI decision, like it or not
5. To replace certain characters by an emoji is commonplace among apps. This  😉 I got by typing : - ) here, but without the spaces.
6. You found the dividers yourself ...
7. Not Mac standard, but the apps are developed to work alike on all platforms. They skipped several platform specific entities - you hate it, when you work on only one platform, and you like it when you are on several. Legacy was a nightmare for multi platform use.
8. Fonts are platform specific - many users are not aware about this. EN can't use system fonts and simply transfer them to other clients on another platform, because they would breach licensing. So they deliver the app with their own fonts, same on all devices. Legal issue ...
9. Platform neutral, selection of standard colors, done. You will not find platform specific tools like the Mac color picker.
10. Thumbnails are created on the server. Before they can appear, a note with a picture needs to sync, the thumb is created, and the new thumb is synced again. 30 seconds ? Pretty fast, I would say.
11. Deleting works fast for me. If it takes 30 seconds, likely your local database is corrupted and should be replaced.
12. You claim the focus should stay on a note when it is moved. In fact it does stay on that note, when you are in all notes view. It does not stay on that note, when you are viewing a specific notebook, and move the note out of it. This is absolutely consistent.
13. This webp format was not properly supported with legacy, and it is not properly supported with v10. If it should be or not is subject to a long forum thread.
14. The shortcut ctrl-cmd-V works very well. You just need to make sure you copied the selected text first, before you use the global shortcut to insert it. The picture below shows the insert result from your own posting about the subject. The note was created without me touching anything, just be the shortcut.
15. The delay in opening notes has to do with new RTE syncing - EN is aware of it and working to fix it. My opinion: Toothing problem with a new sync, that solves the problems with a 15 years old syncing method applied by all legacy clients.
16. Which thumbnail will show is an enigma - there is a long forum thread proving that it has been an enigma with legacy, and it still is an enigma with v10. It does not make a difference between clients.
17. The services menu has no way to go, its gone. v10 does not support any automations. Like it or not, this is a consequence of the framework based setup.
18. There is no color picker, so there is no shortcut.
19. Given the situation with formatting options, there is likely no need for a "simplify text formatting" option any more. If you want to simplify a text, select it and assign the Standard Text style to it.
20. When I am in a note, and hit cmd-F, the in-note search and replace box opens, ready to use it.

General remark: Your 20 points can be grouped in some categories:

• Make the clients all alike - basic design decision, you can like it or not
• Clean up the user interface - like it or not
• Some long standing issues, not resolved in either client generation - they are not worse because they are still there
• Keyboard shortcuts - those you mentioned and I checked are working

If these points are what you have, you should review my answers, and those of others in the thread.

If your position is "anything must go on exactly as it was in legacy", then Goodbye. There is no "The" legacy client that could have served as a blueprint - Windows and Mac legacy have surprisingly little common ground between them. After these apps nearly sank the whole company, you would probably have a hard time to find anybody who would sponsor the "revival" team.

You can go wherever you want. But if these little retouches of v10 are already bugging you, you will have a hard time with a really different app. But maybe that's exactly the cure you need.

 

Example from ctrl-cmd-V - Pasting, taken from this thread in Safari. I used the "not" working shortcut to create this note from your own posting:

 

 

[RJLUK 308]

If they dont fix this app EN will have no "future" and this forum will be a ghost town.

23 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Since writing a lot doesn't mean it makes sense, you are right: You can save a lot of words, that are just telling how good the good old days have been.

Personally I think it is better to invest time and forum entries into the future.

 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,985]

Just want to say that I agree overall with @PinkElephant's assessment of @soundsgoodtome's list. There are a couple of actual known bugs in there, especially involving images. Several items are just wrong--shortcuts or something that have simply been changed, or are actually still working. Others are design decisions, again IMHO a matter of re-learning habits that, after all, we had to learn in the first place when we started using the older Evernote. A great deal of it is "Evernote should be a perfectly compliant native Mac app"--because it shouldn't need to work on other systems? Because they should go back to programming 4 or 5 apps for different systems? Everyone has their own perspective (and their own limits on what price they'll pay for stuff that no longer works the way they're used to). Hope you'll find something that does work better for you. But the last month or so Evernote has had way worse performance issues than anything on this list, and if -- if -- and when they get those fixed at last, it has a chance to be a really great product again.

[RJLUK 308]

Its nothing about list or shortcuts whatever.

It is broke.

Notes still take forever to load

Tasks are simply unreliable

'The so called developers obviously feel they will be left behind if they don't provide an AI option.

The app has the potential to be a world beater but I suspect the team are out of their depth.

To the EN Staffers who wander in and out of this forum- get ready if you don't fix the basics many will be VERY unforgiving and move.

Get it fixed.

 

[PinkElephant 8,279]

YOU are NOT „the community“.

THE COMMUNITY is quite happy with v10.

You just need to check the comments to this thread. And what we don’t want is a crappy legacy clone just to keep some late comers happy that missed the opportunities to switch over in the last 3 years.

EN v10 is an app in it‘s own right, doing things in its own (and generally consistent) way.

Don‘t like it ? Nobody is forcing you …

[s2sailor 2,341]

1 hour ago, GreenTea13 said:

PLEASE BENDING SPOONS, if you guys are reading this, Listen to the community and PLEASE add back the missing features that you guys promised would be added back

They probably aren’t reading.  With rare exception there are only other users here. I’m not aware of any recent promises by either the original Evernote team or Bending Spoons to bring back features.  There were a couple mentioned early on, such as import folders, that have returned, but that is as far as I recall.

[s2sailor 2,341]

I think it is safe to say that some in the community are happy and some are not, and maybe a few are indifferent.  There are some legacy features that I miss as well.  Adding them into v10 would not make it “crappy.”