Can't edit notes that are too large? "view only".

[nightjar 2]

So you can no longer edit notes that are too large. They are "view only". I could understand if they didn't sync. But to lock them? You gotta be kidding. I can't even edit and remove photos/files from the note to make them smaller. They're locked! 

[agsteele 3,055]

Do you have a Free account? Did you downgrade from a paid plan?

[Boot17 1,529]

3 hours ago, nightjar said:

So you can no longer edit notes that are too large. They are "view only". I could understand if they didn't sync. But to lock them? You gotta be kidding. I can't even edit and remove photos/files from the note to make them smaller. They're locked! 

Sounds like you'll have to copy and paste the content you want to edit/keep into a new note within the size limitations of the free plan you are on now (assuming you downgraded to Free.)

Seems reasonable to me. With Google (and probably other services), once I exceed my limit I can't add *anything* until I get back down under the limit. With Evernote, if we ever go back to the Free plan at least we can still create new notes and still have access to all our old stuff too. (I do wonder if/how that will change in the near future under new management.)

[PinkElephant 8,695]

EN is a cloud based service. A note that can’t sync because it exceeds the Free limits is technically broken when edited. So it is locked - to protect integrity.

If you want to edit it, export it and use a different program. You won’t be able to import it again, due to the same restrictions.

[nightjar 2]

7 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

EN is a cloud based service. A note that can’t sync because it exceeds the Free limits is technically broken when edited. So it is locked - to protect integrity.

If you want to edit it, export it and use a different program. You won’t be able to import it again, due to the same restrictions.

I don't like gaslighting. In the old versions of evernote, if a note got too big, it just wouldn't sync. It wouldn't prevent you from making it smaller. Now, the only way to fix the note is to buy a subscription.

[gazumped 12,021]

39 minutes ago, nightjar said:

Now, the only way to fix the note is to buy a subscription.

...or maybe to copy and paste sections of the content into new notes or a new document?

[WilliamL 662]

1 hour ago, nightjar said:

I don't like gaslighting. In the old versions of evernote, if a note got too big, it just wouldn't sync. It wouldn't prevent you from making it smaller. Now, the only way to fix the note is to buy a subscription.

That’s not gaslighting! It is limitations - there are limits on free accounts that don’t apply to paid accounts - that’s common sense. If you are on free - you work within those limits, if you want greater limits within Evernote you need to pay for them. It seems quite bizarre you are complaining you are not getting clearly stated premium features for free…why are you the exception to the rules the rest have to follow?

[PinkElephant 8,695]

3 hours ago, nightjar said:

Now, the only way to fix the note is to buy a subscription.

If you want to „fix“ a note, you want to edit it. If it’s too large to sync, you can’t.

It doesn’t stop you at all to see it, and it doesn’t stop you from exporting it to wherever you want to edit it instead.

You can just not use the service you would need, because you have decided yourself not to pay it any longer.

[nightjar 2]

On 7/21/2023 at 8:38 AM, WilliamL said:

That’s not gaslighting! It is limitations - there are limits on free accounts that don’t apply to paid accounts - that’s common sense. If you are on free - you work within those limits, if you want greater limits within Evernote you need to pay for them. It seems quite bizarre you are complaining you are not getting clearly stated premium features for free…why are you the exception to the rules the rest have to follow?

Yes, this is gaslighting. It's a limitation that was arbitrarily added recently. As I said, before if it a note was too big, it just wouldn't sync. Fine. Now, if a note is too big, you can't even edit it to decrease it's size to make it compliant. Also, my notes don't even load anymore. So I can't even "copy paste" them into a few smaller notes.

These are calculated moves to cripple the program in order to get more subscribers. And despite having a subscription for various stretches of time in the past, I'm never doing it again, as it seems their goal is to lock you in so you can never leave, customer goodwill be damned.

It is RIDICULOUS for a program to have the following design: You accidently made a note too large. Now you have to spend minutes/hours going through it and copying and pasting it into a new note to get below the size limit. Ridiculous. It wasn't a part of the program in 2013. It shouldn't be part of the program in 2023.

Check out how upset everyone is, not just me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/top/?t=month

Also, you can see in real time how this program is dying.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=evernote&hl=en

You think anyone is going out there recommending Evernote to anyone? Of course not. Everyone who isn't locked in is leaving. And those locked in would never recommend it to anyone else.

 

[gazumped 12,021]

49 minutes ago, nightjar said:

Yes, this is gaslighting.

49 minutes ago, nightjar said:

These are calculated moves to cripple the program

You're currently using a free software,  right?

So no - it's not gaslighting;  you're simply subject to the limitations of free software.  It should still be possible to extract your existing notes to move to another platform if yu wish to do so.

[agsteele 3,055]

I don't think you are being manipulated by anyone here nor by Evernote. Clearly you are unhappy but gaslit - no....

Quote

VERB

gaslighting (present participle)

manipulate (someone) by psychological means into doubting their own sanity:

 

[WilliamL 662]

6 hours ago, nightjar said:

Yes, this is gaslighting. It's a limitation that was arbitrarily added recently. As I said, before if it a note was too big, it just wouldn't sync. Fine. Now, if a note is too big, you can't even edit it to decrease it's size to make it compliant. Also, my notes don't even load anymore. So I can't even "copy paste" them into a few smaller notes.

These are calculated moves to cripple the program in order to get more subscribers. And despite having a subscription for various stretches of time in the past, I'm never doing it again, as it seems their goal is to lock you in so you can never leave, customer goodwill be damned.

It is RIDICULOUS for a program to have the following design: You accidently made a note too large. Now you have to spend minutes/hours going through it and copying and pasting it into a new note to get below the size limit. Ridiculous. It wasn't a part of the program in 2013. It shouldn't be part of the program in 2023.

Check out how upset everyone is, not just me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Evernote/top/?t=month

Also, you can see in real time how this program is dying.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=evernote&hl=en

You think anyone is going out there recommending Evernote to anyone? Of course not. Everyone who isn't locked in is leaving. And those locked in would never recommend it to anyone else.

 

Goodness, gaslighting isn’t the issue here, frankly entitlement is. The limits to note sizes for free accounts have been there for years, this is nothing new. What’s new is the perspective that what other people pay for you should get for free. Come on, please be reasonable and realise this is a pretty odd position to try and take. The same rules that apply to us ought to apply to you as well. 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,998]

@nightjar, AFAIK you are the only person reporting this:

On 7/20/2023 at 5:57 PM, nightjar said:

So you can no longer edit notes that are too large. They are "view only".

The Reddit thread you linked does not contain any reports of it. (So, um, who's gaslighting whom?) This suggests that other people with free accounts are not experiencing this lockout (or else are just dealing with it by copying segments of a locked note to new, smaller notes). It makes me wonder whether there is something about this specific note. Or are you experiencing it with more than one note?

[nightjar 2]

13 hours ago, gazumped said:

You're currently using a free software,  right?

So no - it's not gaslighting;  you're simply subject to the limitations of free software.  It should still be possible to extract your existing notes to move to another platform if yu wish to do so.

I am literally sitting here having to manually recreate notes, because once you go over the file size limit, the original note is effectively locked. Not un-synced (reasonable) but artificially locked. If you think that is a good design decision, you are not a reasonable person. Before, notes just wouldn't sync. Now they become unusable. Completely different.

[gazumped 12,021]

What exactly is stopping you from copying the content of your note into a local word processor or downloading attachments or otherwise accessing the content?

[PinkElephant 8,695]

If unusable means not editable, you are absolutely right.

Any note edited needs to be synced. If it can’t be synced to the server, the app would try to sync until it succeeds, in this case never. So it blocks the editing, to prevent the editing to block itself.

You can still open the large notes, read them, or extract the content, by copying text or saving attachments. You can still start new notes (within the note size of 25MB and the total syncing limit of 60MB/30 days). You are good to go as a Free user, as millions of others. Enjoy !

[nightjar 2]

On 8/6/2023 at 12:04 PM, PinkElephant said:

If unusable means not editable, you are absolutely right.

Any note edited needs to be synced. If it can’t be synced to the server, the app would try to sync until it succeeds, in this case never. So it blocks the editing, to prevent the editing to block itself.

You can still open the large notes, read them, or extract the content, by copying text or saving attachments. You can still start new notes (within the note size of 25MB and the total syncing limit of 60MB/30 days). You are good to go as a Free user, as millions of others. Enjoy !

Please, no gaslighting. Notes did NOT need to by synced before, which is the way it should be. You could still read and edit your notes, knowing any changes wouldn't be synced (reasonable). You shouldn't be locked out of your notes because you accidently pasted a few images that were too large (unreasonable).

Attached you'll see an interest in Evernote over time. These types of policies result in 1) People leaving and 2) People NEVER recommending the program to their peers. As such, Evernote is dying.

 

 

[gazumped 12,021]

12 minutes ago, nightjar said:

Notes did NOT need to by synced before,

Hi.  You seem to have completely misunderstood how Evernote works,  and has always worked,  and as already noted you're expecting an awful lot as the free user of a professional package - including being allowed to edit large notes,  or upload large pictures. 

If you want to continue to edit your notes,  either subscribe or download the notes and leave.  If you're happy just to view the information you have already saved,  and even add a few more small notes,  then continue as you are.

The graphic which you added...  tells me that a lot of people were interested in Evernote 12 years ago,  and rather fewer are searching now - maybe because they bought the app back then.  It's as meaningless as your favourite term 'gaslighting' and I do not think either of them mean what you think they mean.

Your current choices are pay or leave.  Please pick one.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,998]

Quote

More unsourced, unconfirmable, and irrelevant-to-the-point online detritus. Search "Evernote death spiral" and look for all the 5-year-old posts.

18 minutes ago, nightjar said:

You could still read and edit your notes, knowing any changes wouldn't be synced (reasonable).

Editing a note knowing changes wouldn't be synced is reasonable?

IAC, it now works the way it now works. Ways to operate within the current parameters are all through this thread. But apparently cursing the darkness really is more fun.

[PinkElephant 8,695]

@nightjar Barking at the moon, and the moon is impressed and goes setting.

You can do this and prove with 100% accuracy your ability to influence celestial forces by sheer voice control. Just don’t go barking too early …

As posted above it would be a time fused bomb if a user could accumulate more and more notes he was allowed to edit, knowing they will not be syncing ever. These notes would first clog up the client, by permanently trying to ask the server if a syncing is now allowed.

Viewed from the server, some million of Free user clients permanently calling home and asking if syncing is now allowed would combined probably have the same impact as a DDOS distributed denial of service attack.

EN is a cloud based service - the idea of being allowed to freely floating edit notes on a „local“ account is technically absurd. But of course there are always people who believe they are sooo clever, and all others just don’t see the sun moon.

No problem, just go on barking ! Nomen est omen (in this case the forum user name).

[Boot17 1,529]

What's interesting about the size limits is that one note on Personal can be up to 200 MB in size. Let's say you had a note that was 195 MB and you went to the Free plan and then you wanted to delete a 20 MB attachment from that note... It would take you three months (and 7 notes at the 25 MB per note Free plan limit) to recreate that note under the Free plan since the monthly upload limit is only 60 MB! 

Personally, if I ever drop to the Free Plan, I think I'd only use Evernote as a reference until I could migrate everything elsewhere.

It's pretty cool that I could add 1 TB of data to Evernote over the many years and then have access to that data indefinitely if I stop paying a subscription. You couldn't do that with Google or Dropbox or Apple -- they'd delete your data if you stopped paying. So it's a tradeoff to work within the defined limits.

[PinkElephant 8,695]

Good example, but it is even worse (at least it used to be before RTE): Since only complete notes would sync, it would (theoretically) start syncing, run into the monthly limit, fail and be set back to unsynced. The next month it would again start syncing - as if it never did - fail again, and so on.

Even a smaller note above Free limits could create this effect, because it would never sync.

But as I said, theoretical, because it will not allow to be edited, which prevents it from being listed on the sync list.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,998]

21 hours ago, Boot17 said:

What's interesting about the size limits is that one note on Personal can be up to 200 MB in size. Let's say you had a note that was 195 MB and you went to the Free plan and then you wanted to delete a 20 MB attachment from that note...

One thought: so don't do that.

Another thought: if you're planning to drop back from a paid plan to free, do all this manipulating of humungous notes before you drop back.

[eric99 1,077]

14 minutes ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Another thought: if you're planning to drop back from a paid plan to free, do all this manipulating of humungous notes before you drop back.

Exactly, and even now you can just subscribe for a single month to do all this manipulating of humongous notes. I don't get all the fuzz about it...

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,998]

26 minutes ago, eric99 said:

Exactly, and even now you can just subscribe for a single month to do all this manipulating of large notes. I don't get all the fuss about it...

It's the 21st century. No one complains louder than someone whose free lunch doesn't have enough salt.