2400 words deleted from my Note, nowhere to be found, including in my Note History

[Elizabeth Schippers 0]

I was working on a Note today, and after a few hours of work the 2400 words that I had written have magically disappeared. I had already worked in this document before, so when I opened Evernote this morning, there were already words in this document. However, all that I added today has been deleted. Strange is that when looking through my note history, I can see some differences between notes (for example, I cut part of a quote that I had written down on an earlier date. I can track in my history that part of the quote has been deleted where I had integrated them in my 2400 words, but I cannot find any of the words I had written today), but my text is completely gone. Is there any way that Evernote employees can see any note history that is somehow not accessible to Evernote Users?

It just seems really weird to me that I can see some changes between version histories (which have been tracked and correspond to the times I was working on this document), but that the text I had written seems to be? Invisible? Somehow?

 

Anyone any tips?

[gazumped 11,669]

19 hours ago, Elizabeth Schippers said:

Is there any way that Evernote employees can see any note history that is somehow not accessible to Evernote Users?

Hi.  No. Have you tried to look at your note in another client?  It may be that you need to clear a browser cache or something?

More information please about exactly what you were doing here - was this a text note /  were you editing a Word document / were you using the installed app or the web version?  And,  as always, what is your device / OS / Evernote version?

[Federico Simionato 1,022]

Please DM me:

• Note URL
• Client logs (Help > Activity Logs > Save As...)
• Timestamp (what time did this happen, more or less?)

[AlbertR 532]

On 9/4/2023 at 6:17 PM, Elizabeth Schippers said:

Strange is that when looking through my note history, I can see some differences between notes

... leads me to a question regarding RTE, new Sync and History...

In former days, every explicit Sync led to a new History record - easy to understand and reliable.

Today with RTE (and new Sync algorithm ) EN cannot create history records after every small snyc fragment (character?, word?, sentence?, block?, chapter?, ...). So...

• What's the trigger to create a History record and how do we (users) control this?

In @Elizabeth Schippers' case the new algorithm seemed to fail. Or did she work in offline mode?

[gazumped 11,669]

Note history allows you to view older versions of a note. Notes in your account are automatically backed up periodically, and note history allows you to view and/or restore these older revisions.  (https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313858)

The important word there being 'periodically' - I also remember the phrase "several times per day" being used.  So there's no minute-by-minute history,  but every so often....

[AlbertR 532]

On 9/7/2023 at 6:51 PM, gazumped said:

So there's no minute-by-minute history,  but every so often....

Citing a two-liner from documentation does not help Elizabeth and many others...

We need

• a reliable sync of all changes and complete notes in acceptable time and|or
• a mechanism to force a sync by
  • pushing a button,
  • defining a time ("every 5 minutes..."),
  • an amount of changed data ("at least after typing 10 lines or 100 words or ...") or
• at least an indicator that note needs to be synced
  • like former version supported in note list 😉

You might be right if you'll accuse my slight shift-away from the original topic. But from my point of view, loosing a lot of work is a result of new sync mechanisms...

[eric99 980]

15 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

• at least an indicator that note needs to be synced

Fully agree, so not the misleading optimistic message in the bottom right corner that everything has been synced when it's not... (in desktop clients)

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,965]

On 9/7/2023 at 12:39 PM, AlbertR said:

In former days, every explicit Sync led to a new History record - easy to understand and reliable.

Today with RTE (and new Sync algorithm ) EN cannot create history records after every small snyc fragment (character?, word?, sentence?, block?, chapter?, ...). So...

• What's the trigger to create a History record and how do we (users) control this?

I'm afraid I'm continuing to be unhelpful to the original poster here, but ... I believe @gazumped's point was that your first sentence is not correct. "In former days" each sync might or might not have triggered a new History record. It would have depended on how frequently the user did the explicit sync.

What you're asking for is essentially the end of instantaneous constant syncing and therefore of real time editing. If every user got to customize the frequency of syncing, and some (count on it) would want syncing only on demand, then RTE would be unthinkable. And (count on it) the manual-only sync users would come here and wail about losing data because their computer crashed before they did the manual sync.

There have been data losses due to the problematic implementation of the new sync and RTE, especially in the early weeks after it rolled out. But I remember vividly when I was first testing it out on my desktop PC, and the power briefly went out. I swiveled my chair around to my laptop, running on battery, turned it on, and there was everything I had just written, minus maybe the last punctuation mark. No sync-on-demand would have allowed that to  happen, unless I was lucky in a way I am usually not. I'm not interested in going back.

[gazumped 11,669]

Funny,  I thought posting some additional information about Note History was actually helpful.  I'm sorry I offended so many by doing so. 

Since @Federico is now looking into this,  maybe we should wait until we actually know more actual facts?  If the OP hasn't been scared off by now,  maybe they'll come back and let us know when things get sorted out...

[Duhtch 48]

On 9/5/2023 at 12:17 AM, Elizabeth Schippers said:

I was working on a Note today, and after a few hours of work the 2400 words that I had written have magically disappeared. I had already worked in this document before, so when I opened Evernote this morning, there were already words in this document. However, all that I added today has been deleted. Strange is that when looking through my note history, I can see some differences between notes (for example, I cut part of a quote that I had written down on an earlier date. I can track in my history that part of the quote has been deleted where I had integrated them in my 2400 words, but I cannot find any of the words I had written today), but my text is completely gone. Is there any way that Evernote employees can see any note history that is somehow not accessible to Evernote Users?

It just seems really weird to me that I can see some changes between version histories (which have been tracked and correspond to the times I was working on this document), but that the text I had written seems to be? Invisible? Somehow?

 

Anyone any tips?

 

Hi Elizabeth Schippers,

Using Evernote's Windows app, I recently had an old note (from 2017) missing images and data. I was certain it previously included information but it was now empty. I went to Evernote Web and iOS, and luckily it had the information. I'm fairly certain my Windows database was in sync with Evernote's database, but with the new Evernote I'm never completely sure (my ticket with Support explains how I track the sync process). As I had another recent experience of long sync delays, I just watched and waited. After 30 minutes, the note's information magically reappeared.

My ticket with Support is still open. If you're interested, please review it: Rolling out Evernote desktop 10.61 – Evernote Help & Learning

Good luck, Duhtch

 

[AlbertR 532]

14 hours ago, gazumped said:

Since @Federico is now looking into this,  maybe we should wait until we actually know more actual facts?

OK, but my "We need..." isn't based only on Elizabeth's lost note. I often wonder about missing or late Sync between devices. History might be a good helper in questionable situations. But History (on server site) can only work after successfull Syncs... 😐 

If you really work with a tool you have to rely on it in every situation.

[AlbertR 532]

17 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

"In former days" each sync might or might not have triggered a new History record. It would have depended on how frequently the user did the explicit sync.

Yep. And I want to know how I can control the trigger. I often had multiple History record per day (but not as many as the note was synced 😉). "periodically" is not enough. Is it really so hard to tell us what this means?

17 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

What you're asking for is essentially the end of instantaneous constant syncing and therefore of real time editing. If every user got to customize the frequency of syncing, and some (count on it) would want syncing only on demand, then RTE would be unthinkable.

Don't think only black-or-white. RTE is fine and might be the default for >90% of default (and 99% of new users). But there are some users that might benefit from settings like "on request", "on window close", "on program close" or "every 5 minutes". You can find these users amoung users of older clients (that do not support RTE) or users the use API-based services like Filterize and others.

If such an option is set (per client or ever per account), a client has to open a RTE room just before the sync start and close it right after. Working so (or almost so) is already implemented: If a clients works in offline mode, it cannot open a RTE room immediately while working with a note...

But misunderstand: I do not want to go back because I'm not able to adapt the new. But controlling RTE and it's Sync might help to get a reliable History.

17 hours ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

I remember vividly when I was first testing it out on my desktop PC, and the power briefly went out. I swiveled my chair around to my laptop, running on battery, turned it on, and there was everything I had just written,

😊 - I remember days of looking for something I was sure I had written but found that they have been removed for any reason (accidently?, by others?, ...). I opened the History and the blood pressure decreased immediately.

[s2sailor 2,205]

54 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

Yep. And I want to know how I can control the trigger. I often had multiple History record per day (but not as many as the note was synced 😉). "periodically" is not enough. Is it really so hard to tell us what this means?

I always thought, and probably incorrectly, that the frequency of note history was mainly due to when the servers were backed up and there was no set schedule other than several times per day.  I think note history is just a benefit made possible by system backup needs.  I imagine that our data is spread out over multiple servers in multiple locations.  If that is how this works, that would explain the inexact “several times per day” and making the frequency of note history user selectable could be quite difficult.

[AlbertR 532]

@s2sailor OK, good reason and explanation. EN might use it in the documentation 😉
But even if this the case - a defineable explicit trigger might be fine. 🙏

[s2sailor 2,205]

6 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

@s2sailor OK, good reason and explanation. EN might use it in the documentation 😉
But even if this the case - a defineable explicit trigger might be fine. 🙏

Thanks.  It is mostly a guess on my part but it makes sense, at least to me.  I'm all for improving what we have.  Instead of tinkering with the backend note history, I would prefer a local, desktop user-definable backup.  RTE updates the server copy.  How about an option where, on a successful update of the server copy,  it would then trigger an update to a local database copy, so in a sense, we would have a local, definable history and the system history we currently have?  One can wish and dream 🙂.

[eric99 980]

8 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

Thanks.  It is mostly a guess on my part but it makes sense, at least to me.  I'm all for improving what we have.  Instead of tinkering with the backend note history, I would prefer a local, desktop user-definable backup.  RTE updates the server copy.  How about an option where, on a successful update of the server copy,  it would then trigger an update to a local database copy, so in a sense, we would have a local, definable history and the system history we currently have?  One can wish and dream 🙂.

So you mean the note export functionality 😏 You can make as many and as frequently as you like...

[AlbertR 532]

7 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

I would prefer a local, desktop user-definable backup

Nice - I had this in mind as I answered to Elizabeth's post on Thursday 😉
But decided to remove it before submitting because it's not a solution for her.
Now - after the discussion has been widened - we are at least two who would vote for that 🙏

[s2sailor 2,205]

18 minutes ago, eric99 said:

So you mean the note export functionality 😏 You can make as many and as frequently as you like...

🙂

[gazumped 11,669]

If only someone had a feature request you could all vote on... 

@Elizabeth Schippers - I'm so sorry we hijacked your post at length;  please come back sometime and let us know how your issue is eventually resolved!

[s2sailor 2,205]

16 minutes ago, gazumped said:

If only someone had a feature request you could all vote on... 

If I believed this factored into the feature backlog in any way or had any indication that it did, then I would vote.  Maybe the new owners will change my mind on that.

[s2sailor 2,205]

49 minutes ago, eric99 said:

So you mean the note export functionality 😏 You can make as many and as frequently as you like...

If we make it that far then the next logical step would be local unsync'd notebooks as an option, but that is crazy talk.