Evernote 5.8.3.6507 for desktop (yes I know!) stopped syncing on my Dell last night

[Andy O 4]

I have version 5.8.3.6507 on my windows laptop. I know it's a very old version but it works & I'm happy with it. Last night it suddenly stopped syncing (Sept 19, 2023, around 6am GMT). I've not been able to sync it since then. The (also old) version on my android mobile phone is still syncing ok. Any ideas? Has Evernote suddenly disabled my old desktop version?

[Boot17 1,539]

Related maybe? 

 

[Andy O 4]

I get the red ! on the sync icon also but not the SSL error message  - I just get "Synchronisation failed - could not connect to Evernote server".

I'm running Windows XP (yes I know!) on a Dell Latitude D630 laptop. Syncing has worked perfectly fine up till last night.

[PinkElephant 8,837]

The same advise applies to outdated Windows systems.

[agsteele 3,061]

Evernote has withdrawn some old versions prior to v10.60 The last release of the so called Legacy software was retained for now but perhaps the very old v5 is now dead. As others have said, only support can tell you ...

[Andy O 4]

Thanks for the helpful reply agsteele . (Although the habit you seem to have of putting three dots at the end of your posts is confusing, as it makes me think there is more content in your post & I then spend 15 minutes trying to "open" it (& failing of course - because (apparently) there is nothing more to open!!) 🙄😉)

Is v10.60 the first version with the  "to do" lists/calenders? (I don't know anything about the recent versions but I know there was this "step change" in Evernote capabilities at some point). Do you know what number the last release of the legacy software retained  that you refer to is? I'm thinking maybe I could just update to that. I need to do something ASAP, obviously, as I need to have the ability to synchronise my desktop Evernote content

[PinkElephant 8,837]

Tasks was introduced nearly 2 years ago, syncing a Google calendar shortly later.

You see from the version counter that EN innovated quite a lot during the 3 years since the first release of v10.

[agsteele 3,061]

1 hour ago, Andy O said:

Is v10.60 the first version with the  "to do" lists/calenders? (I don't know anything about the recent versions but I know there was this "step change" in Evernote capabilities at some point). Do you know what number the last release of the legacy software retained  that you refer to is? I'm thinking maybe I could just update to that. I need to do something ASAP, obviously, as I need to have the ability to synchronise my desktop Evernote content

I think that the intention is to get users of v10 to move forward to versions that support the new sync. The Windows Legacy that was released just prior to the arrival of v10 was 6.25.3

No dots

[Andy O 4]

I can't find a copy of version 6.25.3 to download, either on filehippo, downzen.com, CNET.com or filepuma.com. The closest I can find is version 6.25.1.9091. Does anyone have a currevt working link to version 6.25.3 to download? Thanks

[gazumped 12,075]

5 minutes ago, Andy O said:

The closest I can find is version 6.25.1.9091

That was the last public version issued.  It should work fine - but beware updates which might hijack it to v10.  The later versions (.2 and .3) were adapted to work better alongside v10.  Once you get your database upgraded to 6.25 I would add my recommendation that you bite the bullet and adopt v10 as soon as possible - the Legacy versions are increasingly being left behind by operating system and browser updates.  I held out against v10 for a good year,  but I now use Legacy only occasionally on an old laptop because the device doesn't have the storage or memory to run v10.  I'm using v10 full time during the day.

[Andy O 4]

Good - ish news! After I tried updating my Evernote Desktop version 5.8.3 6507 on my Windows XP Dell laptop to first 6.0.4.1688 & then 6.25.1.9084 & it still refused to sync, I loaded my original 5.8.3.6507 onto my (2nd) identical Windows 7 Dell laptop. It syncs & works perfectly, so it seems this week's new syncing problem was with Windows XP rather than the legacy versions themselves. So now I've got a bit more breathing space at least to think about next steps in the future (including whether to embrace v10 or leave Evernote for another database software). I use my 2nd laptop for other stuff, but that's small beer as "problems," go. of course - maybe I'll try to upgrade my 1st (XP) laptop to Windows 7 so I can switch my desktop Evernote back again for convenience.. Thanks for your ideas everyone!

[Andy O 4]

gazumped thanks for your information & recommendations. Question for you (& anyone else who wants to chip in):

Is it possible to run the same database in v10 on your Windows laptop & in an old legacy version on your mobile phone? (or vice versa of course). My gut feeling would be NO as you have to be consistent in how you access, use & update the same database on both, because each version type (v10 vs legacy) is fundamentally different & incompatible with the other. But is that the case? Thanks

[Boot17 1,539]

1 hour ago, Andy O said:

Is it possible to run the same database in v10 on your Windows laptop & in an old legacy version on your mobile phone?

The short of it is that Evernote went to great lengths to initially make v10 backwards compatible with the legacy version data structure. Then they did extra work to make it continue to be backwards compatible when they implemented the new RTE (Real Time Editing) infrastructure early this year. So, yes you can run v10 on your Windows laptop and the old legacy version on your phone, but it's not recommended -- especially with the introduction of RTE. You'll probably be more prone to get note conflicts and duplicates -- but you can still definitely do it. (Hrmph - well, maybe as long as your phone isn't a Blackberry running Windows XP-date version Evernote. 😃)

[PinkElephant 8,837]

The syncing compatibility is provided on the server. The old clients were not updated, they still receive the data packages in „their“ structure. This will likely end one day, because it complicates the backend.

The SSL-error indicates that the encryption handshake for the secure exchange of syncing data didn’t work. It may be that an old, insecure SSL-standard was removed on the server. This means it would just accept connections with a higher encryption level now.

But this is pure speculation, only support can tell.

[gazumped 12,075]

...What they said...  plus - when you updated your account,  what happened with the database?  Was it still in place when you updated the app to 6.0,  then 6.25? 

As the others mentioned,  the parent database lives on the server and -with the 'old' versions- you get a copy on any desktop device where the app is installed.  If you want to move your account to a new device you just install the app,  and the database is then downloaded as new from the server. 

Hoever your old database may now not be in the 'right' format to sync with the server.

You say it was syncing up to a few days ago, so - apart from any notes you may have added since then- the server copy should be up to date.  It would be a useful test to sign out of Evernote,  copy your databases folder (you get the location from a general search for *.EXB files)* to a 'safe' location like your desktop,  and then rename the original .EXB file to .EXB.OLD.

Sign back into your account,  and the server should rebuild your database in a format.  (If it doesn't work you still have your copy of the original database on your desktop - just sign out of Evernote and replace the newly-downloaded files with the originals - ie just copy the old folder over the more recent one.)

When you get to a position where you download and install v10,  it will set up its own database in a completely different format - again (presumably) accurate up to your last sync.

Support can't help with 'legacy' issues,  but they can (or should) assist if you're having trouble connecting to your old database from a new install of v10.  If you find you're missing any notes after the last sync,  hang on to your old files - you can find and export recently created/ updated files to ENEX format and then import them into the v10 database.

I do strongly recommend that you sort this out as soon as possible - it's only going to get more difficult to convert your very old data into something more up to date,  and without that conversion I'd doubt you have much chance of a trouble-free migration to another provider if you choose to go that route.

 

*If you don't find a <your account>.exb file in a search Evernote 5 clearly kept its files in an older format!

 

[Andy O 4]

gazumped Thankfully most of your concerns don't apply right now! (touchwood!). 

Till Monday night I was running 5.8.3 desktop version (2016) on a Win XP laptop & a 2019 (so also legacy!) Android app version on my 2019 smartphone. Both synced smoothly with the Evernote server & were compatible with each other.

On Monday my desktop 5.8.3 version stopped syncing with the server. I then updated it to 6.0.4.1688 & then 6.25.0.9084. But neither one synced with the server either (the 6.25 update didn't actually work so my XP laptop is on 6.0.4 now).

So as far as the Evernote server is concerned the only changes to my database since Monday night have been from my still working mobile phone app. The updated local 6.0.4 database version on my XP laptop is now standalone & totally irrelevant to my server database version. It so happens that when I updated to 6.0.4 the local software did spend about 6 hours in the background reconfiguring my 5.8.3 database to update it to 6.0.4 format & that was successful. But that will never have any effect on my server database version as my XP laptop no longer synchronises! (which was my original problem of course!).  Instead I just have a reconfigured 6.0.4 version of my Monday night database on my XP laptop, which is now totally standalone but available for me to view & make changes to locally.

Meanwhile, i installed my original 5.8.3 software on my Win 7 laptop instead & it then successfully downloaded the latest version of my database (Monday night position plus mobile phone data inputs since) without having to rebuild or reconfigure my 5.8.3 database in any way. As a result I am now in exactly the same position as I was a week ago, except that my desktop 5.8.3 database is now on my Win 7 laptop instead of my Win XP laptop. Everything works smoothly as it did prior to Monday. 

As I said in my last post, I'm more aware now of the potentially limited remaining life of my legacy Evernote versions (on both my Win 7 laptop & my mobile) & I'll be assessing my various options.

Thanks for your advice! 👍🙂

 

[Brad Miller 4]

If it's helpful I have a download of 6.25.2.9198 (Evernote Legacy) and of the Android APK for 8.13.3.  These are still both syncing for me as of today.  

 

Ironically I stumbled onto this thread because I'm about to upgrade both my Windows and Android versions away from the Legacy version.  I have stayed on them not for technical reasons, but because the new versions were clunky, slow and filled with bugs.  It sounds like much of this has been resolved with the much needed upgrades this year.

 

Brad Miller