Delay Auto Update

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

I’d like to vote for allowing users to delay updates. This feature is crucial for our use case. Without it, we won’t be able to continue supporting Evernote, as we’ve been doing for 15 years, since 2008.

In past versions of Evernote, users could decide whether to install an update. This is not an unusual feature – it is found in most software products. For some reason, this feature was removed.

We appreciate the effort of Bending Spoons, the new owner, to modernize Evernote. However, the option to defer updates is crucial for our use case. We often use the software in the field, on a narrow and expensive bandwidth. When we open the app, we must see very quickly the note we are looking for. Since the feature was removed, we must keep the app open for long stretches of time, which delays our work and costs us a fortune.

Please restore the option to delay updates to the Windows 10 version. To be clear, we do not receive a pop-up asking to update. The update is forced whenever we open the app.

We hope that you can do so by January 2024, when our subscription is up for renewal.

Thank you for considering!

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

Before posting here, we contacted customer service. The response:

"I understand that you want to disable the auto update of Evernote on your device. As per checking on our resources, please be advised that disabling automatic updates is not yet an option and we haven’t built this feature into the new Evernote app."

[Boot17 1,538]

Just my 2 cents and I hate to be pessimistic about feature requests, but for sake of discussion... I doubt they'll ever build it in. It seems to me like the continuous deployment process is a purposefully-built strategic tenet of the software. Perhaps Bending Spoons would reconsider, but so far, they've kept the same release cadence as the previous v10 team -- which is releasing at least a couple of times per month.

If they made it easy to allow users to not auto-update, then they'd have users scattered across scores of different release versions which would be a support nightmare.

They could perhaps do some "Long Term Support" branches or channels of software, but that seems like a lot of overhead.

I think there would have to be other compelling reasons besides losing a small percentage of customers for them to change it.

I'd start working on a Plan B if this is a show stopper for you and your team.

But -- just my 2 cents -- I know nothing.

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

I count 4 posts of these identical materials. Far too much, and gets no one anywhere.

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:21 PM, Boot17 said:

If they made it easy to allow users to not auto-update, then they'd have users scattered across scores of different release versions which would be a support nightmare.

Thanks for your two cents. Forced updates is a major problem for us, so unfortunately we must begin looking into alternatives for Evernote.

However, I disagree with the characterization above. In fact, I don't know of any commercial software that forces regular updates onto users. Even consumer software, like smart phone apps, allow disabling auto-updates.

Bending Spoons is simply not following common practices in the software industry, and for that we might have to abandon this software.

[PinkElephant 8,802]

LOL This discussion is as old as v10, it predates the change in ownership by more than 2 years. But it must be BS, because there must be somebody to blame.

Being a cloud based service I think there are technical reasons to force the apps to be up to date. For most users this is beneficial.

If you don’t like it, use the web client. It will update, but since it does so on the server, you will only see the fait accompli message.

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

12 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

If you don’t like it, use the web client. It will update, but since it does so on the server, you will only see the fait accompli message.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, it will not aid us. As I explained, we often use the software in the field, on a narrow and expensive bandwidth. When we open the app, we must see very quickly the note we are looking for. Since the feature was removed, we must keep the app open for long stretches of time, which delays our work and costs us a fortune.

Since companies can't anticipate the use cases of myriad users, they typically avoid forcing updates down users throats. In fact, I don't know of any commercial software that forces regular updates onto users. Even consumer software, like smart phone apps, allow disabling auto-updates.

Bending Spoons is simply not following common practices in the software industry, and for that we might have to abandon this software.

[PinkElephant 8,802]

If you know you are on expensive bandwidth, you have a reason to be there. All clients have a full offline capability. Use it, which will as well (phew) stop the client from updating.

Beside this I have a number of apps that will update themselves, and tell me to restart when they are ready to go with the new version.

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

2 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

All clients have a full offline capabilit

If you can guide us in putting the client in offline mode, we'll be thankful.

[PinkElephant 8,802]

You put it into offline mode by taking the device offline.

The desktop clients keep a full download by default, unless you have turned it off in the apps settings.

For the mobile clients you need to enable the offline download in the apps settings. It will take a while until it’s done with the initial download.

In both cases you must have been logged into the client the last time you used it while online. Don’t log out when you quit the app then.

How you take a device offline depends on your situation. A desktop will usually be offline when not connected with a network by LAN or WiFi. A more granular approach is possible by apps like TripMode (Mac) or by using a firewall to stop a certain app from calling home.

On mobile devices you can disconnect the whole device by setting it to Flight Mode. More granular is to turn mobile data off for a specific app in mobile network settings.

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

Thank you for the suggestion!

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

1 hour ago, Evernote Loyalist said:

Thanks for the suggestion. However, it will not aid us. As I explained, we often use the software in the field, on a narrow and expensive bandwidth. When we open the app, we must see very quickly the note we are looking for. Since the feature was removed, we must keep the app open for long stretches of time, which delays our work and costs us a fortune.

Since companies can't anticipate the use cases of myriad users, they typically avoid forcing updates down users throats. In fact, I don't know of any commercial software that forces regular updates onto users. Even consumer software, like smart phone apps, allow disabling auto-updates.

Bending Spoons is simply not following common practices in the software industry, and for that we might have to abandon this software.

Of course, as we all know the very first question any software support dept. will ask a user is "Are you using the latest version?" If not, then you'll have to update before proceeding with them.

Which leads me to think that you must have some working time when you are not in the field and can check for updates to Evernote and other software to be sure you're on the latest. Depending on schedules, that might be first thing or last thing in the day. At any rate, a personally scheduled update check is always possible, and I'd think it would at least reduce the chance of starting the app into an update out in the field.

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

Yes, this may be a good idea!

But how do we stop Evernote from checking for updates while in the field?

[Evernote Loyalist 12]

Today, The Wall Street Journal devotes an article to the bane of forced updates, and interviews users who refuse them.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/meet-the-never-updaters-why-some-people-refuse-to-download-new-software-0f08b4db

[PinkElephant 8,802]

What proves that the WSJ expects the subject to create clicks and produce views of the ads.

At least this point you have just demonstrated - without doubt.

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,006]

9 hours ago, Evernote Loyalist said:

Yes, this may be a good idea!

But how do we stop Evernote from checking for updates while in the field?

That, you know, you can't do. If you've updated to the latest version, however, I would think that it would be less likely that a new update would be found while you're out there. I realize that the update check itself, even if it finds nothing, uses some bandwidth, but presumably not nearly as much as actually downloading an update.