Desktop app on Mac has become unusable

[Kent Sanders 2]

This is the first time I've ever posted in this forum. I've been an extremely heavy Evernote user for 12-13 years -- meaning that I use it pretty much every day for a variety of things in my personal life and business. Which is why it's so heartbreaking to make a post like this.

I have a 2020 M1 Macbook Pro. I'm not sure what has changed on the Evernote desktop app the last 2-3 months, but the desktop version has become unusable and enormously frustrating. The iPhone app syncs great with the web-based version. No problems there. But the desktop app is laggy, bloated, and takes days to sync, if ever. I have the newest version of the app installed. I've tried force re-loading the app many times to no avail, and have even uninstalled it and reinstalled it.

All my other desktop apps work fine, but Evernote is very slow to respond and doesn't want to sync. I'm very strongly considering switching to Notion or some other similar app. It breaks my heart because Evernote used to be great. But with each subsequent desktop version (which is by far the most important version I use), the app keeps getting worse and worse. I've never seen an app regress in usefulness and functionality like this.

I would welcome any help or suggestions.

Edited January 2 by Kent Sanders

[gazumped 11,709]

Hi.  Try this - 

To fix occasional errors with installs or updates on laptops or desktops - plus issues with speed or lag

1 - Make sure your notes are synced up to date

2 - Exit Evernote (if you can) / delete data from device

3 - Uninstall app with Appcleaner (Mac) or Revo Uninstaller Free (Win)

4 - Power device off / allow 10 seconds / power back on

5 - Download latest Evernote from Evernote.com

6 - Reinstall. It will take a little while for the app to be fully operational

Additional Checks:

Verify Evernote's Hardware Acceleration is set to ON - go to Tools > Settings > Preferences > Application and scroll to the bottom. The "hardware acceleration disabled" box should be UNticked, but if you're having issues change that setting and restart the device. (Come back and change it again if that doesn't help!)

If you have any issues deleting Evernote data, see:

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500004231762-Remove-Evernote-data-from-your-Mac-or-Windows-device 

[TerryGrey 0]

Hi Kent,

I'm sorry to hear about the frustration you're experiencing with Evernote on your M1 MacBook Pro. Technical issues can be quite disheartening, especially when they impact a tool like Evernote you heavily rely on. Here are some suggestions to troubleshoot and potentially improve your Evernote experience:

1. Check Internet Connection:
Ensure that your internet connection is stable. A slow or unreliable connection can affect syncing.

2. Update Evernote:
Make sure you have the latest version of Evernote installed. Check for updates in the App Store or download the latest version from the Evernote website. Remember to uninstall the app before starting.

3. Clear Cache:

• Clear the cache within the Evernote app. This can often help with performance issues.
• Open Evernote.
• Click on 'Help' in the menu bar.
• Select 'Troubleshooting.'
• Click on 'Recreate Full Text Search Index.'
• Rebuild Database:

4. Rebuilding the Evernote database:

Rebuilding the Evernote database can sometimes resolve syncing and performance issues.

• Open Evernote.
• Click on 'Help.'
• Select 'Troubleshooting.'
• Click on 'Recreate Full Text Search Index.'

5. Adjust Sync Settings:
In Evernote preferences, you can adjust sync settings. Consider changing the sync frequency or manually initiating sync to see if it improves performance.

[Kent Sanders 2]

Thanks so much! I used Appcleaner to uninstall the app, rebooted my computer, reinstalled Evernote clean, and now it works great. Appreciate your help!

[gazumped 11,709]

On 1/4/2024 at 8:57 AM, TerryGrey said:

Select 'Troubleshooting.'

The problem with using AI lookups in they get details wrong - there is no "Troubleshooting" option in the latest Evernote versions...

[Kent Sanders 2]

@gazumped On my Mac, if I hold down the Option key and then click Help on the top menu, Troubleshooting appears on the list.

[gazumped 11,709]

45 minutes ago, gazumped said:

there is no "Troubleshooting" option in the latest Evernote versions...

Still true for Windows though...

[ChristianJB 94]

"Troubleshooting" appears for me with the latest Windows version (10.70.2) ...

[Boot17 1,472]

These are the troubleshooting options on Mac 10.70.2 when holding down Option when clicking on help:

There may be a 'Troubleshooting', but there is no "Recreate Full Text Search Index".

These copy and paste AI chat bot responses into the forum can be misleading and/or outdated even if they are sometimes generally helpful.

I don't get why people would go to the trouble of creating a forum account to simply copy and paste something into/from an AI tool. (Would be funny/sad interesting if it was Bending Spoons testing out an AI forum auto-responder.)

[gazumped 11,709]

@Boot17 Thanks! With that incentive I can now confirm that Troubleshooting still exists in 10.72.2 - but it's hidden behind Ctrl and Shift !  (ie Ctrl+Shift+Help)... and once I triggered it,  the additional menu is still available under 'help' (?) - Maybe it will disappear again when I restart...   Hmmn.

And to be fair to @TerryGrey it's just my assumption that the post is AI based,  but it does look very like it - and it's still misleading...

[AndyDent 106]

On 1/3/2024 at 4:21 AM, gazumped said:

Hi.  Try this - 

To fix occasional errors with installs or updates on laptops or desktops - plus issues with speed or lag

1 - Make sure your notes are synced up to date

 

How do you ensure your notes are synced up to date?

There is no sync status in v10 

[gazumped 11,709]

1 hour ago, AndyDent said:

How do you ensure your notes are synced up to date?

There is no sync status in v10 

Check the web client (or another device) to make sure your latest notes have reached the server,  because if you follow the next steps unsynced notes will no longer exist on the client you're using...

[PinkElephant 8,188]

On 2/9/2024 at 9:36 AM, AndyDent said:

How do you ensure your notes are synced up to date?

There is no sync status in v10 

There is a sync status, somewhere in the developer tools.

But it’s in general not necessary: It always syncs immediately, not like legacy where it first saved to local, and then sometime later synced the local copy to the server. V10 sync is quasi instantaneous.

[AndyDent 106]

4 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

There is a sync status, somewhere in the developer tools.

 

Are you referring to something about the sync status of Evernote data or about the Chrome-based settings sync in the developer tools? I can't find anything. I'd appreciate a hint.

From a fairly brief look, the developer tools accessible now in Evernote are near-identical to those you get hitting F12 in Chrome desktop edition. They are not obviously changed in any way to reflect anything about the application logic outside of the embedded Chrome engine. Evernote is now an Electron app, basically a giant wrapper around a website with some local capabilities. (Electron is very controversial - it makes it vastly easier to roll out near-identical products across platforms, at a cost in performance and arguably robustness. A 3yo thread here.)

Sync status should provide an indication of sync progress. V10 sync is only "quasi instantaneous" when there's a trivial update to map across. When you have been offline for a long time, or are setting up a new device, there may be a lot of data to sync - possibly many days worth based on my calculations. Evernote has both metadata about notes - the bare minimum you may see in a list view, and the content of notes. With 54,556 notes the metadata alone is significant. As Evernote (v10) stores Content as multiple files, there are hundreds of thousands of files to transfer, not a batch download. So far with only 4.6GB (about 11%) of my data downloaded, it's up to around 44,000 files.

People who want to learn more about the issues in local-first data and sync are recommended to listen to the MetaMuse podcast episodes 41 and 78. It's a bit technical at times but the entire series is enjoyable - the only podcast non-tech wife's listened to willingly as we drive around.

I'm a developer with 40+ years experience including database engines and remote data sync so a bit more informed than average users and with my opinions as to what's useful set accordingly.

[PinkElephant 8,188]

Somehow I got mixed up with the threads - check here:

 

[Martinoz 2]

I had problems with the app too, more specifically I couldn't email gif files properly. Then as it turned out it was my usual ignorance of how to do it. So maybe it will be useful for someone else. I managed to find here https://setapp.com/how-to/email-a-gif-on-mac-in-seconds very sensible manual just on how to set up gifs for sending by mail, so if you also face the same problem when using, you will know where to read to fix it.

[acheong87 8]

The lagginess I was experiencing may not be quite what everyone else is experiencing.

• My main issue was lagginess when typing, especially in larger notes. The notes were pretty much unusable.
• I'm on an Intel on Mac Ventura 13.6.6 and was on Evernote latest (10.82.2).
• I tried disabling Slash hints—still laggy.
• I tried uninstalling completely with AppCleaner and re-installing—still laggy.
• There are no longer advanced options to try in the newer versions, like hardware acceleration.

What solved it for me was rolling back to Evernote 10.79.3. I wrote more about it in this other thread: https://discussion.evernote.com/forums/topic/150640-en-very-laggy-on-mac-video/?do=findComment&comment=729761, although that thread has even less to do with my particular issue. I wanted to cross-post here because this thread is currently the highest result on Google for evernote lag mac.

[PinkElephant 8,188]

This thread was started way before the current issues evolved. Your post is unrelated to the others here.

It is known that the introduction of collapsible sections led to the current problems. Rolling back to a prior version can only be a temporary fix. I hope we get an update with a real solution ASAP.

[acheong87 8]

@PinkElephant I see, thanks. To someone who doesn't frequent these forums, it wasn't obvious the current issues weren't related, and I just wanted to help others like me who were panicking and blocked from their daily workflow and just needed things to work again. Plus it ranked so high on Google and seemed recent enough (compared to most Google results being from 2020).

Looking forward to the improvements! I believe in the EN team.