BUG: Note Menu -> Open Note in New Window does not work

[John in Michigan USA 129]

I am running EN 10.71.2-win-ddl-public (...ending 3604) on Windows 11. I just now checked, Evernote has no updates available for me.

To reproduce:

1. Exit Evernote, reboot, and open Evernote
2. From the home screen, without clicking anyplace else, single click on a note so it expands to fill the full screen (except for the left hand navigation bar). Note that this is not the same as opening a note in a separate, stand-alone window.
3. Click the Note Menu. Observe that the item "Open Note in New Window" is not greyed out.
4. On the right pane of your screen, click in the body or title of the note you clicked in step 2.
5. Try to use the Note Menu, the item "Open Note in New Window" command. It isn't greyed out, but clicking on it does NOT open the current note in a new window
6. Make substantial changes to the existing note. I found that a couple of spaces plus a newline are enough.
7. Now the Note Menu -> "Open Note in New Window" command works!

Frustratingly, Step 5 doesn't fail every time. From the main screen, try highlighting (selecting without opening) different notes, then use the Note menu -> "Open Note in New Window" command. Eventually you will trigger the bug

This bug is particularly annoying because there appears to be no other way of consistently opening a note viewed from the main window in a new window.

Ideally, note links embedded in a note body should have a right-click option to open in a new window instead of opening in the existing window.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

Oops, accidentally created this under "Evernote for Android Issues (Versions 10.0 and above)" forum, could someone please move it to the Windows forum. Thanks!

[agsteele 2,988]

Go to evernote.com/download and download the latest version which is currently 10.72.2

I'd probably do a full uninstall with Revo Uninstaller to ensure you have a clean start.

[Mike P 2,781]

9 hours ago, John in Michigan USA said:

Try to use the Note Menu, the item "Open Note in New Window" command. It isn't greyed out, but clicking on it does NOT open the current note in a new window

The note menu has been a random problem to me for a while, particularly in the full screen mode. While in normal view this also prevents some of the keyboard shortcuts listed in the menu from working. I raised a support ticket and was told that they couldn't reproduce the problem.

9 hours ago, John in Michigan USA said:

This bug is particularly annoying because there appears to be no other way of consistently opening a note viewed from the main window in a new window.

Fortunately the three dots menu at the top right of the note pane allows you to open the note in a new window and this always seems to work for me.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

Thanks @Mike P that's a good tip but highlights what I've been saying about EN is still true.

They have a 3 dots menu feature added ad-hoc on top of the original, classic menu system. The New Window menu item on the former is implemented differently than the New Menu item on the later. The programmer who wrote that, and the manager that approved it, frankly suck at their jobs and should be ashamed. Rushed feature with no regards for the problems it would cause to maintain it. Oh that New Window bug, tell support we fixed it. Now support ignores all new reports of the problem and devs never know that there's a 2nd, separate bugged New Window command. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,987]

20 hours ago, John in Michigan USA said:

I am running EN 10.71.2-win-ddl-public (...ending 3604) on Windows 11. I just now checked, Evernote has no updates available for me.

To reproduce:

1. Exit Evernote, reboot, and open Evernote
2. From the home screen, without clicking anyplace else, single click on a note so it expands to fill the full screen (except for the left hand navigation bar). Note that this is not the same as opening a note in a separate, stand-alone window.
3. Click the Note Menu. Observe that the item "Open Note in New Window" is not greyed out.
4. On the right pane of your screen, click in the body or title of the note you clicked in step 2.
5. Try to use the Note Menu, the item "Open Note in New Window" command. It isn't greyed out, but clicking on it does NOT open the current note in a new window
6. Make substantial changes to the existing note. I found that a couple of spaces plus a newline are enough.
7. Now the Note Menu -> "Open Note in New Window" command works!

Frustratingly, Step 5 doesn't fail every time. From the main screen, try highlighting (selecting without opening) different notes, then use the Note menu -> "Open Note in New Window" command. Eventually you will trigger the bug

This bug is particularly annoying because there appears to be no other way of consistently opening a note viewed from the main window in a new window.

Ideally, note links embedded in a note body should have a right-click option to open in a new window instead of opening in the existing window.

For reasons beyond my understanding, I actually tried all that. It did not fail: the note opened in a new window at step 5. (Evernote 10.72.2, Windows 10.) Hence I'd suggest that (now that you've pinpointed Evernote's personnel issues) you follow @agsteele's suggestions to update to the current version, first uninstalling with Revo.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

Now running 10.73.4, which wasn't available to me at the time of the post. The New Window menu item now works properly.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

🤢 🤮 😠 🤣

Now running the Windows client 10.74.1-win-ddl-public (ending 3748). The fix that appeared in 10.73.4, a fix I discovered only 6 days ago, is now broken again.

And, I guarantee you there are dozens if not hundreds of other bugs of this type that have been fixed and reverted with no rhyme or reason. Does management even know how much dev time they are wasting, and customer goodwill they are squandering?

I also guarantee you Evernote is corrupting your notes. If you haven't noticed it, it's still probably happening. Do a full export and backup, and keep old backups as long as you can afford to, you never know when the note you created a couple of years ago will appear broken right when you need it.

It's like buying an American car in the late 1970's. I remember Mom, Dad and I so looking forward to her first new car in a decade, that she paid for herself working part time as a psychologist while raising me and doing her share of the work around the house (and some of mine, too, since they wanted me to study). The dealership said the car had arrived from the factory but wouldn't be ready for another week. Dad stopped by towards the end of that week and found Mom's car in the service bay on a lift. Turns out the factory, instead of installing the complete brake system, had left a vital part, still wrapped in plastic, on the floor of the car, so they could check the box that the inventory was delivered. The dealer had to eat the cost of finishing building the car, and we had to wait even longer than promised.

Now you understand why I rant against Evernote. They are their own worst enemy! Multi-platform software *is* hard. But regression testing is simple, and can be automated. You just have to have the discipline to do it. If EN would get their act together this could be a world-class product instead of a mediocrity that relies on user lock-in for its business model.

[Mike P 2,781]

22 minutes ago, John in Michigan USA said:

The fix that appeared in 10.73.4, a fix I discovered only 6 days ago, is now broken again.

For me it never worked in 10.73.4. I tried @Dave-in-Decaturs suggestion of a complete uninstall and reinstall and that didn't help either. To reiteratei, f If expand a note (icon top left of the note view) the note menu at the top of the screen (between View and Window)  is always grayed out.

[ChristianJB 96]

Works for me in 10.75.1 ...

[Mike P 2,781]

2 hours ago, ChristianJB said:

Works for me in 10.75.1 ...

Just for clarity, what exactly works for you?

[ChristianJB 96]

47 minutes ago, Mike P said:

Just for clarity, what exactly works for you?

"BUG: Note Menu -> Open Note in New Window does not work" -> this works for me.

Doesn't work in one of the former releases.

[Mike P 2,781]

37 minutes ago, ChristianJB said:

"BUG: Note Menu -> Open Note in New Window does not work" -> this works for me.

Doesn't work in one of the former releases.

Thanks for the clarification. As a matter of interest can you access the note menu if you have expanded a note?

 

5 hours ago, Mike P said:

To reiteratei, f If expand a note (icon top left of the note view) the note menu at the top of the screen (between View and Window)  is always grayed out.

 

[ChristianJB 96]

52 minutes ago, Mike P said:

As a matter of interest can you access the note menu if you have expanded a note?

No, it is grayed out, but the three dots menu within the note still works.

[Mike P 2,781]

59 minutes ago, ChristianJB said:

No, it is grayed out, but the three dots menu within the note still works

Yes, but none of the keyboard shortcuts that are related to the items in the menu work, which for me is the biggest problem.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,987]

Well, again for reasons beyond my understanding, I tried it again, with v. 10.74.1, and this time it finally failed: with a note opened expanded, the items in the Note menu were grayed out. As a special bonus, I was upgraded to the horrid new UI without asking for it. I updated to 10.75.2 by downloading from evernote.com, and the Note menu is still broken with an expanded note. Fortunately, I never use that menu anyway--which is why I feel pretty grumpy at myself for doing this test, since now I'm stuck with the ugly, unreadable future of Evernote. So yes, it's broken; no, it doesn't matter to me; and @#$@, I've got the new UI. I hope whoever this matters to will pound on the doors of support until they acknowledge it.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

On 2/9/2024 at 11:39 AM, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Well, again for reasons beyond my understanding, I tried it again, with v. 10.74.1, and this time it finally failed: with a note opened expanded, the items in the Note menu were grayed out. As a special bonus, I was upgraded to the horrid new UI without asking for it. I updated to 10.75.2 by downloading from evernote.com, and the Note menu is still broken with an expanded note. Fortunately, I never use that menu anyway--which is why I feel pretty grumpy at myself for doing this test, since now I'm stuck with the ugly, unreadable future of Evernote. So yes, it's broken; no, it doesn't matter to me; and @#$@, I've got the new UI. I hope whoever this matters to will pound on the doors of support until they acknowledge it.

Thanks for being persistent. I suppose I should have made clear, I don't think a fresh PC reboot is necessary to reproduce the problem. I put that step in there because I didn't want whoever triages bugs to think: we can't consistently reproduce this bug so probably it isn't a pure EN problem. It must be caused by some subtle interaction between EN and Windows or some other app, or something that happens only after running the EN client for a long time. Those bugs are hard to slay, so we're going to hope it goes away on its own, or our users learn the work-around and stop complaining.

I still don't understand why EN can't make available some sort of bug status/tracking insight to trusted, long time community leaders like you @Dave-in-Decatur. It would  help all of us be less cynical about the bug reporting process and EN in general.