Database cleanup & Notebook exporting

[jshrader 1]

Hi Folks - Old Evernote user here, now retired, and cleaning out the database (so to speak)

Problem: Evernote (latest Windows desktop version) flunks note search by tag. For example, when I click the tag “Fitbit”, I want to see all of the notes tagged accordingly so I may delete them. (Albeit 100 at a time? Whose bright idea was THAT?). Evernote then returns a message that no notes were found, when the tag counter reads 366, and I can physically see the notes in the notebook. Weird.

When I try to export said notebook (2,000+ notes); I right click on the notebook name, click Export, and are then blessed with a box where you can select the export type, check/uncheck note attributes, etc. In the center where it’s supposed to give me an opportunity to “split up” the notes into smaller export files. Unfortunately, I get a maddening spinning green circle which will in fact spin for over 2 days if you let it. (I have). Prematurely hitting the Export button yields failure.

SO. Now I’m wondering if my local database is whacked somehow. I have exported smaller notebooks (>1,000 notes) with multiple tries, and limited success. 

Is there a procedure for deleting the local database, and insuring a clean download of the database in the cloud??

Any advice, guidance, black magic voodoo that can be offered would be greatly appreciated. I’m kinda at wits end here.

Thanks!

Joe

[gazumped 11,699]

On 2/25/2024 at 3:48 PM, jshrader said:

Any advice, guidance, black magic voodoo that can be offered would be greatly appreciated. I’m kinda at wits end here.

Now where did I put those pins... 

OK - this is (I hope) easy-peasy.  Simply sign out of Evernote (v10) and choose NOT to save your notes on the server.  Then re-download the latest update from Evernote.com and re-install.  It's take a while to re-create your existing database from the server so leave it running for a couple of hours to catch up.

When you're next deleting,  try creating a new notebook (archive?) and search for your tagged notes.  Select 100,  move to the archive / remove the tag.  Rince and repeat.  Once they're there at your mercy you can delete the whole notebook all at once.

Beware that major changes take time to copy across your devices,  so use one device for all changes and be patient until you see the changes have been applied!

If there's anything else you need please let us know!

[jshrader 1]

So far, I'm going to forgo the voodoo pins ... now I'm hunting for spikes :)

This has to be the weirdest thing I've seen with PC's since the early 80's. 

Prior to receiving your prompt response to my first post, I had already signed out (opting to not leave a database copy behind) and uninstalled Evernote via the add/remove programs in Windows. Then did a treasure hunt to exterminate any remnants left behind. 

Then, reinstalled Evernote direct from a fresh copy (10.76.3). That went great and logged in to my Evernote account. FINALLY my local notebook structure matched the cloud version.

Unfortunately, my desktop version will not load individual notes, nor will it allow an export of notebooks. (Large or small) 

An example would be loading the contents of a 21-note notebook, takes about minute to see the thumbnails in the center column; then clicking on an individual notes yields a "note unavailable" message.  Clicking "refresh" gets me nothing in return. 

The last weird thing is that when the desktop software is running, the hard drive light on the PC stays on, like forever. (We're talking 24 hours) Looking at task manager shows nothing else is running except Evernote. 

Could there be corruption of data somewhere I'm not looking? Something is definitely broken here, last week everything was humming along. What's changed?

Once again here I stand at Wit's End.

[gazumped 11,699]

25 minutes ago, jshrader said:

Once again here I stand at Wit's End.

Welcome back...

To up the ante on that uninstall...  Try the whole dance again,  but this time use Revo Uninstaller to do your uninstall and cleaning up afterward.  It really does reach the parts that other uninstallers don't.  Then re-download and reinstall.  You should be able to search for known notes immediately - Evernote will download them from the server as you ask.  But building up a copy database on your local hard drive takes a day or two - just use Evernote meantime and leave it running in the background until it catches up.  You should be able to shut your system down without interrupting it.

[jshrader 1]

Roger that. Will give it a try - I was unaware that it would take 'days' to reload a local database copy. Wow.

I am unfamiliar with Revo Uninstaller, but will give it a go.

Film at 11.

[PinkElephant 8,174]

It depends on your database size how long it takes, your internet connection, your devices specs, your concurrent use while it downloads, ....

I don't think there are 2 downloads equal in their setup. What I DO like is that EN is not placing the big one massive server opposite to my punny internet connection, and says "Hey, we are going to blow you away with what we can do" - and saturate everything with pushing their data full power.

Unfortunately there is no download indicator (the mobile version has it, and it is really nice) on desktop. I use the Activity Monitor (Task Manager on Windows), tab Network to see if there is ongoing traffic to the EN client while I am not using it.

Just let the computer running, with the EN client open - it can be in the background. This is all it takes for the download, plus a little patience.

[VincentC 272]

Also, to expand on Pink's mention of "...your device specs...", if you are running with a minimum of memory, or a hard drive without a lot of free space, or a mechanical hard drive instead of SSD... all of these things can greatly impact your performance.   If you have an older system, you might think hard about upgrading it.  If you're a PC user, reasonably capable  mini-systems that include Win 11 are out there for about $500, and I know from some of his past posts that @PinkElephant can suggest some Mac machines that are affordable too if you're interested in changing platforms.

If you have a reasonably capable system, then definitely try Revo.  

Good luck,

 

Vinnie

[PinkElephant 8,174]

Hrrrr - hmmmmm - affordable yes, on the Apple pricing range, which knows no limit, but has a firm bottom.

I always recommend to click the RAM and storage at least one notch up, from the basic config. A MacBook Air M1 with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD costs 1.659€. The MBA M1 would not be my recommendation in general, although perfectly capable to run EN v10.

But you get 3 month of Apple TV+ for free, and that makes it up, I think 🤣