Evernote - 'Client not supported. Please upgrade Issue' leaves users frustrated! Be more customer centric and listen to your subscribers!

[Shafique 2]

For the past 2 weeks, every day Evernote (on Windows 11) keeps on forcing me to log in and when I do, I get an error message: 'Client not supported, please upgrade.' This is so frustrating as I have been using Evernote for many years. I basically have to manually update every day! Auto updating seems to have disappeared, and there is no preference in Evernote to auto-update (which is a basic feature in software). I tried other alternatives like Microsoft Store General auto-update, but this does not seem to work either. My point is why Evernote (software engineers) disables use of the previous version and I have to manually update? Surely, this kind of updating and disabling previous versions will leave subscribers frustrated and move to other less complicated alternative software? Evernote needs to be more Customer Centric and listen to the needs of your Users instead of forcing down processes that are clearly not user-friendly. Keep is simple, please. 1. Include Auto-update feature in your App (for direct auto update). 2. Auto Update once a week (unless it is a critical issue). 3. Define minor and major revisions and allow the same App to be used at least for 5-10 minor revisions, and do NOT disable the software for every revision!    

[gazumped 11,709]

Hi.  Thanks for your advice.  Your installation appears to be broken or you are signing out of your account each day rather than just closing the account.  The app will auto-update as and when new versions are available,  which should be every 7-10 days unless there is a critical error.

[Paul Caston 1]

I get this problem too. It started a couple of weeks ago. It is very frustrating.

I run as a user on my company system , and I don't have admin rights.  This was never a problem before, but as above I have to load evernote.exe to get it to start.

The system seems to open and to start to do an update then I get the login screen . When I try to login I always get the 'client  not supported error'.

I am the only person in my company using Evernote ( my IT guys let me use it ) and I pay for it.  I just close the account each day I don't sign out.

Giving your customers the choice of when to update would be nice.

Thanks

 

[gazumped 11,709]

21 minutes ago, Paul Caston said:

I run as a user on my company system

Which generally means firewalls and other protections which limit internet access.  What version of Evernote do you have?  The latest (I think) is 10.82.2

[Shafique 2]

Hi gazumped!

Thanks for your reply. In response to your answer:

1. No, I don't log out every day (ever) since it my home PC. I just shut down my PC in the evening and restart my pc in the morning. When I click on the Evernote App, does start and my home screen appears for about 1s before it goes back to the login screen every day. I log in, and the error message appears every time, as stated before. I have to download and install the program (update) every day.

2. I will try to uninstall Evernote and re-install again from scratch to see if this resolves the problem. I will also try a different new Win 11 home computer installation and give feedback once done. 

[rexluna 0]

I am getting this same error, but when I try to download the latest version (and yes, Windows, not Mac), I then get the error "This app can't run on your PC"

 

Evernote seems basically bricked on my PC and I can currently only use it on mobile app

[PinkElephant 8,188]

What is your operating system ?

[Paul Caston 1]

Hello Gazumped

So when I open Evernote and get the login screen the version reports as 10.58.2. I then run Evernote.exe then I can log in and the version shows as 10.82.2. While I can download Evernote and get up and running to the latest version, this information seems to get lost when I shut down the computer and restart, when it reverts to an earlier version of Evernote. 

I don't understand how I can get the latest version downloaded and running then it reverts to an older version. I don't log out when I shut down.

 

[Shafique 2]

Hi!

I think I resolved the issue with Evernote. OS: Windows 11 Pro, version: 23H2.

Issue with Evernote Installation:

The problem I think was with the Evernote Installation. For some reason, the Evernote install does not overwrite the older version (10.65.2 in my case) as I checked. The version page does not show up because it forces a login (and error message: 'Client not supported, please upgrade.'). I continually pressed Help -> About Note and the version page did pop up eventually. This is why the error message keeps on popping up every day when I switched on my computer (without ever logging out). When I uninstalled Evernote manually, removed the shortcut, pinned items and re-installed the new version, it worked! 

Solution:

1. Right Click Windows Start Icon -> Installed Apps and manually uninstall Evernote AND remove all your shortcuts if pinned to taskbar or start or shortcut to desktop.

2. Restart your computer.

3. Download the latest version from Evernote Website and complete the installation.

4. Create your shortcuts again or pin to taskbar or start (if you did this before).

This should resolve the problem, as it did for me. I checked my Evernote version now, and it is correct at 10.82.2.

@rexluna & @Paul Caston: Try my method and see if it works for you.

Evernote Software Engineers:

1. I think that Evernote should add a verification process (script) in the installation software to check if the installation was completed correctly, including a CRC check on the program installed files. In my case, the latest install process does not delete the older version and did not complete correctly every time I installed it. When I restarted my computer the next day, clicked the shortcut or pinned Evernote Icon on my taskbar, it reverted to the older version, hence the error issue as stated.

2. When I manually uninstalled Evernote and removed all the shortcuts (pinned as well), it then installed correctly.

I hope the above helps anyone who have this issue.

[Paul Caston 1]

Hi Shafique,

I'll try , I need to bribe my IT guys to let me do this.  

My suspicion is though that this issue will happen again if it is not overwriting the old version.

Cheers

[PinkElephant 8,188]

On protected / managed devices, use the web client.

[Paul Caston 1]

PinkElephant.

I typically use Evernote when visiting customers, to have all the info I need for meetings in one easy place. Access to wifi is not always possible.

You need to be able to use Evernote offline as well as online.

Also I have used Evernote in this manner for the last nine years. It's only now it seems to have changed.

[Shafique 2]

1 hour ago, Paul Caston said:

Hi Shafique,

I'll try , I need to bribe my IT guys to let me do this.  

My suspicion is though that this issue will happen again if it is not overwriting the old version.

Cheers

It should work once you initiate a manual uninstall because the Evernote files are deleted. Your IT Guy could complete it if you need Admin rights for the manually uninstall.

Before you install the new version (after uninstalling it), you can also check using the windows file search function for the 'evernote.exe' file. If you don't find it, the chance of install success is 100%!

Note that Evernote.exe is normally installed in C:\Users\ADMIN1\AppData\Local\Programs\Evernote where ADMIN1 is your own user profile name. Mine is ADMIN1 in this case. A defined custom path is also possible, but the search function will lead you to the path where Evernote was installed.

[Paul Caston 1]

Hi Shafique

Sorry I  was not clear in my last message. I'm thinking of in a month or two's  time. I suspect the same problem will happen with uninstalled / reinstalled version in a month or so, due to the daft number of updates Evernote throws at us.

Thanks for your help. Good to know other people share the frustrations on what was a brilliant product becoming an average one.

[JCD 4]

After using Evernote for 13 years, suddenly I get the error message on my Mac "Client unsupported, please upgrade".  What the heck?  

If there is a new software version of Evernote, why doesn't it just automatically update like it's been doing for the last 13 years?   Why suddenly do I have to manually delete the current app, and go out to the web to find a new, updated app?    What's happening to the client convenience we've been experiencing for over a decade?    

[PinkElephant 8,188]

And … which version do you use ?

This nitty bitty detail is relevant to answer your question.

[Shafique 2]

51 minutes ago, JCD said:

After using Evernote for 13 years, suddenly I get the error message on my Mac "Client unsupported, please upgrade".  What the heck?  

If there is a new software version of Evernote, why doesn't it just automatically update like it's been doing for the last 13 years?   Why suddenly do I have to manually delete the current app, and go out to the web to find a new, updated app?    What's happening to the client convenience we've been experiencing for over a decade?    

From my point of view, it is a bug in their installation process. The latest version did not adapt to the current installation on your PC, did not install correctly, and hence the error message. Evernote Software Engineers should take note of this bug and release a version that provides a wider detect and verification system (Workflow Testing) to install the program files correctly. At most, they should increase their software QA & reliability processes and focus on feedback given from Users to reduce issues like mentioned here. 

I have also been with them for many years, seeing a brilliant piece of software and then things went sideways resulting in many basic issues. This indicates that their Software QA and Reliability has gone wayward. There has been improvements but now and again basic issues crops up which leads to customer frustrations. 

My view is that they should:

1. Focus on Software Workflow Testing (and software QA & reliability in general).
2. Increase their Test database to include more user install scenarios.
3. Increase additional verification processes in their installation program to ensure that the installation files are actually installed (e.g.: CRC check on each file installed, etc).
4. Build a Bug Report into their Evernote App to enable User's to report bugs. Currently, there is only a share feedback sent via email.
5. Build a Crash Report Process into the Evernote App and allow reports to be sent to Evernote (with permission from Users).
6. Build a Backend Database to store User bug reports.
7. Use AI to assimilate the reports into various categories & highlight in order from most reported.
8. Integrate the database into Evernote's Software Framework to make this visible to the Software Engineering Team in real-time. Where I work, we use TeamCity to integrate bug reports. This works very well for us.
9. The same goes for another feature that can be added in the App Help Section: 'Share your idea' to help Evernote Innovate and build a synergy with the Users. Use the same points above 4, 6-8 and report ideas instead of bugs.  

I think Evernote can be the great software it once was. Let's give the Evernote Team the benefit of the doubt. Uninstall your current software, remove all short-cuts and re-install. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the next update will not produce the same error (after you installed the latest version). 

[PinkElephant 8,188]

Which still doesn’t answer the question posted at @JCD s attention about the version used. Without this piece of data, an answer is speculative.

[Shafique 2]

15 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Which still doesn’t answer the question posted at @JCD s attention about the version used. Without this piece of data, an answer is speculative.

From my view, it does not matter which version is installed on the current PC. Given the data: Mine was 10.65.2 and Paul's was 10.58.2. It's the current executable installation v10.82.2 that has a problem overwriting the old installed files (or deleting them and installing the updated files). It seems there are scenarios that the current executable cannot cater for, hence failure to remove the older version correctly.

Furthermore, it also seems to happen in different operating environments: Mine Win 11 23H2 and JCD Apple OS. So it seems that the compiled install executable has a generic issue on different OS's.

The main objective I think is to find a quick solution for now: Manually uninstall and hope Evernote Software Team fixes the issue in the next update, but it would be nice to know which version JCD has under Apple OS. 

[Jon/t 1,334]

3 minutes ago, Shafique said:

It's the current executable installation v10.82.2 that has a problem overwriting the old installed files

The latest version is 10.83.5. See if that works better for you. Not noticed any issues here on Win 11 or my Win 10 laptop.

[PinkElephant 8,188]

@Shafique you could have used less words to conclude we need to know the version number of @JCD s client.

Without it is plain speculation,

Beside this installs can go wrong. In such a case it is usually better to run a complete uninstall (PC: Revo Uninstaller, Mac: AppCleaner) instead of trying to tinker the bad install to work somehow.

[Paul Caston 1]

Hi Shafique,

Thanks a million , my IT guys did an uninstall ,including deleting remaining directories after the uninstall, and installed the latest version. It worked as you had suggested

It remains to be seen if this will work for an extended period of time or if this is a systematic problem after a number of updates.

Really appreciate your input on this. It has helped me out enormously, as I have to have  Evernote working offline as well as online.

Thanks again