073 - Following internal links (by simple click) should re-use the current note window (and Alt <- -> should work as intended)

[AlbertR 689]

Bug Description

• If you click on a formerly created internal link within a note
  • a random note is displayed in EN's main window
  • the currently visible note is changed to the notebook list of the desired destination note
• It makes no difference whether the current note is already opened in a seperate window or in EN's main note window
  • In both cases, EN's main window is destroyed like described above
• If you press the PageBack-button (Alt-<-) you'll be moved to the next random note
  • but not to the origin note where you came from!

---

Expected behaviour

• After clicking on an internal link
  • the destination note should be displayed in current note's window
• After pressing PageBack-button (Alt <-) within a note window
  • the last visible note within this window should appear.
• After pressing PageForward-button (Alt ->) within a note window
  • ... in which an other note has been visible before the current one
  • the origin note (i.e. from where an internal link was executed) should appear

---

Workaround

• Press Ctrl-<LBClick> to open a new note window with the destination note
• There are no working workaround for missing PageBack/Forward functionality on notes

---

Background information (See also...)

• Already opened Support Ticket: #3955276
• Forum discussions some of this information came from: Version 10.100.3

[Dave Green 260]

Seeing this.  I have logged out of Evernote (not keeping files) and still see the issue.  Not seeing issue in Web Client.

[hartman_md 17]

As discussed in another thread...

... it feels like it's something about old note formats that the new version(s) don't like. Simply editing a note seems to reformat it and miraculously things work.

I tried a tip shared by @cooljake, "click with ctl-button, a new window opens with the correct note."  Once the note is open, make an edit... anything, then manually sync with Ctrl+R.  Miraculously, the note's woes are gone.

[Mike P 2,958]

On 8/10/2024 at 8:10 PM, hartman_md said:

As discussed in another thread...

... it feels like it's something about old note formats that the new version(s) don't like. Simply editing a note seems to reformat it and miraculously things work.

I tried a tip shared by @cooljake, "click with ctl-button, a new window opens with the correct note."  Once the note is open, make an edit... anything, then manually sync with Ctrl+R.  Miraculously, the note's woes are gone.

Sadly doesn't work for me.

[AlbertR 689]

Whow - 10.102.4 seems to fix nearly all my problems around following internal links 👍😁

• If you click on an internal link, the target should be displayed in the current note editing window
  • as long as you use the default note editing window, it is Solved!
  • If you are in a seperate note window, a simple click will display the note in the default (main) note editing window
    • But this is OK for me:
      • To use an overview-note (that contains many links to other notes), I open the overview in a seperate window
      • all click on links will show the destination note in the one and only main note window!
• If you ctrl-click, the target should us a new window
  • Solved!
  • if there is already a window open with the target note, this window should be re-used.
    • Solved!
• The note list should never be touched or even necessary!
  • Solved!
• New(?) problem:
  • If you have a note list sorted by Title, a simple click on a link does not show the destination (nowhere!)
• After pressing PageBack-button (Alt <-) within a note window
  • Solved!
• After pressing PageForward-button (Alt ->) within a note window
  • Solved!

[AlbertR 689]

8 hours ago, Paul A. said:

The first time I click it jumps to my most recently created note (which is not related at all).

OK, have seen a similar effect 😞

• If I'm in notebook A,
• select a note with links to notes in notebook B,
• click on such a link, 
• the note list changes to notebook B
• and the first note (not the intended one) from there is shown

=> There remain problems along with Evernote's try to "highlight" the destination note line within the the notebook list. 

I write "hightlight" in quotes because it's not a real (good) hightlight due to the slight difference of the background colour of this line (see 052 - Highlight selected notes with more contrast (not same as when hovering with mouse)).

It would be easier to do without this "highlight" and avoid the error here 😉

 

[AlbertR 689]

It's in work 👍

[dbvirago 535]

Just got update 10.102.4 and tested internal links. Still not working

Reported to Feedback

Additional Info: On my 2nd computer, after the update, I got a pop-up about an optimization process, which the software went through when I restarted. This not only didn't solve the problem but made it slower getting to the wrong note. On the first computer, I still haven't seen anything about optimization. 

Edit 2: Just got another update with no info. Didn't fix anything

Sorry, we weren't able to get the release notes for Evernote 10.102.7 at this time.

 

Edit 3: And for the record, the other part of the update, 2 way calendar sync is also not working. Test much?

[Piotas 128]

update 10.103.3. Some internal note links still open TOP note in target folder, not to correct note. If you change folder note sorting, it becomes another TOP note in that folder. As if some links weren't pointing to a note, but to a folder of notes.

[Mike P 2,958]

10 hours ago, Piotas said:

Some internal note links still open TOP note in target folder, not to correct note.

This is my experience too. It's almost like EN is finding the note by scrolling through the folder and if it's too low down it gives up and can't be bothered!

EN did acknowledge a probelm with notes lower in the notebook and I don't think they have solved it

[AlbertR 689]

12 hours ago, Piotas said:

update 10.103.3. Some internal note links still open TOP note in target folder, not to correct note

NOT my experience (WinApp-10.103.3). All internal links (even if executed from outside) display the correct note in note editing window.

• So my main complaint is solved 🙂 

But: There remain issues to highlight the correct note in note list window:

• Often the list window changes at least to the folder that holds the link target
  • But not with every try - don't see any rule for that in the moment. May it depend on ...
    • ... the sorting of the list?
    • ... the list type (notebook vs. search result?)
    • ... any other circumstance? (OS, weather, ... 😉)
• If the note list window changes, the destination note is highlighted therein
  • But the list is not scrolled to make the highlighted line visible...

But I'm not sure whether I/we should insist on changing the note list at all...

• Sometimes it my be better to keep this list unchanged (if it is a result of a previous search?).
• And: Wouldn't it be better to open a new window for the link target?
  • This can be defined if you follow the link from inside EN - but not from outside.

All-in-all I think it's time for a few settings to define my (and of course your) preferences... 🙏 

[Mike P 2,958]

38 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

NOT my experience (WinApp-10.103.3).

Interesting to understand why. Are they recent notes, in notebooks with only a small number of notes in? Can you make them fail by changing the sort order of the notebook to make them lower down the list?

[Piotas 128]

14 minutes ago, Mike P said:

Interesting to understand why. Are they recent notes, in notebooks with only a small number of notes in? Can you make them fail by changing the sort order of the notebook to make them lower down the list?

my experience is far more frightening, my experience is that some links are just broken but when you do selective testing it show correct linked note ONLY because that note you "test" has latest modification time (by default it is on top), as result this note is by default on top - try testing your broken links with OTHER (older) notes to learn if it works...

[Mike P 2,958]

1 minute ago, Piotas said:

my experience is far more frightening, my experience is that some links are just broken but when you do selective testing it show correct linked note ONLY because that note you "test" has latest modification time (by default it is on top), as result this note is by default on top - try testing your broken links with OTHER (older) notes to learn if it works...

I think that just supports what I'm saying. If a link works, and the target note is in a notebook with a large number of notes, then you can make it fail by simply reversing the sort order. Some notes are always going to be in the "middle" of the notebook whatever the sort order, so will always fail. I organise primarily by tag so 99% of my notes are in one notebook which probably doesn't help!

[Jon/t 1,620]

@Mike P can you give me some instructions on how to replicate this so I can try, including which views you're in. I've just tried with resorting note lists and it worked fine.

Myself and one of the other experts did some work with one of the devs on this last week and recorded a bunch of videos. Let me know how to reproduce this.

[Mike P 2,958]

1 hour ago, Jon/t said:

@Mike P can you give me some instructions on how to replicate this so I can try, including which views you're in. I've just tried with resorting note lists and it worked fine.

Myself and one of the other experts did some work with one of the devs on this last week and recorded a bunch of videos. Let me know how to reproduce this.

I am pretty sure that this is only an issue with "large" notebooks. 

Scenario 1

• Set up the notebook sort to be created date with the newest at the top
• Select a note which is at least number 501 in the list (for me number 500 works and number 501 fails)
• Make a note shortcut and paste this shortcut into a note in a different notebook
• Click the shortcut and you will go to the first note in the target notebook (ie most recent)

Scenario 2

• Set up the notebook sort to be created date with the newest at the top
• Select a recent note
• Make a note shortcut and paste this shortcut into a note in a different notebook
• Click the shortcut  to confirm it works
• Now change the sort order to be oldest first
• Provided the note is now more than number 500 in the list you will go the first note in the notebook (ie the oldest)

Scenario 3

• Set up the notebook sort to be created date with the newest at the top
• Make a link to note 500 and paste it into a note in a different notebook and confirm that it works
• Create a new note in the target notebook
• Note 500 is now note 501 so the link you made now fails!

Technical aside. I used the created: search syntax to filter the notebook to find the number of notes - if you use filter it doesn't give you the number of notes in the filtered list, only the total number of notes in the notebook.

 

[Jon/t 1,620]

@Mike P Lovely stuff... passed it on.

[AlbertR 689]

1 hour ago, Mike P said:

I am pretty sure that this is only an issue with "large" notebooks.

Sorry, all your scenarios work for me in a notebook with 856 notes. Clicking on an internal link in a note in an other notebook always leads to the correct note - regardless of whether it is at the beginning or end of the list.

The list itself never changes - but this might be by intend (see my comments above). So the target note of the link is visible in the note editing windows but is not highlighted (visible) in the list.

• Oups: If the target note is visible in the list, it is highlighted (OK). But if I then click on a link to a note that can't be highlighted (outside the visible list), the highlight is not reset (Fail)
• But Highlighting the current notebook or note at all is terrible as long as EN10 is alive (see 052 - Highlight selected notes with more contrast (not same as when hovering with mouse) 😤

[Mike P 2,958]

31 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

Sorry, all your scenarios work for me in a notebook with 856 notes. Clicking on an internal link in a note in an other notebook always leads to the correct note - regardless of whether it is at the beginning or end of the list.

I certainly don't understand why our experiences should be so different. I've just gone back and checked and it is still the same. I've also got exactly the same on the web version which would suggest it is not a local data base issue. 

[cooljake 48]

23 minutes ago, Mike P said:

I certainly don't understand why our experiences should be so different. I've just gone back and checked and it is still the same. I've also got exactly the same on the web version which would suggest it is not a local data base issue. 

I certainly don't understand what is so difficult to simply jump to the correct note in the clicked link. It is working with ctl-click, why not by simply clicking the link???

Why does it depend on the sort order of the notebook??

Why does the "Go back" button nearly NEVER jumps back to the origin note?

Its really like talking to a first grader about Differential equations

 

[AlbertR 689]

2 hours ago, cooljake said:

I certainly don't understand what is so difficult to simply jump to the correct note in the clicked link. It is working with ctl-click, why not by simply clicking the link???

Because the normal note editing window is somewhat coupled with the note list. Ctrl-Click opens an un-coupled note window.

Coupling is nice as long as you work interactively with mouse and Up-/Down keys within the list. The currently viewed note is highlighted in the list...

Coupling is ***** if you jump to a note from elsewhere. But as long as the coupling is defined deep inside the framework, it's not possible to simply jump to a note without trouble.

=> a quick solution might be to open a target note always in new (uncoupled) note window. Every first grader in UI programming should be able configure that 😉 

[eric99 1,077]

25 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

Because the normal note editing window is somewhat coupled with the note list. Ctrl-Click opens an un-coupled note window.

Coupling is nice as long as you work interactively with mouse and Up-/Down keys within the list. The currently viewed note is highlighted in the list...

Coupling is ***** if you jump to a note from elsewhere. But as long as the coupling is defined deep inside the framework, it's not possible to simply jump to a note without trouble.

=> a quick solution might be to open a target note always in new (uncoupled) note windows. Every first grader in UI programming should be able configure that 😉 

Yes, you hit the nail on the head! The original design overlooked the need to display the linked note into the coupled window

[cooljake 48]

1 hour ago, AlbertR said:

Because the normal note editing window is somewhat coupled with the note list. Ctrl-Click opens an un-coupled note window.

Coupling is nice as long as you work interactively with mouse and Up-/Down keys within the list. The currently viewed note is highlighted in the list...

Coupling is ***** if you jump to a note from elsewhere. But as long as the coupling is defined deep inside the framework, it's not possible to simply jump to a note without trouble.

=> a quick solution might be to open a target note always in new (uncoupled) note windows. Every first grader in UI programming should be able configure that 😉 

nobody want to know "It doesn't work, because.."

this is definitely no excuse to jump to a wrong note and also no excuse to jump to the next wrong note instead of returning to the origin when you press GO BACK

Honest would be a window saying: "I'm sorry, my algorithm is so stupid that I can't display the correct note that is behind the link"

[AlbertR 689]

... or to open a target note always in new (uncoupled) note window 😉

[cooljake 48]

20 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

... or to open a target note always in new (uncoupled) note window 😉

I wouldn't like this simple solution since I would have dozens of open windows after a few minutes. Imagine your browser would open a new window for each hyperlink you click and opens another window for every "go back"

I want to have the new note in the note window and be ensured that this note is not only selected in the note list but also visible which is not today. Perhaps the brainiacs at Bending Spoons should look for a property "EnsureVisible" in their note list?

[Mike P 2,958]

18 hours ago, AlbertR said:

Sorry, all your scenarios work for me in a notebook with 856 notes.

One other thing occurred to me. I organise by tags, so 99% of all my notes are in one notebook. That's currently 6655 notes. Maybe that is the difference. I've been wondering about splitting the notebook into a few notebooks based on my 7 top level tags, mainly to make better use of the new pin to notebook feature. The pain of doing it 100 notes at a time has so far put me off.

[AlbertR 689]

14 hours ago, cooljake said:

I want to have the new note in the note window and be ensured that this note is not only selected in the note list but also visible which is not today.

OK, your need.

14 hours ago, cooljake said:

Bending Spoons should look for a property "EnsureVisible" in their note list?

Yep - sorry, have to recall a line of mine before:  it's time for a few settings to define my (and of course your) preferences... 🙏

45 minutes ago, Mike P said:

One other thing occurred to me. I organise by tags, so 99% of all my notes are in one notebook. That's currently 6655 notes. Maybe that is the difference.

Maybe - but I've the same problem to replay this situation - cannot create such a big notebook only to test this 😉. Let's EN devs do the job...

[Mike P 2,958]

I've now taken the plunge and split my mega notebook up into several notebooks all less than 500 notes. I had to do this 100 notes at a time but was pleasantly surprised (based on doing this some time ago) by how quickly it does move 100 notes from one notebook to another.

• Everything now works as expected, both in my trials and in normal use
• I tried with a slightly larger notebook and links to notes lower down would work if I had accessed them recently or even scrolled past them. They then failed once I restarted EN.
• Links from notes in a filtered list are still a problem, except that  pressing "back" when I am taken to the wrong note (top note in the notebook) now seems to work reliably

[cooljake 48]

On 8/29/2024 at 1:24 PM, Mike P said:

Everything now works as expected, both in my trials and in normal use

I can't confirm that.. have just installed 10.104.2 and still the links dont work

The spoon benders still use all filter instead of simply jumping the the note that is addressed in the link

Imagine you use a phone book with thousands of phone numbers in hundreds of cities

you are in Liverpool and search the number of your friend Jim Smith who lives in Manchester

who is really found with the correct phone number

but now the phone book starts to get crazy and try to dial this number in Liverpool (because you are in Liverpool)

and since there is no Jim Smith in Liverpool it simply dial Anton Adamson since he is the very first number in the book of Manchester

----

okay, some people will think, I do not have those problems with my phone book

because in my village live only 305 people where maximum 20 % have a phone.. and for sure I do not know any people in the next village and even then, I don't wanna talk to them

[Mike P 2,958]

41 minutes ago, cooljake said:

I can't confirm that.. have just installed 10.104.2 and still the links dont work

Great example of quoting me out of context!

On 8/29/2024 at 12:24 PM, Mike P said:

I've now taken the plunge and split my mega notebook up into several notebooks all less than 500 notes.

As is clear in my post it only works because I now only have small notebooks. I'm not expecting everybody to do that and I am also clear that it didn't solve the filtered list problem. You don't bother to say whether your notebooks are bigger or smaller than 500 notes. 

[cooljake 48]

1 hour ago, Mike P said:

Great example of quoting me out of context!

As is clear in my post it only works because I now only have small notebooks. I'm not expecting everybody to do that and I am also clear that it didn't solve the filtered list problem. You don't bother to say whether your notebooks are bigger or smaller than 500 notes. 

my largest and most frequently used notebook contains 11312 notes
there are two things that are really annoying me at the moment
a) that the banana benders at Evernote can't follow a simple note link
b) that there are people here in the forum who completely ignore this blatant problem

[AlbertR 689]

27 minutes ago, cooljake said:

there are two things that are really annoying me at the moment

Sorry, as long as you decorate the EN team with your nice names, they will not react for sure 😉

And we here in the forum do not ignore your problem - but cannot follow all your examples...

Internal note links contain a note-ID and a notebook-ID. The last patch(es) solved problems to display exactly the note (that's my finding - also with very many notes). The only problem is the note list that does not show (highlight) the target note in all cases.

2 hours ago, cooljake said:

Imagine you use a phone book with thousands of phone numbers in hundreds of cities

OK - but if you have an internal link to a specific person (note), you'll see this person (note) - maybe not the page (list), on which this person listed. But what are you interested in? The person or its environment?

[cooljake 48]

12 hours ago, AlbertR said:

OK - but if you have an internal link to a specific person (note), you'll see this person (note) - maybe not the page (list), on which this person listed. But what are you interested in? The person or its environment?

sorry AlbertR, you didn't understand the problem which has nothing to do with the note list.. the later is just one of many dozens cosmetic errors that comes additionally to the major disfunctunctions of EN

Let me explain it for you in easy words:

I have a notebook that contains notes about telephone calls, meetings, remote sessions, and so on, this notebook contains 2458 notes and perhaps 10-15 notes with todo points that are still open, so my search filter is "ToDo:false" and "tag:calls"

Inside of nearly every note are links, links to former calls, links to documents, drawings, sketches, links to mails, to contact lists and nearly always to the a project where it belongs to

If I click one of the notes EN does note show this note.. instead it shows a random note (mainly the first note of the notebook where the correct note is stored, for example "Mails")

So I think the spoon benders try to "filter" the link and still look if the note in this link have a checkbox=false or a tag=calls

I think further that this filter is no intension and that is likely that this junior programmers just don't realize the problem..like you

[pbsallad 0]

I made a thread earlier that's very similar to this. Deleted it after seeing this. The thread was about The Table of Contents because it does this as well.

I tried doing the crtl left click and that doesn't work with the ToC either. It does with other links though.

[AlbertR 689]

49 minutes ago, cooljake said:

Let me explain it for you in easy words:

THX for that. Now I've reproduced the problem with my own notes. Maybe I haven't seen it because I'm used to Ctrl-Click on my links to open new Windows for the background notes I'm refererring to... 🤔

53 minutes ago, cooljake said:

So I think they try to "filter" the link and still look if the note in this link have a checkbox=false or a tag=calls

My opinion as a non-junior programmer:

• They do NOT filter anything whilst displaying a target note.
• It's simply the (unnecessary and unwanted) try get the the current (filtered?) note list in sync with the note.

[iceman melb 23]

The bug exist only on those with  large number of notes. Hopefully bug tracker will address it

[hartman_md 17]

I just downloaded v10.104.3.  It's evident Evernote has made changes, but links are still problematic.  In my case it still seems to be associated with links to old notes.  Clicking on a link to an old note now does 1 of 3 things: 

1) Perpetual blank screen

2) Perpetual blank screen with green spinny circle

3) The same note, i.e. the note where the link was that I clicked on

@cooljake''s tip still works for me: "click with ctl-button, a new window opens with the correct note." 

Once the note is open, I make an edit... anything, then manually sync with Ctrl+R.  After that the link that formerly didn't work, now works.

[Mike P 2,958]

16 minutes ago, hartman_md said:

In my case it still seems to be associated with links to old notes.

 

16 minutes ago, hartman_md said:

fter that the link that formerly didn't work, now works.

Do you have notes organised by update date or creation date? If it is by update then editing a note jumps it to the top of the list. That suggests that 10.104.3 hasn't completely solved things.