(Archived) Love for Evernote . . . slowing me down?

[allen 39]

This is sort of inspired by a previous topic of mine, regarding the ability to more dynamically add checkboxes but I thought a new topic was appropriate.

The thing is -- I love EverNote, really like having everything in it. And with all the ways to access it, it can be extremely convenient. The downside is that in my quest to centralize everything in Evernote I find myself often going out of my way to use it; which is to say that I am often adding steps to what I could quite probably otherwise do simpler. Granted, "jack of all trades master of none"--using specialized tools for each task will often net you more than a single tool to do everything. But Evernote is such a simple/flexible application, with a nice balanced feature set, that might allow it to do much more than meets the eye. For me, the problem I run into again and again is quite singular: Too many steps to perform tasks that are common for virtually every note. Some of the issues are addressed client side while others are addressed in the web interface--but at the end of the day, neither of them on their own get it right.

For example, to step you through note creation for me:

Client side:

create the note--whether manually or by capture, it's the same. I have a note body.

* Next I change the font, because the default font setting is ignored in almost all instances--and I do not like the system asserted font.

* I have to open the note list in order to change the title of the note -- no hotkey to do it, no field anywhere, the only way to do it is to pop open the list of notes.

* Next the tagging, it's pretty good here -- quick keystroke and I get a popup with note autocompletion. Some means of autotagging--perhaps suggested tags based on the notes and their assigned tags -- or just based on notebook, some keyword detection, source detection -- some tags are used so frequently and so consistently based on such criteria, that doing it myself makes me wonder if I want to tag at all and just go search only. (I also get this feeling when trying to tag web side)

* Had I opened the note to edit it in the popup so that I'd have access to formatting options, I lose the ability to spell check; if I have the note in the tape view, I can spell check but access to formatting options are restricted

Problems client side:

* font ignorance

* no tag automation (I know this has been brought up elsewhere)

* limited ability to alter the title

* inconsistent capabilities between the note popup and tape

* weaker search abilities than the web side, particularly the inability to save searches

Note Creation web side:

* If I create a note using the web clipper, I am unable to specify a title without going to the note and clicking edit but...

* When editing a note, it is simple/intuitive to edit the title as well as the note body though there is absolutely no way to edit note formatting (and as such, no way for my preferred default font to be asserted without openining the desktop client, synching, then editing the note. A lot of steps to make it a font I can read happily!)

* Next the tagging, I have to hunt through my list of tags -- unfortunately, I nested some of them. . . and with the tag list closed by default--taging from the web requires a *lot* of click, search, click, drag, repeat action. It's really painful for me, especially as I abhor having to use the mouse any more than is absolutely necessary. I'd pay twice the price for evernote for a nice plain text entry text box for tags. Really.

* Web side, zero formatting options. If I want to add todo items with checkboxes, I'm going to have to sync and go desktop. Headers? No. My preferred font? No. Nata.

Problems Web side:

* font ignorance

* no tag automation, though tagging at creation time is improved

* tagging, aside from at time of clip creation, is awful

* complete inability to edit formatting or utilize checkboxes (creating and editing is disabled)

Note creation via mail in:

Obviously this is a simplified input method and as such isn't full fledged. But I really firmly think it should be possible to tag and add checkboxes via e-mail, simple macros could accomplish this easily. %[]% for a checkbox, %tag:evernote,draft,forum% for those tags -- just with those, I'd be saved considerable time synching, editing and re-synching to accomplish things that I am almost certainly going to have to do with those notes.

With every day tasks, I find myself having to jump back and forth between the web version and the desktop version in order to accomplish everything I wish to -- which is a bit maddening.

At present, after I create a note via any means but the desktop client I have to go through my notes and manually add a checkbox to the items one at a time. If those simple macros could be leveraged--not just via e-mail but the other means as well--I could so much more accomplish everything I wish to with evernote. And so much faster!

Ack, I can't spell check. I'm editing in the popup!

[MrT 1]

Nice post, you raise some interesting issues. But just for the record, you might want to state if you are using the Mac or the PC version of Evernote, since you post in the general discussion forum

[johnlknight 0]

Good post.

[allen 39]

Nice post, you raise some interesting issues. But just for the record, you might want to state if you are using the Mac or the PC version of Evernote, since you post in the general discussion forum

I am using the PC version -- does it make a difference? If the PC/Mac versions, too, are non-synchronous in their feature sets it would seem that is worth adding to the list

[iafanasyev 1]

Problems client side:

* font ignorance

This one is fixed already. Wait for the next Windows client update.

* weaker search abilities than the web side, particularly the inability to save searches

On the Windows client, you can save search by highlighting the text in the search bar and dragging it onto the 'Saved searches' section on the side pane. (The current public version of the Windows client would add quotes around the text, which you may want to delete, but this is also fixed in the upcoming update). You can also create saved searches from scratch by right-clicking on the 'Saved searches' item in the side pane and selecting 'New Saved Search...'.

[allen 39]

Problems client side:

* font ignorance

This one is fixed already. Wait for the next Windows client update.

Great news, looking forward to the update!

* weaker search abilities than the web side, particularly the inability to save searches

On the Windows client, you can save search by highlighting the text in the search bar and dragging it onto the 'Saved searches' section on the side pane.

But it doesn't automatically populate that, so if my search also includes tags, titles, or other "advanced filters" I either have to guess or revert to the web. I'm assuming, of course, that it's just a matter of time before (a) you publish the various syntax options we have in searches for "hand rolling" queries ( web/client versions search are more similar in terms of creating/editing/saving searches.

Thanks for the reply -- any word either way on any of the other issues addressed? I'm a realist, I know that no software application, including Evernote, will cater 100% to my personal tastes but I really like to know where I stand in terms of hope or no hope.