HOWTO: Saving sort order of notes

[brahmdup 0]

Can one save one's sort order of notes in a notebook (or change the default "sort by created") order? I sort my notes by "Title" but each time I open the notebook I have to resort the notes which default to "sort by created".

[gazumped 12,213]

Just changed the sort order in snippet view (desktop client), closed and restarted Evernote and found the view set to my changed option - ??

[brahmdup 0]

Thanks. Will try again. Not sure what "Snippet view" is though.

[brahmdup 0]

Sorry, I do use "Snippet view".

[brahmdup 0]

At least two of my notebooks definitely default to "Notes by Created" every time I turn off my laptop.

[jefito 5,598]

The client isn't specified here, but just to be clear, in the Windows client at least, sort order is not a notebook-dependent setting, it's a global setting. In other words, you set sort order for one notebook, and switch to a different notebook, and that sort order remains enabled. My experience is that that setting persists between invocations of Evernote.

[brahmdup 0]

Ok. We're talking Windows 7 here. How do you go back and change the original sort order of the original notebook, which, from what you say, determines the default sort order of all subsequent notebooks?

[tberneman 0]

My sort order does NOT persist between launches on any of my computers, of which I use WindowsXP, Windows Vista, and Windows7.

I'm using the latest version (4.5.0.5229) as well.

I see no place in options to save sort order either.

Tim ]

[brahmdup 0]

So, I am not crazy!

[jefito 5,598]

All I have to do is set it in the UI; i.e., it's in the upper left corner of the current note list (List View, Note View, Snippet View), a dropdown menu that lets you select the sort field and order. For example, mine currently says "Notes by Created", and has the "Reverse Sort Order" flag set. Or in List View, you can click on a column to select that field; click again to reverse the sort order.

There's no actual place to save the setting; it's persisted into the Windows registry on shutdown, and read back in on startup (and I can verify it by looking at the registry). That's the way that it works on all of my machines (XP, Win 7/64), but there are indeed reports that it doesn't work for some folks.

[brahmdup 0]

Thanks, Jefito. I must be one of those folks for whom it doesn't work. Interesting though that the sort order that you referred to is Notes by Created with the Reverse Sort Order ticked. That is the one to which mine defaults. Are you able to set yours to sort by Title and come back to it after you have turned off your pc to find that sort by Title has been retained for that notebook?

[jefito 5,598]

Are you able to set yours to sort by Title and come back to it after you have turned off your pc to find that sort by Title has been retained for that notebook?

Yes. I just tried "Title" and "Tags" and they both worked fine.

[LSchmidt 3]

Hello,

I am a Windows 7 user as well and have the same challenges as brahmdup. I want alphabetical sort in normal order and have to set the list sort drop down to this each and every time I start evernote. The default on startup is always "Notes by Created" and "Reverse Sort Order".

Is this a cookie saving or registry writing problem? I try to keep things locked down as tight as possible and am running Norton Security Suite. How would I verify that the settings are accurately being saved in the Registry (or not!)?

[jefito 5,598]

Is this a cookie saving or registry writing problem? I try to keep things locked down as tight as possible and am running Norton Security Suite. How would I verify that the settings are accurately being saved in the Registry (or not!)?

As I said before, Evernote persists these settings in the registry (cookies are a browser thing). I find my Evernote settings at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Evernote\Evernote\ in the string value "NotelistSorting". I don't know what you mean by keeping things "locked down tight" -- do you mean that you prevent writes to the registry?

[Dave007 7]

Every time I installed Evernote on a new PC I would have this annoying problem. But after a while for no apparent reason it would then retain my setting of Title (not reversed).

The solution to this issue is in how you close Evernote. You need to close Evernote completely using the File menu and answering OK to the warning message. Otherwise Evernote is still running as evidenced by the icon in the task tray, or if you close Evernote by by clicking on the window's red X in the top right corner it does not update the registry. I think it should, but it doesn't. I'm guessing that it also may not update the registry if it is closed by Windows shutting down, as I think it should.

Another potential gotcha is that the shutdown warning message hides under other open windows (it should stay on top).

[Mike4QL 1]

@Dave007, that explains it. I have been having this problem myself an wondered why it sometimes persisted the changes and sometimes not. The problems is the tray icon which remains after you've closed Evernote (with the close x). This then gets shut down with Windows and doesn't save the sort settings. If I make sure I close with File -> Exit the settings are changed and persisted.

It would be much better if these settings were saved to the Registry when they are changed instead of waiting for the application to close in a particular way.

[maddaze 1]

The solution to this issue is in how you close Evernote. You need to close Evernote completely using the File menu and answering OK to the warning message. Otherwise Evernote is still running as evidenced by the icon in the task tray, or if you close Evernote by by clicking on the window's red X in the top right corner it does not update the registry. I think it should, but it doesn't. I'm guessing that it also may not update the registry if it is closed by Windows shutting down, as I think it should.

Another potential gotcha is that the shutdown warning message hides under other open windows (it should stay on top).

If you ever make it to Bordeaux, France, I'll take you for a drink at the best wine bar in town! Thanks for the tip.

By the way, I don't get any sort of warning message when I close down Evernote, however I do it.

Harvey

[Shetheri 0]

I have this problem too. It's happening on a new install of Win7, but is fine on my other platforms. Can we request an enhancement for Evernote to add sort order to Preferences?

[jefito 5,598]

I have this problem too. It's happening on a new install of Win7, but is fine on my other platforms. Can we request an enhancement for Evernote to add sort order to Preferences?

 

Have you tried the tip posted by Dave007 here (http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/20110-howto-saving-sort-order-of-notes/?p=134442)? For some reason, the settings won't persist on some installations unless you do this (that's not the case on my Win 7 installation). Evernote staff will read your post, and should log it as a feature request; you can ensure that they do by opening a support request.

[Shetheri 0]

Thanks! missed that one. Works perfectly.

[carneyg 0]

Thank you Dave007!  I have been searching for the answer as to why I could not save my notes in alphabetical sort order as the default.  Your tip has solved my problem.  Thanks a million!

[lecinda 0]

Every time I installed Evernote on a new PC I would have this annoying problem. But after a while for no apparent reason it would then retain my setting of Title (not reversed).

The solution to this issue is in how you close Evernote. You need to close Evernote completely using the File menu and answering OK to the warning message. Otherwise Evernote is still running as evidenced by the icon in the task tray, or if you close Evernote by by clicking on the window's red X in the top right corner it does not update the registry. I think it should, but it doesn't. I'm guessing that it also may not update the registry if it is closed by Windows shutting down, as I think it should.

Another potential gotcha is that the shutdown warning message hides under other open windows (it should stay on top).

 

thank you!! this worked for me! I could not for the life of me understand why on my home computer my windows app would remain sort by title, but why I would have to change my windows app on my work computer to sort by title every time I logged in.  I just hit File --> Exit and re-opened and it worked like a charm.  Thank you!

[boneycur 19]

In my case the problem was caused by a privacy setting I had enabled in Google Chrome to close out of my Gmail and bank accounts when I close the browser, so that persistent log-in settings are deleted and certain sites won't be logged into automatically when the browser is opened.

 

The fix was this:

 

1. Google Chrome Settings > Show advanced settings... > Privacy > Content settings... > Cookies > Manage exceptions...

 

2. I added https://www.evernote.com and set it to "Allow"

 

3. Click "Done."

 

And now the snippet sort order defaults to my setting when I reopen Evernote Web. 

 

......Curtis......

[Hrynkiw 18]

On 4/20/2012 at 7:32 AM, Dave007 said:

The solution to this issue is in how you close Evernote. You need to close Evernote completely using the File menu and answering OK to the warning message. Otherwise Evernote is still running as evidenced by the icon in the task tray, or if you close Evernote by by clicking on the window's red X in the top right corner it does not update the registry. I think it should, but it doesn't. I'm guessing that it also may not update the registry if it is closed by Windows shutting down, as I think it should.

Another potential gotcha is that the shutdown warning message hides under other open windows (it should stay on top).

 

Just a quick note to remark that four years later this 'fix' still applies. (Win8, EN v5.9.9.x)

(So happy. Thank-you Dave007.)

[rccryan 1]

Yes, thank you Dave007!

Using File > Exit instead of the red X indeed solves the problem.

Here it is 4 years later and it's still causing trouble (been bugging me for months).

Why can't we click the red X to close Evernote to get the same effect?

Has anyone put in a bug fix request for this?

-Ryan

[Jane Doe 14]

@rccryanWe are now 5 years past the original post. It is still an issue/bug, but the work-around still works. So big thanks to @Dave007!

I'm finding that the Evernote team does not go back and fix all these low-hanging fruit type of bugs. They just let them persist forever while they create new features. As another example of this no-bug-fix policy, see my bug reports for printing italics -- a known bug from 2010-2016 and still going strong.

I guess that it does not make financial sense to fix things if people will buy it broken. It's not a good long-term strategy, though.

[Brian_254 0]

@jane doe, that's exactly why I will continue to use the free version of Evernote.  I'm not willing to pony up $ if they aren't willing to fix low-hanging but nagging fruit like this.  I'm actually a software product manager and my user base would vilify me if I left bugs like this hanging around for months, much less years.

[EverGord 1]

None of the solutions here worked for me.  I am using version 6.4.2 on a Windows 10 machine.  Apparently, Evernote on my machine does not save sort information to the registry as it should.  What did work for me was this:

(1) Close Evernote if you have it running by clicking File/Exit.

(2) Go into the registry (regedit)

(3) Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Evernote\Evernote\LastViewConfig

(4) Right-click and click "Modify".

(5) Locate the "SortOrders" section of the string.

(6) Update the "descending" and "sortBy" values to your sort preference.  In my case, I set "descending" to "true" so that it would be in reverse sort order and set "sortBy" to "Updated" so it would sort on "Updated".

Now when I open Evernote it is sorted exactly as I want it to be sorted.

Good luck!

[jefito 5,598]

Um, the Windows client does currently allow the user to set specific sort orders for notebooks, tags, and saved searches. You do not need to go to the registry for this (which is a global setting anyways).

For example: select a notebook. Set your sort order using the view selection dropdown next to the search control over your note list. At the bottom of the list you should see the menu selection "Always use for notebook '<blah>'". That will set hhe sorting and other view settings for that notebook.

[rcspencer1 1]

On 11/29/2016 at 1:05 PM, EverGord said:

Finally, a solution to the problem!!  Thanks so much Evergord!!

 

[rcspencer1 1]

Follow up to this - what settings do you use if, say, you want to sort by title/ascending?  Thanks

[Dave-in-Decatur 4,014]

55 minutes ago, rcspencer1 said:

Follow up to this - what settings do you use if, say, you want to sort by title/ascending?  Thanks

Just left of the search bar, there is a little drop-down arrow. Click that, and it will show a menu of possible views and possible sort options. If Title is not visible, click "Sort notes by" to get a further menu of options. "Reverse Sort Order" is at the bottom of the first menu.

[DTLow 5,749]

1 hour ago, rcspencer1 said:

Follow up to this - what settings do you use if, say, you want to sort by title/ascending?  Thanks

https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313628-How-to-change-the-sort-order-of-your-notes

[CalS 5,311]

1 hour ago, rcspencer1 said:

Follow up to this - what settings do you use if, say, you want to sort by title/ascending?  Thanks

In either of the list views you can click on the Title column and this will toggle the sort between title ascending and descending.

In addition, if you want to preserve that sort order for the view (notebook, tag, saved search) use the view drop down.

[rcspencer1 1]

Thanks so much for the replies.  I had updated the registry to fix this problem before but then replaced my laptop, but nice to see that these simple menu fixes are working now.

Thanks again - much appreciated!1