(Archived) Import Folders Failure

[LouisJJames 0]

Using Evernote for Windows (Windows 7)

I had to wipe and restore my system for several reasons. When I came to the install and update of Evernote, it went smoothly EXCEPT for the settings in the "Import Folders". All those settings were gone.

Emailing Evernote Support is a royal waste of time. Simply got back an answer saying "Sorry... check your backups." Even though I did say I have backups of the entire drive prior to the wipe and restore. Problem is that it did not occur to "Tania" to give me instructions on where I might find that info. Claims that the setting are stored locally.

Any thoughts from anyone would be gratefully appreciated. I'm find that Evernote is a great product but it's support has become "lacking".

Regards:

Louis James

[kvitekp 298]

Louis James,

Folder Import settings are indeed stored only in your local database and are not synchronized to the service. If you still have your backups, you can retrieve .exb file from the back up and place into Evernote databases folder replacing the current database file. Note that you will also need to delete satellite files .exb.snippets, .exb.thumbnails, .exb.thumbnails, etc to ensure they are in sync with the database you've replaced.

/Peter

[LouisJJames 0]

Peter:

Thank you for your kind and prompt reply. This is exactly what I was hoping for as an answer. I do have the backups and i find the files as you suggest including:

Attachments (Folder)

.account

.exb

.exb.activitylog

.exb.bak

.exb.snippets

.exb.thumbnails

To verify, I should delete all the .exb's and restore the .exb database or should I delete the contents of the entire folder and just replace the .exb database? Just want to be clear.

Once again, thank you for your kind help.

Louis

[kvitekp 298]

Delete everything in Databases folder and copy just a single <loginname>.exb file from your backup.

/Peter

[LouisJJames 0]

Hi Peter:

Firstly, thank you for your help. There is good and very bad news. The good news is that it definitely did bring back the folders in the "Import Folders" settings. The bad news is that it is duplicating every file in those "synced" folders in Evernote. So now I have duplicates. I do have a bit of a fix, BUT IT'S WORK.

It seems that the "Import Folders" is a great idea that has quite a bit more development needed. Such as storing those settings (as well as other settings) in the cloud and determining if the sync already happened. I've seen where in fact if I have a file on the hard drive - say "File A" that I have "synced" with Evernote, if I change that "File A" on the Hard Drive (not in Evernote), I will get two versions of the same file in Evernote. So it's not really a true "sync" but more of an upload.

Works great with static files - files that are dropped in a folder that will never change. But if you have something that changes, you get multiple versions within Evernote.

So, what's the fix. After Evernote rebuilt the database and synced, I went to the "All Notes" and found all the items created within the past few minutes. All of them didn't have tags (which I use a lot) and deleted them. I resynced and all is well. But that's a bit scary to have to do it that way.

You know that suggestions:

*.- Back up settings to the cloud

*.- On reinstall and/or resync, test the file/folders that are in the "Import Folders" to see if they are the same or not. If they are, leave it alone, it not, upload.

Thanks again for your help.

Louis James

[kvitekp 298]

Louis James,

"Import Folders" feature is not supposed to _sync_ files, it's supposed to _import_ files from folders, just like the name implies. You're given an option to deleted imported file or keep it. In the latter case the files "Archived" attribute is set and this is how Evernote knows not to import it again. Apparently, your backup software reset "Archived" attribute on the files it restored causing Evernote to re-import them.

To avoid situations like this you may want to change your folder import settings to delete imported files.

/Peter

[Matthew Copeland 0]

You're given an option to deleted imported file or keep it. In the latter case the files "Archived" attribute is set and this is how Evernote knows not to import it again. Apparently, your backup software reset "Archived" attribute on the files it restored causing Evernote to re-import them.

 

 

For anyone reading this post, the above statement can be misleading.

The archiving bit may be a part of the decision, but there is other local data which is also used.

After a clean install of Evernote, adding a a import folder reimports all files in the folder, regardless of the state of the file's archive bit.

My guess would be that a database record (or something in the databases directory) is created when a file is imported.

Wiping out all files in the database directory as Peter suggests may make Evernote think it has never imported any files and force it to reimport all files.

 

Peter's suggestion to configure the imported folder settings to delete the file after import resolves any potential issues, and in my opinion should be the default for all import folders.

 

There is no compelling reason to keep the file, as it is accessible through Evernote and backed up in the cloud and locally (assuming you back up your local evernote data).