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(Archived) ✔ Where's the back button?

starkos

Asked by starkos,

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starkos

starkos 16

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Posted

I've got Evernote set up like a wiki, with lots of cross-links between notes. I've been hunting for a while now but, best I can tell, 5.0 does not provide any way to navigate back to a note once you have followed a note link.

The previous version had back and forward buttons in the toolbar. Is there a keyboard shortcut or something I can use to navigate back? I don't see anything on the Knowledge Base article.

Thanks!

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dchristy

dchristy 1

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And please add the feature to open note links in new windows back.

For those who use evernote as their wiki, I think it is an essential feature too.

Pressing the command key while clicking a note-link opens the note in a new window (as does holding command while double-clicking a note).

I too want the back button back! If it clutters the UI, then at least give us a menu and keyboard shortcut.

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Walt

Walt 0

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I'd just like to add to the chorus of people requesting this be brought back (or at least a keyboard shortcut!!). The moment you introduced note links having a back button became essential for a lot of people, myself included. From reading the above comments, it seems like this was heavily discussed during the beta, so I don't understand why a feature that's so essential for navigation wouldn't be made a priority.

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

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I'd just like to add to the chorus of people requesting this be brought back (or at least a keyboard shortcut!!). The moment you introduced note links having a back button became essential for a lot of people, myself included. From reading the above comments, it seems like this was heavily discussed during the beta, so I don't understand why a feature that's so essential for navigation wouldn't be made a priority.

That is a good point. As I recall, when note links were introduced they also introduced the navigation buttons so that you could easily move around your account. Without the buttons, it is like surfing the Web with no way to go backwards -- it doesn't make sense. I don't care much about the buttons themselves, though some people might, as long as we get a keyboard shortcut or something like that.

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rcherny

rcherny 7

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Posted

Woo-hoo back button is back in the latest update!!! Anyone know how to assign a shortcut to the back/forward function?

Hey Joel, according to the menus I'm looking at, command+[ and command+] are back and forwards, respectively. Does this not work for you?

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Davidka

Davidka 0

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Thanks, Jack(oliciious). I'm looking forward (and backward) to restoration of the back button when I successfully install the upgrade. I'm having some problems installing it over my current 5.0 installation but I'll figure those out. I'm sure there is a way to safely uninstall and reinstall without losing any current data.

post-83700-0-38119500-1354638963_thumb.p

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JoelC

JoelC 3

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Woo-hoo back button is back in the latest update!!! Anyone know how to assign a shortcut to the back/forward function?

Hey Joel, according to the menus I'm looking at, command+[ and command+] are back and forwards, respectively. Does this not work for you?

Ah, yes it does work, thanks! I wonder if there's a way to assign a mouse/trackpad interaction to that shortcut, similar to in browsers?

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starkos

starkos 16

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Back/Forward doesn't work when i open note in separate window.

+1. I only use the main window to show the card list (using Expanded Card View, which is very nice), as I often have 2-5 notes open at a time. So those navigation buttons on the main window are…well, I will never use them. I need them on the individual note windows, as they were previously. Hopefully this is coming in an update (pleased by the rapid turnaround on these last two updates btw, thanks!)

Update: Again, it would be perfectly good enough if the keyboard shortcuts worked for note windows; they currently do not.

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tardis

tardis 87

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How are you guys getting these updates? I assume you're using Windows. I'm on a Mac, using Evernote as downloaded from the App Store, and I haven't seen any updates since 5.0

No, this is about Evernote for Mac but a lot of us are direct download users rather than App Store users — we downloaded from evernote.com. Updates usually hit the App Store a few days later, I believe.

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

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How are you guys getting these updates? I assume you're using Windows. I'm on a Mac, using Evernote as downloaded from the App Store, and I haven't seen any updates since 5.0

I usually recommend people use the home brew. The appstore version has fewer features and (I believe) no beta option. Here is a link to the process for switching over.

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/16062-uninstalling-everrnote-for-mac-os-x/#entry173494

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Davidka

Davidka 0

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How are you guys getting these updates? I assume you're using Windows. I'm on a Mac, using Evernote as downloaded from the App Store, and I haven't seen any updates since 5.0

I use a Mac and found the update by following a link in Jacalicious' post above.

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Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson 1

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I just joined the forum to request back/forward buttons and discovered that I hadn't been checking for updates.  Ha ha.  Anyway, just for information, 5.0 to 5.0.3 updated perfectly smoothly on a Mac mini running Snow Leopard.

 

Thank you to both developers and community.

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Ganesha

Ganesha 19

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Posted

+1

@EN. Like Starkos I use EN in a Wiki-Style. For that I need the common browser buttons like 'back' and 'next'. It would be nice to get them into the icon bar and it would be nice to have an entry into the menu so that a user can assign a keybord shortcut.

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rcherny

rcherny 7

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+1 ... myself and several others posted about this as well as several other features that have been removed, on several of the other beta threads. Overall I do like a lot of the enhancements in Version 5.0, but taking out a number of commonly used features seems an odd move... I also use Evernote like a Wiki a fair amount, and now that's somewhat crippled. :(

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

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+1 !!!! I'm not going to upgrade until this feature gets reimplemented. I mean really.... removing features is a no-go.

We normally lose features with major overhauls, so that should not come as a surprise. For example, the Lion overhaul took away the search explanations and most of the information density we had (now hidden behind the "i" icon). This overhaul took away the toolbar customizability (among other things). I am guessing that the developers are trying to pare down the app to the essential features that they believe users will actually incorporate into their use cases. They mean well, and I like the fact that they are actively rethinking the product, even if it happens to cause issues for my particular workflow.

And, don't forget, we also got some cool new stuff. I won't say it evens out, but it might be worthwhile to upgrade even without the buttons. I'd recommend giving it a try. And, hopefully the navigational tools will be returned to the app.

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yikeouch

yikeouch 23

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+1 !!!! I'm not going to upgrade until this feature gets reimplemented. I mean really.... removing features is a no-go.

We normally lose features with major overhauls, so that should not come as a surprise. For example, the Lion overhaul took away the search explanations and most of the information density we had (now hidden behind the "i" icon). This overhaul took away the toolbar customizability (among other things). I am guessing that the developers are trying to pare down the app to the essential features that they believe users will actually incorporate into their use cases. They mean well, and I like the fact that they are actively rethinking the product, even if it happens to cause issues for my particular workflow.

And, don't forget, we also got some cool new stuff. I won't say it evens out, but it might be worthwhile to upgrade even without the buttons. I'd recommend giving it a try. And, hopefully the navigational tools will be returned to the app.

Well, GM, I think you're too kind to the developers.

Yes, there are cool new stuff. But most of them are useless to my workflow. The new version just make things complicated. I do not refuse to change. But changes must be beneficial. Why do I have to change my workflow to a more complicated way when the develop team made a bad move? I switch between notes often. In previous version, I can do it with one to three clicks or key-ins . After "upgrading", it's so complicated and make me irritable.

We are not the experimental subjects of the develop team. They want to do major overhauls? Fine. Do a survey first. Just don't remove what we think useful to us and make s-hitty new version. I think the policy of not revealing roadmap has to change. List a wish list of users and let us vote.

Evernote is still the best note-taking app so far. But if they keep doing things like this "upgrade". I can't say I'll remain my loyalty.

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tboley

tboley 5

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Posted

Evernote is still the best note-taking app so far. But if they keep doing things like this "upgrade". I can't say I'll remain my loyalty.

Same to me. If removing features on which my complete workflow deepens, I will not renew my premium account next year.

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starkos

starkos 16

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I won't say it evens out, but it might be worthwhile to upgrade even without the buttons. I'd recommend giving it a try.

I spent several hours doing my best to understand the new UX. Some nice stuff in there, in particular the favorites, and pervasive live search is going to be über-handy (and Spotlight search is back—hooray!). But quite honestly—and I can't stress this enough—I'm crippled without the ability to quickly navigate between notes. To the point that I have taken the time and effort to roll back to the previous version.

I don't even need a toolbar button, just give me a keyboard shortcut.

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BMJT

BMJT 5

Posted
Posted

I love how this missing feature was mentioned heavily during the beta feedback over the past few weeks, and nothing has been done about it in the final release! Clueless idealogical devs charge on without a care for the actual users once again. *thumbs up*

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GrumpyMonkey

GrumpyMonkey 4,320

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+1 !!!! I'm not going to upgrade until this feature gets reimplemented. I mean really.... removing features is a no-go.

We normally lose features with major overhauls, so that should not come as a surprise. For example, the Lion overhaul took away the search explanations and most of the information density we had (now hidden behind the "i" icon). This overhaul took away the toolbar customizability (among other things). I am guessing that the developers are trying to pare down the app to the essential features that they believe users will actually incorporate into their use cases. They mean well, and I like the fact that they are actively rethinking the product, even if it happens to cause issues for my particular workflow.

And, don't forget, we also got some cool new stuff. I won't say it evens out, but it might be worthwhile to upgrade even without the buttons. I'd recommend giving it a try. And, hopefully the navigational tools will be returned to the app.

Well, GM, I think you're too kind to the developers.

Yes, there are cool new stuff. But most of them are useless to my workflow. The new version just make things complicated. I do not refuse to change. But changes must be beneficial. Why do I have to change my workflow to a more complicated way when the develop team made a bad move? I switch between notes often. In previous version, I can do it with one to three clicks or key-ins . After "upgrading", it's so complicated and make me irritable.

We are not the experimental subjects of the develop team. They want to do major overhauls? Fine. Do a survey first. Just don't remove what we think useful to us and make s-hitty new version. I think the policy of not revealing roadmap has to change. List a wish list of users and let us vote.

Evernote is still the best note-taking app so far. But if they keep doing things like this "upgrade". I can't say I'll remain my loyalty.

I'm not sure that the developers would agree with you that I am too kind to them! I imagine I am something of a thorn in their side, because years (?) after losing some features I am still whining about it :)

I generally don't agree with design decisions to remove features that are crucial to my use case / workflow, and a hesitancy to introduce features that exist in other clients but not in this one (), but I wanted to point out that the developers operate in a different environment than each individual user. They have to consider limitations in the Appleverse (the app store rules have caused all sorts of problems), the direction the company is going, the needs of 40 million + users, their aim to increase the user base, their need to consider other clients on Windows, iOS, etc., and their need to consider integrations like Skitch and Food. It's a major undertaking, and we still want them to leave room for innovation (things like the Shortcuts menu are nice).

I don't think they are experimenting with us. It's just that sometimes you hit a home run, and sometimes you don't. The difference between the two might be really tiny in the big scheme of things -- a few milliseconds in baseball, or a couple of tiny arrows in the UI. Hopefully, the future tweaking will put this back into the app. I think we ought to recognize the improvements while making it clear to the developers which features are needed going forward.

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starkos

starkos 16

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Sure, GM, I think most (not all) people get it. I, and most (not all) people are being pretty reasonable in their requests and their tone.

I'm a little concerned that the omission of these navigation buttons (can you imagine a web browser without a back button?) indicates that EN doesn't "get" the way I (and others apparently) use EN, or that they feel there aren't enough of us to care about. I do believe they will restore "back" navigation in some form, at some point in the future. But I am certainly reconsidering how much I rely on EN (it is far and away my most used tool), and whether there might be a more…congruent tool to use.

My premium membership doesn't run out for several months, and I've reverted back to the previous version already, so I can afford to be patient.

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Metrodon

Metrodon 2,188

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The back and forward buttons are interesting. I always felt that they were a kind of half hearted attempt to give people a little more of a web/wiki (with note links) feel. I'm not all that surprised that they took them away, I also wouldn't be all that surprised if they brought them back pretty much as they were.

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Navarre

Navarre 0

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Posted

In the meantime, how do I navigate through things like the Trunk in 5.0? If I clicked through to an app description, for example, I couldn't find a way to get back to the list I was looking at without clicking Trunk, Productivity, iPhone again.

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yikeouch

yikeouch 23

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Posted

Thanks everyone for your feedback on this. Cannot promise anything but we are looking at adding this feature back along with other features we did not have time to add in the current release.

And please add the feature to open note links in new windows back.

For those who use evernote as their wiki, I think it is an essential feature too.

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drjlabrabbit

drjlabrabbit 0

Posted
Posted

PLEASE bring back the BACK button- just like starkos that is a CRUCIAL part of my workflow to incorporate links to all of the reference notes that back up my arguments as I'm writing. My reference notes include pasted in data files and images, etc. that I need to be able to go back to and sometimes try different analyses. Having everything interlinked is one of the main reasons I've been preaching of Evernote's awesomeness to anyone who will listen...

PLEASE!!!

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JKM

JKM 1

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Posted

+1 for back button or, at least, open a notelink in a new window so that an index note with multiple note links stays in focus once the new window is closed. Why tout the note links feature (creating a note with note links to serve as an index of notes) when there's no easy way to get back to the note with all the note links? Creates lots of frustration for no obvious reason.

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mdalves

mdalves 17

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Posted

Thanks everyone for your feedback on this. Cannot promise anything but we are looking at adding this feature back along with other features we did not have time to add in the current release.

No time ? Don´t release it. Simple as that for me.

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Jay P.

Jay P. 5

Posted
Posted

Another +1 here. I regularly feel the pain of not having this feature, having grown accustomed and somewhat dependent on it from EN4.

By the way, there were some annoying bugs with the back and forward buttons in EN4 such as back not working when certain fields were focused (or not focused). When you add it back, please make sure the keyboard shortcuts work no matter what is focused. Thanks!

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