(Archived) Evernote problems -- it is getting rather bad

[mogf01 12]

I've used Evernote for quite a while and I've liked the product a lot. It is great to have a distributed notebook with a common note format supported on different platforms. I normally use Evernote clients on several different platforms: OSX, iPhone/iPad, Windows.

Lately, using Evernote has become rather painful due to the large increase in bugs, and the very strange changes to the UI.

A selection of problems:

The iPhone client crashes directly after startup (SIGSEGV). This is on iOS 5.1.1. This happened after latest update, and there seems to be no work-around (yes, I've reported it, and yes, I've tried to restart the application, reboot the phone, etc).

The Windows version cannot handle Tags correctly. Newly created tags sometimes (yes, really!) doesn't show up in any of the tags lists and therefore cannot be used. When/if newly created tags do show up, very often (not always..) selecting such a tag display zero notes (even though the tag is show to be used for several notes, and yes I've selected "All Notes"...). There seems to be no work-around. I've tried to restart the client, even reboot the computer, resynched a number of times, etc. Note that the newly created tags do show up completely correctly on the web view and on the OSX client (after sync of course), so the Windows client seems to enter the tags correctly; it just cannot use them properly.

The iPad version has a terribly bad UI -- it looks like they just enlarged the iPhone UI which is ok for that form factor but is really not ok for the much larger display on the iPad. There is no "sidebar" like on the OSX, Windows and even the Web View, even though the iPad clearly has room for such a UI element. This makes it very difficult to get any sort of overview of my notes, and the simple fact that it looks very different from the other Evernote clients feels very wrong. I do realize, of course, that UI's a much a matter of taste, and I have really tried to get used to the new UI for the iPad, but the lack of overview of notes/tags has made it rather useless for me on the iPad. Also, an added UI problem with the iOS version is that it cannot show hierarchical tags. Instead, all tags are displayed as being on the same level. Another strange behavior with the iOS version is that the search fields for the tags and notebooks views provides a search for tags and notebooks... while that seems like a logical choice initially, it is really silly from a user experience point of view. It is way more needed to search in notes, which is what the search field is used for in all views in the OSX version. Yet another example of that the iPad version is very different from the desktop version, for some unknown (and bad) reason.

The new OSX version (5) is a great step backwards compared to the old version (4). While I know that UI is a matter of taste, for me the new UI is really bad. Why, for example, can't I show the number of notes in each notebook and for tags, on the sidebar? This is much better done on the web view and in the Windows client (but I guess that will be removed/ruined when Windows is upgraded to version 5). I am very disappointed in version 5, but going back to version 4 doesn't feel right either.

Summary:

- I cannot use Evernote at all on iPhone anymore.

- Evernote on Windows can not handle Tags properly (in same cases not at all).

- The UI on iPad provides very little overview and is very different from the desktop version.

- The Evernote 5 UI is a big step back compared to the much better user experience on version 4.

I have really liked Evernote, but as it is right now I cannot use it. Anyone has any tips about a replacement?

[jbenson2 2,147]

Anyone has any tips about a replacement?

Microsoft OneNote

[mogf01 12]

Anyone has any tips about a replacement?

Microsoft OneNote

Yea, I love that. I'm mainly a Mac user, however, so it is not really an option.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Yea, I love that. I'm mainly a Mac user, however, so it is not really an option.

So why did you tag your post with Windows? Confusing.

[mogf01 12]

Yea, I love that. I'm mainly a Mac user, however, so it is not really an option.

So why did you tag your post with Windows? Confusing.

Because I was writing about problems with the Windows client too (its severe problems with managing tags). I do use Windows regularly, I just need an Evernote replacement that also supports OSX and iOS...

[jefito 5,589]

You're probably going to get better answers if you separate out issues, particularly by device. If I see the "Other" topic tag on a topic, there's a fair chance that I will skip it without reading it. I doubt that I am alone in that respect.

[mogf01 12]

You're probably going to get better answers if you separate out issues, particularly by device. If I see the "Other" topic tag on a topic, there's a fair chance that I will skip it without reading it. I doubt that I am alone in that respect.

My issue is not with any specific device, but rather that Evernote has an important quality and design problem -- on all platforms. Is there a "General" topic tag that I should have used?

[jefito 5,589]

You can always post in the General Evernote Discussion part of the forum for stuff like this. If you would like me or some other moderator to move it, then we'd be happy to.

did note that you are reporting different issues for different clients, and for specific issues that you wish to discuss in the forums, it's a good idea to post and tag separately for individual clients. The forums don't support multiple client tags, unfortunately.

[mogf01 12]

You can always post in the General Evernote Discussion part of the forum for stuff like this. If you would like me or some other moderator to move it, then we'd be happy to.

Yes, please, @jefito, I'd appreciate it if you could move this thread to the general evernote forum as it seems to belong there. Thanks in advance!

[jefito 5,589]

I had a specific issue on specific client and you, as well as EN gave up, why????

This is a volunteer position, and I am not perfect, nor do I know everything about Evernote. Sorry.

[jbenson2 2,147]

I had a specific issue on specific client and you, as well as EN gave up, why????

Possibly because you pasted in your comments on the other post using a font so small it required a magnifying glass to read. There is a forum option to allow readable sized fonts.