Evernote Mac freezing on start up

[Landan Lloyd 1]

Hi,

I've been using evernote mac for a while now, all of my software is up to date, osx and evernote.

I use it in full screen mode, and the last time I opened it, it opened full screen as usual but also a dialog box popped up but because it is in full screen mode it is immediately hidden behind the main window. I can not do anything on the main window because the dialog box is still open and it just bongs at me. I can't change windows to confirm the dialog box because it is full screen and it just sits there and there isn't anything I can do.

I have restarted the app, restarted the mac, I have uninstalled the app and reinstalled it, even using AppCleaner to get rid of traces of it but when I reinstall it, it still goes straight to full screen and I can't do anything with it at all!

Very frustrating.

Any suggestions please?

I think maybe the best or only way to fix this is to delete the osx cache which stores the data which opens it fullscreen, but I have no idea how to do this.

[myzuno 0]

Today, i have exactly the same problem and i try same things than you, but nothing work :/

[Landan Lloyd 1]

Hi myzuno,

I managed to figure it out!

go to /Users/**your user name**/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote

and delete the whole folder, it will completely clear all evernote stuff off the mac accept the app itself and make you relog in when you launch evernote but will redownload all of your notes.

Hope that helps!

[Kryten 0]

Thanks! I have exactly the same issue and this fixed it. No idea why it was failing. Really annoying.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi myzuno,

I managed to figure it out!

go to /Users/**your user name**/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote

and delete the whole folder, it will completely clear all evernote stuff off the mac accept the app itself and make you relog in when you launch evernote but will redownload all of your notes.

Hope that helps!

Hi. Thanks for posting that! My advice would be that everyone backup before doing anything like this (actually, I think you don't even need to delete the folder, but just move it somewhere else), and I would also suggest installing the direct download from Evernote (not the appstore). Here is a link to instructions for doing that if you are interested: http://discussion.ev...-x/#entry173494

[myzuno 0]

Hi myzuno,

I managed to figure it out!

go to /Users/**your user name**/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote

and delete the whole folder, it will completely clear all evernote stuff off the mac accept the app itself and make you relog in when you launch evernote but will redownload all of your notes.

Hope that helps!

It's work for me !! thanks you so much

[xbalortiz 0]

Actually I would like not to have to visit these forums for solving an issue which is actually not mine. I would like to have software that just works! without me having to troubleshoot

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Actually I would like not to have to visit these forums for solving an issue which is actually not mine. I would like to have software that just works! without me having to troubleshoot

Indeed. That would be ideal! But, these things happen to just about everything, especially when we start using services that spread across multiple clients. My recommendation (as I said above) is to download directly from Evernote (http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/16062-uninstalling-everrnote-for-mac-os-x/#entry173494). I am sure, as we move along this year and the app gets improved, we will see less and less of these problems.

[xbalortiz 0]

No hard feelings GrumpyMonkey, but your explanation for how things are not how they should be is not acceptable: Just because something happens to just about everything is not a valid reason for these type of situations in which users are used as guinea pigs just because work hasn't been planned and executed with the due diligence this type of work requires. I tried Landan Lloyd's solution and it didn't work for me, I will now download your 'non-App store version', which is quite a dodgy thing to do. What will I do once I want to have upgrades installed....?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

No hard feelings GrumpyMonkey, but your explanation for how things are not how they should be is not acceptable: Just because something happens to just about everything is not a valid reason for these type of situations in which users are used as guinea pigs just because work hasn't been planned and executed with the due diligence this type of work requires. I tried Landan Lloyd's solution and it didn't work for me, I will now download your 'non-App store version', which is quite a dodgy thing to do. What will I do once I want to have upgrades installed....?

I am not sure what is dodgy about it. In fact, a lot of this is taken from my own interactions with customer support when I was having issues. Basically, all you are doing is removing the old version of your app, and reinstalling a new one, except that this is a direct download from Evernote, and it not only has more features, but tends to be more reliable for things like Spotlight indexing.

I don't know about upgrades, but if you mean updates, they download automatically if you want. You can even opt-in for the betas if you would like (you cannot do this with the appstore version). As long as you follow the directions I posted, I doubt you will have any issues whatsoever. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

[xbalortiz 0]

No hard feelings GrumpyMonkey, but your explanation for how things are not how they should be is not acceptable: Just because something happens to just about everything is not a valid reason for these type of situations in which users are used as guinea pigs just because work hasn't been planned and executed with the due diligence this type of work requires. I tried Landan Lloyd's solution and it didn't work for me, I will now download your 'non-App store version', which is quite a dodgy thing to do. What will I do once I want to have upgrades installed....?

I am not sure what is dodgy about it. In fact, a lot of this is taken from my own interactions with customer support when I was having issues. Basically, all you are doing is removing the old version of your app, and reinstalling a new one, except that this is a direct download from Evernote, and it not only has more features, but tends to be more reliable for things like Spotlight indexing.

I don't know about upgrades, but if you mean updates, they download automatically if you want. You can even opt-in for the betas if you would like (you cannot do this with the appstore version). As long as you follow the directions I posted, I doubt you will have any issues whatsoever. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

well because the app store has a reason to be and if we start downloading directly from the software manufacturers then this reason becomes meaningless. What is anybody going to do when they want to return to the app store? Repeat this deleting process? This is what I mean with due diligence, this is a patchy solution and not a sustainable one. And yes I meant update and not upgrade, I typed 'g' instead of 'd'. I would be better if Evernote would confirm that something went wrong, and that stuff is going to be ok in a certain amount of time, it would be definitely more honest instead of letting other people run into troubles.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

No hard feelings GrumpyMonkey, but your explanation for how things are not how they should be is not acceptable: Just because something happens to just about everything is not a valid reason for these type of situations in which users are used as guinea pigs just because work hasn't been planned and executed with the due diligence this type of work requires. I tried Landan Lloyd's solution and it didn't work for me, I will now download your 'non-App store version', which is quite a dodgy thing to do. What will I do once I want to have upgrades installed....?

I am not sure what is dodgy about it. In fact, a lot of this is taken from my own interactions with customer support when I was having issues. Basically, all you are doing is removing the old version of your app, and reinstalling a new one, except that this is a direct download from Evernote, and it not only has more features, but tends to be more reliable for things like Spotlight indexing.

I don't know about upgrades, but if you mean updates, they download automatically if you want. You can even opt-in for the betas if you would like (you cannot do this with the appstore version). As long as you follow the directions I posted, I doubt you will have any issues whatsoever. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

well because the app store has a reason to be and if we start downloading directly from the software manufacturers then this reason becomes meaningless. What is anybody going to do when they want to return to the app store? Repeat this deleting process? This is what I mean with due diligence, this is a patchy solution and not a sustainable one. And yes I meant update and not upgrade, I typed 'g' instead of 'd'. I would be better if Evernote would confirm that something went wrong, and that stuff is going to be ok in a certain amount of time, it would be definitely more honest instead of letting other people run into troubles.

I am not sure what the rationale is behind the Mac appstore (security and safety?), and I personally find it quite restrictive (other apps I use lost significant functionality and I have had to direct download from their sites too), but that is kind of besides the point, because you are correct that the appstore version and the direct download one ought to run perfectly. They don't, though.

I don't think it is "dishonest" that they don't work as they should -- obviously most people are doing fine with the apps, and so the bugs are going to be a little more difficult to track down and eliminate. They could be caused by all sorts of problems. I have no inside knowledge, but I am quite confident that Evernote is working diligently on fixing the problems and getting the bugs worked out as quickly as possible. If you are planning to stick with the appstore, and willing to wait a while (they need time to develop fixes, and then it will take some time to get it approved by Apple), then it will surely come along in time.

A page with known issues and bugs in the apps would be very welcome, but so far Evernote has resisted that solution. To be fair, that kind of thing is actually not found either for many other apps by major developers.

[xbalortiz 0]

No hard feelings GrumpyMonkey, but your explanation for how things are not how they should be is not acceptable: Just because something happens to just about everything is not a valid reason for these type of situations in which users are used as guinea pigs just because work hasn't been planned and executed with the due diligence this type of work requires. I tried Landan Lloyd's solution and it didn't work for me, I will now download your 'non-App store version', which is quite a dodgy thing to do. What will I do once I want to have upgrades installed....?

I am not sure what is dodgy about it. In fact, a lot of this is taken from my own interactions with customer support when I was having issues. Basically, all you are doing is removing the old version of your app, and reinstalling a new one, except that this is a direct download from Evernote, and it not only has more features, but tends to be more reliable for things like Spotlight indexing.

I don't know about upgrades, but if you mean updates, they download automatically if you want. You can even opt-in for the betas if you would like (you cannot do this with the appstore version). As long as you follow the directions I posted, I doubt you will have any issues whatsoever. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

well because the app store has a reason to be and if we start downloading directly from the software manufacturers then this reason becomes meaningless. What is anybody going to do when they want to return to the app store? Repeat this deleting process? This is what I mean with due diligence, this is a patchy solution and not a sustainable one. And yes I meant update and not upgrade, I typed 'g' instead of 'd'. I would be better if Evernote would confirm that something went wrong, and that stuff is going to be ok in a certain amount of time, it would be definitely more honest instead of letting other people run into troubles.

I am not sure what the rationale is behind the Mac appstore (security and safety?), and I personally find it quite restrictive (other apps I use lost significant functionality and I have had to direct download from their sites too), but that is kind of besides the point, because you are correct that the appstore version and the direct download one ought to run perfectly. They don't, though.

I don't think it is "dishonest" that they don't work as they should -- obviously most people are doing fine with the apps, and so the bugs are going to be a little more difficult to track down and eliminate. They could be caused by all sorts of problems. I have no inside knowledge, but I am quite confident that Evernote is working diligently on fixing the problems and getting the bugs worked out as quickly as possible. If you are planning to stick with the appstore, and willing to wait a while (they need time to develop fixes, and then it will take some time to get it approved by Apple), then it will surely come along in time.

A page with known issues and bugs in the apps would be very welcome, but so far Evernote has resisted that solution. To be fair, that kind of thing is actually not found either for many other apps by major developers.

Here is my feedback: I have deinstalled the app store version and reinstalled the one from Evernote directly, it works now. It took two hours of my time and solved only my problem.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

No hard feelings GrumpyMonkey, but your explanation for how things are not how they should be is not acceptable: Just because something happens to just about everything is not a valid reason for these type of situations in which users are used as guinea pigs just because work hasn't been planned and executed with the due diligence this type of work requires. I tried Landan Lloyd's solution and it didn't work for me, I will now download your 'non-App store version', which is quite a dodgy thing to do. What will I do once I want to have upgrades installed....?

I am not sure what is dodgy about it. In fact, a lot of this is taken from my own interactions with customer support when I was having issues. Basically, all you are doing is removing the old version of your app, and reinstalling a new one, except that this is a direct download from Evernote, and it not only has more features, but tends to be more reliable for things like Spotlight indexing.

I don't know about upgrades, but if you mean updates, they download automatically if you want. You can even opt-in for the betas if you would like (you cannot do this with the appstore version). As long as you follow the directions I posted, I doubt you will have any issues whatsoever. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

well because the app store has a reason to be and if we start downloading directly from the software manufacturers then this reason becomes meaningless. What is anybody going to do when they want to return to the app store? Repeat this deleting process? This is what I mean with due diligence, this is a patchy solution and not a sustainable one. And yes I meant update and not upgrade, I typed 'g' instead of 'd'. I would be better if Evernote would confirm that something went wrong, and that stuff is going to be ok in a certain amount of time, it would be definitely more honest instead of letting other people run into troubles.

I am not sure what the rationale is behind the Mac appstore (security and safety?), and I personally find it quite restrictive (other apps I use lost significant functionality and I have had to direct download from their sites too), but that is kind of besides the point, because you are correct that the appstore version and the direct download one ought to run perfectly. They don't, though.

I don't think it is "dishonest" that they don't work as they should -- obviously most people are doing fine with the apps, and so the bugs are going to be a little more difficult to track down and eliminate. They could be caused by all sorts of problems. I have no inside knowledge, but I am quite confident that Evernote is working diligently on fixing the problems and getting the bugs worked out as quickly as possible. If you are planning to stick with the appstore, and willing to wait a while (they need time to develop fixes, and then it will take some time to get it approved by Apple), then it will surely come along in time.

A page with known issues and bugs in the apps would be very welcome, but so far Evernote has resisted that solution. To be fair, that kind of thing is actually not found either for many other apps by major developers.

Here is my feedback: I have deinstalled the app store version and reinstalled the one from Evernote directly, it works now. It took two hours of my time and solved only my problem.

Well, I am glad to know it worked for you!

[Jackolicious 808]

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/34804-fixed-evernote-mac-505-freezing-on-launch/

[Yhom 0]

Hello,

 

just an update. I was stuck into the same problem. I dig a bit further into my evernote Container, and it appears i did some mess with external edit.

Fastest way : 

• Shut down Evernote and Evernote Helper
• move away the external edit folder

cd ~/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote.bkp/Data/Library/Application\ Support/Evernote/accounts/Evernote/<my evernote USER>/mv external-edits external-edits.bkp 

• restart Evernote and check it is running ok

If you do not need to recover your non synchronized external edits, you can stop here. 

 

 

Finer steps :

You can then reimport your external edits (i.e. the ones that may not be synchronized already).

1. Shut down Evernote and EvernoteHelper
2. import an external edit subfolder (the ones with "756678DDEF..." like names) into the original external-edit directory (the ones ending with .backup are perfectly safe, you can import them all at once)
3. Start Evernote, let evernote get synchronized, and go back to step 1
   1. You may find that one external edit is blocking Evernote => remove it and restart evernote
   2. or may be Evernote, by taking each edit one by one may handle each one properly this time,  

In my case, I think i did mess my external edit folder by accidently saving new files, PXM type, not JPG or PDF, into 2 external edit subfolders.

Now my evernote is perfectly restored, synced.

Hope it helps.

 

[GIHQ 0]

Thanks everyone!  Deleting the com.evernote.evernote folder worked for me too.

[Guest]

I had a similar issue (Evernote freezing on launch after an update), and strangely, found deleting com.evernote.evernote did not work in my case, nor did removing the app and reinstalling it. The sticky wicket was that the Evernote Helper thingiedoo was frozen, and refused to shut down or remove itself when deleting everything else. Goodness knows why.

 

This solved my problem, after following the steps tsflynn posted at this link and then reinstalling the software: 

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/16062-uninstalling-everrnote-for-mac-os-x/

 

Hopefully this is of use to others stumbling across this thread who are in the same boat. Using Terminal to fix things is never ideal for many people, but it worked, and took 5 minutes. All you need to do is copy and paste in each of those commands.

[GIHQ 0]

Update from earlier in December.  Deleting the com.evernote.evernote folder worked for me too, for a couple of weeks.  Now it hangs on startup again.  I think the bug has to do with full-screen usage on dual-monitor set-ups.  I will delete the folder again, but I hope a bug fix is in the works.

[chemie 17]

I had the same problem today - I restarted my Mac many times to see if it fixes the issue but didn't. 

So I moved the folder named "com.evernote.Evernote" to desktop and opened Evernote Application. 

First it scared the hell out of me because clean evernote application opened without any notes but later started the syncing process and spinning wheel,  I did not touch the application until the sync is complete. 

When sync was done, I compared both folder sizes and they were same. Sigh of relief and deleted the folder that was moved to desktop. 

 

Finding the path was not easy for me, after opening finder window I had to go to "Go"->"Go to folder" and Type the path "/Users/***Your Computer name ***/Library/Containers"

 

But bottom line this method works if evernote is stuck in freeze mode for eternity. 

[BradleyC 0]

In my case it was Skitch that was the problem.  I had to modify the first solution in this thread by first deleting Skitch and locating the com.evernote directory not in /Containers but in /GroupContainers.