(Archived) Evernote Mac Search horrors PLEASE FIX!

[RKleim9 2]

OK, so that is shouting, but... I am a long time user and promoter of evernote, and a paid customer.

 

I just spent a great deal of time to figure out how to do a boolean search only to find out that you cannot, but there are operators like any: which only partially fulfill my needs.

 

I then had to spend a great deal of time trying to figure out how to save a search or how to bring up and edit or change or delete another saved search. The answer was not found through Evernote but rather through other users who had posted. It turns out you cannot delete or edit saved searches and therefore your listing of saved searches will grow and grow and grow until you cannot find any of the ones on the bottom anymore. All of my old searches are frozen forever in a list which I cannot scroll.

 

I then tried to make sure that the same search would appear on the left-hand column this is impossible from the search bar. The drop down from the search bar is incredibly confusing even to an experienced computer user. Why can't we have a save button and a delete button right there? It is inconceivable to me that you would place the searches under the edit find button to save a search. 

 

So the only way to find a same search if you have many of them is to drag the search in the drop down list individually over to the left hand side. And then only when you create it, since it may jump to the bottom of the search box list where you cannot find it. I DO NOT want all my saved searches on the left taking up space.

 

We must be able to delete our searches. We must be able to save our searches easily. We must be able to find our saved searches easily. 

 

And now for the kicker. When I use a search with the any: prefix and then I subsequently save it, the next time I invoke that same search it adds another "any:" at the front. This is a repeatable and serious bug, and how is it possible evernote has missed seeing this? How is it possible to have such a messed up functionality on something so basic?.

 

Not to start on the whole left column thing which is a major PAIN to deal with. The old way worked so very much better. So I also have to drag notebooks to the left to see them there, but even then it doesn't work like it used to due to scrolling issues.

 

So, I am reluctantly ceasing my promotion of evernote among friends and family. It is impossible for a normal person to do the basic things any data store should do. It appears that evernote is "balls to the wall" coming up with new junk like skitch or penultimate when they cannot continue to support the basic functionality they used to have. 

 

And tho I hate to say it, I am now looking for methods to disengage from evernote and stop using it. I'll wait and see for a while.

 

Please, EVERNOTE STAFF, please write back and say it ain't so.

 

I am so very disappointed.

 

- Richard

 

[jefito 5,589]

So it looks like you've turned up a search annoyance (no general boolean search in Evernote searches), a couple of usability issues with saved searches, and what looks to be a bona fide bug (the "any: any:" thing). Thanks for reporting.

[RKleim9 2]

I appreciate that you posted, but the dismissive tone when referring to the most basic search functions does not inspire me. Are you an official representative? "Evangelist" does not mean "employee". 

 

These search problems have existed for a while. Why do you put resources into "fancy" stuff when the basics do not work? What is the plan to fix this and when will it be implemented?

 

There used to be something called "customer service". Your tone is the opposite. As a customer, I can complain. Your job is to satisfy me, not antagonize me. Want to see how it should work? Contact Apple. It's always pleasure. Having my legitimate concerns poo-poo'ed by an evangelist makes me want to go elsewhere. 

 

What does Evernote want here?  If you don't want paying customers who might object to reduced functionality, please just say so. 

[Metrodon 2,184]

If you have a bug then you should report it to support - this is fundamentally a user forum which although it is read by Evernote staff doesn't mean that you will get a response.

 

Evernote very very rarely share roadmap or release dates so you shouldn't expect that type of response.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I appreciate that you posted, but the dismissive tone when referring to the most basic search functions does not inspire me. Are you an official representative? "Evangelist" does not mean "employee". 

 

These search problems have existed for a while. Why do you put resources into "fancy" stuff when the basics do not work? What is the plan to fix this and when will it be implemented?

 

There used to be something called "customer service". Your tone is the opposite. As a customer, I can complain. Your job is to satisfy me, not antagonize me. Want to see how it should work? Contact Apple. It's always pleasure. Having my legitimate concerns poo-poo'ed by an evangelist makes me want to go elsewhere. 

 

What does Evernote want here?  If you don't want paying customers who might object to reduced functionality, please just say so. 

Evangelists are users, just like you are. Our job is to help & inform users & that's exactly what Jeff did. Evernote's job is *not* to satisfy everyone but rather create a stable, usable product.

[RKleim9 2]

OK, first.  "jetifo", whoever you are, I see where 3 years ago you and evernote were being asked for boolean searches, and you asked what a boolean search is (april, 2010). You also failed to note that there actually IS a way to delete saved searches (hard to find). I guess you either don't know this or just chose to adopt that tone. Either way, you don't appear to be an expert.

 

I see very many repeated requests over many months to fix saved searches to at least the functionality they had. This is a bug fix, not a roadmap to new features. A statement that evernote will actually address this issue would have been good months ago, now it is a requirement.

 

stable and usable?   It USED to be both of those, now it is neither. And evernote cannot even say "we are working on fixing this"?

 

And yes, I have reported things to evernote and have been totally dissatisfied at the result.

 

How was that reply help or inform when it did neither? If Evernote gives you the icons and titles, then it will have to live with the results. You are official.

 

So, poor implementation, years worth of ignoring users, devotion to expansion before stability, it's all a downhill slide. 

 

I have been a user and paid user for years. I also have 35 years experience in all phases of computing. If you can successfully defeat my attempts to do a simple search through a confused interface and lack of support for standards, then as I said, you have many competitors. And they're all available on all my devices.

 

BTW - boolean searches are available in iTunes, even if you didn't know that. 

 

adios

[jefito 5,589]

I appreciate that you posted, but the dismissive tone when referring to the most basic search functions does not inspire me. Are you an official representative? "Evangelist" does not mean "employee".

Correct, I am a user just like you, and not an Evernote employee, just with a few extra powers that come along with being a forum moderator, and several years of reading a lot of forum posts. That being said, my post was terse; but not meant to dismissive; I was summarized the actual content for sake of brevity and ignored the editorializing that seemed non-essential to your message. And I thanked you for your report.

So, to elaborate:

* The lack of general Boolean search capabilities have been reported on a fair bit in the forums, and is well-known to Evernote. I've certainly commented on it as well.

* The changes to saved searches and other usability issues in recent Mac editions have been explored pretty thoroughly, I think (I don't follow the Mac clients as closely as I do the Windows and Android client). I sympathize with you there, but it's not really new news to me.

* The bug you reported was good information (clear scenario); that was something new to me, so I called it out especially.

These search problems have existed for a while. Why do you put resources into "fancy" stuff when the basics do not work? What is the plan to fix this and when will it be implemented?

Evernote doesn't give Evangelists any special insight into their overall strategies that the don't give out publicly. Myself, I am not particularly interested in their motivations for doing X when some other users would prefer them to do Y. Sure, there's any number of things I would like to see Evernote change, but why they chosee to do what they do is not my call. And as Metrodon says, Evernote does not in general reveal their feature and bug-fix roadmaps/schedules. Evernote staff do read everything, and might respond to posts here, or directly via PM, or not at all.

 

There used to be something called "customer service". Your tone is the opposite. As a customer, I can complain. Your job is to satisfy me, not antagonize me. Want to see how it should work? Contact Apple. It's always pleasure. Having my legitimate concerns poo-poo'ed by an evangelist makes me want to go elsewhere.

First off -- this is a user forum. I'm not especially here to provide official Evernote customer service. I do not have a job to satisfy you, though I have helped out a few people here. For folks who have problems, I can sometimes provide guidance towards a solution, or give insight into using Evernote better.

What does Evernote want here?  If you don't want paying customers who might object to reduced functionality, please just say so.

Feature requests, complaints, suggestions, discussions on how to use Evernote well -- all are welcome in the forums. If you want official support, then that's what the official support request is for -- a link to that is in my signature. Note that you may not get roadmap information or promises of issue resolution or explanations of Evernote business strategy there either.

[jefito 5,589]

OK, first.  "jetifo", whoever you are, I see where 3 years ago you and evernote were being asked for boolean searches, and you asked what a boolean search is (april, 2010).

Please feel free to use the forum quoting feature here for making claims to what I've said or not. I actually do know what Boolean searches are, and I've commented on them a number of times,and how having them would make Evernote even more useful than it already is. But you're welcome to point out the post you're referring to...

You also failed to note that there actually IS a way to delete saved searches (hard to find). I guess you either don't know this or just chose to adopt that tone. Either way, you don't appear to be an expert.

I am not a Mac or Evernote for Mac expert, and never claimed to be.

[Jackolicious 808]

Richard, first off, thanks for posting. I'll address your concerns individually:

- To see all of your notebooks in the sidebar (a question you alluded to), right click notebooks and select "Show Notebook List"

- To delete saved searches, see the "X" here

- Editing saved searches, we haven't implemented this in V5 yet. We are aware that it's an issue though.

 

As an aside, Evernote employees read all posts here. We're happy to help!

[RKleim9 2]

Richard, first off, thanks for posting. I'll address your concerns individually:

- To see all of your notebooks in the sidebar (a question you alluded to), right click notebooks and select "Show Notebook List"

- To delete saved searches, see the "X" here

- Editing saved searches, we haven't implemented this in V5 yet. We are aware that it's an issue though.

 

As an aside, Evernote employees read all posts here. We're happy to help!

 

 

Thank you very much for the reply. This is exactly what I wanted and couldn't find. Thanks again. This is exactly what I meant by good customer service.

 

Employees read the posts?   That's wonderful. Maybe I'll stay and try to not get so frustrated.

 

Let's close this thread on this good note.  

[jefito 5,589]

Let's close this thread on this good note.

Friction aside, I'm glad that you got some answers that work for you.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

stable and usable? It USED to be both of those, now it is neither

Yes, EN is stable and usable. Just because it doesn't do things *you* want (and think) it should do doesn't mean it's unusable. A lot of people (tens of millions) use it every single day.