FEATURE REQUEST: Make Checkboxes Bigger

[j_w 9]

Checking off boxes in an Evernote list on an iOS device is one of the most consistently frustrating things I do with my phone. Tapping a checkbox requires a great deal of precision; worse, if you miss the box, the on-screen keyboard appears, which you then have to tap to dismiss before again trying to tap the box you were aiming for.

 

I have average or perhaps slightly smaller than average fingers, and average or perhaps slightly greater than average dexterity, and yet it is not uncommon for me to miss the checkbox I'm aiming for 2, 3, 4 times in succession (My all-time record: 7 consecutive misses.) And keep in mind: Missing a checkbox 4 times means tapping a total of 7 times just to check an item off a list. Now extend that problem across a 30-item grocery list, and the result is that my most common interaction with the iOS version of Evernote is a consistently miserable experience.

 

There's a simple solution: Please make checkboxes bigger. Ideally, allow users to adjust checkbox size themselves. 

[querida 0]

YES! Evernote: please do some usability testing with checklists on the iPhone & iPad.

 

I just revived a faded interest in Evernote specifically in order to keep a common to-do list between pc, ipad & iphone. But I found on my first attempt that checking boxes on the iphone is basically impossible, and attempting to re-order the list on the ipad was too frustrating to be worthwhile. I will definitely drop Evernote and use different software if I can find something better.

[DebiB 29]

It has been a while since this topic has had activity, but before I submitted a feature request, I wanted to see if someone else already had and I came across this topic.

A number of previous replies commented on how the keyboard comes up if you tap too many times... My husband came to me (I'm trying to get him use Evernote and it has been a struggle) because he was having problems keeping checkboxes checked, and he was also having the problem many of you have indicated. I found out he was not putting the note in 'Edit' mode first—I told him he needed to be in 'Edit' mode in order to check off items. That is the way I have always done it, and I haven't really had problems on my iPhone. I just purchased an iPad Pro 12.9" and there are a number of Evernote issues—one being checking checkboxes (in 'Edit' mode).

Having read this thread, I'm going to have to find out from Evernote what the intention is—should we be in 'Edit' mode or not when checking checkboxes?

i personally don't want to see the checkboxes made too much bigger, a llitle would be okay. They should be a specific proportion bigger than the text. Hopefully, someday, Evernote will honor the iOS setting of Display & Brightness > Text Size (which is DESPERATELY needed on the iPad Pro 12.9"), then the box should increase in size as the text does. 

JFYI, the feature request I will be submitting is that checkboxes should function like lists—they should be formatted with a hanging indent. Checkboxes currently do not look professional when the text is long enough to wrap—it wraps and the text starts at the furthest left edge instead of being lined up under the start of the text on the line with the checkbox.

[EverUser92405 3]

+1 on this, definitely should be improved.

[Dan Wilson 85]

I'm thinking roughly of a non-editable 'zone' around checkbox list items (perhaps in addition to larger check boxes) that can be enabled so that mis-taps don't invoke the note editor. Or, a special view for list notes (a la presentation mode) that is non-editable and displays the list a bit more clearly and in a non-editable way (except for box-checking of course!).

Agreed. I have seen a similar suggestion for a non-editable view on checklists elsewhere. Like the idea of doing something similar to the presentation view! If that were to incorporate larger checkboxes too that would be ideal!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

 

I use them very often on iOS & do not find the experience "horrible".

 

 

Would you say that you have a positive experience or just that you don't have a horrible experience?  

 

Personally I find them hard to work with – perhaps my fingers put me at a disadvantage here, but they aren't particularly big fingers!

 

 

I would say my experience is positive and I use them (checkboxes) several times a week.  I would say that if someone has large fingers & is using an iPhone that that could be a disadvantage.     But my point here is that not everyone has this same "horrible" experience.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

I also find check boxes a bit finicky on iOS.

Not sure whether the solution is to go bigger, or to perhaps reconsider the functionality of check-boxed lists altogether...

I'm thinking roughly of a non-editable 'zone' around checkbox list items (perhaps in addition to larger check boxes) that can be enabled so that mis-taps don't invoke the note editor. Or, a special view for list notes (a la presentation mode) that is non-editable and displays the list a bit more clearly and in a non-editable way (except for box-checking of course!). 

[Dan Wilson 85]

I use them very often on iOS & do not find the experience "horrible".

 

 

Would you say that you have a positive experience or just that you don't have a horrible experience?  

 

Personally I find them hard to work with – perhaps my fingers put me at a disadvantage here, but they aren't particularly big fingers!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Re-upping this request. Checkboxes remain a horrible user experience on iOS. Not the only horrible user experience inflicted on us by Evernote, but one that should be an easy fix: Make them bigger.

I use them very often on iOS & do not find the experience "horrible".

[Dan Wilson 85]

I agree with j_w on this one.  Also aside from whether or not Evernote specifically aims to have its apps function as a todo / checklist manager the fact that they exist in Evernote is reason enough to make the experience of using them useable let alone as good as possible.

 

In my experience Trello and Numbers have both implemented checkboxes very well.  I want that experience in Evernote.  Evernote is an extremely capable company and should be able to make that happen.

[j_w 9]

Please ignore the snoutiness of _this_ reply, as I truly mean it to be helpful: Evernote has a feature. It advertises that feature. The feature doesn't doesn't work well. Asking Evernote to improve the feature is a totally reasonable request. On the other hand, telling someone who has asked Evernote to improve a poorly-functioning feature to just use other software instead is counterproductive, as it encourages Evernote to not bother fixing poorly-functioning features. It suggests to Evernote that users should not care whether Evernote effectively implements the features it advertises. Evernote's approach to its product is user-unfriendly enough as it is; we don't benefit from users encouraging Evernote to continue to behave this way.

 

Here, by the way, is Evernote explicitly promoting Evernote as a to-do manager, suggesting my exact use-case: Checkboxes in grocery lists. I'm not sure why you think I care about your assertions about what "Evernote strives to be" when I have Evernote marketing materials that indicate the company wants its product to be used in the precise way I'm trying to use it. But, again, when we as users make excuses for Evernote's failure to successfully implement advertised features, we hurt ourselves and our fellow users. 

[Kirby Krieger 72]

Please _ignore_ the snoutiness of this reply, as I truly mean it to be helpful:  Evernote is not, and will never be, a good ToDo manager.  Use OmniFocus — which has been superbly implemented on iDevices — or another of the several excellent ToDo apps out there.

 

I have found it de-log-jamming to separate Action Items and ToDos — all of which I need to remember — and My Jottings and Resources — all of which I need to remember.  They are separate collections of information, that are best served by databases with different structures and UI's.  Evernote strives to be, and succeeds, as a storage and retrieval program for notes and resources.  Other programs aim to do as well with ToDos.

[j_w 9]

Re-upping this request. Checkboxes remain a horrible user experience on iOS. Not the only horrible user experience inflicted on us by Evernote, but one that should be an easy fix: Make them bigger.

[verbbis 1]

+1

 

Trying to use Evernote on iOS to complete todo items truly is horrible usability-wise. In fact, this would be one the most the common use cases for me personally with the iPhone app - currently I use it for very little else.

 

However, I disagree with the solutions presented. I tend to do that a lot on this forum - it seems . Making the checkboxes bigger is just a kludge. Making them adjustable by the user is even worse. This is not a vector drawing program nor a desktop publishing app. Especially the latter is what several users seem to want to turn Evernote into.

 

Instead, there should be a separate view (a "todo mode" if you will) that extracts all the todo items from the note and renders a gesture-driven UI focusing only on them. It could also be a separate app^(*.

 

Shortcomings in the current functionality means, that I have to have a completely different non-integrating app for this purpose. Which on the other hand makes checkboxes completely useless in Evernote for me. I do not want to divide my todo items up into several places.

 

*) Whatever happened to Egretlist? Evernote bought it and killed it?

[hmbixler 2]

Assuming the check box issue is addressed, could there be an option to hide the line after the box is checked?

[Dan Wilson 85]

If anyone is still interested I found a way to make checkboxes bigger on the iPhone. You can zoom in on the note (using a pinching gesture) and the checkboxes get bigger too. Works well for me.

 

That semi works.  If you note the post just above yours it isn't full proof.  Though that is due to a bit of a bug in the app: even correctly tapping a checkbox sometimes opens the editor and keyboard.  When that does happen its even more disruptive having zoomed in because it zooms out and you lose your place even more fully!

 

Also zooming in is not so useful for longer lists and long item names. 

[Megan32 3]

If anyone is still interested I found a way to make checkboxes bigger on the iPhone. You can zoom in on the note (using a pinching gesture) and the checkboxes get bigger too. Works well for me.

[goldfilm 19]

I agree! They are impossible to use. I even zoom the note so the boxes are as big as possible. But still, half of the times you click on them the action opens the note to edit somewhere else instead of checking the box. 

 

One possible solution would be to ask if you want to edit the note or check the boxes only. Thus, the note could be protected from editing, allowing "check on, check off" only, whatever you touch on the note. 

[jhull 130]

Thanks for the feedback! I agree that we need to improve the usability of checkboxes in the note editor; we'll look into increasing size or other changes for an upcoming release.

[Gehan 1]

Couldn't agree more - trying to use Evernote as a checklist is the most frustrating experience - apart from the fact that the checkboxes are tiny, the more maddening problem is that for long lists, tapping on a checkbox triggers a scroll to the bottom of the list, *after which* the tap is registered. So you always check the wrong box! Worst UX ever.

[juzzle 0]

I second this - the use of checkboxes in iOS7 Evernote is basically useless at the moment

[j_w 9]

Glad to see this pop back up. I continue to find check boxes maddeningly small on iOS devices.

 

The inability to consistently check an item off a list without triggering the note editor interface is especially problematic now that Evernote scrolls upwards with each keystroke. (Yes, I know that Evernote 7.X supposedly fixes this, but the 7.X releases seem awful enough in enough other ways that I have no plans to update any time soon.) 

[Dan Wilson 85]

This is an excellent idea. In addition when making a checkbox list it would be good if extra space was added below the line or if lines were double spaced.

[btcdarius 0]

Another vote for this. Every time there's an iOS update I hope for a fix for the checkbox issues, but it seems to get worse. Now it seems impossible to copy and paste a list of checkboxes as well as annoying to check/uncheck them.

[dallonc 1]

Another vote for this. I'd love to use Evernote for shared grocery lists, but those checkboxes are awful on iOS. I have pretty wide fingers, and it's a hassle to hit the checkboxes right.

 

Take a look at Trello's checklist feature for how this can and should look. My wife and I both have Evernote premium accounts, but we use Trello because the checkboxes are larger. If you can create a checklist feature like Trello has, we'll move out of Trello and use Evernote for our checklists. Since I like to keep the number of applications I use to a minimum, this will be a plus.

[j_w 9]

If it isn't possible to make checkboxes bigger (and I can't imagine why it wouldn't be) another (worse) solution would be to provide an option to temporarily disable the  keyboard so it does not pop up.

[Notaker 5]

I second this.

 

(On a related note, it is also too hard to reorder items on a checklist in Evernote. My girlfriend and I have been using it a bit for our common shopping lists, but we've given up on it.)

[C6REW 416]

Good idea!

 

Not sure if it is possible but we shall see what Evernote have to say.

 

Regards

 

 

Chris