Old notes on iPad overriding newer notes from desktop

[a2dox 0]

This is the second or third time this has happened and is becoming a major issue.  I usually work with Evernote on my MacBook, and regularly sync it (manually) to make sure that all of my notes are up to date on the server.

 

However, when I open Evernote on my iPad (which I don't use as frequently), instead of updating the iPad with the latest versions of my notes, the older versions of those notes from my iPad get synced to the server (with the current date and time, instead of looking at the date and time they were modified), and overwrite all of the changes I've made.  I just lost three days worth of updates on my to-do list.

 

I see that you can retrieve your history if you pay for a premium account, but it's really hard to justify paying to fix a problem that shouldn't be occurring in the first place.  Is there another way to (a) retrieve my notes and (b ) prevent this from occurring in the future?

 

On an unrelated note, I haven't yet figured out how to manually sync the iPad to the server if I made changes on that.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi. Welcome to the forums.

I have had this problem in the past, but not on the most recent Evernote client. Are you running iOS7 and do you have the app updated (it should do so automatically)?

As for syncing, you press the elephant icon, then your name, and then "sync now." It is clunky and not located in a convenient location. I have asked to have it moved. Hopefully, the developers will consider putting it back on the main pages.

The best thing I can suggest (because there really isn't anything else you can do as a user) is to uninstall, reinstall, and see if that helps. Hopefully, your report will help them track down whatever bug is causing this to happen.

[a2dox 0]

Yes, I am running iOS7 and the app is automatically updated.  Thanks for the info -- I do not see "sync now" when I click on the elephant icon on the iPad.  I did however find it when I clicked on my name (below the account information).  

 

From what I've observed so far, this problem seem to only affect whatever note is open when I start Evernote on the iPad (whichever one I used last) -- if it's open, it seems to assign the current date and time to that note (even if it's old), and sends it to the server with the current date and time as soon as I open it up, overriding any changes that were made on other devices.  I guess a temporary way around it would be to make sure I close any notes I've been working on before I turn off my iPad (if I remember to do that each time I use it).  Unfortunately, that still doesn't help me retrieve the three days worth of updates that I just lost on that particular note.

 

Another question:  If I DID break down and update to premium, will it have my history, or does it only start keeping it AFTER you upgrade?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Yes, I am running iOS7 and the app is automatically updated.  Thanks for the info -- I do not see "sync now" when I click on the elephant icon on the iPad.  I did however find it when I clicked on my name (below the account information).  I'm afraid to even hit the sync button with this current issue though.  

 

From what I've observed so far, this problem seem to only affect whatever note is open when I start Evernote on the iPad (whichever one I used last) -- if it's open, it seems to assign the current date and time to that note (even if it's old), and sends it to the server with the current date and time as soon as I open it up, overriding any changes that were made on other devices.

 

Another question:  If I DID break down and update to premium, will it have my history, or does it only start keeping it AFTER you upgrade?

1. manual sync location -- yep, that is where you find it.

2. leaving a note open -- I can imagine how that might happen, but in my tests I am not seeing it. Could you open a support ticket (see the link in my signature) and detail the precise steps you are following? That might help the developers to find and fix the problem.

3. note history -- I don't know. You could ask in the support ticket, though!

[oulalama 3]

Hi.

I absolutely do not know Apple/Mac stuff, but there should be database files on those devices; I partially recovered a note by just hexediting those database files. Hope it helps you.

Regards.

[Makrotulpa 0]

This just happened to me.  I edited and saved a note this morning on the Mac.  Then just before I opened Evernote on the iPad and got a message about trying Premium (to which I selected "Not Now") and it dropped me into a week old version of the document but with todays date.  I thought something was fishy so opened my Mac version and the old version was there.  Lost an important to do list and can't remember all of it 

[janolof33 0]

*****, this just happened to me.

Desktop Evernote was overwritten by my Iphone evernote, huge stuff of data lost.

 

Bought PREMIUM which to maybe be able to access old versions of notes or some conflict errors, no good result

 

Have to start over and spend many more hours.

 

Don't think I will do this in Evernote though.

 

Hate to loose it again.

[evernote on android 0]

Just experienced this frustrating problem too.  For whatever reason, an old open note on Evernote on the mobile device will be saved as a recent note and overwrite the note on the web version.  Perhaps Evernote needs to timestamp notes more often and recognize the latest EDITING timestamp rather than the sync-time timestamp.of a note, so that it saves the last edited copy, and prevent overwriting recently edited notes with older ones.

[Makrotulpa 0]

Just a bump.  I've finally heard from Evernote support and the consultant said the following:

 

Occasionally, two copies of the same note will be found to be in conflict.

This could arise when a given note is edited in two different locations before a sync has taken place. In this instance, the note will be placed into a temporary "Conflicting changes" notebook. You can then view both the local version of the note and the conflicting version from the server and manually apply any changes that couldn't be merged automatically.

Once you're satisfied that original version has all of the changes, delete the version in the "Conflicting changes" notebook (as well as the notebook itself, if it's empty).

 

However the problem is that a Conflicting Change was not created - the original note was overwritten with an older note.  I've been avoiding using Evernote on Android and iPad since this issue.

[Kirk Simmons 0]

Having this exact issue, and I have been burned by it on multiple occasions.

 

Scenario:  

1. Evernote installed on iPhone and Mac OS laptop
2. Evernote open on iPhone, but not as the active application.  Currently viewing a reminder list
3. Evernote open on laptop.
4. Open reminder list on laptop, edit extensively.  Press sync.
5. View Evernote app on iPhone, reminder list is the old one before edits.
6. Sync on iPhone, iPhone reminder list overwrites the new one on the laptop.

All changes lost.  User extremely unhappy.

[InHouseCounsel 0]

Exact same issue here. I lost a bunch of information, and it did not create a conflicting note like it has in the past.  

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

When you're having older versions of notes regularly overwriting newer versions, it's usually user error.  (Sorry, but true.)  When you're using multiple clients, computers and/or devices, it's VERY important to understand how sync'ing works.  This is important for not just Evernote, but any cloud based system.

 

In a nutshell, before changing any notes, sync changes DOWN to the computer/device.  When done, sync changes UP from the computer/device.
 

It's very simple. The EN servers (IE web client) are the "source of all truths." Any changes made on one device need to be sync'd up to the EN servers before those changes are accessible from the web client or any other device/computer. If you make any changes with the web client, you are changing the EN servers directly, so no sync (up) is involved. Any changes made to the EN servers need to be sync'd down to any other computer/device before they are accessible from that device/computer.

If you create/modify a note on a desktop/laptop & then shut down w/o it getting sync'd to the EN servers, that note will not show up on the web client or be sync'd down to any other devices/computers UNTIL, you then start up the desktop/laptop & have EN running long enough to do an auto sync or you force a sync. The best way around this is to manually sync the laptop/desktop if you're going to be using another computer/device before the next auto sync or are shutting that computer down/hibernating/etc.

I don't know about all mobile clients, but AFAIK, the iPhone client only syncs when you first start the program or make a change/add a note. (It tells you it's sync'ing.) So if you make a change on a desktop but it's not sync'd to the EN servers yet, then start the iPhone client, the desktop changes will not sync down to the iPhone. If you remain in the iPhone client while the desktop sync's the changes up, you would need to manually sync the iPhone client to get the changes down to the iPhone.

[pbb 0]

 

When you're having older versions of notes regularly overwriting newer versions, it's usually user error.  (Sorry, but true.)  When you're using multiple clients, computers and/or devices, it's VERY important to understand how sync'ing works.  This is important for not just Evernote, but any cloud based system.

 

In a nutshell, before changing any notes, sync changes DOWN to the computer/device.  When done, sync changes UP from the computer/device.

 

No. Forgetting to sync is NOT user error. Requiring the user to remember to press the sync button, is bad user interface design. You are right that similar challenges apply for many cloud-based solutions, but many of them have found good solutions, which DON'T involve overwriting newer versions with older edited files.

 

There are a number of solutions that can be used:

• Disable editing until the file has been (automatically!) synced.
• Warn the user when uploading an older edited version. (You can know this if previous upload date of current file is before last modification date of file on server.)
• When the file on the server was newer than the locally edited file, create a merge of both contents, with clear indication which contents comes from which version.
• Allow all (also free) users access to 2 or 3 previous versions of the file, to sort out syncing problems by themselves.

Since Evernote supports offline editing, they probably can't use the first two solutions, but the last two are possible.

 

I too have just lots some important information because I used the mobile client to edit a note. I am going to look into alternatives that do support versioning for free (possibly Google Docs), and I am going to tell other people that are using Evernote, about the risks that they will loose their data.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

 

 

When you're having older versions of notes regularly overwriting newer versions, it's usually user error.  (Sorry, but true.)  When you're using multiple clients, computers and/or devices, it's VERY important to understand how sync'ing works.  This is important for not just Evernote, but any cloud based system.

 

In a nutshell, before changing any notes, sync changes DOWN to the computer/device.  When done, sync changes UP from the computer/device.

 

No. Forgetting to sync is NOT user error. Requiring the user to remember to press the sync button, is bad user interface design. You are right that similar challenges apply for many cloud-based solutions, but many of them have found good solutions, which DON'T involve overwriting newer versions with older edited files.

 

There are a number of solutions that can be used:

• Disable editing until the file has been (automatically!) synced.
• Warn the user when uploading an older edited version. (You can know this if previous upload date of current file is before last modification date of file on server.)
• When the file on the server was newer than the locally edited file, create a merge of both contents, with clear indication which contents comes from which version.
• Allow all (also free) users access to 2 or 3 previous versions of the file, to sort out syncing problems by themselves.

Since Evernote supports offline editing, they probably can't use the first two solutions, but the last two are possible.

 

I too have just lots some important information because I used the mobile client to edit a note. I am going to look into alternatives that do support versioning for free (possibly Google Docs), and I am going to tell other people that are using Evernote, about the risks that they will loose their data.

 

 

 

Toodledo...I have the same note called up on iPad & iPhone.  iPad changes it from 'tear' to 'test' & syncs.  iPhone (hasn't sync'd the new change down) & changes 'tear' to 'teary' & syncs.  Sync iPad & guess what?  the note says 'teary'.  If you're going to be switching between devices, for any cloud based system, you need to sync changes down & up.  This is in the iOS section.  The iOS app does auto sync after you make a change to a note.  But if you don't have a connection, then yeah, you're going to have to remember to sync when you can get a connection.

 

Good luck with finding an app that better suits your needs.

[edridg 0]

In 2018 we still have the same bug on the iPad!!! 

I notice that these comments are from 2013 and not much has changed.  I have exactly the problem that the first user described.  I regularly work either online, or using the app on my Android phone.  However when I come to use my iPad app that I have not used for say 7 days, it overwrites the note that is currently showing with the old version from 7 days ago, modifying either my notes or my to do list.  I also know that you can go and retrieve previous versions, but this is REAL PAIN, and should not be happening on the Premium version.  I uninstalled and reinstalled the app and tried to change various settings, but I can still consistently replicate this bug, whenever I like!  Strange thing is that it does not happen on my iphone app, only my ipad.  Any answers for this? 

[DTLow 5,736]

4 hours ago, edridg said:

it overwrites the note that is currently showing with the old version from 7 days ago

You might want to open a support ticket on this  Contact Evernote Support 
The sync process is supposed to ensure the most current version is uploaded to the server, for download to devices.

The only advice I can give is when using multiple devices, make sure you sync your changes.