(Archived) Remove formatting is broken

[Matthew Kendall 0]

Steps to repeat:

• In the Windows client [1], create a new note.
• Enter a small amount of text, say "foo bar baz". Make a couple of words bold.
• Select all the text with ctrl-a.
• Right-click and choose Remove Formatting
• Note that the bold emphasis is removed all the text is shown in Courier font.

So far, as expected.

• Swap to a different note then go back to your test note.
• Observe that the font is no longer Courier, it is Tahoma.

At this point we have a bug, but it appears to be a fairly benign one. However, it's worse than it looks. You will likely have problems with this text from now on, especially if copying and pasting to other applications. To see what is wrong:

• Sync your Windows client
• Open the web app and go the the test note.
• "View source" on the page and find the text of the note [2]

You will see something like this:

<div style="font-family: Courier, &quot;Courier New&quot;, monospace;" data-mce-style="font-family: Courier, &quot;">foo bar baz</div>

The style attribute in the initial div is fine. It is specifying Courier, "Courier New" and monospace, and the quotes around "Courier New" have been escaped. However, the following data-mce-style attribute is messed up. It ends prematurely at the first escaped quote.

 

This invalid markup appears to invisibly persist with the text, whatever you do in the Windows client.

 

The good news is that you can fix the text. Open the note in the web app. Select all the text and use the "Clear formatting" feature (it's on the far right of the formatting toolbar and looks like an eraser). This appears to work properly, and the resulting text is no longer encumbered with invalid markup.

 

To summarise:

• Don't use "Remove formatting" in the Windows client
• If you have, and subsequently have problems with the text, recover the situation using "Clear formatting" in the web app.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[1] I was using Windows client 5.0.3.1614

 

[2] You can do this in various ways that are more convenient, but "view source" is the easiest to describe and is roughly correct in most browsers. On Chrome, try "Inspect element" on the text of the note to immediately go the right place in the source.

 

[gazumped 12,222]

Thanks for the detailed report.  Evernote do read the forums so will be aware of this - not sure it's a 'broken' issue unless you're heavily into copying from/ to de-formatted notes: I've been using 'remove formatting' in the Windows beta version -  5.1.0.1926 - and while the font does change from Courier to my default note font when I revisit the note it hasn't caused me any problems yet...