Cannot delete Evernote shortcut from desktop (Win 8.1 Enterprise)

[Kropell 0]

Just installed the client on my work computer and pinned the program to taskbar. I'm trying to delete the shortcut icon from my desktop, but it won't disappear! 

• I've tried dragging it to the trash, but it pops back without any error message.
• I've tried hitting "Delete" and "Shift+Delete" with same result.
• Tried moving the shortcut to another folder and got an "Out of memory" error.

I'm a local administrator on my computer and should be able to decide what to show on my desktop.

 

Anyone have an idea what to do?

[Wordsgood 526]

Have you tried Right Clicking on the Shortcut, the choosing Delete from the menu that pops up? IF one does pop up, I've never used Windows 8.

[gazumped 11,657]

I have the latest beta on my W8 desktop and just deleted the shortcut without a murmur - it's a bit overkill,  but if all else fails I can only suggest Revo uninstall and reinstall (but read up on the details first,  there are a few health warnings..)

 

On the other hand you could try deleting the icon and hitting F5 (or right-click and 'Refresh') because sometimes the desktop doesn't update properly...

[Kropell 0]

Wordsgood: I've tried this with no result. Thanks for the reply.

 

Gazumped: I've reinstalled twice. The second time I did a search on my computer and found a lot of files left by Evernote even after the uninstall. Did a reinstall after deleting all the remaining Evernote files, but still have the same problem. Thanks for the reply.

[gazumped 11,657]

Weird.  I'd suggest a support ticket then... (see below)

 

[webby37 0]

Ditto on this one. Right click, hitting delete, hitting shift-delete... nothing gets rid of it.

[gazumped 11,657]

Ditto on this one. Right click, hitting delete, hitting shift-delete... nothing gets rid of it.

 

Tried F5 / right-click and refresh?

[Kropell 0]

Tried this too - same result.

[gazumped 11,657]

In the absence of any other suggestions then...  Support Ticket!!

[Kropell 0]

Support ticket sent ... 

[RTM 3]

On Windows 8 the shortcut is placed in Public desktop.

Go to C:\Users\Public\Desktop and delete it there and it will be removed from your user desktop as well. 

 

Desktop folder in Public may be hidden depending on your settings, if so go to C:\Users\Public and write \Desktop after Public. 

[gazumped 11,657]

Well spotted!!

[Kropell 0]

Tried c:\users\public\desktop - same result as before.

[gazumped 11,657]

support ticket...

[treaz 1]

I've had the same problem. Delete did not work (either from desktop, either from C:\Users\Public\Desktop).

For some reason, when I right clicked and deleted as an admin it worked. Which leads me to think that it could be related to permissions (if all else fails, I'd suggest you try to open a cmd as an admin and try to delete it via the cmd).

[Clintre 1]

This is a very annoying issue that has been around for a long time. If your system is in a domain you can't delete the icon, even if you have admin rights.If I log into the system with a local admin account then I can.

 

Honestly Evernote should not replace the icon every time it gets updated.

[darklordxnew 5]

Hey...found the fix. Had to give "Everyone" Full control NTFS permissions to delete it.

 

While running under an account that has local admin permissions, right click it, properties, security tab. Hit Edit, then Add, type Everyone, then ok. Click "Full Control", then ok out completely.

 

Should be able to delete it then.

[carlhnz 1]

Hey darklordxnew - that worked perfectly, thank you!

 

Evernote - really????

[Kropell 0]

Great - finally gone from my desktop too. Big thanks to darklordxnew! 

[philanon 9]

Thanks darklordxnew!

[baker_tony 2]

I've had the same problem. Delete did not work (either from desktop, either from C:\Users\Public\Desktop).

For some reason, when I right clicked and deleted as an admin it worked. Which leads me to think that it could be related to permissions (if all else fails, I'd suggest you try to open a cmd as an admin and try to delete it via the cmd).

Thanks Treaz, while logged in as an admin, I went to C:\Users\Public\Desktop, right clicked and deleted. Worked.

Really stupid how Evernote has created this shortcut!

[advmk 0]

On Windows 8 the shortcut is placed in Public desktop.

Go to C:\Users\Public\Desktop and delete it there and it will be removed from your user desktop as well. 

 

Desktop folder in Public may be hidden depending on your settings, if so go to C:\Users\Public and write \Desktop after Public. 

 

This is what worked for me!  Also helped me get rid of an icon for another pesky application that was behaving badly.

 

Thank you!

[JakeOMite 0]

RTM's suggestion worked for me! Thanks. When in C:\Users\Public\Desktop I right-clicked and clicked Delete but it had that Admin icon so having Admin privileges is part of the trick, as I think darklordxnew was also pointing out. Success!

[steelblue330i 0]

darklordxnew's fix worked--thanks!  Also worked for Mindjet Mindmanager icon that behaved the same way, so it's not just Evernote.  I appreciate the help!

[Kizan 2]

This issues has been going on for all my Win8/10 machines for several years now. It's a bit bogus. FIX the problem Evernote! I can't think of a GOOD reason for this behavior. I've never seen another app installer/updater decide that it's going to be THIS aggravating about it's shortcut placement.

I just upgraded on six different Win10 Enterprise/Pro boxes to the current version (as of 2017-03-29) and it did it on all of them. Really? At least explain WHY this is a good feature.

Kizan

[gazumped 11,657]

5 hours ago, Kizan said:

At least explain WHY this is a good feature.

Hi.  I don't think anyone has said it's a positive feature,  but there are several suggestion in this thread for fixes,  revolving mainly around (it looks like) Admin access.  Would none of them work for you?  I have admin access to my Win 10 machine,  and the icon goes where I put it every time...

[Kizan 2]

Dear Gazumped,

Thanks for your reply, however your response isn't very helpful. This thread has several suggestions to workaround to the problem. Which while are helpful are not a fix for the problem. Considering the age of this thread I would be surprised if a dev or decision maker hadn't at least heard of this issue. My questions are directed at Evernote developers (or decision makers) and less at helpful members of the Evernote community. I've been using several of the listed workarounds for several years. As a paid user of the service it's not really to much to at least ask the question the motivations behind the decisions for this issue.

Again, while I appreciate your helpfulness I'm not interested in more workarounds. I'm interested in a fix or an explanation as to why this issue is the way it is from an authority/decision maker. While thoughtful speculation is interesting it's also not what I'm looking for. I'm making an assumption that the devs/decsion maker types to read through threads on their forums for issues like these. Not just to give users a place to vent.

Kizan

[gazumped 11,657]

Hi @Kizan - We're a (mainly) user-supported forum,  not a direct feedback to the company.  Although developers will read these pages for feedback at some time it's not necessarily a quick process and it's fairly rare for them to comment,  highly unusual for them to predict when a fix will be available,  and pretty much unknown for Evernote to explain or justify decisions.  Venting and (potentially) unhelpful advice and comment is mainly what you get here.

If you're a paying customer you can contact Support and comment or vent directly and anyone can tweet them..  https://www.evernote.com/SupportLogin.action or https://twitter.com/evernotehelps - are the contact addresses.  You will get a personal response,  though it may be of the 'we are aware of this issue and are working on it' variety...

Good luck...

[Kizan 2]

Dear gazumped,

Thanks for the quick and honest reply. I'll take it up in a support ticket then. Thanks for the links.

Kizan

[Kizan 2]

TL;DR - Evernote Tech Support says this is "normal" behavior, but don't say why this is a desired function.

Longer version - After some back and forth with tech support they confirmed that this odd/stupid behavior is by design. Confirmed by "Senior Technicians". Below is the final response I got back from support.

"Thank you for your response. I've consulted again with our senior technicians here. From their understanding, the behavior that you are seeing is currently intended.

Again, I certainly understand the frustration and inconvenience from this process. I will make sure that all of the information that you have provided here is passed along to our product team for consideration in improving for the future.

Thank you for your response. I've consulted again with our senior technicians here. From their understanding, the behavior that you are seeing is currently intended.

Again, I certainly understand the frustration and inconvenience from this process. I will make sure that all of the information that you have provided here is passed along to our product team for consideration in improving for the future."

 

I guess I'll either switch my people to another product or figure out how to automate a script to delete it.

Kizan

[Ken Owen 1]

this just happened to me and I found the fix on this thread...

Delete shortcut from >

C:\Users\Public\Desktop

Thanks

[code killer 0]

Here is the solution.

Right click on Shortcut >> Properties >> Security Tab >> Edit >> Add >> Everyone >> Give Full control >> Apply.

Try to delete..

Thanks

[Kizan 2]

Code Killer,

This is a great work around. Many of us are wondering WHY this is standard functionality. It's the only app I know of that does this. Good work around!

Kizan

[GoldTitan 0]

On 4/11/2014 at 12:36 PM, darklordxnew said:

give "Everyone" Full control NTFS permissions to delete it.

While running under an account that has local admin permissions, right click it, properties, security tab. Hit Edit, then Add, type Everyone, then ok. Click "Full Control", then ok out completely.

Should be able to delete it then.

This worked on Windows 10 as well, good thinking. Thanks!

[StevenChang 10]

if everyone sent a ticket to them, their "normal behavior" could change.