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Links to Notes Open in Browser, Not Evernote


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That's what I'm doing!  Glad to hear that it's just a bug.  How can i add links to a table of contents then without using cmd-k?

 

 

Yup, "classic" note links ALWAYS paste as evernote:/// no matter what

 

The new default non-classic links post as evernote:/// within evernote*  and http:// outside Evernote.

 

 

*(except for a bug where pasting in the cmd-k/ctrl-k hyperlink window pastes http)

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As I see it there are a couple of workarounds. 

 

1) if making a TOC, select all of the notes you want tabulated, and, if on a Mac, click "make new Table of Contents Note". This should populate a new note with links to each of the notes with evernote:/// links. 

2) If you are manually creating a TOC or are adding a TOC to an existing note, you can drag and drop notes into the body of the note you are creating a TOC in. 

3) You can copy and paste a classic link into the note body, creating a link with the name of the note you are linking to. If you want to change the text you can begin typing within the linked text such as the following permutations of the same link:

 

Pretend this is a note title representing an evernote:/// link

 

Pretend this is a note change the text to what you want representing an evernote:/// link

 

change the text to what you want 

 

Hope this answers your question... if I understood it properly!

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I use the Windows desktop version of EN. After I do a "Copy Note Link", if I hold down the CTLR key and hit the v key, I get a link in the Note which is the name of the Note that I copied the link of. If I hold down the SHIFT and the CTRL keys and then hit the v key, it pastes the http:// URL to the Note.

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  • 2 months later...

This was mentioned in a few replies here, but here's the clearest explanation of all of this: http://jasonfrasca.com/deconstructing-everyday-blog/open-evernote-note-links-directly-on-the-desktop-again/

 

And the clearest solution, from that post:

 

How To Access The Classic Evernote Link

  1. Right click on the desired Evernote Note you wish to link to
  2. Hold down Option on a Mac or Ctrl on a Windows machine. You will see the “Copy Note Link” change to “Copy Classic Note Link.”
  3. Select “Copy Classic Note Link.”
  4. Paste the Classic Note Link to the desired location.
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  • 1 month later...

This has been driving me crazy for months.  I thought I changed a setting somewhere.  It was already a bit cumbersome to create note links, and now with this extra keystroke, it's even more so.  Now, I have months worth of notes with links that keep popping a browser (while using my desktop client), and often require me to authenticate, since I don't use the web browser version much.  

 

Is there any way to correct existing notes programmatically?  This is a major headache, and I can't believe that Evernote made this change, ruining my app-based experience.  

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This change in the note links happened several monthes ago and is apparently because full URL links tend to "behave better in the wild," though I'm still not sure what that's supposed to mean.

Anyway, you can still create Classic note links that do *not* start with "http://" and thus open through a browser.  I mistakenly thought the process might be different for Mac users so asked to you clarify.  It's the same for Windows and Mac.  My apologies for the delay my question caused.

I've linked a Knowledge Base article below which explains how to create Classic note links. 

http://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/#/search?query=how%20to%20create%20class%20note%20links%20on%20mac&device=mac&product=evernote/

I don't know of anyway you could program EN to do this automatically for all your note links.  Come to think of it, I've never even seen it discussed on the forums.  (It's possible someone has and I missed it.)

Also, if I understand you correctly, your EN database has somehow retroactively changed all the note links you made previous to the new default of full URLs, into ones that open in a browser. I just went and checked several of mine and the same thing appears to have happened to me. They don't start with "http://" but a ".com" seems to have been inserted into the links and the open inside a browser.

I don't know if the ".com" was always there or not, or how long they've been opening in a browser.

Scott, Gaz, BNF, anyone...can some please shed some light on this for us? What is the point of internal note links if you always have to be online to access them?

What app are you using? Mac, Windows, etc.

I use Evernote mostly on my Mac laptop, but also use the iOS versions when I'm in meetings. 
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I can't find any links I KNOW came BEFORE the change, so I cannot test whether pre-change links were remotely changed. 

Any link I can find is evernote:///

 

Some reasons a remote change is unlikely:

1) This is not what was supposed to happen, and may not even be able to happen. Evernote doesn't have access to your notes in such a way so as to allow them to modify their contents automatically (or manually), so barring some far-fetched explanation, it seems unlikely Evernote would mobilize the resources needed for such a trivial thing.

2) Any post-change non-classic note link should only ever paste as evernote:/// within Evernote. So, since non-classic and classic links appear identical when pasted in Evernote, then I don't see why a remote change would need to happen even if it were possible. If it did happen, then there should be no functional change anyway since classic and non-classic note links within Evernote are functionally identical. 

3) Any note links pasted outside of Evernote could, of course, not be changed automatically since they are outside of the Evernote application. 

 

 

Wordsgood, I'm not sure why some of your links have "changed" to include a ".com". I can't even get a newly created non-classic link to paste with a .com in the link address. 

See for example:

https://www.evernote.com/l/ABlvUrbA04JImInO9OD3_H2oWTRYFlYzy2U

The first note link is a non-classic note link, in green. I right clicked that link and said "Copy Link" (this isn't note-link specific, this works with ANY link to copy the underlying URL) and pasted the results and got the second link which begins with evernote:///

 

Even if I paste the result outside of Evernote I still only ever get an evernote:/// link, despite the fact that the original link was a non-classic note link. 

 

Joe Hummel, the links you are pasting and refer to in your post, are you pasting INSIDE of Evernote, or pasting them OUTSIDE of evernote, such as into any other application (e.g., a word processor, task manager, email)? 

You should ALWAYS get evernote:/// links when pasting in Evernote REGARDLESS of whether you have selected a "classic" or non-classic note link. 

You will get Evernote:/// in third party applications ONLY with classic note links. Non-classic links will always give https:// OUTSIDE of Evernote.

 

I mean no disrespect in saying this, but is it possible that you have been inadvertently pasting new-style links to external applications since the change many months ago? I mean, we're talking a long time since the change was made now, so it would be easy to think that a note link was generated pre-change and remotely changed, when in fact, the link was actually created after the change. The change was also made without an announcement so you wouldn't have known it had occurred and could easily have made a large number of links like this without knowing any better. 

 

If, however, note links of either type are pasting as https:// in evernote itself, that is a bug. I can't reproduce it on my Mac, notes behave EXACTLY as expected:

Classic: Evernote:/// EVERYWHERE. Inside or outside of Evernote all I ever get is an evernote:/// link

New: Evernote:/// INSIDE Evernote. https:// anywhere else. 

 

 

Note:

There seems to be some interesting programming going on behind the scenes to make new notes work properly. See for example, the following:

https://www.evernote.com/l/ABlKLHIYry5C2LYsE0jI-sTqfrp9-B9bfVU

At the bottom of the screenshot, you will see the raw clipboard contents. You'll notice it is an https:// link.

In the middle, you'll see the results of pasting this into a text editor. Also an https:// link.

At the top, you'll see the EXACT SAME clipboard contents pasted into the Evernote application itself, and it magically pastes as evernote:///   (this also explains why, as I point out above, if you paste a non-classic link IN evernote, then copy the URL underlying that link, you get, essentially, a classic note link that is evernote:/// no matter where you paste).

 

Because of this, you should consider carefully how troubleshoot this issue, since looking directly at the clipboard will be misleading if you want to know how the link will behave within Evernote. 

 

I hope this helps clarify things and helps with troubleshooting..... but I suspect this has just added to the confusion!

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Thanks Wordsgood and ScottLougheed for the responses.  

 

To clarify my scenario a bit ... 

 

A few months back, I noticed that when I copy a Note link from within Evernote, and then highlight some text in another Note, and paste the link I just copied as a link for the text selected, it now comes up as HTTPS, instead of EVERNOTE.  This did not appear to impact any previous Notes, where I had performed the very same steps to create those links.  However, since I was slacking in investigating the cause behind the change in how Note links are handled, several months have passed by, where I've created a lot of Note links which all have the HTTPS protocol instead of EVERNOTE.  My thinking, up until learning of how Evernote changed how Note links are created, was that I tripped over a setting somewhere, and I would flip it back, and get it all working.  Earlier this week was when I finally decided to resolve it, because it was getting quite annoying, when I have to hop around between linked Notes.  

 

When I came to the Evernote forums, I found out that linking was changed in the backend, and not thru accidental settings I changed.  I also found the information about the classic version of embedding links.  Then, I posted my message, in frustration, because a feature that I really depend upon in my notes was just confirmed to permanently suck for those Notes I created over the last several months.  Also, due to the change, for future Notes, I would have to remember an extra keystroke just to create Note links the way they really should work by default - by staying within the Evernote application.  

 

I get the reasons why it would have changed, I just think it degraded my experience using the product.  

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A few months back, I noticed that when I copy a Note link from within Evernote, and then highlight some text in another Note, and paste the link I just copied as a link for the text selected, it now comes up as HTTPS, instead of EVERNOTE.

 

Pasting into this window to create a link for selected text SHOULD paste as evernote:/// whether the link is classic or not. My screenshot demonstrates this to be the case.

 

There was a bug shortly after the change was implemented where pasting in this window would incorrectly paste https:// but that has since been resolved. If you still experience pasting https:// in the URL window for selected text, it would be a bug and NOT how Evernote should behave. 

 

With the exception of the URL box bug, if all you ever do is paste note links within Evernote, the change should not have affected you at all because Classic and "new" note links behave identically within Evernote. 

 

using the most up-to-date version of Evernote for Mac (from the website, not the Mac App Store) can you confirm what type of link is pasted when pasting a "new style" link into the URL box for selected text? Standard behaviour is evernote:/// REGARDLESS of the type of link you generated. 

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So, I should stop using Apple's App Store to update Evernote, and switch to the version from the Evernote site?  The version I have running is 5.5.1 build 402628.  The build from Evernote's site appears to be 402634.  There doesn't appear to be a lot of distance between build numbers there.  

 

I just want to be sure before I go through the trouble of uninstalling, and giving up the App Store updates, that this is what you're suggesting I do to resolve this link problem.  

 

FWIW - as long as I logon to the Evernote site, after popping my browser window with the note, the Evernote app recently started popping the same note in a new window.  It's still undesirable in how it works, but I thought I'd mention there is some local activity of late, just after hitting the web site first.  

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Okay, I haven't checked of my note links, but I did check several that I'm positive I created as Classic Note Links and this is what the first part of each one (that I checked) now look like and open via a browser:

www.evernote.com/shad/.....

The "www"" and the ".com" were note there originally, and when I created them they looked like this:

evernote:/// 

Just as you described. Well, that or I really losing my marbles!

I haven't pasted any part of any EN note into another app, ever.

I'm so confused now...

I'm also dead on my feet so will post this log off and have a nap attack!

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So, I should stop using Apple's App Store to update Evernote, and switch to the version from the Evernote site?  The version I have running is 5.5.1 build 402628.  The build from Evernote's site appears to be 402634.  There doesn't appear to be a lot of distance between build numbers there.  

 

I just want to be sure before I go through the trouble of uninstalling, and giving up the App Store updates, that this is what you're suggesting I do to resolve this link problem.  

 

There are several advantages to switching to the direct version. The direct download version gets updated considerably more often because it doesn't need to go through Apple's approval channels. This means you are likely to see fixes to bugs and new features earlier on the direct version, including a fix for this pasting-within-evernote issue. While you don't get the convenience of app store updates, the internal update mechanism in the direct download app is reasonably convenient. 

The transition from the Mac App Store version to the Direct version isn't too onerous. Some instructions here:

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=135

 

 

 

 

FWIW - as long as I logon to the Evernote site, after popping my browser window with the note, the Evernote app recently started popping the same note in a new window.  It's still undesirable in how it works, but I thought I'd mention there is some local activity of late, just after hitting the web site first.  

This is how https:// links work. The idea, as I understand, is that if you are pasting outside of Evernote, there is a chance you, or someone else, might be clicking on that link in a context in which you are not logged into an Evernote application (such as on a public computer, or someone else's computer, or whatever). Rather than just being dead and useless like an evernote:/// link would be in this case, you get taken to the web version of it so you can actually view (and modify, if you own the note) the note. This is the "better in the wild" that EN staff referred to. It means, no matter WHERE you click the note link, it will show the note, whether Evernote is installed or not. If you do have Evernote installed, it will, after redirecting via the web, load the local note in the client for you. Not elegant, but it means you will always get a note 100% of the time. 

 

HOWEVER this ONLY applies to new-style note links pasted outside of Evernote. (Or the bug you are experiencing which will be irrelevant once you switch to the direct version). 

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Ok, so I've gutted my laptop of Evernote, from the App Store, and reinstalled the version from Evernote.  

 

Same exact results with Note links.  It pops a browser window, then pops a new Evernote window.  The only difference I've noticed so far, is when I copy a classic link, the link in Evernote is now blue, instead of green.  This appears to be the way Evernote formats links as they are created.  I have an earlier test, where I copied a classic link to test, and that link is still green.  

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Joe,

Switching to the direct version was supposed to resolve the issue where pasting into the URL box to turn selected text into a link incorrectly pasted https:// when it should be pasting evernote:///   – Now, note links of either type should always paste as evernote:/// within evernote

This ONLY effects NEW note links. Switching as you have will have NO EFFECT on any existing links you made that contain https:// prefix.

 

Any http:// link will remain an http:// link until you go and manually change it. Switching to the direct download version was not proposed by me as a solution to your existing note links. It was proposed as a solution to an ongoing bug that prevented Evernote from pasting Evernote:/// links into the URL box for turning selected text into a hyperlink. 

 

With the direct download version you should see the behaviour documented in the following set of screenshots:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s25/sh/4a2c7218-af2e-42d8-b62c-1348c8fac4ea/7eba7df81f5b7d55

 

This is a "new style" link (NOT CLASSIC). Look at the middle URL, the black text editor window. Notice how when pasted into an external application, the link is https://. Notice at the very top of the screenshot, VERY SAME link pasted into Evernote's URL box pastes as evernote:/// NOT as https://

 

This is the intended behaviour. Pasting a note link WITHIN Evernote whether it is classic or not should produce an evernote:/// link. Can you confirm that this is the case now that you have switched?

 

 

KEEP IN MIND: Switching to the direct download will make absolutely no changes to the behaviour of any existing note links. NONE. If you created links with https://, they remain that way until you change it. So, that is why you still see the browser redirect when you click these links even though you've made the switch to the direct download version. They are still https:// links

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I misunderstood what this statement meant:

With the exception of the URL box bug, if all you ever do is paste note links within Evernote, the change should not have affected you at all because Classic and "new" note links behave identically within Evernote. 

 

 

I took that to mean, that if I swapped out my version, that Evernote would go back to the way it used to work - links open within Evernote.  Since all my Note links are always created within an Evernote app (desktop or mobile), I presumed that a newer version would resolve this bug.

 

That being said, not only did it not fix the existing links (which I understand may not be fixable), pasting new Note links still cause the browser to pop.  When I copy a Note link, I have the following prefix on the URL: https://www.evernote.com/shard/... The only way I get a URL prefix of - evernote:///view/ - is to 'Copy Classic Note Link'.  

 

I get the benefit for 'out in the wild' links.  However, it should favor app users, not users 'in the wild'.  All my links should open within the app, in my opinion.  If that annoys others, as this does me, then it should be set as an option in preferences.  I can't even imagine needing to be able to paste a link with https://.  If I needed to share the link to someone without Evernote or 'in the wild', I would use 'Copy Share URL'.  As it works now, I might as well just use the web version.  

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I don't understand why pasting new-style note links doesn't provide evernote:/// within Evernote. It may be a workflow thing.

What happens if you do the following:

 

Plain COPY and PASTE

1) copy the non-classic note link for ANY note by right-clicking and select "Copy Note Link".

2) paste directly into the body of any note

The outcome for me is a green hyperlink with the underlying url being evernote:/// link.  (This is exactly the procedure I document in the screenshot I linked to in a previous post)

 

COPY and PASTE into URL box

1) Copy the non-classic note link for ANY note

2) select text in another note and press cmd-k and paste the link into the text box. 

The outcome for me is that an evernote:/// link is pasted into the box. The selected text is converted to a BLUE hyperlink, but the underlying URL is still evernote:///

 

If you follow these to procedures exactly, are you still getting https:// links?

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I've recorded a screencast depicting the steps you requested I take.  I recorded it so you can see how I'm doing this (you suggested a possible workflow thing).  You can find the recording here.  

 

Raw pasting works as you would expect (Evernote link).  However posting within the URL box does not.  

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well, there you go.... foot in my mouth.  that's a puzzler!

 

Perhaps the bug fix is actually part of the beta (I'm running two computers, one with beta, one with the public release, I sometimes forget which I'm working on, so that might have been where I performed the test without thinking about the fact I had been using the beta). The beta is publicly available (you just need to tick a little box in Evernote's preferences), so you could always take that for a spin.

 

Here's the forum thread about the current beta if you want to take a browse to make sure there's no complaints that might be of concern to you:

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/66563-evernote-for-mac-56-beta-8/

 

I've been running the beta on one machine and the general public release on another and haven't had any glitches comparing the two so I'm fairly confident in recommending the beta at this point (especially being that it is on its 8th iteration). But you'll want to judge for yourself based on the thread. 

 

I really hope THAT solves your issue. Thanks for going to the trouble of taking a screencast, but at least we know for sure that you are doing everything correct, and that it is the application thats messing up!

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It seems it was the beta 8 for v5.6.0 that fixed the link pasting.  They still show up blue (for me), but they link with URL prefixes of evernote://

 

Whew!  At least it's back.  Thanks for your assistance, Scott!  Now, see if you can get them to direct all my links within Evernote.  :)  

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  • 2 months later...

I agree with Joe Hummel that we should be given the option in Preferences to choose whether we'd like "Classic Note Links" by default. I'm a Mac user using Things app, and often drag Evernote Notes into a Things task. When I click on the link, whether on Mac or iOS, it will open Evernote within my web browser which is slow and annoying as I often have to login as I normally do not check Evernote in the browser. When I use the "hold Alt + Right click" to copy "Classic Note Link" and then paste that into a Things task, it opens directly in Evernote, even in iOS which is how it should be. But that process is tedious and non-intuitive. Perhaps Evernote should reconsider the "Classic" way of doing things.

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I agree with Joe Hummel that we should be given the option in Preferences to choose whether we'd like "Classic Note Links" by default. I'm a Mac user using Things app, and often drag Evernote Notes into a Things task. When I click on the link, whether on Mac or iOS, it will open Evernote within my web browser which is slow and annoying as I often have to login as I normally do not check Evernote in the browser. When I use the "hold Alt + Right click" to copy "Classic Note Link" and then paste that into a Things task, it opens directly in Evernote, even in iOS which is how it should be. But that process is tedious and non-intuitive. Perhaps Evernote should reconsider the "Classic" way of doing things.

I absolutely assist. What you describe (using Things and linking to Evernote) is the very exact situation I have here quite often.

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  • 1 year later...

I much prefer the classic "evernote:///" links in all cases, so I wrote an AutoHotKey script to convert new http:// links.

What the script does is watch for clipboard changes system-wide, then if it sees one it checks to see if you're in Evernote, and then checks to see if the clipboard matches "https://www.evernote.com/...". If so, it rewrites the link in the classic "evernote:///" style and replaces the clipboard contents with that.

Works for me. I hope this helps someone out there.

Here are AutoHotKey instructions if you're a beginner: https://autohotkey.com/docs/Tutorial.htm#s1

 

#Persistent
return

;===========================
; Script Function:
;           Convert evernote http links into app links
;
; 

OnClipboardChange:
if WinActive("ahk_class ENMainFrame")
{
    txtClipboard := clipboard

    if RegExMatch(txtClipboard, "^https:\/\/www\.evernote\.com\/shard\/")
    {
        NewStr := RegExReplace(txtClipboard, "^https:\/\/www\.evernote\.com\/shard\/([a-zA-Z0-9]*)\/([a-zA-Z0-9]*)\/([a-zA-Z0-9]*)\/([a-zA-Z0-9\-]*)$", "evernote:///view/$3/$1/$4/$4/")

        Clipboard := NewStr

        ToolTip Evernote App Link copied!
        Sleep 1000
        ToolTip  ; Turn off the tip.
    }
}
return

 

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