URLs with ampersand (&) corrupted

[Enertse 6]

If a URL entered in a note has an ampersand, Evernote corrupts it by appending "amp;" so that a URL that worked becomes corrupted with "&".

[gazumped 12,073]

That doesn't happen with my clips or by cutting and pasting.  Can you give us an example of a URL that has been corrupted?  How do you add the URL to Evernote?  Which browser version are you using?

[Enertse 6]

1. I can't provide a suitable example just now.

It happens with URLs that I have copied/pasted (in plain text) in multiple notes.

The URLs having been working fine for a long time: only in the past day have I noticed the issue when I couldn't access a journal subscription that I frequent.

The bug is cumulative: some URLs that had "&" now have "&".

[gazumped 12,073]

Again I'm confused - why would a link in Evernote be changed by using it to jump to a web page?  Once it is copied to a note,  a URL is 'embedded' in the page code.  Clicking it doesn't edit the content..

 

My feeling is that this may not be an issue with a note - it could be a browser update or some such..  I suggest you raise a support ticket (see below) and give the tech team as much information as you can.

[Enertse 6]

That's what I would have thought.

 

I raised a support ticket, and was told that they've received a similar report already.

[Eldorado 27]

Same situation here: When cutting text from any browser (IE, FireFox) and pasting it to Evernote, &-signs that are part of an embedded URL are expanded to "&" which corrupts the URL.

 

Functionality worked fine for me for a long time.

• One of the last versions (currently running 5.4.1.4027) presented this really ugly bug.
• A collegue of mine uses official version 5.4.1.3962 with the same bug.
• If I remember correct, 5.4.1.3895 did not fail.

Please help - cutting&pasting HTML text from browsers to EN is daily work :-(

 

Is it possible to step back to 5.4.1.3895?

[Nianto 0]

Same problem here. The “&” gets converted to “&amp” or “&amp”. And sometimes the Double-Slash gets converted to a Triple-Slash. I am running the 5.5.2.4057 Prerelease.

[David Pierson 2]

Yes, same problem too. I have a page with many links with ampersands in the urls, and everytime the page is edited, all the links get another set of & added to them. At least, that seems to be the trigger for the problem.

 

This was rapidly making Evernote unusable, but luckily I was able to go back to 5.4.0.3698 from oldapps.com

 

That will teach me not to keep old versions of the installation file handy!

 

(Unrelated issue: my evernote account won't log me in to the forum this week - no error is shown when I enter the right password, it just doesn't log me in. So I created a new account as an experiment, and that has worked. Can't imagine what is wrong with old account)

[i3maha 2]

Oh, another thread with the same issue.

I have the same problem and described it in an older thread that came up first in my Google search:

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/25083-problem-urls-in-the-note-body/?p=290148

[dragonem 0]

Here is what the URL should look like:   http://news.google.com/news/url?sr=1&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_2_1_a&sa=t&usg=AFQjCNEaqktNa42WQeJeGF2MIJ8Rnif1Cw&cid=52778562353478&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.buffalonews.com%2Fcity-region%2Fletter-why-would-clinton-want-to-be-president-20140721&ei=NdLNU9jZHq3uwAHY_ICYBQ&sig2=PTIqWBJa6N8kULkB3CjOIg&rt=HOMEPAGE&vm=STANDARD&bvm=section&did=3454079264262494862&ssid=h

 

This is what Evernote 5.4.1.3962 Gives : http://news.google.com/news/url?sr=1&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_2_1_a&   amp;   sa=t&  amp;  usg=AFQjCNEaqktNa42WQeJeG F2MIJ8Rnif1Cw&  amp;  c id=52778562353478& amp; url=http%3A%2F%2Fw ww.buffalonews.com%2Fcity-regio n%2Fletter-why-would-clinton-want-to-be-president-20140721& amp; ei=NdLNU9jZHq3uwAHY_ICYBQ&sig2=PTIqWBJa6N8kULkB3CjOIg&a  mp;rt=HOMEPAGE&vm=STANDARD&bvm=section&did=3454079264262494862&ssid=h 

 

This is your problem with Evernote and the hyperlinks.  The issue is in the & adding the amp; after it.

[gazumped 12,073]

Just tested as far as I can with Windows 8.0 / Evernote 5.5.2 (prerelease) / Fx31 and there are no changes to the URL despite clipping / cutting and pasting and several changes of note.

[i3maha 2]

Just tested as far as I can with Windows 8.0 / Evernote 5.5.2 (prerelease) / Fx31 and there are no changes to the URL despite clipping / cutting and pasting and several changes of note.

 

I just downloaded and installed Evernote 5.5.2 (272142) prerelease (using Windows 8 and the Firefox web browser) in the hope that the error is fixed. But no luck there. The problem still occurs.

 

Here, once more, the problem description:

 

I enter (or copy and paste) a URL that contains several parameters (that are separated by an ampersand) into a note. For example:

http: // www.test.com?p1=test1&p2=test2

When I press Enter, Evernote creates a link that opens when I click the URL.

If I look in the browser's address line, the link is correct.

 

Then I click on another note and immediately return to my note with the URL. The URL looks just the same as before, but the LINK that is embedded does not work anymore: When I click on the URL now, the browser shows in its address line the URL, but the &-sign has changed to & and the URL with the parameters does not work anymore.

 

If I again make any changes to that note (no matter where), leave the note by clicking on another note, and re-open it again, the embedded link get's more corrupted everytime, as now, the &-sign is again replaced by &. Again, the URL looks correct, but the embedded link that is opened when I click on the URL is not working. In the browser's address line, the URL now looks like this:

http: // www.test.com?p1?test&p2=test2

 

P.S.: I added spaces around the slashes in the URLs, otherwise the forum software would generate a link, which I don't want in this case.

[i3maha 2]

Hmm, I think something went wrong in my Evernote... Again...

After playing around with URLs in the Windows-client, I wanted to find out what happens in the Evernote-Web-Client. And now I cannot change the note that contains (or even contained) such URLs at all. Every time I change something in such a note, and leave the note, all changes are lost. When I return to the note, it looks as before the changes...

All the "other" notes can still be changed...

In the Windows client, I can still change the notes, but not in the web client!

 

Back to the topic: Actually, on an HTML-webpage it is the correct behaviour to write an ampersand inside a link as & ONCE! But not repeatedly. And NOT in a windows client that does not correctly change the & back to & before calling a link...

[gazumped 12,073]

I'll allow in my limited testing I didn't check the content of the link,  I just opened the web page repeatedly despite having done,  AFAICS,  exactly what you describe.  I take it the link doesn't work once it shows as corrupted?

 

I can only suggest you raise a support ticket - this is one of those problems that I can't reproduce,  and since a lot of people use pasted links I would have expected many more reports if it was a generic bug.  (You could reference Support back to this thread for more information than the ticket request probably allows...)

 

What hardware are you running all this on?

[i3maha 2]

I take it the link doesn't work once it shows as corrupted?

The link in general works after it is corrupted. I mean, I can click on the link, the browser opens and the URL is shown in the browser's address line. Corrupted or not. But after the link is corrupted, it doesn't work anymore as expected, because the web-application can't access the parameters that are now "hidden" behind the wrong "&" signs.

 

What hardware are you running all this on?

Different hardware. Right now, I write from a Dell Latitude E6430 notebook running Windows 8, using Evernote 5.5.2 (272142) prerelease.

But the very same issue also appears on my 5 years old Samsung N140 netbook running Windows XP, using Evernote 5.4.1.3962 (271962) Public and the Google Chrome browser.

And also on my newly installed Dell Desktop Computer with Windows 8.1, using Evernote 5.4.1.3962 (271962) Public and the Firefox Browser

With these very different hard- and software settings and the old forum-thread from 2012, which I linked before ( https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/25083-problem-urls-in-the-note-body/?p=290148 ), this looks like a very generic bug!

[dragonem 0]

I have tried this on Windows 7 and Windows 8 on the Client version not on web based as Far as I know, I am not a Programmer but know enough about the code that the amp; after the & should not be there.

[DavidPierson 15]

Hi,

To reproduce the issue, in the Windows client:

 

Create a note with some text in it, save it etc.

Select some text and add a link (Ctrl-K). Insert http://a.com?b=c&d=e

(That will work okay)

Click out, select another note,and then come back in.

 

Now select some different text and add a link to that e.g. http://b.com?x=1&y=2

 

Click out (i.e. "save" the note) - maybe need to synch here - but don't think so.

Go back in to the note

Right-click the first link you added and Edit.

You will see it is now

http://a.com?b=c&d=e

 

Every time the page is "saved", each "&" is converted to "&" - except on the link you just edited if I recall correctly.

So you need at least two links to see it go wrong.

 

Hope this helps, Dave

P.S. My old forum account came back to life - woohoo!

[gazumped 12,073]

Hmmn.  Don't know what I was doing before,  but after painstaking testing - you're right.  A single "&" becomes "&amp".  And because this is a translation job,  every "&amp" is going to become "&ampamp"

 

&amp is actually the HTML code for the "&" character - something to do with the translation of the text in your paste operation into the code used in Evernote's note content.

 

Bad news is that this is buried somewhere in the editor,  which is a rather fundamental part of the software and not something they'd change lightly;  Good news is that there's a review of the editor going on as we speak,  so maybe the Tech Guys will be able to do something about this fairly soon.

 

Meantime,  the "&" character is not allowed as part of a 'normal' URL - it's reserved for extra functions like searching within a web page;  so short term all you can do is edit any URLs that include an "&" so that they're truncated at the web page level.  Once at the page you can perform the search again - you could save the exact search term required with the link.  You could even save a full page with a note of which link to follow if the search is built into the page.

 

So:  short answer - yes it's broke;  don't know when it can be fixed,  but there are workarounds...

[C6REW 416]

Just tried this and I am not experiencing the same problem. Could be my version of Evernote as I rolled back due to a problem with my Business version.

 

I am currently on 5.3.1.3363

 

Best regards

 

Chris

[C6REW 416]

Just checked another computer in the office running 5.4.1.3962 and it shows the same problem as you are getting.

 

If it is important at the moment, I think you need to roll back!

 

Regards

 

Chris

[i3maha 2]

Hmmn.  Don't know what I was doing before,  but after painstaking testing - you're right.

Thanks for checking it again!

  

Meantime,  the "&" character is not allowed as part of a 'normal' URL - it's reserved for extra functions like searching within a web page;

That is exactly what I was trying to do: Create very complicated web-searches on a pay-website, where searching is possible for free, but looking at the detailed results requires to pay a fee. Then I go to the library where access to this website is free and just click the links of my pre-built searches.

Which does not work...

so short term all you can do is edit any URLs that include an "&" so that they're truncated at the web page level.  Once at the page you can perform the search again - you could save the exact search term required with the link.  You could even save a full page with a note of which link to follow if the search is built into the page.

There is a workaround that is much simpler:

Instead of clicking at the broken link, just COPY&PASTE it into the browser. Only the embedded link is broken, the content of the note itself is unchanged!

I still hope they can fix it soon!

Thanks for your help!

[Eldorado 27]

Sorry, we do not look for a workaround. We simply want to get functionality back. I tried the newest release 5.5.3.4236 and I'm disappointed. Just to remember:

• 5.4.0.3698 : did not fail for sure! 
  
• 5.4.1.3895 : did not fail (if I remember correct).
  
• 5.4.1.3962 : A collegue of mine used official version with the bug.
  
• 5.4.1.4027 : One of the last versions presented this really ugly bug also.
  
• 5.5.3.4236 : Very last version (of today) continues failing...
  

Is it really that hard to recover affected source files from version 5.4.0.3698?

[Wordsgood 526]

Hi. Unfortunately you are posting on a "Users helping other users" forum, not the Evernote Support team. The below link will take you to a post from an actual Evernote employee about how to contact their Support department. It also outline what details you should get ready first.

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/51807-best-practices-submitting-a-support-ticket/#entry254984/

Best of luck.

Sorry, we do not look for a workaround. We simply want to get functionality back. I tried the newest release 5.5.3.4236 and I'm disappointed. Just to remember:

• 5.4.0.3698 : did not fail for sure!
• 5.4.1.3895 : did not fail (if I remember correct).
• 5.4.1.3962 : A collegue of mine used official version with the bug.
• 5.4.1.4027 : One of the last versions presented this really ugly bug also.
• 5.5.3.4236 : Very last version (of today) continues failing...

Is it really that hard to recover affected source files from version 5.4.0.3698?

[Eldorado 27]

Yes, I know that. My first try was to inform the official support. After some questions and answers how to reproduce the effect, my incident was forwarded to development. I got no further information about any fixes... I think this information might help other users to get their (and my) problem solved ;-)
 

At least they do not have to try the newest build. Bug is not fixed. They should continue with 5.4.0.3698 (as recommended some posts before by David Pierson...)-

[Wordsgood 526]

Whoops. My apologies, I missed the part that it wasn't your first post!

[Eldorado 27]

OK. My incident id is #613173. Last sign of life was on 10th of july - premium support?

I already mentioned this discussion in my discussion with support. So, what does "flag it" mean? Does it raise the priority? They (support) have at least 3 tickets open on that since 27.06.14 (Enertse, one before and mine).

[C6REW 416]

Hi Eldorado,

 

I have 'flagged' this for Evernote's attention, which means I have let the support team know you have a problem and have been waiting.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

[Eldorado 27]

Fine, thanx. I'll keep you informed what's going on...

[C6REW 416]

Hi Eldorado,

 

You are welcome.

 

I have been informed the job has been escalated so you should hear something soon.

 

Regards

 

 

Chris

[Enertse 6]

This bug has reportedly been fixed in 5.6.4.4632.

[i3maha 2]

I just tested it and it works

Thanks to everyone who contributed to get this fixed!