Version too old

[David M 2]

Suddenly found my Evernote 5.6 unable to open (using OSX Mavericks).

 

Downloaded a new version off the web installed it.

 

Now, whenever it opens, even though it's the latest version available, i get:

 

-----------------------------

Version too old

Your local Evernote data is being managed by a newer version of Evernote. Please use the latest version.

-----------------------------

 

Tried looking for a even more recent version, including in forums, but every one gives the same error message, above.

 

I've tried deleting Evernote, including all Evernote local data, and I still get the same message !

 

 

[Patrick M 5]

This is happening to me too.  What is the fix?  

 

PMM

[David M 2]

Update: I solved this by following these steps:

 

1) completely removing Evernote from your mac.

 

Note: before doing this, figure out how you want to restore your data (notes, etc.).

 

In my case I'm a premium member, with everything backed up to the Evernote servers, so I took a chance and deleted all traces of Evernote on my machine, and then restored from their servers.

 

I used AppZapper (very useful commercial tool) to do the removal.

 

If you want to do it manually, you'll need to:

• move Evernote to the Trash
• rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/Evernote
• rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.evernote.Evernote
• There may be additional traces of Evernote, but these seemed to do it for me.

2) rebooting

• This step is crucial, as it seems that Evernote is caching additional information in memory, which isn't eliminated with the steps above, reboot is required, otherwise you'll still get the error message when you try and re-install Evernote.

3) re-installing Evernote

• I used the most recent one off their website (5.6.0)

4) upgrading Evernote to the latest version.

• When starting the new Evernote for the first time, it asks you to upgrade to Evernote 5.6.1
• You'll need to do this it seems.

Note: I suspect that the above steps could all be avoided if you can find, download and install 5.6.1, but, for some reason, there doesn't appear to be a way to find 5.6.1 without first installing 5.6.0, which you cannot do if the installer finds a trace of a previous 5.6.0 on your system!

 

I've owned this product for only a month and have been quite shocked by the low level of Quality Assurance in general, especially for a popular commercial tool.

 

I suspect that this company could do with more competition, then it would have to devote a few resources to QA.

 

- there is really no excuse for posting a warning about versions being too old, then providing no way to upgrade to a new version without first installing the old version, which you can't do if the system detects any trace of the same version you are trying to install - appalling, really. At a minimum, the person responsible for authorizing software releases should be asked to seek employment elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DPC123 0]

I have used AppZapper to remove the application which didn't work. Then I manually removed the files as specified to attempt to get Evernote to work.  Neither effort has sufficed and I cannot run the application on my Mac.  Any other suggestions?

 

Thank you,

Davd\id

[David M 2]

@DCP123

 

Did you reboot after removing Evernote?

 

I found that was critical to making this work because, even after I erased the various files, Evernote was still keeping information in memory. So, unless you reboot after removing the files, it's clearly not going to work.

 

I'm surprised that Appzapper didn't do it. It seems, from your reply, that you still had to manually remove Evernote directories even after using Appzapper, is that correct? If so, then perhaps you're not using it properly - do you have an evaluation version that doesn't actually remove all the files?

 

Here's what I'd do:

 

1) I'd use spotlight to search for "evernote", and then remove any directories which it finds (I'm assuming that you're planning to restore from their central server, if not, then you should zip up your data directory first!).

 

2) I'd then reboot again, and try to install the latest version off the web.

 

3) If that didn't work, then I'd try and find a version > 5.6.0 and install that.

There is definitely a version 5.6.1, because the first time I launched my 'new' Evernote, it upgraded automatically to that version, so, it is out there, somewhere.

 

4) I'd call the CEO of Evernote (not kidding), and tell them that you are unable to use his software because:

 

a. it refuses to run unless it has the latest version,

 

b. the latest version has not yet been posted by his Software Release Management team.

 

c. in addition to messing up on the software release management front, there also doesn't appear to be anyone monitoring the user forums.

 

These are all the hallmarks of a company too complacent to bother with its users.

Presumably that will remain the case until it gets real competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oddskar 0]

I have this issue as well. Instructions above did not solve it; still get the same message when opening the (newly installed) Evernote.

 

Didn't use AppZapper though, I just tried the manual approach.

[Mark923 26]

Happening to me. At work and on home computers, using the latest beta, and suddenly, I'm not able to reinstall. I can't even use the public version at all, because of the "version too old" error. This is just a little bit serious, no?

[David M 2]

 

@Mark923: I agree it's really serious. 

 

I'm guessing that it will affect every mac user who automatically downloaded a particular beta version in the past week which has that bug.

 

I'm guessing that it's a bug in new beta version which needs the very latest version to run, a version > 3.6.0.

So, there must be many frustrated users out there.

 

I solved this by completely removing all trace of Evernote from my machine and then rebooting.

 

Try this:

 

a. change to ~/Library:

 

cd ~/Library

 

b. search for all the directories containing the word 'evernote':

 

tree -d -f --ignore-case -L 2 | grep  evernote

 

c. go through the results, removing all those folders until the above command doesn't return results.

 

d. reboot

 

Here is what it looks like on my computer now (using version 3.6.1, so your results might differ):

 

 

------------

 

cd ~/Library  

tree -d -f --ignore-case -L 2 | grep  evernote

 

│   ├── ./Application Support/com.evernote.Evernote

│   ├── ./Application Support/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

│   ├── ./Caches/com.evernote.Evernote

│   ├── ./Caches/com.evernote.edam.usage

│   └── ./CoreData/com.evernote.Evernote

│   ├── ./Saved Application State/com.evernote.Evernote.savedState

 

-----------

 

Those folders, all under ~/Library need to go !

Make sure you have a way of restoring your notes before you do this.

In my case, I restored from their cloud servers, and it worked just fine.

 

And, once again, you need to reboot after you've done this, because, even though the 'tree' command doesn't show anything, you've still got their software in memory.

 

These are the commands I'd use to delete thouse 8 directories ,

(again, I'm on a slightly never version, 3.6.1, so your directory names could be different):

 

rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/com.evernote.Evernote

rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.evernote.Evernote

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.evernote.edam.usage

rm -rf ~/Library/CoreData/com.evernote.Evernote

rm -rf ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.evernote.Evernote.savedState

 

Hope that helps.

 

Dave

 

 

[oddskar 0]

Thanks for your help Dave.

 

It seems they've bumped the version on the downloadable binary file now, so just re-downloading and installing the newest version worked for me.

[ChrisE 1]

Just in case it helps anyone else:

 

I just ran into the same problem with 5.6.1 BETA 3. I followed Dave's advice above, and found that AppZapper missed these two folders:

 

~/Library/Application Support/com.evernote.Evernote

~/Library/Application Support/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

 

Once I manually deleted those (along with everything else that AppZapper had already deleted), the app launched and synced fine, even without rebooting the system.

 

I've been using AppZapper for years with good results, but it seems in this case it missed a couple of important folders.

[Rex 13]

For what it's worth, I just tried all the suggestions on this page.  Rebooted as well.

 

"Version Too Old"

 

There is no excuse for this.  It's simply unacceptable.

 

The first post in this thread is how old?

 

I could go on about how showstopping bugs have to be fixed immediately, or else your product's reputation is toast, but I've been doing this long enough to know that it won't matter.  On the Android client, I emailed my logs to Evernote over 20 times, over a 18 month period, and the bug I was trying to help them fix was never touched.  Thank goodness those devices become obsolete quickly.

 

Anyway, I guess this is it on the Mac client end for me.  I love the thing when it works, but it's just too much downtime for an app that's supposed to save me time and organize my life, and the company's never been responsive.  I guess I'll have to find time to load it up in a Windows VM and export the notes as HTML.

 

Good luck fellas.

 

 

[vr2nr 2]

I just did this on 5.7.1 after running into the "version too old" problem. These steps worked for me, no reboot, no nonsense. 

1) appzapper

2) remove ~/Library/... directories (see below). 

Just in case it helps anyone else:

 

I just ran into the same problem with 5.6.1 BETA 3. I followed Dave's advice above, and found that AppZapper missed these two folders:

 

~/Library/Application Support/com.evernote.Evernote

~/Library/Application Support/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

 

Once I manually deleted those (along with everything else that AppZapper had already deleted), the app launched and synced fine, even without rebooting the system.

 

I've been using AppZapper for years with good results, but it seems in this case it missed a couple of important folders.

[Zuber 5]

I've found that deleting the version file also makes for a quick fix.

 

Library --> Application Support --> com.Evernote.evernote --> delete version file 

 

Hope this helps! 

[Yven 3]

Sure did the trick! Tnx!