Can't sort notes by title anymore

[stanftx 1]

I don't know when this started, but I've only noticed it today.

 

When I try to sort notes by title, I get them sorted by notebook, *then* title.  Sorting on other columns seems to work correctly.

 

Most of my notes are organized by date, and the note titles start with "YYYYMMDD.." to accomplish this.

 

I have one notebook of year dividers, whose titles are, for example, "2013 ========= 2013 ========= 2013 ========= 2013"  In a list of notes by title, then, these provide a visual break so that all the notes with titles starting "2013" following the visual break.  I tag these year dividers to have them show up in different contexts.

 

All of a sudden, in any context, when I list notes and sort by titles, all the year dividers are clumped together.  In fact, everything from each notebook is clumped together, and it is only within those notebook clumps that the notes are sorted by title.

 

It used to sort the notes as I expect, and I'd like to see this fixed.

 

This is on Windows version 5.7.0.5492.  It still sorts the note titles correctly on my Android.

 

Stan

[jefito 5,589]

I just tested on my Win 7, 5.7.0.5492 installation. Sort by title seems to work fine in list view and snippet view. I looked at all notes, no filters applied.

[stanftx 1]

I am on Windows 8.1, don't know why that would make a difference.

 

The issue appears in both list view and snippet view.  Applying certain filters, applying no filters, doesn't matter.  Sort by title selected.

 

It's not sorted purely by notebook and then by title, but when there's a break in the title sorting, there always seems to be a change in notebook alongside it.  That is...

 

A listing of "All Notes" shows:

 

2006 ========= 2006 ========= 2006 ========= 2006 / Notebook "======= Year Dividers"

(other notes, sorted correctly, same notebook)

2014 ========= 2014 ========= 2014 ========= 2014 / Notebook "======= Year Dividers"

20090930 / Notebook "BILLS and RECEIPTS"

(other notes, sorted correctly, same notebook)

20130729 ++++3063 Atmos Energy / Notebook "BILLS and RECEIPTS"

20130730 ++++6301 / Notebook "Taxes"

20130731 ++202817 / Notebook "BILLS and RECEIPTS"

 

Note that the last three notes here are sorted by title, regardless of notebook (which is what I expect and used to see), but the note "2009..." shouldn't come after the note "2014..."  These breaks in correct title sorting always seem to be accompanied by a change in notebook, but not necessarily so.

 

I guess I should open a support ticket if I'm the only user experiencing this.

 

Are there any database utilities, like compacting or reindexing?  I can't find anything like that, and it seems to me that this could be an indexing problem.

 

Stan

[gazumped 11,661]

As far as I can tell,  sorting is working fine on my Win 8.1 database too (A lot of my notes are titled yyyymmdd - xxxx).  As to reindexing the database,  I'd suggest you exit Evernote completely (File > Exit) backup your database folder to somewhere safe,  and then have a look at the extra option under Ctrl-Help in the desktop version.  When those commands were first noticed,  Evernote recommended that they only be used if specifically suggested by Support - but if you're a free user and not likely to get support in the near future,  they may be an option.  No guarantees what happens if you use them - hence the backup.

 

The 'official' way to reindex is to delete the database entirely - renaming the database folder also works - and allow Evernote to recreate the database (and indexes) from the server.  Make sure you export any local notebooks and unsynced notes to ENEX files before you rebuild - they aren't stored on the server,  therefore can't be recreated.

 

Good luck..

[stanftx 1]

Thanks for the tips.  I didn't know about Ctrl+Help.  Seems to me that some of those options used to be available without knowing the "secret handshake."

 

I do have a premium account and opened a ticket two days ago but haven't heard anything back except the automated acknowledgement that I had opened a ticket.

 

I don't have any local folders so didn't really have anything to lose.  First I tried "Optimize Database" from the Ctrl+Help menu.  It took quite a while, but no improvement.  So I moved my database folder, reopened Evernote, and let it rebuild the database.  This also took quite a while (the database folder was 2 GB and I have about 6000 notes).  I was absolutely certain that this would do the trick, but it didn't.

 

I guess I'll have to wait until someone from EN responds to my ticket.  I've been pretty surprised in the past at how quickly they will latch onto the exact source of a problem.  I've gotten used to software support people offering suggestions that I already told them I had tried, along with a few others that don't work, until, several times back and forth, we either resolve a problem or we don't.  That hasn't been my experience with Evernote.

 

Stan

[gazumped 11,661]

Let us know how you get on!

[jefito 5,589]

Thanks for the tips.  I didn't know about Ctrl+Help.  Seems to me that some of those options used to be available without knowing the "secret handshake."

Those options were available if you ran Evernote with the special /Debug flag. They're hidden for a reason: normally you don't need to use them. The Ctrl+Help thing is so that an Evernote tech can request that you perform an operation like rebuilding your database without you needing to restart Evernote with the secret /Debug parameter.