Control Which Image Shown in a Note's Thumbnail/Snippet View

[marcelo 12]

I do like the new layout with larger thumbnails, except for one thing: Evernote seems to choose as thumbnail the largest image within a note. But it is rather annoying, for it seldom coincides with the image which would enable me to recognize a note at once. Can I somehow force Evernote to use a specific image as thumbail?

Marcelo

[nsmith 1]

Why aren't users allowed to pick the image they want?

[mattrazzo 8]

+1  This has been a frequent frustration.  

 

The fact that I've been a paid premium member for many years, does that make my vote any more important?

 

Please... you guys have done so much to make the application usable and responded to user feedback very effectively in the past.  This is the last thing for me (of course famous last words, but still...)

 

Thanks

[Yahenda 6]

After checking this thread periodically for almost 4 years, hoping that Evernote would come around to addressing this design flaw, I have finally built my own work-around.

Now, I'm sure there are some involved in this discussion that would object to the term "design flaw", but this thread only exists because this many Evernote users agree with me; that software purported to keep and organize notes that then arbitrarily (or rather, formulaically) misrepresents the contents of those notes, has a flaw in it's design.

I don't know a lot about using Apple Automator, but I learned some just for this task... so be warned, if you have problems getting it to work, I may not be able to help so proceed with caution.

(Unfortunately, this work-around only works for the desktop Mac Evernote client, but of course, the changes you make will sync to all other platforms.)

 

These instructions seem lengthy and daunting, but they are extremely simple to follow and you should be up and running in less than 10 minutes.

1. Open Automator (located in Applications/Utilities)

 

2. Under "Choose a type for your document", select 'Service'.

 

3. In the first pulldown menu shown in the main window, beside "Service receives selected", choose 'image files'.

 

4. In the "Actions" column on the far left, choose 'Photos'

 

5. In the column immediately to the right, find the entry for 'scale images' and drag it into the main window.

 

6. In the box that just appeared in the main window, from the pulldown menu, select 'By Percentage' and type '200' in the text field to the right. (the 200 refers to enlarging the image by 200%, which usually does the trick to force the [curse word] 'largest smallest dimension' algorithm to recognize it, but you can fill in this value with whatever number suits you)

 

7. Go back to the "Actions" column on the far left and select "Utilities".

 

8. In the column immediately to the right, find the entry for 'Run AppleScript' and drag it into the main window, below the "Scale Images" item.

 

9. In the AppleScript window, select the bracketed text, including the brackets :

 

(* Your script goes here *)

 

 .... and replace that text with the following:

 

    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "o" using command down
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "a" using command down
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using command down
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "q" using command down

 

10. From the same "Utilities" column where you found the "Run AppleScript" item, grab the "Launch Application" item and drag it to the main window below the "Run AppleScript" item.

 

11. From the "Launch Application" pulldown, select 'Evernote'

 

12. Grab another "Run AppleScript" from the "Utilities" column, and select the bracketed text and replace it with:

 

    delay 1
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "v" using command down

 

13. Finally, back once more to the "Utilities" column and grab "Move Finder Items to Trash" and drag it into the main window, below that last "Run AppleScript".

 

14. Save it: go to the File menu at the top, choose 'Save'... after you give it a name (I called mine "Evernote Image Embiggener") it should ask you if you want to install it as a 'Service', yes you do, so do it.

 

... if it doesn't prompt you to install it as a Service, then just save it to ~/Library/Services, then close Automator and then re-open it and cancel the template selection dialogues until you can select 'open recent' from the file menu... at this point it should offer to install it as a Service. If it still doesn't, well, move forward anyway with your fingers crossed... the worst that will happen is that it just won't work... but it won't wreck your system.
 

Now that the Automator service is in place, you can invoke it from the Finder menu under Services, but I made a keyboard shortcut for it:

 

In the System Preferences, Keyboard, Shortcuts menu... choose Services from the left, your Automator Service will appear under Pictures in the right column... assign a keyboard shortcut ... I used ⎇⌘C (Option - Command - c) ... you can use whatever you like.

 

NOW... here's the magic...

 

1. since Evernote won't let me use an Automator Service within the application (or I can't figure out what to tweak to make it work like other apps)... you have to take the image you want to use as your note's thumbnail image and drag it to your desktop (or any Finder window) to apply the service. I like to copy the image to the bottom of the note first, so that after it's enlarged, it won't disturb the formatting of the original note: right click the image, select "copy image" (not "copy) and press ⌘ - ↓ to go right to the bottom of the note and paste it.

 

2. Drag your ideal thumbnail image from the Evernote note to your desktop and make sure it's selected.

 

3. Run your keyboard shortcut or click Finder, Services and click your Service's name there.

 

DONE! You'll see Preview open for a second and then close, the image you had selected in Evernote will be %200 larger and the file you dragged to your desktop will have been moved to the trash!

 

To recap in brief:

 

1. Select thumbnail image in note

2. "Copy Image" to the end of the note

3. Drag that image to desktop

4. Run Service (either from Finder, Services menu or by shortcut)

Sigh and smile as your world starts to make sense again.

This has been "How to Train Your Elephant" by Yahenda

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

@Yahenda:  Thanks for sharing.

 

However, your process seems very complicated, given that you can easily scale the image (up or down) using the Mac Preview app.

Just right-click on the image in Evernote, and choose "Open" (or "Open with..." if Preview is not the default).  Then goto Tools > Adjust Size.  Choose "Percentage" in the dropdown, set to 200 (or whatever you like), click OK.  Then SAVE and CLOSE.

 

For details see http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5936

 

 

After checking this thread periodically for almost 4 years, hoping that Evernote would come around to addressing this design flaw, I have finally built my own work-around.

 

[Yahenda 6]

Hey JMichael... you are absolutely right! It is ridiculously overcomplicated to set up... I AGREE!

...But the goal was to get the process as close to what most people in the thread seem to be asking for, which is approximately 'right-click image, make thumbnail'. After the setup is done (which I wrote out in full to both expose people to the power and relative simplicity of Automator, like I just was... and to make it available to everyone without having to host it or PM it out to people)... what you end up with (depending on your personal preferences) is right-click, drag, key-combo.

I also went to all the trouble to illustrate how important I consider this feature to the usability and workflow of Evernote.

Anyone else who wants to contribute to this idea, make suggestions or just throw 2 cents in, please do... Thanks for your input too, JMichael.

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

@Yahenda:  Maybe I misunderstood how to use your automator tool.  Are you saying that after you have created the Automator service, all one has to do is right-click on the image in Evernote, and select "Make thumbnail" ?

[Jumoke 3]

After checking this thread periodically for almost 4 years, hoping that Evernote would come around to addressing this design flaw, I have finally built my own work-around.

...

 

To recap in brief:

 

1. Select thumbnail image in note

2. "Copy Image" to the end of the note

3. Drag that image to desktop

4. Run Service (either from Finder, Services menu or by shortcut)

Sigh and smile as your world starts to make sense again.

This has been "How to Train Your Elephant" by Yahenda

Omg! So much pain and suffering   

Ultimate suicide by evernote

[MikhailV 2]

 

Yahenda, on 05 Feb 2015 - 09:20 AM, said:

After checking this thread periodically for almost 4 years, hoping that Evernote would come around to addressing this design flaw, I have finally built my own work-around.

...

 

To recap in brief:

 

1. Select thumbnail image in note

2. "Copy Image" to the end of the note

3. Drag that image to desktop

4. Run Service (either from Finder, Services menu or by shortcut)

Sigh and smile as your world starts to make sense again.

This has been "How to Train Your Elephant" by Yahenda

Omg! So much pain and suffering    

Ultimate suicide by evernote

 

...unless you're a Windows user, in which case the world (of Evernote note thumbnails) remains a profoundly disorienting place  .

[Scott-W 9]

Thanks a bunch for sharing this work around Yahenda.

 

I will dust off my failing macbook pro and give this a go over the weekend.

 

Still dumbfounded that Evernote would rather sit on their hands and have people flood their servers with gigantic images, rather than add this simple feature.

 

I'm considering setting the image size to scale 900% just for the purpose of drawing attention to the problem.  Humongous files, here I come.

[Yahenda 6]

I know, right?! What's worse... As I was tooling around working on this method, I discovered something that makes this whole ordeal even more ludicrous: you can resize the images in your notes already with a simple drag of the corner of a selected image!! ...you just can't make them bigger, only smaller! So the code for quickly resizing images already THERE! Gaah!

[jefito 5,499]

Still dumbfounded that Evernote would rather sit on their hands and have people flood their servers with gigantic images, rather than add this simple feature.

 

I'm considering setting the image size to scale 900% just for the purpose of drawing attention to the problem.  Humongous files, here I come.

People can put pretty much whatever they want in their Evernote note database. Large images, small images, whatever. I don't see the problem, nor the relation to the actual issue here (choosing your note thumbnail, in case you weren't paying attention). But go ahead and punish Evernote with large uploads if you want -- it only counts against your own upload limit. And no-one else will know about it either, or care, for that matter.

 

And no, resizing images in the Windows client is actually not much of a big deal. You can do it with MS Paint even, or your favorite image editor.

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

Really jefito, people are just venting their extreme frustration about an issue that should have been fixed long ago.

Posts like yours don't add anything nor help anybody.  If you don't like their frustrations, why don't you just ignore them??

[Scott-W 9]

...go ahead and punish Evernote with large uploads if you want...

 

I'm not trying to punish Evernote with large uploads.  My hope would be that Evernote is using a variety of analytics.  That (possibly) an influx of large image files, or a higher percentage of accounts maxing out their upload limits, or meta data showing significant % increases, would get the attention of a decision maker.

 

Support requests and forum requests are not getting the attention of decision makers.  It's a testament to my frustrations, that I would be excited about a long shot idea like this 

[Jumoke 3]

 

...go ahead and punish Evernote with large uploads if you want...

 

I'm not trying to punish Evernote with large uploads.  My hope would be that Evernote is using a variety of analytics.  That (possibly) an influx of large image files, or a higher percentage of accounts maxing out their upload limits, or meta data showing significant % increases, would get the attention of a decision maker.

 

Support requests and forum requests are not getting the attention of decision makers.  It's a testament to my frustrations, that I would be excited about a long shot idea like this 

 

My name is Jumoke and I approve this post! 

[jefito 5,499]

Really jefito, people are just venting their extreme frustration about an issue that should have been fixed long ago.

Posts like yours don't add anything nor help anybody.  If you don't like their frustrations, why don't you just ignore them??

And your post is helping exactly whom? If you don't like my posts, why don't you just ignore them? You don't need to be the Forum Scold, you know...

[jefito 5,499]

 

...go ahead and punish Evernote with large uploads if you want...

 

I'm not trying to punish Evernote with large uploads.  My hope would be that Evernote is using a variety of analytics.  That (possibly) an influx of large image files, or a higher percentage of accounts maxing out their upload limits, or meta data showing significant % increases, would get the attention of a decision maker.

 

Support requests and forum requests are not getting the attention of decision makers.  It's a testament to my frustrations, that I would be excited about a long shot idea like this 

 

There are certainly legitimate use cases for large-scale imagery (think aerial or satellite photography, for example). Do you really think that pumping large images into your account is going to magically make Evernote think "Gee, maybe we should offer thumbnail choice rather than our funky lest-smallest algorithm"?? I doubt that they'd make the connection, personally. Oh, the OCR might cough a little on the large files, but otherwise, I doubt that they'd take much notice -- it'd have to be a rather large influx to make much difference, with upwards of 100 million users.

 

Evernote staffers (they're often PMs) have certainly joined in the discussion here, so they're aware of the request (and I see it as a legitimate one, for the record). Buf if it's not high priority for them, it's not high priority. *shrug*

[cbits 12]

Hang on here........  Something has changed..

 

My particular gripe is a list of my pathetic attempts to loose weight, where I posted a number of "before" images in my "undies" and then a diary showing my daily weights, now obviously whenever I access the note I don't wish to see the "old me" nearly nude, especially if I'm using it in the office or the Pub!

 

I added in my Gravatar image into the note, but really to make it bigger than a camera photo was a nonsense. so I kept having to open Evernote in private!

 

Suddenly when I look today - having re-visited this forum subject due to a flurry of recent posts - I find my Gravatar is now being displayed, both on the PC I use Evernote on and on the web version that I normally use....

 

I don't have an explanation for this, does anyone else?

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

Hello,

 

CHOOSING the picture that is used as a thumbnail is what we all ask.

 

NO, WE ASK TO CHOOSE THE THUMBNAIL, not to change sizes.

That's adapting our work to a program that has a fault in its design, in stead of adapting the program to make our work easier and more intelligent.

 

 

Luk

 

Well said, Luk.

[Scott-W 9]

I agree Luk.  Good synopsis of this thread.

 

I would also add...  It is common in most apps that use photos and thumbnails to also include a cropping tool.

 

I have done a lot of extra tedious work with Photoshop, cropping desired thumbnails and re-sizing these cropped images to gigantic proportions, all to trick the lame Evernote algorithm.

 

Thumbnail selection has become a user expectation.  I can't think of a single added feature more important than this.

 

Given the prevalence of these thumbnail features across all kinds of programs and apps, I figure it must be easy to implement.  It's a "low hanging fruit".  Knowing it's simple to do and that it has not been done, I conclude that Evernote has made an intentional design choice to avoid this feature.  I would really like to hear why.

[jefito 5,499]

Sure -- choosing the thumbnail is certainly the topic here, not getting sidetracked into discussions of resizing images in Evernote (the subject of other, impassioned topics elsewhere in the forums).

 

Emerick from Evernote has certainly contributed, in this thread (see https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/18482-choosing-a-thumbnail/?p=92194 and forward) information as to what's going on with respect to how Evernote automatically chooses a thumbnail (like any rule of thumb *cough*, it's not perfect), but I don't recall ever seeing any explanation as to why they haven't implemented user choice of thumbnail. I'd be curious as to whether there is a technical or philosophical reason as to why they chose that, but beyond curiosity, leaving it at "just because" is good enough for me -- thumbnails aren't a significant part of my Evernote workflow. If they were, I'd just put a single image into notes where it mattered.

[icebox 0]

In case anybody cares I think it's getting worse:

 

I'm testing the latest beta of the firefox web clipper and it prefers gravatars for the thumbnail instead of the "biggest image in the page", so now my article clips have nice blank avatars or strange faces instead of article relevant images.

 

I begin to suspect this user tormenting is part of some satanic ritual that all evernote developers are part of.

 

Though I intend to vote with my wallet, if this option will not be added I will not be renewing my subscription.

[jefito 5,499]

In case anybody cares I think it's getting worse:

 

I'm testing the latest beta of the firefox web clipper and it prefers gravatars for the thumbnail instead of the "biggest image in the page", so now my article clips have nice blank avatars or strange faces instead of article relevant images.

 

I begin to suspect this user tormenting is part of some satanic ritual that all evernote developers are part of.

 

Though I intend to vote with my wallet, if this option will not be added I will not be renewing my subscription.

The algorithm isn't the "biggest image in the page"; it's a little trickier than that, and it's all been explained in the very early part of this topic -- see the description of "largest-smallest".

 

The web clipper pulls in content, but I think that the choice of thumbnail is probably done locally by the particular client that's running on your device (I don't think that there's anything in the Evernote note format that says that image X is the thumbnail). It's probably not a web clipper problem -- the web clipper is just building a note and pushing it up to the Evernote servers.

[icebox 0]

The algorithm isn't the "biggest image in the page"; it's a little trickier than that, and it's all been explained in the very early part of this topic -- see the description of "largest-smallest".

 

The web clipper pulls in content, but I think that the choice of thumbnail is probably done locally by the particular client that's running on your device (I don't think that there's anything in the Evernote note format that says that image X is the thumbnail). It's probably not a web clipper problem -- the web clipper is just building a note and pushing it up to the Evernote servers.

 

 

I know the algorithm is more complicated than than, but the results still suck - and I see no reason for it to choose the smallest image in the page, an image coming from another server at that. In the end I really only care about the result, especially in a product I'm paying for and the result is broken.

[Matt960 5]

Please evernote, if you're listening, give us some more options to show thumbnails – for a designer like me, I use evernote primarily for idea gathering – filenames are usually irrelevant to me, I want to search visually.

 

Looking at this screenshot below, why must I have the huge filename block covering the image?

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/135388/hosted/Screen%20Shot%202015-02-24%20at%2017.30.49.png

 

 

This screenshot from ember (for mac) shows a better way of handling this.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/135388/hosted/Screen%20Shot%202015-02-24%20at%2017.33.04.png

 

 

Please give us some options to be able to show the thumbnails how we want them. The old thumbnail view would be fine – if your UI designers really would like a uniform size for a tidy grid, please go for an approach as used by ember.

 

Thanks

[jefito 5,499]

Has anyone actually ever seen a response from Evernote regarding this??

 

Seems a little disrespectful of a company who's paying customers repeatedly ask for a feature  - and for years, to be completely ignored. If there's a reason why they can't do it or if they do plan to do it in some sort of near future, why can't they at least respond?

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/18482-choosing-a-thumbnail/. Look for the replies from emerick, downthread...

[rourri 0]

The "largest-smallest" doesn't work for me as I am adding only 2 images per note, as this is being used as a "non-database-database" of sorts for my huge catalog of sewing patterns.

I need an image of both the FRONT and BACK of the pattern envelope. With this, only one image is larger than the other one...there is no "largest-smallest"...

 

What I found that worked for 'TWO image' notes is part of 3 replies here from 3 people....

 

@Post_It had the easiest procedure of resizing in MS Paint:

 

>1) Once all your images are loaded on the note right click on those you want to resize.
>2) The image will automatically be selected and a pop up menu will appear.
>3) Select "open with" option and then choose Paint
>4) The file will open in Paint and windows will read it as a temp file from memory.
>5) Choose resize and resize the picture
>6) You can then click save and windows will automatically save the file in Evernote automatically resizing the image on the note itself.

>It seems Windows has the ability to recognise the file loaded from Evernote and resize it on the fly.

 

After doing as @Post_it suggested, originally resizing it to 50% less, I realized the "largest-smallest" wasn't going to work.

 

I then found @Owen and @Emerick had discussed larger images being "more important" by pixel size, I increased the pixel size by 100 for the front of the envelope picture, and I got the front of the

envelope picture as I had needed.

 

Just incase someone else has the same idea, don't waste your time...or maybe do... perhaps you can come up with anothe solution based on my findings.

 

Hoping that this gets fixed SOON... as I still have only 70 or so sewing patterns in to this...and about a thousand to go. I can still jump to OneNote after my test drive of that today... not happy about it, but its doable. I do hate Microsoft, and will hold out as long as I can...but this is a REAL pain in the butt...  And as PatternFile (the Sewing Database Service) has gone under, lots of sewing enthusiasts are migrating to evernote... blogs abound out there for evernote in the sewing world.

 

What I loved about this is @Post_it's paint method is fast, down and dirty on a PC.

 

One other comment on something that DIDN'T work, but I thought it might ( as its not really a "photo"... but was still an image)  was to "scan" the back of the envelope with my ipad evernote app, vs taking a "photo"... That had a 75% success rate. But I still have to then change quite a few front envelope images

 

So there you have it... I hope this helps someone else.

 

 

 

 

[dominikkalvelage 1]

As reply to rourris post (maybe you have a similar situation as I do) or to anyone who has a similar situation:

 

In case all your pictures in the note have the same dimensions (mine are all coming from the same digital camera), Evernote will choose the thumbnail based on the order, in which the pictures were inserted into the note and not based on the order of the pictures within the note.

So, if you have two pictures of the same dimensions <picture1> and <picture2> and you want to create a note with the two pictures in this order (<picture1>, <picture2>), but you want <picture2> to be the thumbnail, then first add <picture2> into the note and then add <picture1> above <picture2>.

This way your not will be "some text <picture1> <picture2>", but <picture2> will be the thumbnail.

 

As soon as the two picture have different dimensions (which probably is the case when they are coming from different sources (web, photographed, scanned)), the largest-smallest algorithm will perpetrate its despicable crime....

[MHMdigital 9]

For crying out loud this request has been going on forever.  (272 replies) It is OBVIOUS it would be a great step forward for Evernote.  Why is this option so difficult to add?

[Scott-W 9]

I submitted another help ticket on this issue.  (The squeaky wheel gets the grease)

 

"I am unable to select which image to use as the thumbnail on any of my notes."

 

I encourage others to do the same.

 

If a slew of help tickets doesn't make the radar, I'm considering a "We the People" petition 

[Jumoke 3]

For crying out loud this request has been going on forever.  (272 replies) It is OBVIOUS it would be a great step forward for Evernote.  Why is this option so difficult to add?

Because evernote developers are not that awesome 

[Scott-W 9]

Jeff (Evernote Support)

Mar 30, 15:30

Hello, and thank you for contacting Evernote Support.

My name is Jeff, and I'll be happy to assist with your inquiry.

It is currently not possible to choose which contents and/or images to be displayed in your notes' preview thumbnails, as it is not a feature.

Thank you for your kind feedback and request concerning the ability to choose the thumbnail for your notes. I have relayed this information to the development team for further review. We always welcome suggestions and I think this is excellent feedback to pass along.

While I cannot guarantee the changes can be made, they are taken into consideration by the development team.

Thank you so much for your feedback and thank you for helping make Evernote a better product!

Warmly,

Jeff B.

 

 

retrospy

Mar 23, 08:35

I am not able to select which image to use as the thumbnail on any of my notes. I made sure I am running the most recent updates on all of my devices (iPads, iPhone5, MacBookPro, Windows 8.1). There are no instructions in the support pages on how to do this. Please help.

[Davidone 0]

It is Mai 2015

Has someone found a solution or workaround?

I am relatively new to EN

I received a support mail in which EN told me the choice is random...

I tried resizing, but it does not work for me, is there a trick?

Please help me, I am a painter and need to chose my thumbnail

[cheesenightmare 9]

+1 for being able to select your own thumbnail 

[Daniel Shepherd 4]

Over 4 years of people complaining about just adding a simple option to manually set a thumbnail and it still hasn't been implemented.

 

Honestly, Evernote is my most important day to day too and yet I live with this awfully limiting and flawed software, no colour coding, no pinning notes to top, no flagging, no custom thumbnails - all really really basic features that could be added in a week and would improve the Evernote software ten fold?!

[Leah MacVie 7]

2 years later... we are still asking for this feature. I also give it a thumbs up. 

[Leah MacVie 7]

2 years later... we are still asking for this feature. I also give it a thumbs up. 

[prazzi 1]

+1, bump, whatever, I want this feature too.

 

When you have hundreds or even thousands of notes, and even when you've narrowed them down with search, a visual cue really helps to find that one note you're looking for. These cues are much more useful if you can select them.

[keodark 9]

Has anyone else noticed in the last few days that the automatic thumbnail algorithm has become even worse? The last 5 recipes I've clipped have chosen the weirdest thumbnails -- the tiny portrait of the blogger in her signature, a google plus share icon, a single star gif from a 4-star rating, a little document icon that doesn't even appear on the page, etc. In all of these cases there were big, beautiful juicy photos of the food in the clipping that were ignored by the algorithm.

 

C'mon Evernote, if you had the best possible image selection algorithm, maybe we could let this slide, but this is kinda ridiculous.

 

 

[DaveIsThisTaken?Dave 0]

Another +1.  This is insane? doesn't Evernote listen to its users?  I am constantly recommending Evernote to friends and family and have upgraded my own membership, but it disappoints me that Evernote seem insistent upon supporting an automated algorithm that nobody wants.

[Leah MacVie 7]

Hello folks, 

I hope that you will join me in Tweeting and commenting on Evernote's Facebook posts about this issue. It's been 3 years, thousands of user requests and it is something very small that they can make happen today:

"Dear Evernote - why are you not listening to your thousands of users about this small issue: https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/18482-choosing-a-thumbnail/page-15"

[Leah MacVie 7]

YES! Hence my last post. 

GRRR. 

 

Has anyone else noticed in the last few days that the automatic thumbnail algorithm has become even worse? The last 5 recipes I've clipped have chosen the weirdest thumbnails -- the tiny portrait of the blogger in her signature, a google plus share icon, a single star gif from a 4-star rating, a little document icon that doesn't even appear on the page, etc. In all of these cases there were big, beautiful juicy photos of the food in the clipping that were ignored by the algorithm.

 

C'mon Evernote, if you had the best possible image selection algorithm, maybe we could let this slide, but this is kinda ridiculous.

[Guest]

Has anyone else noticed in the last few days that the automatic thumbnail algorithm has become even worse? The last 5 recipes I've clipped have chosen the weirdest thumbnails -- the tiny portrait of the blogger in her signature, a google plus share icon, a single star gif from a 4-star rating, a little document icon that doesn't even appear on the page, etc. In all of these cases there were big, beautiful juicy photos of the food in the clipping that were ignored by the algorithm.

 

C'mon Evernote, if you had the best possible image selection algorithm, maybe we could let this slide, but this is kinda ridiculous.

 

Hi there -

 

Are you still experiencing this issue? This shouldn't be happening. If so, please open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number. I'm happy to escalate this issue to our technical support team. 

 

Thank you!

[Scott-W 9]

 

 

Hi there -

 

Are you still experiencing this issue? This shouldn't be happening. If so, please open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number. I'm happy to escalate this issue to our technical support team. 

 

Thank you!

 

 

One solution can solve all of the problems notes in this 288 post forum.  Allow users to choose their own thumbnails.  Please bring this to the attention of the technical support team.  Thank You.

[Jackolicious 806]

Definitely noted.

[Leah MacVie 7]

Definitely noted.

Thank you! Thank you for responding! Is someone working on this?

[keodark 9]

 

Has anyone else noticed in the last few days that the automatic thumbnail algorithm has become even worse? The last 5 recipes I've clipped have chosen the weirdest thumbnails -- the tiny portrait of the blogger in her signature, a google plus share icon, a single star gif from a 4-star rating, a little document icon that doesn't even appear on the page, etc. In all of these cases there were big, beautiful juicy photos of the food in the clipping that were ignored by the algorithm.

 

C'mon Evernote, if you had the best possible image selection algorithm, maybe we could let this slide, but this is kinda ridiculous.

 

Hi there -

 

Are you still experiencing this issue? This shouldn't be happening. If so, please open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number. I'm happy to escalate this issue to our technical support team. 

 

Thank you!

 

 

support ticket #1115049

 

Note that I also tried this in the new Evernote Web beta, but it uses the same thumbnail images.

 

Of course, I'd much rather be able to select my own thumbnails, as would the hundreds of other customers who have posted in this thread.

[Spectrablue 2]

As far as algorithms go.... I scan documents with 2 sides 1 side with art the other side with text. I want the art side to be considered for the thumbnail. My experience remains that the outcome of the existing algorithm for me is near random. Sometimes the art is first sometimes the text. I use a Evernote ScanSnap. I insert the cards in the right way... and yet I get random thumbnail selections. I don't know if the scanner sometimes produces the back and front as somehow different sizes (even though its the same document)...

but essentially a front/back situation demands that we be able to choose whether the front or back is used as the thumbnail. No algorithm is going to handle a front/backside scan from Evernote Scansnap very well. So empower us please to select our own thumbnail among all the images contained in a note.. Thanks.

[Guest]

 

 

Has anyone else noticed in the last few days that the automatic thumbnail algorithm has become even worse? The last 5 recipes I've clipped have chosen the weirdest thumbnails -- the tiny portrait of the blogger in her signature, a google plus share icon, a single star gif from a 4-star rating, a little document icon that doesn't even appear on the page, etc. In all of these cases there were big, beautiful juicy photos of the food in the clipping that were ignored by the algorithm.

 

C'mon Evernote, if you had the best possible image selection algorithm, maybe we could let this slide, but this is kinda ridiculous.

 

Hi there -

 

Are you still experiencing this issue? This shouldn't be happening. If so, please open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number. I'm happy to escalate this issue to our technical support team. 

 

Thank you!

 

 

support ticket #1115049

 

Note that I also tried this in the new Evernote Web beta, but it uses the same thumbnail images.

 

Of course, I'd much rather be able to select my own thumbnails, as would the hundreds of other customers who have posted in this thread.

 

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

[keodark 9]

...

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

 

 

Here's the reply from Evernote Support:

 

Thanks for contacting Evernote support. Thank you for your patience during this process. To clarify, I understand random thumbnail images are being associated with your notes.

Thumbnail images are created based on their size. Evernote chooses the "easiest" (usually smallest) images in the note to display in the thumbnail view. Evernote will automatically choose a random image if there are multiple images in the note. One way to prevent this is to delete these "random" images in the note.

Once the random images are deleted, the thumbnail may refresh once you click on a different note, then click back to view the note in question. This will "force" the Evernote server to recognize the images remaining in the note and will create a new thumbnail image.

 

... Seriously? That's the solution? Delete images, smallest first, until it randomly picks the right one? No thanks.

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

Wow!  Has the selection algorithm really changed to random?  Back in 2011 Evernote employee @emerick reported that Evernote uses this strange notion of "the largest smallest dimension".

 

 

 

I don't know how EN selects the thumbnail.

We select the image with the largest smallest dimension. There are some other rules, but that's the main one.

 

 

 

 

The largest smallest dimension?

Yeah. For example, if you have 3 images with the following dimensions:

75x100
100x400
200x300

The "smallest" dimensions are 75, 100, and 200, respectively. We're going to use the image with the largest of those "smallest" dimensions (i.e., 200).

There are probably better ways to describe that algorithm, but that's how we've been describing it internally.

 

[Guest]

 

...

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

 

 

Here's the reply from Evernote Support:

 

Thanks for contacting Evernote support. Thank you for your patience during this process. To clarify, I understand random thumbnail images are being associated with your notes.

Thumbnail images are created based on their size. Evernote chooses the "easiest" (usually smallest) images in the note to display in the thumbnail view. Evernote will automatically choose a random image if there are multiple images in the note. One way to prevent this is to delete these "random" images in the note.

Once the random images are deleted, the thumbnail may refresh once you click on a different note, then click back to view the note in question. This will "force" the Evernote server to recognize the images remaining in the note and will create a new thumbnail image.

 

... Seriously? That's the solution? Delete images, smallest first, until it randomly picks the right one? No thanks.

 

 

We've looked into the issue further and our developers would like to work on this directly. We've just sent a reply to your email with additional information. 

 

Thank you in advance for raising this issue - We're here to help.

[Leah MacVie 7]

 

...

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

 

 

Here's the reply from Evernote Support:

 

Thanks for contacting Evernote support. Thank you for your patience during this process. To clarify, I understand random thumbnail images are being associated with your notes.

Thumbnail images are created based on their size. Evernote chooses the "easiest" (usually smallest) images in the note to display in the thumbnail view. Evernote will automatically choose a random image if there are multiple images in the note. One way to prevent this is to delete these "random" images in the note.

Once the random images are deleted, the thumbnail may refresh once you click on a different note, then click back to view the note in question. This will "force" the Evernote server to recognize the images remaining in the note and will create a new thumbnail image.

 

... Seriously? That's the solution? Delete images, smallest first, until it randomly picks the right one? No thanks.

 

 

But the thing is THIS does NOT work. I've tried deleting on several notes on several instances. They have to be more specific here. Do they mean the web version, application or mobile? None of them have worked for me. Even if deleted, the note will still* keep the deleted image as a thumbnail. 

[TotheMoonAlice 16]

How hard would it be to implement the default to display the first image in a note as the thumbnail. Always

 

No user options to add.

 

Users can then just make sure the image they want is at the top (which is probably the image they want/expect to display most of the time) -- so they essentially get to choose which image displays.

 

Even if this isn't what users want in the long-run, is this not a best-case scenario in the meantime, instead of a strange algorithmic formula that users can't even work with?

[Guest]

 

 

...

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

 

 

Here's the reply from Evernote Support:

 

Thanks for contacting Evernote support. Thank you for your patience during this process. To clarify, I understand random thumbnail images are being associated with your notes.

Thumbnail images are created based on their size. Evernote chooses the "easiest" (usually smallest) images in the note to display in the thumbnail view. Evernote will automatically choose a random image if there are multiple images in the note. One way to prevent this is to delete these "random" images in the note.

Once the random images are deleted, the thumbnail may refresh once you click on a different note, then click back to view the note in question. This will "force" the Evernote server to recognize the images remaining in the note and will create a new thumbnail image.

 

... Seriously? That's the solution? Delete images, smallest first, until it randomly picks the right one? No thanks.

 

 

But the thing is THIS does NOT work. I've tried deleting on several notes on several instances. They have to be more specific here. Do they mean the web version, application or mobile? None of them have worked for me. Even if deleted, the note will still* keep the deleted image as a thumbnail. 

 

 

Leah,

 

I understand your frustration and please know that we really are here to help and want to get this working for you. Will you open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number? I'll route it to our technical team members and they'll explain the steps and see what's going on from your end. 

 

Lolitta

[Murk 8]

 

Leah,

 

I understand your frustration and please know that we really are here to help and want to get this working for you. Will you open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number? I'll route it to our technical team members and they'll explain the steps and see what's going on from your end. 

 

Lolitta

 

 

I have a solution for fixing the algorithm. It may be simplistic in concept.... but....

Perhaps you could allow the users to over-ride and choose their own thumbnail?

Please?

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

I have a solution for fixing the algorithm. It may be simplistic in concept.... but....

Perhaps you could allow the users to over-ride and choose their own thumbnail?

Please?

 

What a great idea!  

 

Perhaps that's exactly what the OP had in mind 4 years ago:

 

Can I somehow force Evernote to use a specific image as thumbail?

[Leah MacVie 7]

 

 

 

...

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

 

 

Here's the reply from Evernote Support:

 

Thanks for contacting Evernote support. Thank you for your patience during this process. To clarify, I understand random thumbnail images are being associated with your notes.

Thumbnail images are created based on their size. Evernote chooses the "easiest" (usually smallest) images in the note to display in the thumbnail view. Evernote will automatically choose a random image if there are multiple images in the note. One way to prevent this is to delete these "random" images in the note.

Once the random images are deleted, the thumbnail may refresh once you click on a different note, then click back to view the note in question. This will "force" the Evernote server to recognize the images remaining in the note and will create a new thumbnail image.

 

... Seriously? That's the solution? Delete images, smallest first, until it randomly picks the right one? No thanks.

 

 

But the thing is THIS does NOT work. I've tried deleting on several notes on several instances. They have to be more specific here. Do they mean the web version, application or mobile? None of them have worked for me. Even if deleted, the note will still* keep the deleted image as a thumbnail. 

 

 

Leah,

 

I understand your frustration and please know that we really are here to help and want to get this working for you. Will you open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number? I'll route it to our technical team members and they'll explain the steps and see what's going on from your end. 

 

Lolitta

 

 

Ticket #1130007

[keodark 9]

 

What a great idea!  

 

Perhaps that's exactly what the OP had in mind 4 years ago:

 

No in-fighting please. We need to present a unified front to Evernote.

 

Also, repetition is good. Repetition keeps the issue front-and-center. At some point they'll get tired of all the support tickets asking for this and will just implement it.

 

Speaking of which, if you're reading this and have not submitted a support ticket requesting this feature, please do so. Thanks!

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

 

 

What a great idea!  

 

Perhaps that's exactly what the OP had in mind 4 years ago:

 

No in-fighting please. We need to present a unified front to Evernote.

 

Oh come on, that was not "in-fighting".  More than anything it was emphasizing to Evernote that this basic request had been made 4 years ago.

 

Having said that, people *do* need to read before they post.  

[Murk 8]

 

Oh come on, that was not "in-fighting".  More than anything it was emphasizing to Evernote that this basic request had been made 4 years ago.

 

Having said that, people *do* need to read before they post.  

 

 

Neither post was 'in-fighting'.

 

My post was intended as an emphasis of the original post (a review of the thread will show that I am well aware of what the thread is, having posted in it before)

 

.... and I viewed the followup post as emphasising my emphasis with 'what a great idea' as if it were a new thought.

[MikhailV 2]

How hard would it be to implement the default to display the first image in a note as the thumbnail. Always

 

No user options to add.

 

Users can then just make sure the image they want is at the top (which is probably the image they want/expect to display most of the time) -- so they essentially get to choose which image displays.

 

Even if this isn't what users want in the long-run, is this not a best-case scenario in the meantime, instead of a strange algorithmic formula that users can't even work with?

Agreed.

[cbits 12]

OK guys

I'm up for posting a ticket, but how do you do it ? I can't find the ticketing "front end" ( I have created tickets - long ago - but via an email query!)

 

And Why whenever I get to this topic via a link in a reply email does it regard me as a new user and ABSOLUTELY REFUSES to let me login insisting I need to create a new Account.

 

Back to subject - does anyone think Evernote are going to really alter?? Clearly they do what they want and treat customers with disdain This thread is a classic example of their inability to accept that the customer IS ALWAYS RIGHT (even if they are not!) and that attitude means that sooner or later we will all go away or they will go bump!

[Leah MacVie 7]

OK guys

I'm up for posting a ticket, but how do you do it ? I can't find the ticketing "front end" ( I have created tickets - long ago - but via an email query!)

 

And Why whenever I get to this topic via a link in a reply email does it regard me as a new user and ABSOLUTELY REFUSES to let me login insisting I need to create a new Account.

 

Back to subject - does anyone think Evernote are going to really alter?? Clearly they do what they want and treat customers with disdain This thread is a classic example of their inability to accept that the customer IS ALWAYS RIGHT (even if they are not!) and that attitude means that sooner or later we will all go away or they will go bump!

 

To submit a ticket, log into your Evernote Web account<click on your name in the top right<and click Contact Support. 

 

Second, I believe in persistence and I don't believe that companies are composed of a collective Borg-like mind that is firm in its mindset. I believe that companies like Evernote are composed of individuals, one of whose attention we might grab on this matter. We are hoping this individual works this matter through the system. We aren't asking for a constitutional amendment- this is just an enhancement to an already well-loved system that many of us use on a daily basis. 

[Leah MacVie 7]

Also, this was the email that I received back from Evernote after I submitted a ticket. Either the directions are old or they didn't include directions for the Web version, but there is no 'help' in the Web version of Evernote, not even under the profile. 

 

"Thank you for contacting Evernote Support.

If you're experiencing a bug with Evernote, we'll need to collect some more information. Please reply to this email with:

- Step-by-step instructions for reproducing the issue
- An activity log

Obtaining an activity log from your device is the key to reporting a bug. To send a log, follow these steps:

For PC/Mac:
- In the Evernote menu, go to 'Help' > 'Activity Log', then click 'Save As' to save the log as a file on your computer. Attach the file in reply to this email.

For iOS:
- Tap your name (or the gear button), then tap 'Support' > 'Activity Log' > 'Mail'. Send the log to intl-support@evernote.com with the subject line 'Ticket# 1130007'. If you don't see the 'Mail' button, make sure you have an email account set up on your device.

For Android:
- Tap the three dots button, then tap 'Settings' > 'Support' > 'Send Activity Log' and choose an email program. Send the log to intl-support@evernote.com with the subject line 'Ticket# 1130007'.

The activity log contains a detailed log of steps that Evernote performs and is helpful for diagnosing the problem you may be experiencing. The activity log also contains information about your account, your device, and your location information (if enabled). The titles of your notes, tags, notebooks, attached files, and, if your account was having network syncing errors, some of your note content, may also be contained in the activity log. You may edit the log file to remove anything you do not want to send us. We treat activity log data as confidential information, and the terms of our [Privacy Policy] (http://evernote.com/privacy/) apply."

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

To submit a ticket, log into your Evernote Web account<click on your name in the top right<and click Contact Support. 

 

Second, I believe in persistence and I don't believe that companies are composed of a collective Borg-like mind that is firm in its mindset. I believe that companies like Evernote are composed of individuals, one of whose attention we might grab on this matter. We are hoping this individual works this matter through the system. We aren't asking for a constitutional amendment- this is just an enhancement to an already well-loved system that many of us use on a daily basis. 

 

 

Unfortunately, some time ago Evernote restricted use of Support Tickets by Free Account user to ONLY to reports of bugs, crashes, or account issues.  

 

One relatively new avenue of contact with Evernote is Twitter.   I'm not very Twitter fluent, but maybe we could start a Twitter campaign requesting this feature.  Maybe something like this:

 

@evernotehelps I #request the option to #ChooseThumbnail for my Notes.  See https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/18482-choosing-a-thumbnail/

 

The forum software insists on abbreviating the link to this topic.  Maybe this will work:

If any of you more experienced in Twitter have a better way of stating this, please feel free to revise and amend my suggestion, and to provide better instructions on how to use Twitter for this for us Twitter newbies.

 

Since Evernote now is providing official support to all users via Twitter, we can submit requests on Twitter @evernotehelps.  It might also be good to include a link back to your post here.

[Guest]

 

 

 

 

...

 

Thank you! Your ticket has been escalated to our technical support team and you should receive another response via email shortly. 

 

 

Here's the reply from Evernote Support:

 

Thanks for contacting Evernote support. Thank you for your patience during this process. To clarify, I understand random thumbnail images are being associated with your notes.

Thumbnail images are created based on their size. Evernote chooses the "easiest" (usually smallest) images in the note to display in the thumbnail view. Evernote will automatically choose a random image if there are multiple images in the note. One way to prevent this is to delete these "random" images in the note.

Once the random images are deleted, the thumbnail may refresh once you click on a different note, then click back to view the note in question. This will "force" the Evernote server to recognize the images remaining in the note and will create a new thumbnail image.

 

... Seriously? That's the solution? Delete images, smallest first, until it randomly picks the right one? No thanks.

 

 

But the thing is THIS does NOT work. I've tried deleting on several notes on several instances. They have to be more specific here. Do they mean the web version, application or mobile? None of them have worked for me. Even if deleted, the note will still* keep the deleted image as a thumbnail. 

 

 

Leah,

 

I understand your frustration and please know that we really are here to help and want to get this working for you. Will you open up a support ticket via https://evernote.com/contact/support/ and let me know the number? I'll route it to our technical team members and they'll explain the steps and see what's going on from your end. 

 

Lolitta

 

 

Ticket #1130007

 

 

Thank you! Your support ticket has been escalated to a technical representative that will work with you directly.  

[Guest]

Also, this was the email that I received back from Evernote after I submitted a ticket. Either the directions are old or they didn't include directions for the Web version, but there is no 'help' in the Web version of Evernote, not even under the profile. 

 

"Thank you for contacting Evernote Support.

If you're experiencing a bug with Evernote, we'll need to collect some more information. Please reply to this email with:

- Step-by-step instructions for reproducing the issue

- An activity log

Obtaining an activity log from your device is the key to reporting a bug. To send a log, follow these steps:

For PC/Mac:

- In the Evernote menu, go to 'Help' > 'Activity Log', then click 'Save As' to save the log as a file on your computer. Attach the file in reply to this email.

For iOS:

- Tap your name (or the gear button), then tap 'Support' > 'Activity Log' > 'Mail'. Send the log to intl-support@evernote.com with the subject line 'Ticket# 1130007'. If you don't see the 'Mail' button, make sure you have an email account set up on your device.

For Android:

- Tap the three dots button, then tap 'Settings' > 'Support' > 'Send Activity Log' and choose an email program. Send the log to intl-support@evernote.com with the subject line 'Ticket# 1130007'.

The activity log contains a detailed log of steps that Evernote performs and is helpful for diagnosing the problem you may be experiencing. The activity log also contains information about your account, your device, and your location information (if enabled). The titles of your notes, tags, notebooks, attached files, and, if your account was having network syncing errors, some of your note content, may also be contained in the activity log. You may edit the log file to remove anything you do not want to send us. We treat activity log data as confidential information, and the terms of our [Privacy Policy] (http://evernote.com/privacy/) apply."

 

Thanks for bringing this up. To clarify, these instructions are for physical devices and not the web client. It's currently not possible to get an activity log from the web client. The technical representative that I've escalated your support ticket to will respond shortly. Appreciate your patience!

[exceles 18]

Hello EN Team,

 

 

I am interested in knowing if this feature of selecting image of your choice will ever be available and if it will, when will it be.

 

I have read over the pages but there are many answers so I am a little confuse.

 

 

Thanks for your time in answering.

[Leah MacVie 7]

Hello EN Team,

 

 

I am interested in knowing if this feature of selecting image of your choice will ever be available and if it will, when will it be.

 

I have read over the pages but there are many answers so I am a little confuse.

 

 

Thanks for your time in answering.

 

It is a good question and one that has been evaded many times by support and techs handling our tickets. If you read in this forum, one of the techs responded that they were working on it a few years ago. However, since then, we keep receiving the message to 'put in a ticket'. So, that is the strategy we are following now. There is apparently an algorithm, as you have read, that appears to work for some people but not for others. I have a ticket in now because the algorithm does NOT work for me on the Web version, in every major browser, on PC and Mac. I have a ticket in and the tech team was going to take a look at my account specifically. However, this is a bandaid on the original issue. If evernote just gave us the option to choose a thumbnail, I don't think an 'algorithm' or 'algorithm troubleshooting' would be needed. Right?

[MikhailV 2]

I've already Liked and/or responded with very brief agreement to / elaboration on a couple of previous posts to this topic.

 

Now, I have a few observations to add.  I hope they represent (at least mostly) new/augmented info that is both relevant to this topic and will refine -- at least a bit -- the understanding of the parameters of EN's current behavior in connection with it.  I have copied the entire contents of this topic from my browser to (you guessed it) an EN note, and performed a few text-within-Note searches for obvious precedents.  Naturally, one of the positive byproducts of a future and effective response by EN (the company) to this concern would be avoiding the need to review (what is now) over 260k characters in over 47k words across 16 pages comprising 300+ discrete posts to see what specific info pertaining to this topic has already been discussed.  I apologize in advance for any inadvertent repetition that any forum browsers find counterproductive.

 

For EN note contexts (e.g., subjects, authors/promulgators,...) where I've decided that the value of visual identifiers via EN thumbnails warrants finding/scaling/cropping relevant images (e.g., EN icon/logo), I've recently developed a standardized approach based on a 300x300 pixel size and confinement of key image content to a central horizontal range.  I add such visually-identifying thumbnails to the beginnings of applicable notes as a de facto visual note header.  I adopted these practices after seeing how many pixels EN devoted to thumbnail display within (Windows) desktop, Web, and iOS apps, based on my hardware and configurations...and on how EN seemed to alter thumbnail display behavior based on the aspect ratio of the image within the note it selects as a thumbnail and on the nature of the other contents of the subject notes.  (At this time, I don't intend to elaborate further -- I don't want to spend more time and lengthen this post even further without good reason.)  It appears to me that I experience no EN thumbnail display context where pixel dimensions exceeding 300 could provide value in terms of additional visual information actually displayed in the thumbnail.  Furthermore, I'm unwilling to expand thumbnail-candidate image dimensions to pixel counts potentially orders of magnitude beyond their maximum thumbnail display size simply to contort even further my workflow to EN's thumbnail selection limitations.  I don't believe such additional image expansion would be in the interests of EN and its users either, since it would consume further space on EN's servers with data that represent "empty calories" useful only to compensate for EN's thumbnail-selection shortcomings.  Based on my current note contents and note-creation patterns, EN desktop selects such inserted images as the thumbnail most of the time -- often enough for this practice to be worthwhile for me based on EN's current shortcomings in this department.

 

FYI, my current iOS hardware consists of an iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2.  I tend to use "Snippet" view across all platforms.

 

 

1) My first observation seems to relate to a post from "icebox" on 09 Dec 2014 - 01:15 AM.  I will start by discussing it in the context of the EN desktop app running on Windows.  My recent EN usage patterns have included a subset of Web content selections for copying into EN that included extensive avatar imagery.  In my case, such selections have more often resulted in a thumbnail display of an actual photo rather than the "'unknown' face" icebox refers to, but I believe the principle is the same.  EN selects a thumbnail that has no relationship to the previously-discussed "largest smallest" algorithm in the context of the size of the images as displayed on the browser's native Web page view or in the corresponding content within an EN note.  I'm not a programmer, but I'll speculate on what the EN program is doing -- perhaps it is evaluating image size based on underlying code (HTML? XML?) that (at least in some cases) reflects something other than the actual display size of the images on the source Web page and EN note body...or, in icebox's case, whether the image is displayed at all in the EN note body.  Perhaps the source info EN responds to in connection with thumbnail selection is "original" image size as coded in the subject Web page or the linked URL, rather than to display size within the context relevant to the EN user.

 

When images representing photos of actual people are involved, this behavior by EN does more than obscure relevant visual identifying info; it results in the "misleading" that "JMichael" refers to in his/her post from 10 June 2014 - 01:41 AM.  I'm confident that many of us are faced with the decision of whether or to what extent to invest time and energy to re-conform at least some of our notes -- and perhaps also sacrifice some secondary goals for their content -- in order to try to compel EN to perform the thumbnail selection we desire.  For me, preliminary visual cues to note content/context are important, so I'm one of those people.  In my experience with pages such as those that cause this problem, there can be compelling reasons to retain the images, related links, and/or surrounding content (relying on the avatars for visual context) that causes inappropriate behavior by EN's thumbnail selection algorithm.  My approach with such cases thus far has generally been to see if EN will select -- as the thumbnail -- the image I inserted that conforms to my current, aforementioned "note header" standard.  If not, I'm usually not willing to waste my time trying to minimize collateral damage by systematically but "blindly" deleting secondary avatar images one-by-one in hopes that EN will eventually choose a thumbnail that doesn't constitute patently misleading information.  (Such an approach would appear to be comparable to what "Evernote Support" recommended a user apply as documented in the post string attributed to "Lawlitta", "Evernote Employee", "Posted 25 June 2015 - 09:40 AM".)  Instead, I'll either tolerate the misleading thumbnail or wipe out all the secondary avatar images in one fell swoop.

 

 

2) EN's thumbnail-selection shortcomings further confound my productivity due to the inconsistency I've observed in their application (or at least resultant behavior) across platforms.  For the types of content I introduced in "1)', above, I've observed multiple instances where my addition of an image conforming to my aforementioned "note header" standard has caused EN desktop to choose it as a thumbnail, while the same note -- synced to my iOS devices -- has continued to select a misleading image that should not "trump" my header image based on EN's purported algorithm.  As I mentioned above, I'm not a programmer; I don't know to what extent this behavior relates to programming code differences between the versions of EN I have installed on different platforms, and to what extent it relates to some difference in the way the note data itself is constituted on each of these different platforms.  Either way, it exacerbates the negative impact of EN's thumbnail-selection shortcomings on my EN experience.  Strangely, in these particular instances, I've observed the (inappropriate) thumbnail images on my iOS devices to be displayed with a vertically-biased aspect ratio ("portrait shape") and corresponding symmetrical vertical crop; on the desktop, I've become accustomed to circumstances in which EN will crop square images in note bodies when applying them as thumbnails, but only via a horizontally-biased aspect ratio ("landscape shape") and corresponding symmetrical horizontal crop.

 

 

Like countless other posters to this topic, I acknowledge and appreciate EN's value to me, both in words here and through my continued patronage as a Premium subscriber.  Thanks to EN -- the company and its representatives, both past and current -- for developing and supporting this product/service.  Like many other posters (I suspect), I continue to use EN despite its weakness regarding thumbnail selection.  However, I also preemptively assert that the information I've provided above does not constitute a solution to this problem, not even a partial one, not even an acceptable workaround.  Any official EN representatives reviewing this information should not construe it as such.  (I doubt any users not officially representing EN who review this post will deem it as such.)  It should only be construed as yet another elaboration on / clarification of the problem; like many other posters, I can only hope the cumulative weight of posts to this topic will ultimately convince EN to substantially improve thumbnail selection, and to do so across all of the platforms/interfaces it supports.  This is not just an issue of absence of explicit user choice regarding thumbnail selection, although I agree with the numerous other posters who believe this absence substantially reduces EN's effectiveness for their workflows.  EN's avoidance of a substantive response to this issue over the past four (4) years has also resulted in a continuation of app behavior relating to thumbnail selection and display that is -- on the whole, and across supported platforms -- much less consistent and simple to infer/predict than the post from "emerick" timestamped 01 July 2011 - 02:42 PM seems to suggest.

 

Even a solution as simple as applying the fist image in the note body as the thumbnail (perhaps subject to minimum constraints in pixel dimensions) -- either optionally (as the default selection or otherwise) or compulsorily -- would vastly improve my EN experience.  This is substantively identical to or at least generally consistent with input from JMichael (Posted 16 July 2011 - 10:48 PM & 01 July 2012 - 05:41 AM), radiantlf (Posted 30 October 2011 - 12:51 AM), Designology (Posted 07 December 2011 - 12:32 AM), Gimpster (Posted 11 January 2012 - 10:56 PM), Richard Beddard (Posted 21 February 2012 - 11:38 AM), Mike Wood (Posted 30 June 2012 - 10:45 PM), chriszygmont (Posted 18 October 2012 - 02:44 AM), 2vet (Posted 26 December 2012 - 08:38 AM), siamesekitten (Posted 03 March 2013 - 10:53 PM), gdw35 (Posted 02 April 2013 - 01:17 PM), Jared (Posted 02 May 2013 - 04:12, 04:15 & 04:18 PM), StephenF (Posted 27 May 2013 - 02:17 AM), Kip Ingram (Posted 08 June 2013 - 04:41 PM), ideaprison (Posted 29 October 2013 - 09:41 AM), csjDK (Posted 16 June 2014 - 01:29 PM), Esben Sæderup (Posted 21 June 2014 - 01:35 PM), Spectrablue (Posted 13 October 2014 - 01:37 PM), mptpro (Posted 28 November 2014 - 01:15 AM), and TotheMoonAlice (Posted 23 June 2015 - 01:18 PM).

[Pilot Bob 1]

Ticket# 1173855 - Choosing note thumbnail

 

OMG! Why can't I SELECT the image for the note's thumbnail. Pleeeeeeeeeze.

How about a rt-click on the image and then on the menu "Make this the thumbnail"

Please please please

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

@MikhailV:

I really appreciate your enthusiasm and detail, but to be honest, your post is overwhelming to me.  It makes my eyes glaze over. 

And I'm a great supporter/requester of this feature.

 

I'm trying to help here.  Who is your audience?    If it's Evernote, I suspect (but I don't really know) that they won't read all of a lengthly post that has no category headers.

I encourage to you to be more succinct, use section headers in bold to denote major points, and provide links to support your arguments rather than embed them.

 

Thanks for your input.  My apologies if you find my post offensive.  It's not intended to be.  I really am just trying to help.

Feel free to ignore if you don't find it helpful.

[shadylane 2]

"Repetition is good" - so here's another me-too-post:

 

I'm pretty sure I stumbled upon this very discussion about two years ago when I first tried to find out why Evernote's Mac client wouldn't let me choose a thumbnail image. As a long time user of iPhoto (RIP), I was used to right-clicking on a photo and choosing "make key photo" (or simply hitting the space bar while browsing in preview mode). It hadn't even occurred to me that this feature might not be available in Evernote - this had to be a stupid oversight, right? RIGHT? 

Well, it's two years later (4 years since the OP started this discussion) and this feature still hasn't been implemented - the lack of options to control how the thumbnail image is chosen is really starting to bother me. I'm definitely not going to try to "trick" the almighty algorithm... rescaling pictures until the correct one is chosen is not something I'm willing to do multiple times a day.

 

Forgive me if I've missed some clear explanation from staff as to why this feature hasn't been implemented yet (I simply don't have the time to read through this whole thread right now), but it boggles my mind why Evernote seems to not be interested at all in solving this problem. The company surely has some of the smartest developers available to them, they do great stuff and fantastic features have been added to the clients since I first started using Evernote. I can't think of a single reason why a feature like that, a feature that iPhoto has had as long as I can remember, wouldn't be high up on the "To Do" list. Making a note instantly recognizable by its (chosen) thumbnail would make Evernote easier to use, it would be visually appealing and it would make Evernote a more useful product - at least for me. 

 

PS: I would be quite happy if - as others have said before - the first image would be chosen as the thumbnail image, no matter what. That would allow me to have some form of control over the process without having to perform convoluted scaling operations... don't even get me started on the "largest smallest"-thing. *grrrrrrrr*

[Leah MacVie 7]

Hello everyone, 

Update on my ticket from June: 

 

Francisco S. (Evernote Support)

Jul 31, 13:09

Leah,

Thank you for following up about this. Although the developers are still looking into this, I have asked for an update.

I will notify you as soon as I receive a response.

Thank you for your patience.

Cheers,
Francisco S.

[nanphan 138]

Thank you everyone for the spirited discussion on this topic. As you know we have a lot of feature ideas and requests that come in from all of our users. Unfortunately, this is not a feature that we are planning to add in the near future. The feature request, however, is heard loud and clear. We understand the need and see its value. We will continue to consider it in the list of potential features to add as we continue to improve the product. Thanks again for being active in the community and providing us feedback. We really appreciate it. We'll be sure to update this thread should this feature get implemented later down the line. 

 

Nancy 

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

Thank you everyone for the spirited discussion on this topic. As you know we have a lot of feature ideas and requests that come in from all of our users. Unfortunately, this is not a feature that we are planning to add in the near future. 

 

Nancy, thanks for resetting our expectations.  Not what I wanted to hear, but at least now I can quit butting my head against a brick wall that will never give.  

 

You'll have to admit it is shocking to hear this, given that this request started at least 4 years ago, and has had 320 posts.

Perhaps there were 1 or 2, but I don't recall anyone being against the feature.

 

I do wonder one thing though.  Can you name 3 features that have been added recently in response to user requests?

Please exclude the Web Beta from this, since it is just working its way back to restoring all of the features of the main Web client.

[nanphan 138]

 

Thank you everyone for the spirited discussion on this topic. As you know we have a lot of feature ideas and requests that come in from all of our users. Unfortunately, this is not a feature that we are planning to add in the near future. 

 

Nancy, thanks for resetting our expectations.  Not what I wanted to hear, but at least now I can quit butting my head against a brick wall that will never give.  

 

You'll have to admit it is shocking to hear this, given that this request started at least 4 years ago, and has had 320 posts.

Perhaps there were 1 or 2, but I don't recall anyone being against the feature.

 

I do wonder one thing though.  Can you name 3 features that have been added recently in response to user requests?

Please exclude the Web Beta from this, since it is just working its way back to restoring all of the features of the main Web client.

 

 

Thanks for understanding, JMichael. Unfortunately, with the limited resources we have on our side when building out the product, we have to make tough calls on which features to add to the product, which bugs to address, and cost out not only what is implementable in one client, but in all of our clients. Right now our focus is on improving the New Web Client. We've been addressing the feedback users have been giving us over the last year. Hopefully you've noticed that every release note in the last couple of months were design changes all based on user feedback that actually came from the discussion forums & our surveys. We still have a lot of work, but we try to address the biggest pain points first & hopefully through the future releases, we can trickle in more new feature requests. As for the length & date of this thread, unfortunately it predates me, so I can't speak to why it's been going on for so long.  Either way, let's make sure we keep this type of feedback coming and I'll be sure to bring it back to the team. 

 

Nancy 

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

 

 

Thank you everyone for the spirited discussion on this topic. As you know we have a lot of feature ideas and requests that come in from all of our users. Unfortunately, this is not a feature that we are planning to add in the near future. 

 

I do wonder one thing though.  Can you name 3 features that have been added recently in response to user requests?

Please exclude the Web Beta from this, since it is just working its way back to restoring all of the features of the main Web client.

 

Right now our focus is on improving the New Web Client. We've been addressing the feedback users have been giving us over the last year. 

 

 

Nancy, you just hit on one of my biggest concerns:  Putting valuable resources on a product that really wasn't needed that much, at least by that many users, i.e. the new Web Client.  There was really nothing wrong with the "old" web client.  All of the feedback/requests have been for putting back into the new Web client the missing features that were already in the old web client.

 

Sorry, but you did not really answer my question, which I specifically requested that you exclude the Web beta.

 

I asked the question because I believe that you can't find 3 features (not related to the web client), that have been requested by users, that have been implemented recently (let's say the last year).

 

Go ahead.  Prove me wrong, if you can.  

[Geoff Olynyk 1]

Nancy, you just hit on one of my biggest concerns:  Putting valuable resources on a product that really wasn't needed that much, at least by that many users, i.e. the new Web Client.  There was really nothing wrong with the "old" web client.  All of the feedback/requests have been for putting back into the new Web client the missing features that were already in the old web client.

 

Sorry, but you did not really answer my question, which I specifically requested that you exclude the Web beta.

 

I asked the question because I believe that you can't find 3 features (not related to the web client), that have been requested by users, that have been implemented recently (let's say the last year).

 

Go ahead.  Prove me wrong, if you can.  

 

 

No need to be rude about it... I get that it's frustrating but it's not her fault, these decisions are made at a higher level.

 

My suspicion is that Evernote is prioritizing features that lead to $$$$ coming in (things that corporations are asking for, or things that drive users to the Pro version), vs. some esoteric technical feature that is requested by a bunch of old-school users who are mostly on the free Basic version are asking for. At least, that's how I read between the lines of Nancy's response.

[gbarry 1,645]

Please avoid the unnecessary call outs--Nancy's providing additional info around how and why we may prioritize a feature over other forms of development, and is being transparent about our intensions around this particular feature. By only focusing on a few limited feature requests you're avoiding much of the other developmental priorities we have, including updates and improvements to existing features. Please check our PM development posts on these forums, and find a range of updates that are based on user feedback, often from our forum membership. Justin's Windows post is only the most recent example: https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/87863-new-evernote-for-windows-590/which addresses a number of recurring themes, such as table functionality. There are explicit improvements across pretty much every single device we support, right here in these forums, many of which contain improvements, adjustments, or expansion to features. 

 

We definitely need to do a better job at communicating back to customers when feedback is implemented, and we're working on ways to improve on that and close the loop.

 

Closing the thread for now. Thanks to everyone who has provided information and feedback behind this feature request. 

[jerry187 3]

I have been coming back every month waiting for evernote to fix this. i would much rather have a quick glance at a thumbnail to identify a note in the endless sea of notes i have amassed. I am a premium user which means i give you money for your service evernote. please address this issue hear my cry!. every update that comes out im there waiting hoping and praying.  Put me out of my misery. Oh and i'm a mac user by the way.

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

The outcry for this feature is tremendous.  Almost everyone who posts agrees it would be very helpful.

Yet, Evernote has recently stated that it is not one of their current priorities.

 

See:

• REQUEST: Choosing a Thumbnail 

• Enable user-selectable thumbnail images 

[Matt960 5]

Evernote! Is anybody listening??

 

This is the number one issue for me (has been since the card view was introduced). I've started using ember for mac for this one reason alone but maintaining both services is a pain. I'd love to just be able to use evernote.

 

For those of us who use evernote for primarily for images and screenshots, having half of the card covered with a title and text severely limits the user experience and effectiveness of the app. 

[Xavi 2]

I'd like to add my vote to this (old) request. Please, add a "Set image as Thumbnail" feature to the client.

 

I can state my reasons, but I believe everything has already been said in this (and other similar) posts. It's basically a big convenience factor for people who use multiple images in the same post.

 

Cheers.

[LynB 1]

This is by no means ideal but I've found if you don't need the image shown at all, then delete this image from your note then Evernote may choose the image you want as a thumbnail.

Like so many others I'd would also like to add my vote to this request - let us choose our thumbnail image.

[Mark. 3]

Yes, +1 to this request, it's rather frustrating as a premium user not to be able to select which image in the note becomes the thumbnail.  I note that the previous thread/suggestion discussing this feature is now closed, after 300+ comments, so no way to add my vote there.

Evernote - is this on the feature list?

Thanks.

[rocketship 1]

Hi,

New Evernote user this year.  I agree, I want to be able to choose and edit thumbnail.  JMichaelTX is right though  - follow the link to upvote the request.  I am only person number 8 to upvote, but it seems heaps of people want this? 

[Zecyor 1]

I wanted to mention that Evernote selected an speaker icon for a thumbnail. There is audio in there but an icon for a representation of a note?I'm a little disappointed about this especially after spending $25 for this oversight. I wonder why the push back for user selected thumbnails? I'm glad I'm not totally invested in these notes because I'm going to cancel the account if there is no plan to change this. 

[jerry187 3]

hi im back agin from last year. evernote please give us the feature to be able to set our own thumbnails. im begging  

[Matt W. 172]

Hello all,

Please be sure to up-vote now on this request.

[JMichaelTX 4,007]

6 hours ago, Matt W. said:

Please be sure to up-vote now on this request.

@Matt W., that's fine, but this is an ANDROID thread.  We need to vote on thumbnail override for ALL Evernote apps.  Where is that???

[Matt W. 172]

@JMichaelTX,

There currently isn't a way to cover all platforms for this feature request from the forums. This is something I will be bringing up in our next meeting. I will keep you posted.

For now you can create a feedback topic on the other platforms and up-vote from there. Having one central place to vote would be great to see. More coming soon.

[mwerner2 4]

Wouldn't it make more sense for the "snippet" image to be defaulted to the "smallest, smallest" dimension?  I get that adding code to allow the user to *choose* the image in the snippet would be a lot of extra work, but seeing a small part of a large photo isn't very helpful when looking down a list of notes.  

Could the algorithm use a "sort descending" (choosing the last value)  instead of a "sort ascending"?  Then I could add a small dimension photo that would turn up in the snippet, while keeping my larger dimension photo's image quality.

[gazumped 7,128]

It's a good idea (for all platforms) - just added my vote to double the total cast here so far...

[kaitui_kiwi 2]

Adding my voice to the chorus requesting user chosen thumbnail selection across all devices. With the new plan changes (limiting my free account to 2 devices when I regularly use 3 but will get by with browser access on one of them) I am so, so very close to upgrading to Plus but I just can't justify the cost based on the way I use Evernote. The powerful text searching is great but I search visually as well. I have sewing patterns that display the envelope back rather than the front and recipes that show thumbnails of the clipped instructions rather than the money shot. 

[GaRK2 2]

Have users been granted control over which image is displayed as a thumbnail in the snippet note list view?

This would be MUCH appreciated (This has been a request by many of us paying Evernote users for a LONG time!)

Thanks for your consideration.

[Dave-in-Decatur 1,136]

Does the thumbnail view available in the current Windows version improve things at all? I don't have a lot of notes with multiple images, so I'm not really able to test much myself.

[jefito 5,499]

10 minutes ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Does the thumbnail view available in the current Windows version improve things at all? I don't have a lot of notes with multiple images, so I'm not really able to test much myself.

At a guess, it's using the same criterion for choosing a thumbnail image. I can't see why it would be different: a thumbnail is a thumbnail.Notes in snippet view are displayed with a thumbnail (if any exists) and a snippet of text content,

[Dave-in-Decatur 1,136]

3 minutes ago, jefito said:

At a guess, it's using the same criterion for choosing a thumbnail image. I can't see why it would be different: a thumbnail is a thumbnail.Notes in snippet view are displayed with a thumbnail (if any exists) and a snippet of text content,

Well, here are two screenshots. The first shows 5 notes in thumbnail view, the second the same 5 in snippet view. There are differences. I just don't know how helpful they would be for the needs expressed by @GaRK2 and @mwerner2.

[jefito 5,499]

@Dave-in-Decatur

Hmmm, interesting, and a little surprising (to me anyway). You'd need to get the skinny from a dev; that's where the old largest-smallest info came from. I think that the ability to select the thumbnail image would be a good feature, though. This should be in a Feedback forum; I'll move it and then vote for it.