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

[marcelo 75]

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

[Steven Gauck 11]

What's often missing from these discussions and what maybe EN doesn't realize that the source of frustration is more than just the inability to select a thumbnail image.  It's not like if there are 7 images in a note, even though any one of them might be an appropriate image, we'd just like to select the preferred one.  Instead, often, the thumbnail image EN's algorithm ends up being something absurd.  I mentioned a note in which I attached a picture of a product, that product's manual, and the purchase receipt. The note is really intended to store and access the manual and I included a picture of the product hoping it would become the thumbnail picture. Instead, I got an image of the MasterCard logo it picked up from the receipt.  More recently I created a couples notes with my confirmation emails for some flights I booked.  All kinds of images in that note would have been appropriate, but what I got instead was a circled P logo for Parking, because somewhere in the email there was an "Add airport parking" with that logo next to it.  So now when I'm looking through notes for that multi-leg trip, I'm remembering to look for the Parking logo when I'm trying to find my flight info.  These muck up the at-a-glance view of search results.  At a minimum. it'd be helpful to be able to turn off thumbnails for particular notes where the algorithm selection is less than helpful.

[gazumped 10,732]

4 hours ago, Steven Gauck said:

What's often missing from these discussions...

Hi.  This isn't a negotiation,  where reframing the proposal might get a quicker or more positive response.

Big software houses like Evernote run long term planning so that they can concentrate their main resources on a single main project and all related resources: like sync speeds and accuracy (which I think is actually the current case). 

Others will deal with bug fixes and maintenance;  and they'll have another main project lined up after that,  and another and another...  The forward planning is so that if one project requires in depth work on one system like indexing,  it'll be grouped with any others that come along so's not to have to re-engineer a fundamental system several times over.

So I'd guess Evernote know exactly what they're doing for the next couple of years.  If thumbnails are in that pile,  they'll get seen to when other work on the related systems gets done.  It's not going to get taken out of context for 'special' attention,  even if it does annoy and delay folks.

If thumbnails haven't made it into the schedule yet,  it'll come up for consideration with everything else at the time.  And (maybe) get started in 2+ years from now.

In the meantime,  no matter what happens here,  work-arounds are the only way forward. 

From recent discussions where Evernote seems reluctant to change a thumbnail,  even where the image is deleted from a note,  I wonder whether it might be possible to start a new note using one chosen image,  so that the note gets a suitable thumbnail - and then copy/ paste the content of another original note including random other images into that new container with the approved thumbnail...

?

[ttony 2]

The way I see it is, Evernote could easily have existed without ever introducing a thumbnail feature. They could have also, in theory, never introduced a title feature as well. But they did! The title and the thumbnail are features that help organize, identify, and locate your notes; which is the entire point of this app.

Imagine if the app auto selected a random (or by arbitrary algorithm) a sentence in the body of your note to use for the title. That would be completely unacceptable; no one would ever use the app because that would make no sense. Why should it be OK for the thumbnail to be auto-selected then?
 

[gazumped 10,732]

3 minutes ago, highchairdrama said:

Also, welcome to the thread. (Now it's customary to wait until PinkElephant and/or gazumped tells you why you're wrong/uninformed. It's fun!)

I think the logic is rubbish - my house has windows made from boring conventional glass that companies have never seen fit to improve in 40 years.  Where's the autoshading / power generation / video interface that is obviously required...

 

[PinkElephant 6,768]

6 hours ago, highchairdrama said:

ttony, well said. I think you nailed why we're all so baffled this isn't important enough for them to fix.

Also, welcome to the thread. (Now it's customary to wait until PinkElephant and/or gazumped tells you why you're wrong/uninformed. It's fun!)

You may think you are funny - in fact you just have not done your homework.

In fact I have posted several times in favor of a thumbnail selection for the user - why I think it would make a lot of sense you can read in my posts in this thread.

Ooooops …

[Tanja012 9]

On 6/5/2022 at 9:15 AM, Tanja012 said:

This is possible! I wrote this long time ago.. But if you start a new note.. The 1(picture for the thumbnail) should be the very first thing to put in.. Then when you 2(write the title) of the note it will update the thumbnail and then you can paste or write anything else.. The thumbnail won't change again in this note.. If you've copied and pasted from another note.. You can then delete this old one.. 

I request that this comment is Not up voted! Because then it just moves up to page 2 that few people see.. And the same question comes again and again.. This quote is how you make a new note and decide the thumbnail easiest and fastest.. 😊

[PinkElephant 6,768]

This will not work. The forum engine will not allow to have it pinned.

You can talk to EN support, to put this into a help document.

[Tanja012 9]

10 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

This will not work. The forum engine will not allow to have it pinned.

You can talk to EN support, to put this into a help document.

Huh? I never asked to get it pinned.. I just requested from everyone that read it that they don't upvote it. 😅

But I still like your idea of a help document.. Maybe I'll look into it^_^

[PinkElephant 6,768]

Votes are added at the top of a thread. And they don’t make threads disappear.

But each post will show in the Forum views as long as it is the last one - that’s by design.

[johnortt 26]

21 hours ago, gazumped said:

I think the logic is rubbish - my house has windows made from boring conventional glass that companies have never seen fit to improve in 40 years.  Where's the autoshading / power generation / video interface that is obviously required...

 

A better analogy would be that your house had windows made of opaque glass. 

We are asking them to make the glass transparent.

[gazumped 10,732]

2 hours ago, johnortt said:

A better analogy would be that your house had windows made of opaque glass. 

We are asking them to make the glass transparent.

Nope - still no cigar;  the thumbnail process works as designed - Evernote just didn't think at the time to add specific options to it,  but it still works (mostly...).  

Opaque glass wouldn't work very well,  even as a light source. 

Anyway regardless of the appositeness (appositity?) of the metaphor,  image options are not an ...option.  With thumbnails WYSIWYG applies - unless you want to try the new and very easy note / single image workaround that's now described above.

Evernote may,  or may not decide to do something about this in the future.  We'll be the second to know when they do!

[Tanja012 9]

On 6/7/2022 at 1:32 PM, PinkElephant said:

Votes are added at the top of a thread. And they don’t make threads disappear.

But each post will show in the Forum views as long as it is the last one - that’s by design.

I actually couldn't find my post but after a while I found it on page two instead of the end with the new posts because of a vote. And I know it's how it's supposed to be.. It just seems like many don't look at the first pages and so keep asking the same question.. 

[Tanja012 9]

6 hours ago, Rebecca T said:

The thumbnail for one of my notes is an image that doesn't even exist in the note and there's still no way to fix it... Thanks Evernote...

(I think it was an image I accidentally added when I first made the note and later deleted.. but it's still the thumbnail).

I would honestly prefer not having the thumbnail feature than having the feature not work properly with no way to fix it. 

You can fix it quite simply by ctrl+A while in the note to select everything, then ctrl+C to copy.. Now create a new note and use ctrl+V to paste it.. Name the note the same as the original note. Check that all pictures and text is there.. And then delete the old note.. 

If the thumbnail isn't in the note then it cannot become the thumbnail. 😊

[tech_gal 5]

Add me to the list of users requesting this feature.

My work around is to create a new note, starting with the image I want to appear as thumbnail and then adding the other content. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by tech_gal
Forgot to add some info to my post.

[AlBabin 4]

This workaround seems to work for me: (using my Windows 11 desktop computer)

1) Create all the notes you want, ignoring the thumbnails.

2) Create a brand new note and paste the image you want to use as a thumbnail.  (I wait for the thumbnail to appear in my Snippets view.)

3) Select all the notes you want to be with the thumbnail note and merge them, with the thumbnail note moved to the top note to be merged.

I still want the thumbnail selection to be native to EN.

--- A L ---

As an aside, my 300dpi jpg's seem to work OK, but my 600dpi jpg's do not show.  I have not tried any values in-between.

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by AlBabin
Additional comment .

[Mike P 2,231]

1 hour ago, AlBabin said:

3) Select all the notes you want to be with the thumbnail note and merge them, with the thumbnail note moved to the top note to be merged.

Brilliant! Great workaround. If you then delete the "thumbnail note" content from the merged note, including the image, you get back to your original note (more or less) but the thumbnail is correct even though you have deleted the image it came from!

[C.H. 4]

For me, unfortunately, this solution approach is not helpful in the long run. In my opinion, the way only helps if the note does not need to be supplemented further later. But even if the note was not changed later, I have noticed with notes with many images that the thumbnail sometimes selects itself again independently from the mixture of images.

I regretfully continue to consider it a big problem to provide a preview with an arbitrary thumbnail by EV.

I create a lot of tutorials with screenshots, and I want to be able to tell which tutorial it is by looking at the thumbnail. For example, if I were to write tutorials about cooking recipes, I would naturally want to have the dish selected as the image for the thumbnail, and not just any ingredient.

For presentations, I actually don't use Evernote anymore because I'm embarrassed to get such useless search or display galleries.

Hope dies last. I'll keep my eyes open for other solutions.

 

[B3lfu 1]

Funny thing is that i had 2 years of vacation from this app and nothin happens in this topic.

Still resize image to thumbnail resolution is the best option? what am I paying for...

[Tanja012 9]

On 7/25/2022 at 8:21 PM, B3lfu said:

Funny thing is that i had 2 years of vacation from this app and nothin happens in this topic.

Still resize image to thumbnail resolution is the best option? what am I paying for...

I also make recipes.. My solution is to always adding the thumbnail image first..  THEN the title of the note.. And save it(if on phone) And the note will then hang on to that image as the thumbnail.. Because of the fact that a thumbnail can't be changed. Well at least I've never experienced it yet. It might be worth trying out. I sure love evernote on so many aspects.. And my experience is that most apps have something that are a bit annoying, but find the app that have most good points(enough to ignore the annoying ones) 🙃

[gazumped 10,732]

On 7/25/2022 at 7:21 PM, B3lfu said:

Still resize image to thumbnail resolution is the best option? what am I paying for...

What are you asking for?  If you're a subscriber you're getting (amongst other things)

• chat and email help
• almost unlimited web storage for your notes (20TB or so)
• access to your data on most internet capable devices
• automatic OCR
• handwriting recognition
• sophisticated search options
• integrations with Google and other major suppliers
• filing infrastructure with Stacks/ Tags/ Shortcuts/ Notebooks/ Saved searches etc

...though the ability to order specific additions or changes to any of the above wasn't included

[PinkElephant 6,768]

On 7/25/2022 at 8:21 PM, B3lfu said:

Funny thing is that i had 2 years of vacation from this app and nothin happens in this topic.

Still resize image to thumbnail resolution is the best option? what am I paying for...

You should know yourself what you are paying for.

In the meantime there is a consensus that the image that is added and saved first will (likely) become the thumbnail. It will not be altered even when other pics are added later, after the server has created and saved the thumbnail.

It may be a nuisance, and in some cases (like web clips) not really practical - but at least there is a way to choose the thumbnail.

But taken for itself I would not be paying for it …

[C.H. 4]

Quote

It will not be altered even when other pics are added later, after the server has created and saved the thumbnail.

Unfortunately, I often have different experiences. With notes, which I constantly supplement with images (screenshots), the thumbnail changes from time to time arbitrarily and according to no ascertainable pattern.

In the beginning I tried to create the notes according to the recommended pattern, i.e. first insert a photo for the desired thumbnail and then add the note again.

In my opinion, this only works for notes with very few photos (and even there not sure). For notes with 20 photos/screenshots upwards, I find that the thumbnail changes randomly when I add photos from time to time, even for notes that have been maintained for years.

Presumably this will not affect so many users; otherwise the displeasure would probably be greater.

I continue to hope for improvement.

 

[Boot17 1,057]

@C.H. - My experience mirrors yours.

3 hours ago, C.H. said:

I continue to hope for improvement.

Me too.

 

[Tanja012 9]

2 hours ago, C.H. said:

Unfortunately, I often have different experiences. With notes, which I constantly supplement with images (screenshots), the thumbnail changes from time to time arbitrarily and according to no ascertainable pattern.

In the beginning I tried to create the notes according to the recommended pattern, i.e. first insert a photo for the desired thumbnail and then add the note again.

In my opinion, this only works for notes with very few photos (and even there not sure). For notes with 20 photos/screenshots upwards, I find that the thumbnail changes randomly when I add photos from time to time, even for notes that have been maintained for years.

Presumably this will not affect so many users; otherwise the displeasure would probably be greater.

I continue to hope for improvement.

 

I usually use windows.. But I tested it in the app the other day.. And at first it worked.. But then the thumbnail had changed the next day, but only on the phone app. The thumbnail on pc didn't change.. So the thumbnail can unfortunately be different from pc to phone.. But I believe that it works if one uses evernote on pc. 

[PinkElephant 6,768]

I rather don’t think the thumbnail can be different for long on different devices. AFAIK the thumbnails are created on the server. If a new thumbnail is created, it will eventually sync to all devices.

We are just speculating about how thumbnails are created in the end. Knowing for sure does only EN staff, and they probably won’t tell.

[Tanja012 9]

11 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

I rather don’t think the thumbnail can be different for long on different devices. AFAIK the thumbnails are created on the server. If a new thumbnail is created, it will eventually sync to all devices.

We are just speculating about how thumbnails are created in the end. Knowing for sure does only EN staff, and they probably won’t tell.

Well it's Been about 7 days since I found the thumbnail changed in the app.. And I can see at this moment that the thumbnail still hasn't changed on pc.. 

I will keep having a lookout for it.. If it ever changes on pc.. 👀

[Mike P 2,231]

15 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

AFAIK the thumbnails are created on the server.

Good evidence for this is that if you create a note in the desktop app while offline no thumbnail is created until you go back online.

[Tanja012 9]

44 minutes ago, Mike P said:

Good evidence for this is that if you create a note in the desktop app while offline no thumbnail is created until you go back online.

This just doesn't explain why the desktop and the phone (both always online) show different thumbnails for 7 days.. I use evernote multiple times a day on the phone and at least 1 time a day on desktop..  If I ever find these thumbnails synchronized.. I will update you on the fact here.. 

[Mike P 2,231]

3 minutes ago, Tanja012 said:

This just doesn't explain why the desktop and the phone (both always online) show different thumbnails for 7 days.. I use evernote multiple times a day on the phone and at least 1 time a day on desktop..  If I ever find these thumbnails synchronized.. I will update you on the fact here.. 

True. I assume you are using V10 on all devices and not legacy on any devices. Once a thumbnail is created it is remarkably persistent. Therefore, if somehow you do manage to get different thumbnails on different versions, perhaps they will never sync.

A long time ago (early versions of V10) I routinely got different thumnails on the web and desktop. However it doesn't seem to happen for me anymore.

The web version is the closest there is to a definitive version of the note as it reads directly from the online database which syncs to all your other devices. It would therefore be worth checking the web version. If that is different from the desktop version you could refresh the desktop database and see if that is then the same as the web. To do that do file -> sign out XX and choose "remove my evernote data from this device". You can then sign back in.

[PitakM 11]

17 hours ago, Mike P said:

Here is another, relatively straightforward, workaround to change the thumbnail. I like to forward Kindle book receipt emails into EN. Unfortunately EN always chooses some marketing image, rather than the image of the book, to be the thumbnail. The workaround is to delete the other images and then simply duplicate the note. Although the content of the note is unchanged, EN regenerates the thumbnail. This has the advantage of not only being relatively quick but it also keeps the note meta data (e.g. creation date) unchanged.

Links TO the new, duplicate note will be lost, i.e. existing links will only refer to the orginal note.

[gazumped 10,732]

2 minutes ago, PitakM said:

Links TO the new, duplicate note will be lost

If it's a brand new note,  there shouldn't be any links.  But yes,  this is Evernote 101 - if you have created a link to a specific note,  you'd have to recreate the link when that note was duplicated.  Since they both should have identical titles,  finding it shouldn't be too hard...

[Mike P 2,231]

34 minutes ago, PitakM said:

Links TO the new, duplicate note will be lost, i.e. existing links will only refer to the orginal note.

You are absolutely right. But that is of course true for any workaround that involves creating a new note (e.g merging or simply copying and pasting). The workarounds are no where near perfect. What EN needs to do is to give us more control over which image becomes the thumbnail. This was an issue pre V10 and sadly EN have not chosen to address it yet in V10 and if anything have made it worse.

[Noo 7]

Hopefully following this topic in search of a quicker solution. I'm using Evernote primarily to index sewing patterns and would really like to prioritise the photo of the finished garment and not a random bit of a PDF with a pattern piece on it.    Can see this has been a long term request though, just adding my numbers to the pile 

[gazumped 10,732]

3 hours ago, Noo said:

to prioritise the photo of the finished garment

As a matter of interest what are you currently doing?  Accepting the random images or copy/ pasting into new notes as above? 

If you haven't already tried it,  a longer method might be to create a Table of Contents note listing your patterns,  using a two-column table layout. Use the note link in one cell and add your preferred image in the cell next to it.

[Noo 7]

I’m currently making a new note. Putting the photo in on its own and merging the old one in after it’s showing the correct image. If I remember which order to add new ones in it’s not too bad. I’ve sorted all the existing ones now (hot day in the Uk-nothing better to do) , but to be able to right click or somehow prioritise an image would be good. 

[gazumped 10,732]

56 minutes ago, Noo said:

hot day in the Uk-nothing better to do

I'm in S Wales,  currently rocking 33C and my main desktop has crashed from heat exhaustion.  Tell me about it!!

Edit (translating for the US) - 90F+ we Brits are unused to this!!

[uladz 0]

Gee, 4 years and 9 pages of comments requesting this trivial feature, and it is still not implemented. No wonder I have lest Evernote behind, just wanted to check back if anything improved and if it's worth getting back to it, but no, same old same old.

[PinkElephant 6,768]

Seems many users wish for it, but for most it is not a killer feature at the same time.

You just come here to prove how clever you have been ? Then be proud of yourself, such a genius, goodbye …

[craigmiles 2]

I was using the suggested workaround of adding the image I want for the thumbnail first and then waiting until it is "accepted" before adding any other images.

This worked fine (a bit annoying as I had to recreate a bunch of notes) up until the latest release on Windows 10.44.8.

Lo and behold, with no warning, not only does the first image in a new note not stay as the thumbnail as soon as another image is added, all of my old carefully created notes reverted to showing a different thumbnail.

Absolutely fantastic, So not only after 11 years of requests have EN not fixed the issue, they have now made it worse! Congratulations!

[gazumped 10,732]

On 9/12/2022 at 9:45 AM, craigmiles said:

not only after 11 years of requests have EN not fixed the issue, they have now made it worse!

The fact that the app doesn't do what you'd like it to is not thing that the company needs to 'fix' - you can request the feature be added,  and they may - or may not do so,  depending on how expensive and / or difficult it would be to change the system. 

Since this was never a bug,  they can't have made it 'worse' by adjusting the coding - the workarounds just used quirks of the system to get around a limitation.  The quirks got fixed - or maybe just moved.  If you really,  really must have your picture of choice as the thumbnail,  then either find an app that will do that for you,  or think of a way to work around Evernote's system. 

Top of my head - you could save your note contents in the cloud,  and just have a note with a link to the main contents plus your favorite image.

[philanon 9]

22 minutes ago, gazumped said:

The fact that the app doesn't do what you'd like it to is not thing that the company needs to 'fix' - you can request the feature be added,  and they may - or may not do so,  depending on how expensive and / or difficult it would be to change the system. 

I would believe it wasn't a bug and was just a poorly designed function if it at least behaved consistently (always the largest image) but it does not. It shows different images on web vs. desktop and randomly replaces the thumbnail when you paste new ones in. I cannot believe someone made an intentional design decision to have it display a random thumbnail. I'm using a different app for this specific purpose until this is fixed.

I love EN for everything else, but this and lack of backup options are the two things I would change if I had a magic wand.

[gazumped 10,732]

12 minutes ago, philanon said:

if it at least behaved consistently

The web is a whole other can of worms due to the different sizes of image and page and display and zoom and browser...  Evernote (I'm sure it's said somewhere up here) chose one metric:  the image with the smallest long side would be the thumbnail.  It saves having some AI routine agonising over whether to show an image of Andy Warhol or a can of soup in a note about his art.  It's simple - and if you're prepared to delve into image management,  pretty hackable - just make your thumbnail smaller than anything else!

-And you can bet if someone said 'let the user decide' there'd be complaints about "why do I have to make this decision each time I save a clip".  Sometimes there really is no pleasing people...

[Boot17 1,057]

28 minutes ago, gazumped said:

-And you can bet if someone said 'let the user decide' there'd be complaints about "why do I have to make this decision each time I save a clip". 

Well, if they were to one day let the user decide, they should --of course-- just keep the randomness that it is doing now for a default for fun. Then people don't have to make the decision for every clip. 😃 

[Tanja012 9]

On 9/14/2022 at 6:39 PM, gazumped said:

The web is a whole other can of worms due to the different sizes of image and page and display and zoom and browser...  Evernote (I'm sure it's said somewhere up here) chose one metric:  the image with the smallest long side would be the thumbnail.  It saves having some AI routine agonizing over whether to show an image of Andy Warhol or a can of soup in a note about his art.  It's simple - and if you're prepared to delve into image management,  pretty hackable - just make your thumbnail smaller than anything else!

I've just tested this out with a note(recipe) containing 8 images.. I've been wondering for a while why it chose that image for thumbnail.. from the beginning it have never been the image with the shortest long side. but I found that it had the shortest short side, so I've have now tried resizing both the image it chose and the image I want.. to no avail.. I've tried making new notes, but it keeps choosing that image.. I just can't make any sense of why THAT image?? But at least I can say that it no longer chooses the shortest long side. 

(I've both resized them in original form and in the note..) also I've made sure that they have the same format(jpg). and I've checked the images in both the windows version, android app and webbrowser.

Any Ideas what I'm doing wrong or if they have changed it?

I've attached the two images.. the bread image is the image I want..

(anyone)your very welcome to try making a note with these two images and let me know how, if you succeed in using the right thumbnail in the browser or on app(since it takes a long time before the windows version show the real thumbnail).

[PinkElephant 6,768]

The hint about the shortest side is years old, and was never really confirmed.

What seems to work is to save a note with one picture (or pdf) only. Wait until the thumbnail was created on the server, then add the further content. It can easily be done by creating 2 notes, wait  for the thumbnail and then merge the two.

This is a workaround, not a solution. I would be happy to be able to pick my thumbnail in the cases where I want to, and have supported this thread a long time ago already.

[gazumped 10,732]

The shortest long side thing was (I'm fairly sure) genuine - but of course there's the small issue of v10 since,  so heaven knows how they work things out now.  Maybe someone who is annoyed by this could report it to Support and try to find out how thumbnails are selected?

In other News - I just dumped your two pics into Evernote Windows to have a play,  and before I do anything,  this is my view...  which all goes to show 😉

[gazumped 10,732]

1 hour ago, jrdunson said:

Can we do this please?  Seems this has been requested for some time.

Hi.  This feature may or may not be released at some future date - Evernote won't usually comment.  In the meantime you have workarounds...

[Mike P 2,231]

On 9/19/2022 at 4:51 PM, gazumped said:

The shortest long side thing was (I'm fairly sure) genuine - but of course there's the small issue of v10 since,  so heaven knows how they work things out now.

I think my understanding at the moment is:

• If you create a note manually by pasting in an image, typing text, pasting in another imnage etc the thumbnail is the first image you paste in. Even if you were to delete that image the thumbnail remains
• If you create the note by some other method e,g pasting in a whole bunch of text and images in one go or by using the webclipper, it seems to be random which image becomes the thumbnail. As evidence for this, each week I generate a report as an html file. I then view it in Chrome and copy and paste it into an EN note. Each week the various images (plots) are the same size. The image EN chooses to be the thumbnail is, as far as I can see, random.

[dsblox 7]

One more +1 to finally doing this.  Still - thanks to everyone in this forum for all the workarounds.

[MURFINO 0]

There is a simple workaround to this issue, and agreed it should be a simple inbuilt feature in what's generally a great notes program.

1. Drop your preferred image into an Evernote Note as first step.

 - The image appears as the thumbnail.

2. Then, add your other content, tags etc.

Seems to work at this end!

[athletico 6]

16 hours ago, MURFINO said:

There is a simple workaround to this issue, and agreed it should be a simple inbuilt feature in what's generally a great notes program.

1. Drop your preferred image into an Evernote Note as first step.

 - The image appears as the thumbnail.

2. Then, add your other content, tags etc.

Seems to work at this end!

This doesn't work for me using the web or mac versions. As soon as I add a later, larger image, the new one then becomes the default.

All things considered this is the one thing that pees me off about Evernote the most. I like things to look consistent and random images appearing as thumbnails messes with my head.

I really like a lot of the new feature in V10 so its a real shame that the thumbnail issue has not been resolved and continues to be an irritant.

Has anyone actually got a fix for this that works? 

 

 

[Boot17 1,057]

4 hours ago, athletico said:

this is the one thing that pees me off about Evernote the most

(I think you meant 'peeves'...?) I must admit that I've been mildly annoyed with this before, but now I have come to terms with it and am at Random-Thumbnail-Peace. ;-P

4 hours ago, athletico said:

Has anyone actually got a fix for this that works? 

I've only ever seen workarounds that sometimes work, but they are way too much of a hassle for me and aren't 100%. For example, I've dropped an image onto a note before and had it show up as the thumbnail and then added other images and text and whatever and it's fine, but a different thumbnail has shown up for the same note on a different device! (Looking just now, 2 out of the first 15 notes I looked at have different thumbnails on different devices for the same note with everything else being in sync.) So should I open my 4 other devices with Evernote and make sure the note with single image with thumbnail syncs to those devices first before adding more content? Nah. Random-Thumbnail-Peace. I'm telling you -- that's the way to go. (This comment should be marked as Solution, OP. jk)

[gazumped 10,732]

Random suggestion - and [maybe} possible work-around - I tend to work in side list a lot and need a way to identify a note from the title rather than the summary or thumbnail;  lately I've been using emoji's in titles and tags to flag particular topics or threads.

If you use something like 📙 Emojipedia — 😃 Home of Emoji Meanings 💁👌🎍😍 you'll find a lot of options...

[Mike P 2,231]

Another random suggestion. It looks like EN chooses the biggest picture to be the thumbnail. As I've commented earlier, this will change if a bigger image is added to the note. "Bigness" seems to be defined by the actual file size of the image file. In an external image editor, massively increase the size of a copy of the image you want as the thumbnail. Then add the copy to the bottom of the note and stretch it's size right down. Being the biggest image, EN will use it as the thumbnail. Because it is only a thumbnail any reduction in image quality will be negligible and you still have the original at the correct resolution.

As workarounds go this is pretty painful, so I wouldn't use it routinely!

Why can't I just have the option of "use as thumbnail" in the three dots image menu?

 

[maggie_j_12@yahoo.com 0]

I too would like this feature.  In many of the posts I've seen, it says you can change your thumbnail picture by right clicking on the picture but I do not see an option when I right click to "set as thumbnail image".  Am I missing something?  I have a template I use daily and the picture at the top of the template gets set to my thumbnail everyday... even if I delete that picture it still stays as the thumbnail.  I would like one of the new pictures I add that day to become my thumbnail picture instead.  

[gazumped 10,732]

On 10/23/2022 at 12:10 PM, maggie_j_12@yahoo.com said:

I would like one of the new pictures I add that day to become my thumbnail picture instead.  

Hi.  I don't know of any foolproof way to set or change the thumbnail.  All the options quoted in this thread so far don't necessarily work for me either.  The only guaranteed way to set the image is to save that one image into a new note.  If your template is for the content layout,  you might try copying and pasting from the template into a brand new note after you have placed the image you prefer.

[Mike P 2,231]

On 10/23/2022 at 12:10 PM, maggie_j_12@yahoo.com said:

I too would like this feature.  In many of the posts I've seen, it says you can change your thumbnail picture by right clicking on the picture but I do not see an option when I right click to "set as thumbnail image".  Am I missing something?  I have a template I use daily and the picture at the top of the template gets set to my thumbnail everyday... even if I delete that picture it still stays as the thumbnail.  I would like one of the new pictures I add that day to become my thumbnail picture instead.  

I don't think there has ever (legacy or V10) been the facility to right click on the picture to make it the thumnail. That would be far too sensible!

In the latest version on Windows (and therefore presumaby Mac and web as well) the thumbnail does change if:

• You delete the image and replace it with a new one
• You add a bigger (as measured by actual file size?) image
• You delete all images (then there is no thumnail)

 

10.47.7-win-ddl-public (3730)
Editor: v159.2.19536
Service: v1.59.4
© 2019 - 2022 Evernote Corporation. All rights reserved

[gazumped 10,732]

On 10/28/2022 at 11:45 PM, 123456789011 said:

We're now in 2022, nearly 2023, is it possible to select the thumbnail/snippet image for a note now ?

Please see the 9 pages of 'no' above.  But there are work-arounds...

[Hibernate 3]

I'm here to keep the thread alive. I have no insight nor tips to offer but just came to add my voice as another long time Evernote user who wants a seemingly easy feature: allow me to specify which image in the note will serve as a thumbnail.

As Mike P said in October, perhaps adding it as an option in the three dots image menu?

Thank you to the Evernote team for your consideration.

On 10/13/2022 at 10:26 AM, Mike P said:

Another random suggestion. It looks like EN chooses the biggest picture to be the thumbnail. As I've commented earlier, this will change if a bigger image is added to the note. "Bigness" seems to be defined by the actual file size of the image file. In an external image editor, massively increase the size of a copy of the image you want as the thumbnail. Then add the copy to the bottom of the note and stretch it's size right down. Being the biggest image, EN will use it as the thumbnail. Because it is only a thumbnail any reduction in image quality will be negligible and you still have the original at the correct resolution.

As workarounds go this is pretty painful, so I wouldn't use it routinely!

Why can't I just have the option of "use as thumbnail" in the three dots image menu?

 

 

[Poseidon 3]

I was just looking for a solution and found postings according to this item dated back before 2011 - unbelievable that the paying community complaining the lack of this very simple feature is still ignored by EN. Frustrating👎

[Mike P 2,231]

On 10/25/2022 at 11:53 AM, Mike P said:

In the latest version on Windows (and therefore presumaby Mac and web as well) the thumbnail does change if:

• You delete the image and replace it with a new one
• You add a bigger (as measured by actual file size?) image
• You delete all images (then there is no thumnail)

Well EN giveth and they taketh away. In 10.50.9 it seems that it is no longer possible to delete the image and for it to disappear from the thumbnail. i.e. the thumbnail image remains even if the image is no longer in the note. 

[janndk 237]

19 minutes ago, Mike P said:

Well EN giveth and they taketh away. In 10.50.9 it seems that it is no longer possible to delete the image and for it to disappear from the thumbnail. i.e. the thumbnail image remains even if the image is no longer in the note. 

I think it's a bug - so there is hope that thumbnail functionality is coming back later. EN 10.50.9 seems to be quite buggy generally: thumbnail bug, pdf export bug, selecting notes bug… 😒

[niklass 2]

Can't believe there is still no solution. I'm currently evaluating Notion. Evernote has much more features which useful for me, but I can't stand the ugly interface any more.

Imaging you could not only select the cover / thumbnail image freely, but also select it from unsplash with one click.

Also missing: a view that just shows the title and the image - and not some random text that is at the beginning of the note

[Boot17 1,057]

6 hours ago, niklass said:

Can't believe there is still no solution. I'm currently evaluating Notion. Evernote has much more features which useful for me, but I can't stand the ugly interface any more.

To each their own. I've tried Notion 3 different times and the tediousness of it literally gave me a headache.

Conversely, I love Evernote's UI and UX. I think they are hitting it out of the park. (Unless you are talking about the Legacy UI... cause I wasn't too keen on that one.)

I, too, wish that we could set the thumbnail image. It'd be so awesome. But there are so many other features of Evernote that I love so it's easy for me to overlook it as an annoyance.

With any tool there are going to be trade-offs... you just have to find the one for which you are trading the least. For me, that's Evernote. For you, it may be Notion. Good luck!

[kd5byb 11]

Ditto all the previous comments.  Seems like choosing what thumbnail image you want displayed should be easy and it's somewhat annoying that this has been a feature request for what, over 10 years now?

thanks,

ben

 

[gazumped 10,732]

42 minutes ago, kd5byb said:

Seems like choosing what thumbnail image you want displayed should be easy

If it were that easy,  I think Evernote would have done it by now.  If you added your vote at the top of the page it may help Evernote  to decide where this feature lies in their long list of enhancements due,  but if you really need the feature now,  you may be using the wrong software... 

[kd5byb 11]

Quote

37 minutes ago, gazumped said:

If it were that easy,  I think Evernote would have done it by now.  If you added your vote at the top of the page it may help Evernote  to decide where this feature lies in their long list of enhancements due,  but if you really need the feature now,  you may be using the wrong software... 

 

Roger on the ease and the delay - perhaps it's not as easy as I or we think? 

I will admit that I did create a bunch of new notes just now, adding the picture I wanted to be the thumbnail before anything else and using the "stickiness" of the first thumbnail to my advantage before adding other content which seems to work.

I may be having a stupid moment (likely!), but I can't see where I need to vote?  I looked at both the top of this page as well as the first post in the thread and I'm not seeing any voting options?

thanks!

-ben

[kd5byb 11]

nevermind - I found where to vote - it's the heart icon - having an attack of dumb this evening... 

 

thanks,

ben

 

[agsteele 2,578]

Scroll to the very top of the thread. On the left you'll see an upward pointing arrow/caret with the current view. Right now it says 500. Click that and you should see the count incident by one. You've added your vote.

[kd5byb 11]

 

4 hours ago, agsteele said:

Scroll to the very top of the thread. On the left you'll see an upward pointing arrow/caret with the current view. Right now it says 500. Click that and you should see the count incident by one. You've added your vote.

Got it, thanks!  Done!  Now up to 501. 

 

thanks much,

ben

 

[gazumped 10,732]

1 hour ago, caineo said:

A little bump

Not required - a vote is good:  it may help get the idea more attention.

1 hour ago, caineo said:

which should be basic functionality for Evernote.

Evernote has over 200M users.  This feature is clearly important to some,  but may require a lot of changes to the infrastructure currently supporting those other users. 

If it were easy,  it would have been done already.

 

[PinkElephant 6,768]

Issue a support ticket, find out.

[johnortt 26]

5 hours ago, Astopia said:

It's hard to imagine that this is a technically difficult thing to implement, yet it would be so incredibly useful. Why oh why is this not being implemented?

Welcome to the club Astopia.  The vast majority of us in this thread share your disappointment.

[niklass 2]

5 hours ago, Astopia said:

It's hard to imagine that this is a technically difficult thing to implement, yet it would be so incredibly useful. Why oh why is this not being implemented?

My guess: The properties of a note in it‘s internal presentation are fixed, you can‘t add another field without breaking compatibility.

[PinkElephant 6,768]

3 minutes ago, matohak said:

Can't believe there is such a long thread on this simple issue...

You just made it 1 (no, 2) entries longer.

On the assumption it would be simple (prove it ...), you can send your amazement to EN staff via feedback or a support ticket.

[PinkElephant 6,768]

Same advice: Other users here, and we can sympathize with your desire. But we can't do anything about it.

Use the feedback function or issue a support ticket to communicate with EN staff.

[gazumped 10,732]

10 hours ago, winyourday said:

Can't believe Evernote does not even comment on why they don't add it or why it takes so long.

Hi.  Evernote very very rarely comment about prospective new features and have never explained why they didn't action any specific feature.  The only comments I ever saw about cancelled options like Food and mapping were lack of user support. 

If you can't live without a choice of thumbnails,  then quite correctly you should find an app that suits your needs.  I don't know one offhand,  but I'm sure there are some out there...

[Boot17 1,057]

On 2/13/2023 at 11:47 PM, winyourday said:

So I am now after many years as a loyal Evernote customer considering switching to a competitor.

That's crazy talk! 😃 As you'll see in this thread I've posted quite a bit that I'd like to see this feature, but giving up on the software because of this one thing seems a bit of an over-correction and you are going to find that you have to make other trade-offs with other software. Perhaps you'll find one you like better though.

On 2/13/2023 at 11:47 PM, winyourday said:

What are your best alternative note apps? Any recommendations?

I'm not sure this is a great thread to ask that -- I'd recommend starting your own thread for it or search on the forums for it. But I'll throw you one anyway as it relates to thumbnail image control... UpNote allows for it. The first image in the note is always the thumbnail -- as what makes proper sense! But, like other apps, there are going to be tradeoffs if you switch to UpNote just for image thumbnail control then you also have to take no OCR for images, no pdf searching, data security concerns, way smaller max attachment size, etc, etc.

[PinkElephant 6,768]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:45 AM, Woola said:

This thread is 12 years old and still being ignored by Evernote ...

This argument cuts 2 ways: One may say "How bad is this" - another may comment "If they could continue for 12 years without it, it can't be that relevant".

Personally I think it should be added, at least as an option. So I have vote the request up a long time ago. But time passed is no argument - we should do our homework with our motivation to get it, and then drop it into feedback and support - not here.

This here is an elephants graveyard.

[gazumped 10,732]

2 hours ago, Amystoneus said:

this is a Feature Request our product team is working on releasing in an upcoming fix

...At least the team are planning to do something about this user request when their work schedule allows...

[Steven Gauck 11]

I can't wait to some day go back and fix all the absurdly irrelevant thumbnails to my notes.  Some of my flight information notes literally having a circled P parking logo as the thumbnail because the email content in the note happened to have airport parking information with a parking logo in it.  I probably have a rental car note with a hotel as the thumbnail because the rental car confirmation is cross-marketing hotel bookings.

[Boot17 1,057]

18 hours ago, gazumped said:

...At least the team are planning to do something about this user request when their work schedule allows...

Good catch on that, I had glossed over that part and it looks like the OP did too since the shade throwing didn't seem to match up with support's response.

[n41dgrs 0]

Adding my vote for this feature although apparently it's falling on deaf ears.  Seems so basic.  The most frustrating thing is even if you delete all other photos, the Evernote thumbnail still shows a photo which isn't even attached any more. 

After reading the hundreds of comments with thousands of upvotes related to this issue. I sent a msg to their team via Help & Learning. I received a reply that my request would be forwarded to the team.  Since this forum seems to be ignored maybe we should all send a request directly. Couldn't hurt right?

[gazumped 10,732]

9 hours ago, n41dgrs said:

Since this forum seems to be ignored maybe we should all send a request directly. Couldn't hurt right?

A sort of denial of service attack by message?  What could possibly go wrong... 🤨

[Mike P 2,231]

10 hours ago, n41dgrs said:

The most frustrating thing is even if you delete all other photos, the Evernote thumbnail still shows a photo which isn't even attached any more. 

I agree that used to be case. But in 10.53.2 if I delete the image corresponding to the thumbnail, the thumbnail changes to be one of the other images in the note. If I delete all but one of the images the thumbnail changes to be the one remaining image. If I delete all the images then the thumbnail disappears all together and I can then add any image that I want as thumbnail.

These changes do not take place instantaneously so there is obviously some back and forth to the server making it happen.

[Amystoneus 20]

11 hours ago, n41dgrs said:

Adding my vote for this feature although apparently it's falling on deaf ears.  Seems so basic.  The most frustrating thing is even if you delete all other photos, the Evernote thumbnail still shows a photo which isn't even attached any more. 

After reading the hundreds of comments with thousands of upvotes related to this issue. I sent a msg to their team via Help & Learning. I received a reply that my request would be forwarded to the team.  Since this forum seems to be ignored maybe we should all send a request directly. Couldn't hurt right?

This was the response I received last week, which looks very similar to the one I received a year ago when I complained to Evernote that I couldn't change the randomly selected thumbnail that showed the last text correspondence I had with a friend who died from Covid:

Quote

Thank you for reaching out to Evernote Customer Support. My name is Althea, and I’ll be assisting you today.
 
I understand how important it is for you to have the ability to modify the image being displayed in the thumbnail/snippet view. 
 
At this time, the image being displayed in the thumbnail view originates from the first uploaded image within your note. To confirm, it appears this is a Feature Request our product team is working on releasing in an upcoming fix. I'm unable to provide a definite timeframe on when this will be available. Any announcements about this feature will be made on Evernote's Release Notes.
 
I will share this information with our Team. I appreciate your honest feedback so we could improve the services we're providing.
 
In the meantime, in terms of my own experience, I've seen the following behavior will be how it works currently with Evernote's apps (below).
 
Behavior for a new notes on Evernote V. 10+ apps
 

1. Write the title of your new note.

2. Add the thumbnail you wish to have as the default thumbnail image for the note at the top of the note page.

3. Save changes to your notes

 
Behavior for an existing note on Evernote V. 10+ apps
 

 

1. Remove the default image you had in your existing note.

2. Make a copy of your original note content without the default thumbnail image.

3. Create a new note and add the new image to your new note.

4. Delete the original note.

5. Save changes to your notes.

 

 
I hope this helps somehow. Should there be a need for further assistance, I want you to know that our team will always be available to help you.
 

 

[Bhchia 0]

As an early user (since 2009) I have kept Evernote despite the issues it faced in recent years. 2023 and checking if this thumbnail feature has been resolved. Or at least a work-around can be suggested by the admins? Thank you. 

[Bhchia 0]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:01 AM, PinkElephant said:

The workaround to post one single image in a note, sync it, wait for the thumbnail to appear and then add the rest was posted several postings above.

We had however mixed experience that this thumbnail will stick, when more pictures are added to the note.

thanks for the tip. tried it and unfortunately, it went back to the "default" wrong thumbnail. For context, I have about 5 different images, and tried to resize the default wrong one smallest but still that particular image always "wins" even after I recreate new note and insert those images in. Can't figure it out. 

[Amystoneus 20]

4 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

No "You" here, the forum is user2user, and not monitored by EN.

Use the feedback or a support ticket.

FWIW, both avenues are useless for anyone who wants more from their misery than corroboration. I posted the response I received from support twice in this endless chain of complaints and pleas, noting it was essentially the same response I received over a year ago, except this time with a step-by-step workaround, since EN has no intention of devoting half a resource for half a day to solving this overwhelmingly frustrating issue that pretty much every app has managed to tackle successfully years ago. 

You are entirely correct in reminding everyone here that EN does not monitor their own user forum, as I did include the link to this decades-long thread in my support ticket, which was also clearly ignored. I do wish to thank you, though, for helping me summon the strength and resolve to break free of this over-priced bloated subscription where apathy and ego reign supreme.

I hope you’re well paid by EN, because you seem to be the only person showing up every day to keep the dissatisfied users at bay.

[PinkElephant 6,768]

To expect immediate action on a thread running for 12 years now (and counting) says more about your ability to spoof yourself, than the willingness of EN to implement this stuff.

The thumbnail creation is a server based process. Maybe there is nobody left who knows how to make the user interaction interfere with the server bots activities - who knows ?! Currently the bots on the server do what they need to do without any user input.

Or whatever - but 12 years, 9 pages full of posts and more than 500 upvotes in this thread are sort of proof that any forum activity here does nothing to get anything done. And for this conclusion nobody needs to pay a dime, obvious as it is.

[MCA_Evernote_User 0]

I can't stress enough how frustrating it is for me that this feature is not available yet. I've been using Evernote for longer than I can remember. Come on Evernote team, this is not hard.

[gazumped 10,732]

So.  527 votes as of today.  My maths is a little  vague,  but that seems to mean that .0003% of users here are vehemently in favour.  Assuming there are another 100 or so forums where similar support has been expressed,  that might move it up to .003%  Hard to see why Evernote haven't tried to accommodate folks..

And please stop saying "this is simple".  Changing Evernote's live code is like changing an LED on a racing car - while it's in use.

I totally agree this is a nice to have - but if you really need this feature now.,  please cancel your account and find something else that provides the flexibility

[spiketrain 1]

@gazumped - Yeah I guess that kind of puts it in perspective.... Though to alter perception again, my guess is that 80-90 percent of users would love to have this feature if they even knew what it would do for the management of their notes. We're just the 0.0003% who bother to try and find out why it isn't already in place.

This is the only feature request I've ever made I think... and this is the only thread I follow on Evernote Community Forum. I've been here for years as many of us have.

Others will have doubtless left EN by now for other pastures, but I'm a bit too invested in the architecture currently with thousands of notes etc - so am reluctant to re-train elsewhere. Not to say I won't do it one day.

I accept that the coding to create this is likely to be harder than many of us might think... but adding features and altering / bettering functionality is what all successful providers of this kind of service have to do daily - otherwise they get left behind. I know you already know this!

I think a lot of people here also feel a bit un-listened to. TBH, 0.0003% or not, to be able to identify your specific notes using a thumbnail image is really pretty basic in terms of how human logical / ergonomic interactivity works. Icons are everything, and we've known this for decades... so it seems a bit of a shame that this tiny percentage of sad, long-term users have existed here trying to point out that it is more than just worth the effort to make this feature a functioning option... and then have those at EN who monitor this page ignore us instead of thanking us for our observations and for our patience.   

 

[gazumped 10,732]

41 minutes ago, spiketrain said:

those at EN who monitor this page ignore us instead of thanking us for our observations and for our patience.

I think the number of pages on which Evernote have responded in the past has been in the same percentiles we're just talking about.  Can't guess how many threads there are in the Forums,  but there are hundreds,  probably thousands of suggestions for changes,  many in this sort of votable thread and many more which pre-date them. 

Evernote would have to fund a team of agents to respond to any given number - and where do you draw the line?  500 votes in favour?  100?  10?...  and then (for I used to run a support team) you'll get the ones who didn't get a response wondering why those who did are so special,  and those who did get a response pushing to know whether any work has been done on this yet,  and when's the release date. 

The staff responding would be tying up time with managers and coders asking questions internally...  I believe the expression "can of worms" covers the situation here.

All of which is great for the competition who know what to work on and when to release it (usually about a week before Evernote plans to.)  It's corporately better to say nuffin' and let folks think what they may - and let your team get on with their coding so you can release something you have already planned for as fast as possible.

I do agree with you that Evernote could be vastly better in many ways - but given that they have a vast technical debt because of the client data and format they already have,  and an admin debt in that they have new owners and (hopefully lots of) new staff on the job,  my opinion as always is:

"Stay if you can work around an issue - leave if you can't"

[Mike Soray 0]

Hello Everyone,

 

Has this function been added to Evernote, already?

I cannot find it so probably not. If so, I'd like to join the requesters below.

If I had a chance to make a one and the only one adjustment to Evernote, it would be: selecting the thumbnail image by the user.

I do hope this function finds its way to the app.

Thank you.

[PinkElephant 6,768]

No, this is open, and no signs it will be implemented.

[caineo 5]

I get so many updates for activity on this thread! Surely that's some anecdotal indication that this is a missing quality of life feature that many people have been grinning and bearing for years. 😅

[Steven Gauck 11]

22 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

No, this is open, and no signs it will be implemented.

Not necessarily a very encouraging one, but a glimmer of hope perhaps?  Recently I got this response back to my user feedback submission regarding the thumbnail selection issue.  On the other hand, I have seen the same  language in a response to at least one other of my inquiries I submitted, so it could just be completely meaningless boilerplate stuff.
 

Quote

I understand you would like the thumbnail image to be user-selectable.
 
We haven’t built this feature into the new Evernote app. This is one of a handful of  features we are still considering. Thanks for letting us know this feature is important to you. I will share this information with our product team.

Steven

[SWSL 59]

3 hours ago, caineo said:

I get so many updates for activity on this thread! Surely that's some anecdotal indication that this is a missing quality of life feature that many people have been grinning and bearing for years. 😅

Me too.  I'm need to unfollow.   Not important.  But the other day it occurred to me "if they didn't put images there at all - it might be better?   But eventually even the wrong images help one identify.  And they are often right or close enough.   

The issue is that the images are basically an avatar for the topic.  Or illustration to an article.   Fantastic to have an illustration, but a constant grating feeling to have a picture of a train or a worm representing your article about cats.   Only a few get significantly misrepresented but it just feels wrong to keep seeing a topic illustrated in a conflicting manner.   If you are going to show an avatar, either let me choose it or make it so generic that it's not wrong at least.  

A little thing that does not go away if you use EN steadily.  But I ignore it like those barking dogs that always go off.  Such is life. Little things.