findo 0 Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 I love Evernote, and I've been telling everyone I know! I'm getting my paid-for account very soon. But there's one thing I find frustrating, and that's the lack of a proper manual. What do I mean by "proper"? Here goes:1. The videos are great, but not everyone wants to watch a video just to get a quick answer. Why only a pdf manual? Pdfs are the work of the devil; I'd like other choices. I can't even copy and paste a line from the pdf manual to help other users on this forum. Why not a web version, and why not an Evernote notebook that we could all use offline? (This would be great for phone versions too - looking stuff up online isn't always quick when you're out and about.)2. The manual doesn't cover everything. I frequently have to turn to this forum for answers - and they aren't always here. Can I search for other people's public folders? A search on the word "public" does not offer any answer.3. The manual should explain things step-by-step, in simple words, with as many illustrations as possible. For example, on page 14 it says: "To delete a Watch folder, highlight the folder (make sure it is highlighted in Blue) and hit the Delete key on your keyboard." What is a 'Watch folder'? The pdf doesn't say anywhere, and if I look in the Import Wizard, it uses the terms "source folder" and "destination folder". So which one is the Watch folder? And WHERE do I highlight it? In my list of Evernote folders? In the import wizard? This needs to be explained much more clearly. A manual should always be aimed at beginner users.I want Evernote to go from strength to strength; it's a wonderful, truly useful thing. I think if people can't get the help they need, they may stop using Evernote out of frustration, and that would be very sad. I think you should make time for a proper manual but if you really really can't, maybe you should create a public notebook and ask users to collaborate on writing one. I know I'd be happy to help out, and I hope others would be too.Very best wishes from an Evernote fan,findo Link to comment
engberg 89 Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Thanks for the feedback. We're working on improving our documentation over the next few months. Link to comment
findo 0 Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 That's good to hear. Thanks for replying - the offer of help remains open :-)findo Link to comment
heather 604 Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 The Evernote 3.5 manual you had evaluated was an a draft based on an early beta of 3.5, where the Import screens weren't actually there yet. The final version is now available. Check the link in my Signature. I hope you'll be pleased Plus - as the Evernote 3.5 client is an offline client, we want to have a manual for people to download and have available offline, so a strictly online version would not be very good. Link to comment
findo 0 Posted June 19, 2010 Author Share Posted June 19, 2010 Sadly the manual is still a pdf, and I'm still continually running into questions it doesn't answer. It seems insane that the one thing I can't have as a notebook in Evernote is the Evernote manual! It would be so helpful when the internet is unavailable or slow, or when I'm using an iPhone or iPad - the PDF version is awkward to read and not comprehensive.I would think it makes sense to break it up into several notes in one notebook for speed of use, especially on small devices. Also, it could provide a helpful example for beginners by showing how to organise and tag notes.I know you guys are busy creating new versions of Evernote for different devices (and as an iPad user I appreciate it), but I still think that you may lose users because of the manual, and it's still driving me crazy.Any update on when it will get an overhaul?Best regards,findoP.S. I got that paid account and I've already managed to exceed my monthly upload allowance, so you can count me as a keen user! Link to comment
TheGurkha 1 Posted June 19, 2010 Share Posted June 19, 2010 Note that it depends on which PDF reader you are using as to whether you can copy a line of text or not (and the security settings of the PDF of course).Here's a clip from the Evernote PDF:Punctuation is used to split the input query and document into words, but it is ignored for text matching. The behavior of a quoted search should behave as if the following operations were performed on both the search query and the target note: I use the fantastic and free PDF-Xchange viewer, which also lets you annotate PDFs. Link to comment
Level 5* jefito 5,589 Posted June 19, 2010 Level 5* Share Posted June 19, 2010 Sadly the manual is still a pdf, and I'm still continually running into questions it doesn't answer. It seems insane that the one thing I can't have as a notebook in Evernote is the Evernote manual! It would be so helpful when the internet is unavailable or slow, or when I'm using an iPhone or iPad - the PDF version is awkward to read and not comprehensive.One way that you can help the manual out is by letting them know exactly what questions that you have that are not answered. That's the only way that they'd know what is missing.I would think it makes sense to break it up into several notes in one notebook for speed of use, especially on small devices. Also, it could provide a helpful example for beginners by showing how to organise and tag notes.The idea of the manual being delivered in note form (or more probably via a shared notebook, as that's the only mechanism that's available for sharing Evernote content that I know of) is interesting, but probably opens a can of worms. Your manual needs to be in sync with releases, and not everyone is using the same release (or even client) so how do you/Evernote manage that? The answer might currently be beyond the capacities of the architecture, at least for now. But yeah, interesting.~Jeff Link to comment
findo 0 Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 Jeff, you're right, but I worry about the fine line between "helpful" and "forum weirdo"! I guess the compromise is I'll make a note of anything missing and post occasional lists so I don't become Queen of the Spammed. Thanks for making me think about it,Findo Link to comment
findo 0 Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 Thanks for the helpful suggestion, The Gurkha. I loathe PDFs, but that's a useful workaround while we wait for something better Findo Link to comment
engberg 89 Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 Thanks for the feedback. We hired a new guy (Brett) who'll be improving and expanding our self-help materials soon. Part of this is standardizing on an authoring format that will be easier to translate and reformat into different layouts (HTML, PDF, etc.)Thanks Link to comment
Level 5* jefito 5,589 Posted June 21, 2010 Level 5* Share Posted June 21, 2010 Jeff, you're right, but I worry about the fine line between "helpful" and "forum weirdo"! I gave up on worrying about that awhile ago. Concrete suggestions and bug reports are about as helpful as it gets, lots better than being vague. ~Jeff Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.