Email to Evernote removed for free users

[TimRPBrown 2]

Got an email this morning telling me that as of 6th July emailing to evernote is to end for free users - according to the FAQ:

 

Why is saving email into Evernote now a paid feature?

Based on customer surveys and market research, we created two tiers of Evernote for our more active users. Being able to automatically turn emails into notes fit best with the needs of Plus and Premium customers.

(https://evernote.com/contact/support/kb/?spMailingID=11867726&spUserID=MzMwMzA1MzAyMjkS1&spJobID=580929315&spReportId=NTgwOTI5MzE1S0#!/article/94691268)

According to my market research and survey (me) this a rather more like evernote trying to squeeze more dollars out of long standing users. 

Thanks evernote. Shame you just couldn't be more honest about this change. 

Hello Microsoft Onenote

 

[Scottandtisha 2]

Yep ... I'll be switching to OneNote too. The explanation was garbage ... It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out they just want more money.

See ya!

[A48502 5]

I'm happy to pay for software, but there has never been a compelling reason for me to upgrade. How about adding new features to premium, instead of moving previously free features into it. 

 

But thank you for the customer surveys and market research though, this is by popular demand!

[PaulF 2]

I'm also not happy about this loss of a useful feature on the basic account, the survey didn't include me!

I don't use EN that much and have no need for any of other the features of plus or premium, so guess that I will just copy and paste text from emails into EN.  

Not convenient but the cost of upgrading just to enable emailing isn't worth it.

[CalS 5,280]

According to my market research and survey (me) this a rather more like evernote trying to squeeze more dollars out of long standing users. 

Thanks evernote. Shame you just couldn't be more honest about this change. 

Hello Microsoft Onenote

I guess some might be a better quantifier than more? 

 

No doubt this is an issue for many users, based upon the other threads on the same topic in the forum. 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

What do you mean "MORE" dollars...??? Like Csihilling pointed out, how about ANY dollars???

I'm happy to pay for software, but there has never been a compelling reason for me to upgrade.

Until now. So apparently you are NOT happy to pay. Which is fine because clearly, if this "valuable" feature is not worth the $2.08 per month it would cost, then it's really not all that valuable to you.

And yes, there was no need to start yet another thread on the topic.

[Sib 1]

My opinion on this move - this is "Bait & Switch". With all due respect, this is a bad business practice, and it should be considered bad and unfair move on EverNote side.

If you want your customers to pay for this, you should say so in the very beginning.

 

If you say "Oh, we changed our mind, we had no other choice etc", keep this feature for existing customers and ask new users to pay. Otherwise this is dishonest, regardless whether you you do this for free or paid applications.

I am author of freeware app with 200K active users today, and I have paid version too, and I would never do something like that to my users.

[CreativeLogics 5]

Perfectly well said Sib, that is this is absolutely a bad business practice. I barely use Evernote, let alone the email feature. Yet I was angered when I received this information. You want me to become a premium user ? Fine, then add a new power feature that would incite me to do so, but don't remove something I have. Those who says it's only 2$ are missing the point. Trust is lost, now I'm thinking that maybe one day I'll open Evernote only to realize you'll try to ransom me in order to access my notes. Be sure that I would never recommend Evernote to anybody from now on. 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

it's been several years, and it was obvious to most people, i think, that simply having a paid and unpaid user base (free and premium) wasn't terribly well planned. the ceo admitted as much when he said he just made up the subscription fee without any marketing research. so, i suspect we are looking at a choice between making/keeping evernote profitable or watching it die. with that in mind, i think it's fair and reasonable to do this, even if the implementation (in my opinion) was clumsy.

as for comparing evernote to other apps, i'd say that few of us really know what it is like to manage a multi-national operation employing hundreds of people and managing accounts for over a hundred million users. they are headed for an ipo, which is also something few of us have experienced, and there is bound to be some disruption as they get their service in order.

could evernote communicate better? sure. this is something some of us have been criticizing them about for a long, long time. but, this issue of re-calibrating the stuff offered to free users doesn't seem to me like one we can criticize too much. after all, free users get what they pay for, right? if evernote begins removing services from paying users (the poorly communicated and short-lived abandonment of public notebooks for paid and free users alike a few years ago comes to mind), then i think there is a stronger case to be made.

at any rate, i hope the new pricing structure fixes some of the revenue problems they had and gets them on secure footing so that they can stick around 100 years with everyone's data.

[JoeMD 9]

The email function was something I used all the time, however I can't justify $30US (around $40AU) a year just for that function when none of the other pro-abilities I'd use. Especially when there are other services that offer this out of the box, like Google Drive for example. If some of the other pro features were relevant to me maybe I'd pay, but as it is they aren't.

 

Sorry Evernote, you've lost yourself a customer.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

The email function was something I used all the time, however I can't justify $30US (around $40AU) a year just for that function when none of the other pro-abilities I'd use. Especially when there are other services that offer this out of the box, like Google Drive for example. If some of the other pro features were relevant to me maybe I'd pay, but as it is they aren't.

 

Sorry Evernote, you've lost yourself a customer.

 

 

seems like a fair point to me, but, they didn't really lose much, did they? after all, you weren't paying. in fact, they may have gained something by having one less free customer to manage.

 

of course, you might have moved up into premium in the future, so they did lose out on the potential to convert you. the same thing is true with me -- if they offered better encryption options, i'd be willing to pay quite a bit for a subscription. without it, no dice. we all have our particular set of priorities. at least with the new pricing they have introduced some gradations.

[JoeMD 9]

Exactly. The e-mail thing on its own isn't enough. The offline access is tempting, but also isn't enough by itself when I can access on-line things anytime from my phone (it's only my wifi-only tablet I'd use offline access on). If it could store other media such as sound and video, maybe then I would. But again, for $15 less a year I have all that with GDrive.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Exactly. The e-mail thing on its own isn't enough. The offline access is tempting, but also isn't enough by itself when I can access on-line things anytime from my phone (it's only my wifi-only tablet I'd use offline access on). If it could store other media such as sound and video, maybe then I would. But again, for $15 less a year I have all that with GDrive.

 

i think that is the problem -- they are in a very competitive space now, especially with their focus on business and microsoft office. google has the ability to lower costs to 0, and microsoft can get pretty close, so evernote will have to find a way to differentiate themselves enough to make the product appealing to users who are unsatisfied with google or microsoft.

 

personally, i'd say they need top-notch encryption. few applications, at the moment, offer it. devonthink (mac) is close, but there is a weakness in their use of dropbox. voodoopad (mac) has it, but the app is very much under-developed at the moment. if you want to use all platforms, i don't know of anything. google, apple, and microsoft hold the keys to the encryption, so i'd say there is an opportunity for evernote to come out and say they will go zero-knowledge (keys are only in our hands). it would certainly fit with their philosophy ("three laws") up until now.

 

there are a whole lot of other things they could do, of course. removing many of the limits to the "unlimited" service would be a welcome change. Then there are nested tags, nested notebooks, interface customization, more diagnostic tools (bringing the data mining that google and others have to your own personal account so that you could discover a deeper level of associations among notes --  a true zettelkasten), etc. 

 

but, i don't think that is the direction they are going. they have done the research and found that there is a need for a collaborative evernote alternative to email and microsoft office. as a satisfied user of both, and someone who wants his own "personal" external brain, i don't see it, but i don't seem to be in their target demographic. i'll happily pay others to supply the tools i want if evernote isn't interested in my use case. it may be a good thing, what they have done here, because it is a clear indication to users about the direction they are headed. that is always appreciated.

[markfor 0]

I too am disappointed with Evernote's handling of this email change.  I was considering Plus, but now question the the type of company with which I am dealing.  if I sign up for Plus, how long before they take a feature I use and make it only for "Premium" users.  They certainly have the right to do as they choose, but this has certainly shaken my impression of the company.  It makes me question if I want to continue investing my time building notebooks when I have little confidence in them staying with the feature set I chose.

[CalS 5,280]

It is much more difficult for a company to just move a feature from one paid tier to another.  More likely to just increase the price of the tier, IMO.  In any case, they could do either.  I guess only they know at this point if the push back they are getting for this email change is worth having made it, in revenue, cost reduction, or customer relations.

[briancaldwell 202]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

 

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

 

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

[TimRPBrown 2]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

 

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

 

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

 

EN is a great product, and it's not very much to pay, but then it doesn't give you very much either. I used Premium for about a year and then reverted to the free version and noticed very little difference regarding how I used EN, so why bother handing over even meagre amounts of cash to EN?

 

If EN feel they need to charge for this feature then that's their prerogative, my issue is the rather dishonest and cowardly way that EN try to pass this change off as a result of market research and something that we wanted to happen. Come on EN, grow a pair and just tell users how it actually is: "Sorry, but the email facility is now going to cost a few dollars." 

 

So rather less love now I'm afraid...

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Come on EN, grow a pair and just tell users how it actually is: "Sorry, but the email facility is now going to cost a few dollars." 

That's exactly what they did. Maybe the complainers should grow a pair and be willing to pay a few bucks for a service they use (apparently) enough to complain about when it's no longer free.

It's funny how the complainers keep coming up with various reasons why they don't want to pay. The bottom line is that those who truly value the service will fork over a few bucks. And those who want something for nothing will continue to find reasons why they don't want to pay for it...all the time thinking their threat to leave Evernote will cause EN to shudder at the loss of non-paying customers... Well good luck with that.

[CreativeLogics 5]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

 

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

 

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

Great to have an Evernote employe reading this. As I said it's not so much the 2 bucks that infuriate me, it's the methods the company used. So I'm suppose to become a plus member until one day you'll remove yet another feature in order to rope me into the premium membership ? And so on and so forth. No thanks. I'm still going to use Evernote, as a free member until maybe one day you offer a great new feature that make it worth paying a fee, but from now on I just won't recommend this app to anybody as I don't trust you anymore, it's just not the kind of company I'd like to support. I hope that you will rethink your move, suppress the limitation or offer to long time user some kind quota, like you can send 10 mails per month. Thanks for reading.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

 

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

 

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

Great to have an Evernote employe reading this. As I said it's not so much the 2 bucks that infuriate me, it's the methods the company used. So I'm suppose to become a plus member until one day you'll remove yet another feature in order to rope me into the premium membership ? And so on and so forth. No thanks. I'm still going to use Evernote, as a free member until maybe one day you offer a great new feature that make it worth paying a fee, but from now on I just won't recommend this app to anybody as I don't trust you anymore, it's just not the kind of company I'd like to support. I hope that you will rethink your move, suppress the limitation or offer to long time user some kind quota, like you can send 10 mails per month. Thanks for reading.

what dishonest thing did they do? where was there a promise to provide email, or any other service, in perpetuity? i can't say i agree with how it was done, but clumsy or rough around the edges is a long way from untrustworthy. personaly, i want evernote to be sustainable over the long term, and if they need to adjust pricing, especially for users who only consume resources, and don't pay into it, then that seems fair to me. longtime users, myself included, deserve very little if they are on the free tier. access to their data is about all i think they should expect. everything else is extra.

[CalS 5,280]

EN response in a different thread.  https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/86335-emailing-to-your-account-is-no-longer-free/?p=369286

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I'm happy to pay for software, but there has never been a compelling reason for me to upgrade. How about adding new features to premium, instead of moving previously free features into it. 

 

Most people admit that they have no need for most of the premium features... so adding new features is not likely to make basic users want to pay. A compelling reason enough, for me, would be to support a more than useful service. I pay for Gingko premium, even though I would have access to exactly the same features if I were a basic user. I support software (with my 5 cents) that makes a significant impact to my workflow. 

[be082839 0]

Market survey (sample of 370 - the comments below):

https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2010/03/16/emailing-into-evernote-just-got-better/

 

Very clear, the only thing I cannot conclude from this is the good fit with the needs of the plus and the premium users, and the not-so-good fit with the needs of the basic users.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

The goal of free software is not primarily to cater to all the needs and wants of the general populace... Indefinitely.

[be082839 0]

The goal of free software is not primarily to cater to all the needs and wants of the general populace... Indefinitely.

 

Very true. No-one says it is. Yet the decision around email-to-evernote is explained by stating that this specific feature fits best the needs of the plus and the premium users. Market research shows this. This suggest that evernote's goal (in general, not only of the free software) is to tune the features optimally for the different user groups. Great, any sane company would do so. But I wondered whether / why email to evernote was less fitting the needs of the basic users. I thought that direct feedback of these users could answer that question...

 

https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2010/03/16/emailing-into-evernote-just-got-better/

[Frank.dg 1,385]

It matters little what is said to buffer the impact of the pulling of this feature for Basic accounts. That's just some spin doctor who didn't quite put out convincing logic. What does remain, however - and what is quite obvious - is that Evernote wants to use the emailing feature as a means to perhaps convert some of the Basic users to Plus or Premium. I think it was a good move. It may be ruffling a few feathers... but that only serves to highlight the usefulness of a feature, and the fact that it is Evernote's prerogative to give people the opportunity to support a product they've been using for (in many cases) years. 

 

The wording of what Evernote states is not as important as what is so glaringly obvious. And what is so obvious is not the worst thing in the world. 

[Ravi Teja 0]

This is the worst move by Evernote. After going through the mail and reading the reason I was so infuriated. Is this a joke based on which stupid statistics and surveys you could remove such a cool feature for the free users. I use it many times within a day sometimes. I even registered in few of my online accounts with Evernote mail address. Now you are removing the feature.

This is very bad business, U are luring the customers initially and now you are stripping off the features. U many say that I should upgrade to plus or premium account. For your kind information, everyone cannot afford for plus or premium accounts. Initially, you should have told Evernote is a business product which is only for money. We are in this for money not for customers.

I am completely upset with your decision.

[aldo miro 0]

Evernote can and should take advantage of the opportunity to charge and make as much money as it can for it's valued service features and capabilities. However, I received 1 email notification on 7/15 about saving emails becoming a paid feature and then almost immediately after that the capability under basic membership is kaput. Perhaps, Evernote did send out a previous, advanced notification about this expected change but I searched all my inbox emails and cannot find one. I would have been a lot more inclined to upgrade if Evernote had demonstrated more consideration and respect for its Basic user base, which includes me, and given more and more clear advance notice about this (to me) major change in usage policy. I am inclined now to not upgrade and switch to some other alternative—yes, even a paid one—simply because I don't want to support a company that tried to hi-jack new business in a very customer-unfriendly way. Not sure I'd be able to trust you in the future, Evernote, as much as I've loved you up until now.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I don't envy the digital road ahead of you... but hopefully your "inclination" will change once you've had a good sleep on it.

[gbarry 2,658]

Evernote can and should take advantage of the opportunity to charge and make as much money as it can for it's valued service features and capabilities. However, I received 1 email notification on 7/15 about saving emails becoming a paid feature and then almost immediately after that the capability under basic membership is kaput. Perhaps, Evernote did send out a previous, advanced notification about this expected change but I searched all my inbox emails and cannot find one. I would have been a lot more inclined to upgrade if Evernote had demonstrated more consideration and respect for its Basic user base, which includes me, and given more and more clear advance notice about this (to me) major change in usage policy. I am inclined now to not upgrade and switch to some other alternative—yes, even a paid one—simply because I don't want to support a company that tried to hi-jack new business in a very customer-unfriendly way. Not sure I'd be able to trust you in the future, Evernote, as much as I've loved you up until now.

 

We've been sending out waves of emails starting a little over a month ago, and delayed the change by over a month to make sure there was time to both communicate to every one who may be affected and for people to adjust their workflows. It looks like we missed you, and that was unintended. My apologies. 

 

While this was less explicit than the email notification, the information has also been available since we added the Plus tier on April 29th. 

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Given the number of people complaining about the loss of the email-to-account feature in the Free version, it seems to me that Evernote made a good decision to increase their revenue with very little cost to the user ($3/month for Plus ver).  The users who truly need and value this service will upgrade.  Those that expect a free lunch for life will continue to complain for a while, and then either go away, or upgrade if they really need the service.  Those that go away would likely have never upgraded.  

 

Let's be clear:  from the beginning Evernote's intent/expectation was that a large number of free users would upgrade after using their product for a short while.  So when the number of upgrades was far short of expected, they changed their marketing model.  Companies do this all the time.

 

If you think there is a free service out there that is anywhere near as good as Evernote, then you should go look.  Perhaps One Note might meet some needs, but not most.

I can say this because I and other users who have Premium accounts have searched far and wide for Evernote alternatives (not because of price, but because of other issues like scalability and encryption).  So far, no one has found anything that completely replaces Evernote, or even close.

 

Common sense tells you that any product/service offered for free is subject to being changed or discontinued at any time.

 

Evernote is a business.  They are not the government, not a charity (although they may donate a lot), not your family, or anyone else who might provide you with free services/support for life.  They are a business trying to make a profit, like any other for-profit business.  They are also not a big business like Apple or Microsoft, that have $Billions at their disposal.

 

Frankly, I hope they get more paid subscribers, because I, like many others, really need for Evernote to work on some serious issues (scalability, encryption), and that takes serious resources.

[JoeMD 9]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

Because right across the street there is another company providing their own coffee with all of the things your coffee has but ALSO with a few extra marshmallows for a considerably cheaper price.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

Because right across the street there is another company providing their own coffee with all of the things your coffee has but ALSO with a few extra marshmallows for a considerably cheaper price.

what's the name of this coffee shop? i'm not aware of any lower priced equivalents, especially with a free email service for creating notes, but maybe i am just poorly informed.

if you are using evernote, and you are satisfied with it, why not pay to keep the service around? personally, i'm happy to pay for apps and services that i like. i've seen too many great ones go extinct. i'd like to see evernote stick around, and "plus" seems like a very small price to pay.

[JoeMD 9]

The other coffer shop is Google Drive. I can save emails directly to it and it also has a web clipping feature. Sure, the web clipping feature may not be as elegant as Evernotes and I may be using files and folders rather than notebooks and stacks but for $15AU less a year I'm fine with that.

[Metrodon 2,184]

The other coffer shop is Google Drive. I can save emails directly to it and it also has a web clipping feature. Sure, the web clipping feature may not be as elegant as Evernotes and I may be using files and folders rather than notebooks and stacks but for $15AU less a year I'm fine with that.

Looks like you've found the right app for you then. Obviously, it's saving you some money, but Google drive revenue in slightly less direct ways and I'm sure you are aware of them and are happy so good luck!

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

pay evernote for the service and they don't mine your data, or don't pay google for theirs and they do. actually, even if you pay google, they'll mine your data. given a choice between the two, i'd pick en.

whoops. forgot the coffee shop analogy. at en, you pay for a cup of coffee. at gd, you pay a little less for a cup of coffee, and they do a body cavity search while you wait.

[Metrodon 2,184]

and sell your results....

 

(can we stop this analogy now please?)

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I don't get the part about the "few extra marshmallows". Seems that GD had a few less marshmallows if one has to make do.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

and sell your results....

(can we stop this analogy now please?)

oh, no. this analogy could go on and on

i think the point, though, is that there are various business models and features available. there is a cost to everything, and we get to choose how we'll pay for it -- one way or another, we'll have to pay. evernote's pricing tiers don't seem expensive or unwarranted to me.

[Bill Myers 458]

I've been wrestling with how -- and even whether -- to chime in on yet another thread started by someone complaining about moving the email-to-EN feature to a paid tier. As I've already stated I disagree with the reasoning offered by the complainers, but I think I am unlikely to persuade them.

 

Instead I'll simply say that I have found Evernote extremely useful and it suits me better than other similar tools like OneNote. Unlike a lot of digital tools that have a "cool" factor but little benefit, Evernote has truly improved the way that I work. Also I like the fact that Evernote doesn't mine my information and sell it to advertisers like Google does. There's enough value there that I'm willing to pay for it.

 

I think if you look at Evernote throughout its history, the company has added features without raising prices. This is the only circumstance I am aware of where the company has removed a feature from the free to a paid tier. I think Evernote with its track record has earned my trust when it comes to delivering value without trying to soak me for every penny possible.

[eric99 980]

I've been wrestling with how -- and even whether -- to chime in on yet another thread started by someone complaining about moving the email-to-EN feature to a paid tier. As I've already stated I disagree with the reasoning offered by the complainers, but I think I am unlikely to persuade them.

 

Instead I'll simply say that I have found Evernote extremely useful and it suits me better than other similar tools like OneNote. Unlike a lot of digital tools that have a "cool" factor but little benefit, Evernote has truly improved the way that I work. Also I like the fact that Evernote doesn't mine my information and sell it to advertisers like Google does. There's enough value there that I'm willing to pay for it.

 

I think if you look at Evernote throughout its history, the company has added features without raising prices. This is the only circumstance I am aware of where the company has removed a feature from the free to a paid tier. I think Evernote with its track record has earned my trust when it comes to delivering value without trying to soak me for every penny possible.

I fully agree!

If there is any company I distrust, it is Google with its data-mining model, certainly not Evernote.  I'm happy to pay €1.5 /month for this...

[Brian T 0]

What do you mean "MORE" dollars...??? Like Csihilling pointed out, how about ANY dollars???

 

I'm happy to pay for software, but there has never been a compelling reason for me to upgrade.

Until now. So apparently you are NOT happy to pay. Which is fine because clearly, if this "valuable" feature is not worth the $2.08 per month it would cost, then it's really not all that valuable to you.

And yes, there was no need to start yet another thread on the topic.

 

I get your point, and sure, some of this is me and others complaining about paying for a software tool that has real cost to produce and yet we are using for free (something that is so common nowadays, but really is kind of amazing)!  On other hand, while I could make an argument about how the EN service is obviously worth more to me than $2.08/month, that is really only looking at the demand side.  The reality is that EN is competing with other tools (OneNote getting a lot of mentions here), and the price has to take the supply side into account to.  If I can get a service from a competitor that is almost as good as EN for free, am I willing to pay $25/year for EN.  Really, I am asking, "Am I willing to pay $25 per year specifically to get the features that OneNote (or some other tool) doesn't offer?"  I honestly don't know anything about OneNote, but I'm about to go do some research to answer that precise question.  If I value the added features of EN over OneNote more (and qualitatively "subtract" from that the value of the features that OneNote offers better than EN) more than $25/year, then EN Premium, here I come.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

One would also do well to investigate all the 3rd party apps that you can authorize to connect to Evernote. Both built specifically for Evernote integration and otherwise. Then there's really no comparison at all... Whether it's getting stuff in or getting stuff out.

Plus there's Penultimate, Scannable, Skitch, Evernote Food, Clearly... Evernote products themselves.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 The reality is that EN is competing with other tools (OneNote getting a lot of mentions here), and the price has to take the supply side into account to.  If I can get a service from a competitor that is almost as good as EN for free, am I willing to pay $25/year for EN.  Really, I am asking, "Am I willing to pay $25 per year specifically to get the features that OneNote (or some other tool) doesn't offer?" 

 

That's a fair and logical way of evaluating Evernote.  If fact that process is one that go through whenever I make a software purchase.

 

There is a different kind of price to pay if you switch applications.  It may require a considerable amount of your time.

You will have to:

1. Download, install, setup, and configure the new app

   (repeat this for every device you have)

2. Transfer your Notes from EN to the new app.
3. Learn how to use the new app.
4. Learn how to share notes in the new app, and convince you friends and colleagues to also switch.
5. Find out about all the features that EN has that the new app does not, and how to deal with it.

So, if Evernote is doing a good job of meeting your needs today, you will have to decide if it is worth the price of a beer or cup of coffee each month to continue, and engage into the unknown of a new app.

 

BUYER BEWARE:  There is nothing to prevent MIcrosoft from changing OneNote or Google from changing Google Apps/Google Drive in way that you don't like.  They could either drop some features, or change how they work.

[eric99 980]

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch:

 

"...Microsoft provides many of our sites and services free of charge because they are supported by advertising. In order to make these services widely available, the information we collect may be used to help improve the advertisements you see by making them more relevant to you...

 

http://www.microsoft.com/privacystatement/en-us/office/default.aspx

[CPA4Biz 0]

How can we stop the annoying pop-ups wanting to select us between different service levels??  It just keeps popping up every time and its annoying now!  Besides, there seems to be a zero support available!

[maxtrash 0]

Evernote can and should take advantage of the opportunity to charge and make as much money as it can for it's valued service features and capabilities. However, I received 1 email notification on 7/15 about saving emails becoming a paid feature and then almost immediately after that the capability under basic membership is kaput. Perhaps, Evernote did send out a previous, advanced notification about this expected change but I searched all my inbox emails and cannot find one. I would have been a lot more inclined to upgrade if Evernote had demonstrated more consideration and respect for its Basic user base, which includes me, and given more and more clear advance notice about this (to me) major change in usage policy. I am inclined now to not upgrade and switch to some other alternative—yes, even a paid one—simply because I don't want to support a company that tried to hi-jack new business in a very customer-unfriendly way. Not sure I'd be able to trust you in the future, Evernote, as much as I've loved you up until now.

 

This exactly. I can understand Evernote wanting to make some bucks.

 

However, I missed the mail about the downgrading of the basic account. Shortly after that the e-mails I've sent to my Evernote mail address just went into some black hole. No notification, nothing. Only now (that's how much I use Evernote) I've figured out what's going on!

 

I would have paid probably but now I'm inclined to look for another alternative.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

 

This exactly. I can understand Evernote wanting to make some bucks.

 

However, I missed the mail about the downgrading of the basic account. Shortly after that the e-mails I've sent to my Evernote mail address just went into some black hole. No notification, nothing. Only now (that's how much I use Evernote) I've figured out what's going on!

 

I would have paid probably but now I'm inclined to look for another alternative.

 

 

One suggestion I always give: Follow Evernote's blog. You can get updates via email... which would inform you of any major changes across all the clients. Also, getting involved in the forums here... and basically putting your feelers out to learn more about Evernote n general, it would be impossible to miss information about downgrading... or anything else. That's my suggestion moving forward... with Evernote or any other software. Try to connect to social media of some sort that informs you about changes. 

[JoeMD 9]

Ok, Evernote, you win.  Just changed roles at my job so now it makes sense to have a subscription as I'll need that e-mail function.

[maxtrash 0]

 

 

This exactly. I can understand Evernote wanting to make some bucks.

 

However, I missed the mail about the downgrading of the basic account. Shortly after that the e-mails I've sent to my Evernote mail address just went into some black hole. No notification, nothing. Only now (that's how much I use Evernote) I've figured out what's going on!

 

I would have paid probably but now I'm inclined to look for another alternative.

 

 

One suggestion I always give: Follow Evernote's blog. You can get updates via email... which would inform you of any major changes across all the clients. Also, getting involved in the forums here... and basically putting your feelers out to learn more about Evernote n general, it would be impossible to miss information about downgrading... or anything else. That's my suggestion moving forward... with Evernote or any other software. Try to connect to social media of some sort that informs you about changes. 

 

 

sure I can do that but for some people Evernote is life changing and for others (me) it's just a service I use occasionally. There is a reason why I didn't buy the paid subscription yet. I don't expect to get a VIP treatment but I do not like notes getting lost and think EN should have taken care a bit more.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

 

 

 

This exactly. I can understand Evernote wanting to make some bucks.

 

However, I missed the mail about the downgrading of the basic account. Shortly after that the e-mails I've sent to my Evernote mail address just went into some black hole. No notification, nothing. Only now (that's how much I use Evernote) I've figured out what's going on!

 

I would have paid probably but now I'm inclined to look for another alternative.

 

 

One suggestion I always give: Follow Evernote's blog. You can get updates via email... which would inform you of any major changes across all the clients. Also, getting involved in the forums here... and basically putting your feelers out to learn more about Evernote n general, it would be impossible to miss information about downgrading... or anything else. That's my suggestion moving forward... with Evernote or any other software. Try to connect to social media of some sort that informs you about changes. 

 

 

sure I can do that but for some people Evernote is life changing and for others (me) it's just a service I use occasionally. There is a reason why I didn't buy the paid subscription yet. I don't expect to get a VIP treatment but I do not like notes getting lost and think EN should have taken care a bit more.

 

 

I get that... it's just a service... but your issue has to do with no notifications about mail-to-Evernote changes. Evernote doesn't have to be life-changing... but at the most basic... just maybe you might want to be apprised of changes that could affect you. Seems like it was important enough for you to post on the forums. The suggestion was for lightweight users. Primarily. It costs nothing to get updates which you can delete if not pertinent. So now you're inclined to look for another alternative... but you might have "figured out what's going on!" a little sooner rather than later. "Some black hole" seemed epic... maybe drastic times call for drastic measures... like... I dunno... following the basics of what happens so that phenomena like black holes can be explained.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I for one don't have time to join the forums and keep tabs on every software app I own.  If I did, I wouldn't get anything else done.

 

Evernote has consistently had issues with email notifications to it users on a variety of topics.  IMO, they need to carefully reexamine their notification process, both from a technical and procedural POV.  Even when we do get the email, often the message is unclear.

 

It seems reasonable to me that Evernote should bounce all emails-to-account that are not permitted, so that the user has a clear, positive indication that the email was not processed, and the reason why.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I for one don't have time to join the forums and keep tabs on every software app I own.

 

I know, right?

[Steve K 1]

How often are you actually emailing to EN? I find myself using the web clipper more than email, and with the app on my phone, sending to EN. Every time I want to email, I have to check my shortcut in EN on the subject line syntax to get it right.

 

If emailing EN isn't an option for you (it is for me, because I've been on Premium for years), there are other ways to get the same results. IFTTT gives you a lot more than just email to create notes - save starred Gmails to EN, Instagram to EN, Twitter to EN, Facebook to EN, RSS to EN - and 200+ other channels and 1,000s of triggers.

[Thomas-Ffm 0]

Why not just purchase Evernote Plus? It costs less than a cup of coffee.

 

I'm seriously interested in your answers.

 

If the email to Evernote function is important to you, why not pay to support the company that brings you a feature that you love?

 

This a late reply, however you said you are interested in the answers:

 

Your CEO said in several interviews, one version from 2010 is on your website that evernote will be free foreever:

 

"Evernote is a service that lets you remember everything interesting that happens to you, now and for the rest of your life. You can use Evernote from every computer, phone, camera or other device that you own and all of your data is automatically synchronized between them. You can use Evernote for free, forever, although there is a premium version available for power users."

 

Saying "free foreever" has been a strong reason for users to join initially and the basis for evernotes' success.

 

If you remove - based on market research - features that are hardly used, I would find this a fair interpretation.

When you now interpret this as "You can use evernote for free, forever, but we might charge you for what you use now for free" this seems a interpretation of this statement that stretches the statement in my opinion a bit too far.

 

If this is your interpretation, you could as well tomorrow cut down the free account to writing or reading only a limited number of notes per day.

[Grunt Futuk 1]

Can you achieve same using ifttt,com?

[CalS 5,280]

Perhaps, though some mail header information may be lost.  You can do a reasonable simulation using a macro created by PhaseExpress or the like.