Solution to not having white background for notes

[Shagun 0]

Hey @RobertJSawyer,

When do you plan to put up the updated code in the top thread? Nevertheless, can you also put up like a "for-dummies" procedure?

I've been trying real hard since morning to go through the comments, make SFK run batch files (I'm still not sure how it does, I have it's shell installed and I just drag the batch file to it - Nope, bangs up with errors. Even though every Evernote app is closed), turn off 'Read only' modes for folders and so on.

Still, can you put up like a real step-by-step procedure to do this. I saw the code. It's real easy to read. But how to run the code? What all to do before running it using SFK? How to run the confusing SFK software (if it even is)?

A simple, probably bulleted solution will go a long way and for a wider audience to come - because Evernote still needs your help to compensate for their "capacity crunch". Appreciate your efforts. Thanks.  

[RobertJSawyer 167]

Hi, @Shagun.

You don't get SFK to run the batch file; it's the other way around, you run the batch file and it in turn runs SFK (a batch file is a batch -- a bunch, a group -- of commands you want the computer to execute in the order they're listed in the batch file from first line to last). 

Hare's a draft of the bullet-list instructions you've asked for.  NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD DOWNLOAD EN-color.txt AGAIN FROM THIS MESSAGE, as I've made some changes to it (mostly adding extra documentation inside that file, but also a couple of important things).

Once a few people have tried this procedure out and given it the thumbs up or told me what to correct, I'll move them into the first message in the thread.

====

Provided as is with no warranty of any kind / use at your own risk.

For use with Evernote for Windows only.

This procedure changes the on-screen display of the background color of Evernote notes (without actually altering the note in any way) and also changes the on-screen display of the background color for the note list as well as making the highlight color and divider lines in the note list contrast well with the new background color.

[ * ] First, don't forget to set the Dark theme for Evernote's Left Panel display -- the only part of a night mode that Evernote's developers actually give Windows users.  You can do that at this setting inside the Evernote client:

    Tools | Options | General | Left panel theme | Default (dark)

[ * ] Initiate an Evernote sync by clicking the Sync icon in the Evernote tool bar and wait until it is complete.

[ * ] Exit the Evernote program (File menu, and then Exit).

[ * ] Also close the Evernote tray icon (the elephant symbol) by right-clicking on it and selecting "Quit Evernote".

[ * ] Download the file EN-color.txt attached to this message.

[ * ] Rename EN-color.txt to EN-color.bat (Windows may give you a warning about the danger of changing a file type; ignore the warning).

[ * ] Place EN-color.bat in you Evernote program folder, which is probably "c:\Program Files\Evernote\Evernote" but might be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Evernote\Evernote".

If your Evernote program folder isn't in either of those two places (only one of which should exist), you can find out where your Evernote.exe is located by right-clicking on the Evernote icon, then selecting properties, then the "Shortcut" tab, and looking at the value in "Start in" field; that value is the folder that contains your Evernote.exe file.

[ * ] THIS BATCH FILE REQUIRES THE FREE UTILITY SWISS FILE KNIFE, WHICH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD FROM HERE:

http://stahlworks.com/dev/swiss-file-knife.html

[ * ] Place sfk.exe in your Evernote program folder, which, again, is probably c:\Program Files\Evernote\Evernote but might be c:\Program Files (x86)\Evernote\Evernote

NOTE: If you are running a third-party antivirus program (something other than Windows Defender, which is included with Windows), you may get a warning that sfk.exe is unsafe.  What that means is that the antivirus program has (quite rightly) detected that sfk.exe has the ability to modify program files -- which is exactly what we're about to use it for.  Disable your antivirus program and try again.

[ * ] If your Evernote program is not on Drive C:, edit line 71 of EN-color.bat , which just says C:, to show the appropriate drive letter.  If your Evernote is on Drive D:, for instance, then just change this to D:

[ * ] Next, you have to get to a command prompt.

Under Windows 10, click Start.  Scroll down and expand the "Windows System" folder.  RIGHT-CLICK on "Command Prompt," and choose "Run as administrator."  (If that doesn't work -- if you don't have administrator privileges on your computer -- then just LEFT-CLICK on "Command Prompt.

Under Windows 7, that s "Run" from the start menu, then type CMD and hit <Enter>.

[ * ] You'll now see the command prompt, which will look something like this:

C:\Users\Username>

Your cursor will be right after the ">" sign. At that spot type PRECISELY THIS (spaces matter):

    cd "\Program Files\Evernote\Evernote"

The command prompt will change to:

C:\Program Files\Evernote\Evernote>

IF AND ONLY IF that doesn't work, THEN AND ONLY then type this:

    cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Evernote\Evernote"

The command prompt will change to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Evernote\Evernote>

[ * ] And now it's magic time!  At the command prompt, type the name of the batch file:

    EN-color.bat

A bunch of messages will flash on your screen, and you'll end up with a display similar to this:

         [total hits/matching patterns/non-matching patterns]
    [001/1/0] Evernote.exe
    1 files checked, 1 changed.
    [total hits/matching patterns/non-matching patterns]
    [004/1/0] Evernote.exe
    1 files checked, 1 changed.
    [total hits/matching patterns/non-matching patterns]
    [009/1/0] Evernote.exe
    1 files checked, 1 changed.

If the FIRST "changed" line says "0 changed" instead of "1 changed," that means the background color for notes failed to be changed for some reason (most likely in this case and the two below, because you've already run EN-color.bat).

If the SECOND "changed" line says "0 changed" instead of "1 changed," that means the background color for the notes list failed to be changed for some reason.  

If the THIRD "changed" line says "0 changed" instead of "1 changed," that means the background color for the divider line in the notes list failed be changed for some reason.

[ * ] At the command prompt type:

exit

That will close the command-prompt session.

[ * ] If you disabled your antivirus program earlier, re-enable it now.  

[ * ] Finally, simply run Evernote as normal, and you should see darker background colors for notes and for the note list.

That's it!
 

 

EN-color.txt

[Shagun 0]

Dear @RobertJSawyer, I literally have very few words to THANK YOU!

I did this step by step and it worked PERFECTLY. Not a single bug, all smooth, all crystal clear - "for dummies" approved! Thanks again for spending noticeably significant time to knit it in such a short turnaround. ❤

Not that it is needed, but still two plus tips for any fellow user would be:

1. Rename the sfk file to "sfk.exe" as in the recent downloads they include the version(?) name. For e.g. mine was "sfk197.exe". The cmd couldn't find sfk in such a case.
2. Further, even after closing the application from File> Exit, and closing the system tray - do go in Task Manager to close the Evernote clipping tool. It might be that my Chrome clipping tool runs independently as I still found it running even after file-exit.

Rest all is perfect. Dummy approved! 👍

[dcon 166]

On 9/24/2020 at 6:14 PM, RavBoy said:

BUT still no change to Note List background

The note list is not controlled by the CSS you are changing. (CSS is only used in HTML based views) The note list is a raw Win32 custom control.

[RavBoy 189]

6 hours ago, dcon said:

On 9/25/2020 at 11:14 AM, RavBoy said:

BUT still no change to Note List background

The note list is not controlled by the CSS you are changing. (CSS is only used in HTML based views) The note list is a raw Win32 custom control.

Hey... not sure what you're referring to.  This thread is about changing EN-for-Windows app background color, and my inability to get the Note-list background colour part of Roberts solution, to work... as it did work for him/others.

[blakesphere 13]

My task bar issue aside, Sawyer's most recent instructions work. I hacked my BATch file in a number of ways but I know DOS. 😉

My notes have a medium grey background.

My notes list shows with a grey background. I include my working code only as an example. YMMV.

c:\sysutil\sfk176 rep Evernote.exe -text -case /#F8F8F8/#bbbbbb/ -yes

I made the divider line between the notes (nearly) black. Again, take this with a grain of salt...

c:\sysutil\sfk176 rep Evernote.exe -text -case /#E6E6E6/#333333/ -yes

I don't really care but when I hover on a note to select it, it goes dark grey. The text within is barely visible.

And the currently active note in the list is white. Again, I don't really care.

With the so called "dark theme" for the navigation folder area and my grey list and grey notes, now 80 to 85% of the screen is NOT eye-melting eye.

Mr Sawyer's update is a big step forward.

Blake

 

[antzus 7]

Works for me, with small modification. I actually just ran it manually from the command line interface, to see what was going wrong, but used @RobertJSawyer's batch file to guide me. Perhaps because I'm using an older (portable?) version of SwissFileKnife, I had to chage the command to "sfk.exe".
Thankyou Robert!

[RobertJSawyer 167]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions, everyone!  I've updated my instructions at the comments in the EN-color.txt file.  The new instructions are now the VERY FIRST message in this thread:  https://discussion.evernote.com/forums/topic/86645-solution-to-not-having-white-background-for-notes