Evernote for Mac 6.2 Released

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

Today we released Evernote for Mac 6.2.  The key changes are:

 

• A redesigned note editor toolbar and window view that allows Evernote to be shrunk so you can use Split View on El Capitan but continue to use Evernote.  Even before I switched to El Cap I found it useful because one is always trying to copy stuff to or from Evernote to another app and these new features allows one to do that.
• Work Chat is moved to the bottom of the sidebar to emphasize note taking again but to also give messaging it’s own separate space.  Along with this is an all new note sharing infrastructure that we believe is a lot more stable and reliable. 
• Finally we added some text-editing shortcuts.  Type an asterisk and hit space to create a bulleted list. (“* ”).  Type a number then a period and hit space to get a numbered list. (“1. ”).  I know some of you have already expressed that you don’t like this capability but we do believe many will like the way this works and will appreciate that it’s much more like a word processor.  If we auto-format the text just hit CMD+Z to undo it.

Of course we also fixed a number of bugs including some of the top crashing issues and some weirdness caused when running Evernote on El Capitan.

 

The Mac App Store version (6.2.1) was released on 1/17.  As always, please give us your feedback and/or issues with this release in this forum so we can spot them quicker.   You can download the app from here.   

 

NOTE: Beta users who ran 6.2 Beta 4 and do not use English as their primary OS language will NOT be able to upgrade to the final version of 6.2.  Unfortunately there is a bug in Beta 4 that prevents the upgrade process from working for non-English systems.  Please download the final version of 6.2 from the link above after which everything will work fine.   The issue is in the upgrade dialog and not Evernote itself.

[EvernoteConnoisseur 26]

Cmd-Z works to stop text shortcuts. Also, there is a preference in the formatting tab of the preferences.

 

As many others have said, cmd-z is really disruptive. Also the existing beta doesn't have the preference yet (but good to know you're working on the next release to give users an option to disable this feature, but why couldn't you have done this to begin with?)

 

It would be nice if Evernote would apologize for forcing these time-wasting "auto-formatting" features. At the very least, acknowledge us by something like "We hear you (or your frustrations) and we will try our best to not xxxx up in the future by introducing something disruptive that doesn't give you a way to toggle/disable."

 

Ah well, I guess I'm just asking too much. Or maybe not? I have been supporting Evernote since its very early days and I don't get an acknowledgement?

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

 

Cmd-Z works to stop text shortcuts. Also, there is a preference in the formatting tab of the preferences.

 

As many others have said, cmd-z is really disruptive. Also the existing beta doesn't have the preference yet (but good to know you're working on the next release to give users an option to disable this feature, but why couldn't you have done this to begin with?)

 

It would be nice if Evernote would apologize for forcing these time-wasting "auto-formatting" features. At the very least, acknowledge us by something like "We hear you (or your frustrations) and we will try our best to not xxxx up in the future by introducing something disruptive that doesn't give you a way to toggle/disable."

 

Ah well, I guess I'm just asking too much. Or maybe not? I have been supporting Evernote since its very early days and I don't get an acknowledgement?

 

 

We do appreciate everyone who uses Evernote and especially those of you who devote the extra time to participate in these forums and contribute back to the Evernote community.  Our Common Editor team did a bunch of experimentation with the auto-formatting stuff in early betas and decided to roll back a bunch of it based on feedback in these forums.  The ones that remained were left because they are common across most text editors.  I can assure you that many people are happy that we added the feature and have wondered why it took so long.  With that said, it also makes sense to have the option to turn it off for those that don't like it.  If you'd like to turn it off now, I have a Beta 3 release candidate you can download at http://bit.ly/1PNl1tv.  We still have to run our full suite of automation and manual tests on it but I've been using it for a bit and it seems pretty good to me.

[mwlodarski 37]

Every time I open Evernote it asks me to update.

When I agree to update it downloads and then shows an error.

 

Can you please stop offering updates if you are unable to perform it flawlessly?

 

thank you

[Dan Wilson 85]

I've come across another issue with presentation mode.  Something like a line break is inserted after subscript text.  

 

Screenshot 1: Note editor view

Screenshot 2: Presentation view

 

If I present the note from my iPad this does not happen.

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

Every time I open Evernote it asks me to update.

When I agree to update it downloads and then shows an error.

 

Can you please stop offering updates if you are unable to perform it flawlessly?

 

thank you

 

This update is failing on your particular machine.  It's not a system wide thing.  Please download the latest version of the app from the Evernote web site to get around the issue.  We continue to investigate this issue but haven't found the specific issue of why some people get into this state.

 

I've come across another issue with presentation mode.  Something like a line break is inserted after subscript text.  

 

Screenshot 1: Note editor view

Screenshot 2: Presentation view

 

If I present the note from my iPad this does not happen.

 

Thanks for reporting this.  I'll investigate more.

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

FYI.  It looks like we won't be publishing the 6.3 beta to beta users today but will wait until Friday.  There aren't any issues in the beta I posted but one of our teams would like to get a few more fixes in before we release so a couple of more days.  If the auto-formatting issue is bothering you please feel free to download the beta here which has a preference to turn it off.

[EvernoteConnoisseur 26]

We do appreciate everyone who uses Evernote and especially those of you who devote the extra time to participate in these forums and contribute back to the Evernote community.  Our Common Editor team did a bunch of experimentation with the auto-formatting stuff in early betas and decided to roll back a bunch of it based on feedback in these forums.  The ones that remained were left because they are common across most text editors.  I can assure you that many people are happy that we added the feature and have wondered why it took so long.  With that said, it also makes sense to have the option to turn it off for those that don't like it.  If you'd like to turn it off now, I have a Beta 3 release candidate you can download at http://bit.ly/1PNl1tv.  We still have to run our full suite of automation and manual tests on it but I've been using it for a bit and it seems pretty good to me.

 

 

Thank you for your appreciation and taking the time to explain.

[karenjs 35]

Sorry, but I have to chime in on the auto-formatting.. I think about 99% of the time, I do not want it invoked -- I just spent about 5 minutes trying insert a blank line in between formatted numbers and am going crazy.  I don't mind the "indent" -- you know, the actual formatting that you do -- but I don't need it.  And it just leaves zero flexibility in doing any other formatting in/around/in-between those bulleted numbers...and there's no way to turn them off! There's no "fine, I'll lose the indent on this set, that's cool" way to bail on it.

 

I have those auto-formatting features turned off settings-wise in the word processing programs I use (ok, I don't really use them - but I used to, prior to Evernote!) and would appreciate the same setting here. Thanks. 

[E-NoteForum 107]

Marcus has said multiple times in this thread, including on this page -- and literally in the post above yours -- that a setting to turn auto-formatting is coming in an upcoming build. It's already available in a beta you can download right now.

I personally hate the auto-formatting as well, but let's not beat a dead horse after the Evernote team was receptive to feedback and responsive in offering a fix.

[marchaarman 3]

When will the Mac app get the same interface as the Web app? The web interface looks great where the Mac app feels outdated (and slow). It's been a while since the new web interface was introduced. Hope you'll bring this to the Mac version soon.

[EdH 1,670]

Marcus has said multiple times in this thread, including on this page -- and literally in the post above yours -- that a setting to turn auto-formatting is coming in an upcoming build. It's already available in a beta you can download right now.

I personally hate the auto-formatting as well, but let's not beat a dead horse after the Evernote team was receptive to feedback and responsive in offering a fix.

 

As long as they understand the need to make auto formatting optional. You think we should start a new thread about this issue so they notice it? 

[EdH 1,670]

When will the Mac app get the same interface as the Web app? The web interface looks great where the Mac app feels outdated (and slow). It's been a while since the new web interface was introduced. Hope you'll bring this to the Mac version soon.

 

Really? You like having just a few navigation icons, no dedicated search box, hidden shortcuts, hidden tag list, and hidden notebook list?

 

The only thing I like about the web version is when you are in a large note, the note subject is visible 100% of the time at the top, a great feature that has been gone since 5.x for Windows and not sure when they removed it from the mac.

 

But other than that, I want nothing from the website. Too limiting. Fine for a browser and occasional use if not at your machine, but not for serious work.

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

When will the Mac app get the same interface as the Web app? The web interface looks great where the Mac app feels outdated (and slow). It's been a while since the new web interface was introduced. Hope you'll bring this to the Mac version soon.

 

Actually I think 6.2 is a step closer to the web site.  Just shrink the toolbar to just show icons and it feels a little like the website.  Also you can customize the toolbar and get rid of all the icons or just keep the search box so it's really clean.  In fact a lot of our designers run this way because they like it better.  Also as EdH points out a lot of people rely on the sidebar having notebooks and tags to quickly get to their notes so a clean simple interface isn't for everyone.  

 

By the way, we have a new beta build for you to try.  Again if you want to get rid of the auto-formatting this has a preference to turn it off.  I should also mention that El Cap caused a number of crashes in Evernote that we think 6.3 has fixed so that's another benefit of this new release.  We hope to ship it to all beta users tomorrow.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Actually I think 6.2 is a step closer to the web site.  

 

 

@Marcus, first, I hope you are having a great Thanksgiving.  Go ahead, eat too much.  That's what this day is designed for     (well, not really).

 

Please, please, please, do not go any further trying to make EN Mac look like EN Web.  I hate EN Web.

 

We need EN Mac to be our workhorse, not some writers idea of needing a so-called "clutter free" environment.

If people want less clutter, then they can:

1. Use the EN Web client
2. Open a Note in its own window, and display full screen.

Many, many, many of us need and like the toolbars, with all of our handy tools, showing while we work, while we read and compose.

 

"Clutter-free" has become the latest buzz, the latest cool thing, just like Flash was once upon a time (what a disaster -- every web site thought they had to use it exclusively).

 

I have noticed that what web designers, and app UI designers, personally prefer often is not what large segments, perhaps a majority, of real end-users prefer.  Most of us want function over form.  We'd rather it be function-rich, work very well, over just looking pretty.  If you can design high functionality and an aesthetically pleasing form, then you have achieved the ultimate design goal.

 

Having said all that, I'm certainly not against you providing options in Preferences to hide certain UI elements.

In fact, years ago,  EN Win had shortcut keys that toggled show/hide of virtually every main UI element.

I think that would be great.

 

But, please, don't shove your notion of a clutter-free design down our throats.  The reaction is likely to be far worse than that you saw when you tried to force the minor auto-formatting on us.

[Walder 33]

There is an issue in 6.2 when selecting tags with the mouse. If I select the tag by typing a few characters, then moving the cursor down with the keypad and pressing enter, it works fine.

 

If I select a few characters though, the scroll through with the mouse/touchpad, then single tap on a tag, it merely selects it. Double-clicking does select it and put it in the tag area, but it still isn't finished. It is just a word not in the light blue/gray box. I still have to press Enter to get it to accept the tag.

 

At the very least, double-clicking it should fully accept it.

 

Ugh.  Yup.  That's a bug.  Thanks for reporting it.

 

 

Also please check the field for tags in the note. Now when I edit tags the field fills whole space till the right side of the note and hides buttons "Add the reminder..", "Share" and others. It is not conmfortable. Before I selected some tags and then directly clicked "Add the reminder...". In the new version first I have to click in any other place to finish with tags and only then I see the button and can click it. One more additional click. It is better don't hide these buttons.

[karenjs 35]

Marcus has said multiple times in this thread, including on this page -- and literally in the post above yours -- that a setting to turn auto-formatting is coming in an upcoming build. It's already available in a beta you can download right now.

I personally hate the auto-formatting as well, but let's not beat a dead horse after the Evernote team was receptive to feedback and responsive in offering a fix.

 

Thanks for keeping me in line. Didn't mean to pile on. 

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Also please check the field for tags in the note. Now when I edit tags the field fills whole space till the right side of the note and hides buttons "Add the reminder..", "Share" and others. It is not conmfortable. Before I selected some tags and then directly clicked "Add the reminder...". In the new version first I have to click in any other place to finish with tags and only then I see the button and can click it. One more additional click. It is better don't hide these buttons.

 

I like being able to see more of my tags when I click in the Tags field.  Perhaps EN could show the other buttons after the user hits TAB or RETURN after the last tag is entered, and the Tags edit field is exited.

[Walder 33]

 

Also please check the field for tags in the note. Now when I edit tags the field fills whole space till the right side of the note and hides buttons "Add the reminder..", "Share" and others. It is not conmfortable. Before I selected some tags and then directly clicked "Add the reminder...". In the new version first I have to click in any other place to finish with tags and only then I see the button and can click it. One more additional click. It is better don't hide these buttons.

 

I like being able to see more of my tags when I click in the Tags field.  Perhaps EN could show the other buttons after the user hits TAB or RETURN after the last tag is entered, and the Tags edit field is exited.

 

TAB or RETURN - it is one more additional user's action. In the last version no need to press these keys.

If you want to see more tags the Tags field can change the height for two or three rows without hidding the buttons. Even one row can be not enough for all your tags.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

If you want to see more tags the Tags field can change the height for two or three rows without hidding the buttons. Even one row can be not enough for all your tags.

 

 

Great idea.  That works for me -- Make the Tags field be an auto-wrap, auto-height-expanding to whatever is necessary to display all of the tags.  This should be shown like this always, whether or not the focus is in the Tags field.

 

@Marcus, how 'bout it?  Can you do this?  Seems like it would make all interested parties happy:

1. If you don't have any tags, or a very few tags, takes up minimum space
2. Allows the other buttons to be displayed
3. If you have a lot of tags, you can easily see all of them without any additional clicks/actions.

If the user makes the EN window very small, so that more than 2 or 3 lines would be required to show the tags, you could:

1. Show as many as you can in the space available
2. A mouseover would show a "tooltip" of all the tags
3. Clicking in the TAgs field would show all Tags

[Walder 33]

JMichael, thanks for your support!

[Doff 12]

 

Problem: EN hangs when started and the spinning beach ball never stops.  It is not possible to use EN (last couple of days)  

 

EN version installed Evernote_RELEASE_6.2_452688; downloaded from the EN website 

 

My Machine:  OSX El Capitan 10.11.1, MBP, Mid 2015 release

 

My EN Account:  free; I am currently trialling EN as a replacement for OneNote (been using ON from its start)

 

In order to resolve the "hanging application", I have tried uninstalling 6.2 and re-installing the prior version I had Evernote_RELEASE_6.1.1_452253. The re-installing went fine but when I ran 6.1, an EN message appeared stating that I had to use the current version.  I then uninstalled 6.1 and reinstalled 6.2, but the problem persists - the application hangs and must be forced to shut down.  

 

I also attempted a recovery from a Time Machine backup, but this failed.  When the restored version of EN was ran, a message requesting the newer version was presented. Perhaps some instructions for backup and recovery is needed.

 

I found this very disturbing that I couldn't go back to a previous version that worked.  It concerns me how portable EN data files are from version to version; This will impact backup and recovery strategies.

 

In other forum conversations regarding uninstalling, reinstalling and upgrading, some said that the spinning beach ball was an indicator that EN needs to "reindex" notebooks and this may take all day.  This doesn't make sense. 

 

It would be helpful to have some clarification what may be causing EN to hang and also how EN versioning works.  

 

Given the hanging behaviour, I cannot use EN at all and cannot access any of my local notebooks.  Given statements from other posts, I am concerned that I have lost access to all my local notebooks.  I am hoping this isn't the case.  Please advise.

 

Are you using Apple's new OS El Capitan?  A small number of people are running into a hang when using any versions of Evernote so going back to a previous version probably wouldn't help.  We believe it's a weird font incompatibility introduced by El Cap.  For some it just goes away over time after a few reboots of the machine.  If this hasn't worked and it sounds like it hasn't then I would recommend deleting your Evernote prefs.  

 

1) Go to Terminal.

2) Type "defaults delete com.evernote.Evernote"  (without the double quotes).

3) Relaunch Evernote.

 

This has worked for a number of people.  These are the hardest issues for us to track down and fix because only a few people run into it and we can't replicate it in house and don't know why they only some are seeing it.  In any case, let me know if that doesn't work and I can try to help you further. 

 

 

Hi Marcus,

 

did not work. Please help?

[icoco_de 34]

 

 

BUG REPORT:  Source URL Link is Not Displayed in Main Note View

EN Mac Ver 6.2 (NEW Bug)

Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

 

Actually I don't know if this is a bug or a design change, but starting with EN Mac 6.2 the Source URL link is no longer displayed on the main Note view.

 

IMO, this is a HUGE step backwards.

 

I always need to see, know, and be able to quickly click on the web page link that the Note was created from.

 

There is plenty of room at the top of the Note where the Note dates are displayed to show the URL.

 

Please restore this ASAP.  Make sure it is a click-able link.

 

I agree, missing this too. I loved the ability to quickly go back to the source. I understand that you want a clean interface, but please also make this an option then.

 

Please add my vote here too. When there is an URL, it should always be displayed in the main note view to be accessible quickly.  

[EdH 1,670]

All, the 6.3 b1 thread is here. Installed no problems for me.

[EdH 1,670]

Please add my vote here too. When there is an URL, it should always be displayed in the main note view to be accessible quickly.

 

and the note subject too!

[Doff 12]

All, the 6.3 b1 thread is here. Installed no problems for me.

 

Got it installed.

 

A small improvement - it does not go into beachball state anymore. But still very slow and unusable.

[vladcampos 645]

+1 on raving a settings option to turn off the forced auto formatting.

[santander 5]

Evernote is getting better and better, but I have lost preview of PDF with this last update. I have to open the PDF attachment to read it. Sometimes it helps to restart Evernote. Hope this bug will be fixed on next update. I am super excited about all the new improvements. Thank you Evernote!

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Evernote is getting better and better, but I have lost preview of PDF with this last update. I have to open the PDF attachment to read it. 

 

Which ver of EN Mac are you referring to?

Preview is working fine for me in EN Mac 6.2 on Yosemite (10.10.5).

[Thorz 109]

Please give us some way to turn off the auto formatting options that you have impose to all of us on 6.2.

I have hundreds of notes where I use these separators to split sections on the note:

---

===

=======

After this EN version all these turn into the same page divider (a long ----- line). I now have to always hit Undo to clear the auto formatting and this is really affecting my productivity.

 

Give us a new tab in settings where we can chose which auto formatting options we want to keep turned on and which ones we want to disable. Or at least give us a way to totally turn off auto formatting as it was on the previous version. I would like to try the numbered and bullet list auto formatting options but do not want the conversion of the dashes into full page breaks.

 

I hope you listen to the numerous users that are giving you feedback about this.

 

Thank you.

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

Please give us some way to turn off the auto formatting options that you have impose to all of us on 6.2.

. . .

I hope you listen to the numerous users that are giving you feedback about this.

 

 

If you've read all of the posts that are making this complaint, then surely you saw this:

 

 

Marcus has said multiple times in this thread, including on this page -- and literally in the post above yours -- that a setting to turn auto-formatting is coming in an upcoming build. It's already available in a beta you can download right now.

I personally hate the auto-formatting as well, but let's not beat a dead horse after the Evernote team was receptive to feedback and responsive in offering a fix.

[EdH 1,670]

and don't discuss 6.3b1 here. link to the thread for that build is above. 

[icoco_de 34]

I don’t like the way Evernote 6.2 handles emojis. Please let me keep them „old school“ —  that’s like this: — without having to press CMD-Z every single time to return to this format. So: Please let us turn this, ugh, „feature“ off.

 

 

[EdH 1,670]

I don’t like the way Evernote 6.2 handles emojis. Please let me keep them „old school“ —  that’s like this: — without having to press CMD-Z every single time to return to this format. So: Please let us turn this, ugh, „feature“ off.

 

I'm just curious. Did you read any posts at all in this thread? Anything at all about how this was fixed in the next beta, 6.3 b1, which is out by the way.

 

Please, I am begging you, no one else post how they want to have automatic formatting be an option in this thread.

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

We just shipped Evernote for Mac 6.3 and it will start to roll out to direct download customers tomorrow.  We have to wait for Apple's approval for the Mac App Store version.  It has the requested feature to turn off auto-formatting and fixes the URL issue.   Here's a link to the 6.3 forum post. 

[JMichaelTX 4,118]

@Marcus, your link to the 6.3 release seems to be broken.  Users can get to it here:

Evernote for Mac 6.3 Released 

[EdH 1,670]

@marcus, should we on the beta track get this or just wait for a 6.4b1? is there anything in the store version not in our 6.3b1?

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

@marcus, should we on the beta track get this or just wait for a 6.4b1? is there anything in the store version not in our 6.3b1?

 

I would recommend migrating to the release version since it has a number of bug fixes that weren't in the beta but for your planning purposes we'll have another beta probably in a couple of weeks.

[EdH 1,670]

 

@marcus, should we on the beta track get this or just wait for a 6.4b1? is there anything in the store version not in our 6.3b1?

 

I would recommend migrating to the release version since it has a number of bug fixes that weren't in the beta but for your planning purposes we'll have another beta probably in a couple of weeks.

 

 

Will do. Hoping the column issue is fixed where 3b1 won't remember them between sessions. This one bit me again after I sent my query earlier today.

[tkochs 3]

@SoftwareMarcus  There are many of us Mac users interested in a Zoom feature like almost all apps on Mac use (Command+ to zoom).  Can you please give us an update that this idea is being reviewed or hopefully designed against at this point? Thanks!  

 

[TechWite 7]

On November 28, 2015 at 10:08 PM, JMichaelTX said:

 

Great idea.  That works for me -- Make the Tags field be an auto-wrap, auto-height-expanding to whatever is necessary to display all of the tags.  This should be shown like this always, whether or not the focus is in the Tags field.

 

@Marcus, how 'bout it?  Can you do this?  Seems like it would make all interested parties happy:

1. If you don't have any tags, or a very few tags, takes up minimum space
2. Allows the other buttons to be displayed
3. If you have a lot of tags, you can easily see all of them without any additional clicks/actions.

If the user makes the EN window very small, so that more than 2 or 3 lines would be required to show the tags, you could:

1. Show as many as you can in the space available
2. A mouseover would show a "tooltip" of all the tags
3. Clicking in the TAgs field would show all Tags

Not sure if this is elsewhere in the "Idea voting", but would like to VOTE FOR and agree with most of the discussion. Essentially that the Tag box should not OVERWRITE the screen where the other tools are. Ever, in my opinion. If you have that many tags, then wrap the field down. If you do it that way, then it doens't matter if someone hits Return or Tab to complete Tag entry, they will still be able to see and access the other tool icons.

Thanks.