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What is happening to Evernote? Going out of business?


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What is happening to Evernote?

 
If you have taken a look recently into the content currators (like flipboard, medium, feedly). There is a barage of seemingly negative press. Layoffs, staff resignation/dis-satisfaction, decline in evaluation & the swift removing of various Evernote created apps like food. 
 
Its alarming and disheartening to here. I am a long term Evernote user. And really couldnt imagine my life without this technology. Nor do I really get why the recent (appearing) troubles that face Evernote. In my head I’m thinking of "how is this even possible"??
 
The service itself (at premium level) is still a heafty investment in comparision to other note taking apps. Most popular note taking apps dont have a subscription option. They also dont have as many features. However, given the huge loyal user base and the increase in subscription rate. How is Evernote facing going through this period of turmoil? Is it growing pains? Or is it a decline ending in Evernotes death as we know it?
 
Aside from the onslought of seemingly negative press and rumors of Evernote being abandoned, what is being done for Evernote to come back strong? 
I read these articles and sources. I say to myself "where is the loyal user base? Speak up ! Defend Evernote"
 
For me and thousands of other people, Evernote has literally changed how I manage my life,  goals, reference material, memories, articles, memorable information, clips, images, people, places and ideas. 
 

Its all in a place where I can get perspective. And I've tried everything.

 

Evernote has been a tool that helps me deal with my learning limitations. A place where I can open up the app and look at pictures and notes that inspire me when having a rough day. A place where I can unload journal entries and aspirations. A place where I can see ideas flourish.

 

So let me ask you; How does using Evernote improve your life? What would life look like for you if Evernote disappeared the very next day? Is it to late? Can Evernote come back (maybe even stronger)? 

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Over the past few months, I have seen more participation in this forum from Evernote employees. It is refreshing to see.

 

It has not reached the glory days back when Dave Engberg (EN CTO) was an active participant, but it is much better than the past couple years.

 

Yes, Evernote has gone through some belt tightening, but I don't believe they are going out of business. 

 

I back up my Evernote data regularly and keep several copies of past backups. And there are other programs that will help if things really go bad.

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I'm starting to get that impression too. They can't add a simple time/date stamp to the app on iPhone. Programmatically a relatively simple task... Yet nothing. I made a few good suggestions a few years ago... Yet nothing. Oh well, another flash in the pan.

 

Like someone above said, there are other programs out there, but I like EverNote!

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I was hoping for more of a positive response. As the situation is bleak enough. 

 

To see so many people resigning (even top level people at the company) it makes you wonder what the hell is going on. 

 

But also reading some of the responses, users appear to be apathetic. 

 

I have tried all kinds of note apps, and they all fail in comparison to the innovation Evernote has (use to have). What other note app has something like context showing you similar notes and even notes on the web? Or clipper, which is versatile? Or presentation mode? Or a tagging system that has been around for years?

 

I don't know. Just upsetting to see a company going through abysmal times and a forum user base thats indifferent. 

 

 

F OneNote 

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Good morning from the UK Omnizen,

 

I don't think it is about a 'user base' being 'indifferent', but maybe being bored!

 

This is old news and been done to death on the forums. We know that Evernote went through bad times as jbenson mentions. But we are beyond that and the changes of the head man, resignations and people being asked to leave is just part of typical growth of a company such as Evernote.

 

Don't get overly concerned by these things, if you really want to look at the history of a lot of other companies and see a similar path.

 

Best regards

 

Chris

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Chris said it well, I think. 

 

I would just add that Evernote's focus had gotten rather broad (to say it nicely) and scattered (to say it less nicely), away from its core strengths and the things that most people use it for. One thing the new CEO is doing is honing the focus back more to the core functionality; that's why you're seeing the discontinuation of things like Food, Peek, etc.  Those just take engineering, support, etc. resources away from the core stuff.

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Hey Omnizen--understand the news has been rough the past few months. It's tough to see people leave, and it's even tougher when it's your coworkers. It's also hard when a company needs to make tough decisions about its product lines that can impact users who love the product. But we're not going anywhere. In fact I'd say we're getting stronger and even more focused by the day, and you're starting to see a lot of those early results in our betas and latest releases. I'd also say a lot of the commentary tied to our employee departures lately has been just that--commentary. 

 

And glad you're seeing the uptick in employee participation JB. That's the goal in these here parts. 

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I was hoping for more of a positive response. As the situation is bleak enough. 

 

To see so many people resigning (even top level people at the company) it makes you wonder what the hell is going on. 

 

But also reading some of the responses, users appear to be apathetic. 

 

I have tried all kinds of note apps, and they all fail in comparison to the innovation Evernote has (use to have). What other note app has something like context showing you similar notes and even notes on the web? Or clipper, which is versatile? Or presentation mode? Or a tagging system that has been around for years?

 

I don't know. Just upsetting to see a company going through abysmal times and a forum user base thats indifferent. 

 

 

F OneNote 

Actually, my impression of Evernote has been much more upbeat recently. I think despite the troubles reported in the tech press, some signs are very positive. This is mostly from using the beta releases on a couple of platforms, which are focusing on the basic editing capabilities of Evernote. Not a lot of new features, but improvements in the look and feel and reliability. Kind of the thing that Phil Libin talked about doing a year ago, but didn't - focusing on the basic functionality.

 

As others have noted, it is also great to see actual Evernote employees posting in this forum, another positive sign.

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2013 or so, according to reports, because these kinds of companies were supposed to be relatively rare.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-unicorns-became-silicon-valley-companies-1426861606

 

Like just about any single term to describe a multitude of things, it is imperfect, but I think it does point to the uncommon accumulation of wealth and talent into a single geographic area, where "magical" companies are born and gain tremendous value in shockingly short periods of time. Evernote in its current incarnation has been around about as long as a kid going through junior and senior high school. In that short time it has gone from 0 to over a billion. Wow. 

 

 


Well they are mythical creatures of grace and purity to be caught only by the pure of body.  Not really sure how that got into VC speak.   ;)

 

 

I think it is fair to say that it is used and loved by a lot of people, and it would be greatly missed if something happened. But, nothing has happened yet. The apps all work -- probably better than they ever have. That's why the customer base isn't up in arms. In other words, everything is OK right now. 

 

Will it stick around? No one knows. But, we'll be fine for now. Carry on and enjoy the service. And, if you really like it, consider joining as a plus or premium member to help keep it around :)

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In my mind this is the key:

 

In fact I'd say we're getting stronger and even more focused by the day, and you're starting to see a lot of those early results in our betas and latest releases.

And glad you're seeing the uptick in employee participation JB. That's the goal in these here parts. 

 

IMO, Evernote was on the edge, headed far afield from its core product which so many millions of users, and the tech reviews alike found very compelling.

 

It may well be that the new CEO pulled the company back from the edge, and has now refocused the company back where it belongs.

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I have been a paid Evernote Premium user for several years now. I use it on my Mac, in a web browser, in Windows, on my iPad, and on my Android phone. It is much more than a simple note taking application. I use it as a digital filing cabinet for a paperless life.

 

It would be devastating if Evernote were to go away.

 

Other note taking applications do fine at taking notes. Evernote excels at storing digital stuff and allowing me to find it when I need to on any one of my devices. 

 

I think this is one of Evernote's biggest strengths. It has replaced a huge file cabinet full of paper. It has replaced all of the yellow 3M notes that were stuck to my monitor, refrigerator, desk, and other places. It has replaced all of the scraps of paper I used to keep important information around that I will need in the next few days or weeks. I use it as a journal for work. When I run across a problem I know I solved but I cannot remember how the answer is in Evernote. I use it as my own personal knowledge-base. 

 

I want Evernote to make their applications more solid; make there server infrastructure rock solid. And Security. Security is very important.

 

I don't say this about may (maybe any) products that I pay for; but if Evernote needs to raise the price in order to continue providing services I will pay it.

 

Ray

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As I posted above, I do like Evernote.

 

Also I like ColorNote (although it isn't available on iPhone).

 

My corporation does not allow us to use EverNote for things like proprietary technical data or customer information. That is because it is cloud-based. I know it's secure, but it's against corp policy anyway... Not much I can do about that. When they announced we couldn't use it like we have been, it was a major blow to my personal productivity. My notes (were) very useful for reference and troubleshooting, and providing common code syntax when I write my integration programs.

 

So now I only use it for personal notes and logging my time (I do a lot of driving and need to log my time at customer site, etc.). When I am logging time as I work through my day, I need to have time stamps and mileage stamps. I had it set up on my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy) to use the "MultiLing Okeyboard", which allows timestamp and many other kinds of macros. For example, I could type "D4" and it would fill in "4_Activity log Thursday 2015, Nov 12". Type "ts" and it would fill in "14:06".

Type "odom" and it would fill in "Odometer = 131," to which I would add the last three digits. These macros were user created and you could add whatever you wanted.

 

Unfortunately, this keyboard is not available on iPhone (what I have now). Yet another blow to my productivity... So now I have to manually type in the date and time. Two steps backward, ugh...

 

So Evernote- This would be a great feature to add: when composing a note, there is room on the screen to the left of the camera icon where a little clock icon could be added. Click on it and the date and/or time can be selected from a popup menu, and then dropped in wherever the cursor is.

 

I understand your corporate structure my be going through some changes, and I'm actually very impressed to see Evernote employees posting on this forum... Sounds like things are looking good for Evernote.

 

If your developers get sixty minutes of free time, I'm sure they could add a simple time/date stamp function... Heck, give me a crack at it and I'll try to get it done for you, free of charge.

 

I know I'm not apathetic when it comes to Evernote like others have indicated. I really see a lot of potential in this product. It is #1 as far as note apps go, just needs some refinements.

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Hey Omnizen--understand the news has been rough the past few months. It's tough to see people leave, and it's even tougher when it's your coworkers. It's also hard when a company needs to make tough decisions about its product lines that can impact users who love the product. But we're not going anywhere. In fact I'd say we're getting stronger and even more focused by the day, and you're starting to see a lot of those early results in our betas and latest releases. I'd also say a lot of the commentary tied to our employee departures lately has been just that--commentary.

And glad you're seeing the uptick in employee participation JB. That's the goal in these here parts.

Thanks for taking time to reply. It's good to have clarity and positivity brought into this situation.

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I was hoping for more of a positive response. As the situation is bleak enough. 

 

To see so many people resigning (even top level people at the company) it makes you wonder what the hell is going on. 

 

But also reading some of the responses, users appear to be apathetic. 

 

I have tried all kinds of note apps, and they all fail in comparison to the innovation Evernote has (use to have). What other note app has something like context showing you similar notes and even notes on the web? Or clipper, which is versatile? Or presentation mode? Or a tagging system that has been around for years?

 

I don't know. Just upsetting to see a company going through abysmal times and a forum user base thats indifferent. 

 

 

F OneNote 

Actually, my impression of Evernote has been much more upbeat recently. I think despite the troubles reported in the tech press, some signs are very positive. This is mostly from using the beta releases on a couple of platforms, which are focusing on the basic editing capabilities of Evernote. Not a lot of new features, but improvements in the look and feel and reliability. Kind of the thing that Phil Libin talked about doing a year ago, but didn't - focusing on the basic functionality.

 

As others have noted, it is also great to see actual Evernote employees posting in this forum, another positive sign.

 

Thanks for your view. Its good getting to hear from a positive loyal user. Hey, side note I just moved to Vegas. I just saw your in NV

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These changes at Evernote are a long time coming.  The company has lacked focus and sought small revenue attracting sideshows (e.g. Market).  While i agree with the changes in reducing offices, personnel, I still look forward to seeing what the actual strategy will be.  

 

I see only one thing that will keep me and other long term Premium customers satisfied in the long run.  This will mean focus on the core product with a much more sophisticated data strategy.  Examples which I see as important:

 

- if I have files going back several years, why are the oldest ones indexed equally relative to my current work/ documents/ notes/ attachments 

- why is my entire Evernote resident on my hard drive - doesn't that contradict the entire point of cloud?

- why doesn't EN make it easy for conservative folks to back up their EN

- why not let me store my current EN work and sync it quickly

- let me archive old EN, but don't make me go through hoops to export.  

 

Consider this simple use case.  I want to be able to search for one item saved maybe 6 years ago.  I don't want to import an entire EN back up to find it.  At the same time I don't want to keep my entire EN in on gigantic file because I don't want to use the space on my hard drive, nor do I trust anyone to maintain an ever increasing database while still permitting rapid sync and access to my current work.  I just want to search for that one item and then go back to my daily current EN routine.

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  • 3 months later...

Maybe an old thread but I'll chime in anyway.  I think it would be devastating if Evernote went away.  It is the single most important piece of technology in my life, and that's saying a lot because there is a lot of tech in my life.  Prior to Evernote I struggled daily with being organized.  I was never able to find receipts, statements, letters, important documents etc.  This was particularly alarming since I run a small business in which I have to interface with 40-50 vendors, not to mention a fairly complicated home life.  I lost thousands of dollars by simply missing deadlines, losing important papers or not keeping track of warranties, bills payable etc.  Eventually the complexities of keeping organized began to cause frustration and depression as I eventually concluded that my brain was not one that could handle organization.  Therefore, I consider the day that I discovered both Evernote and Fujitsu's SnapScan to be one of the most significant in my life.  I read extensively on how to tag, search etc and then simply eliminated all the paper in both my home and work life by scanning them into Evernote.  Eventually I got so alarmingly organized that I would demonstrate to everyone I knew how I could pull up a birth certificate or a specific banking statement from five years ago (in 30 seconds on my android).  I began to integrate evernote with my emails, my taxes, my to do lists, my accounts payable and my receivables etc.  I quickly became a premium user and then forced every one of my employees to share folders with me so that we could collaborate together easily on every project.  I really can not think of a single part of my life at this point that does not rely extensively on Evernote in some way.  One of the wonderful things about the program is that you can pick and choose what aspects of it you want to use and those that you don't.  That's why I never cared about Evernote's side offerings because I simply chose to ignore those that I didn't care about.  I love the fact that Evernote's structure is so loose and customizable that you can develop any system that you like and exquisitely tweak it to your specifications.  I'm sure that there are things that I do on Evernote that the vast majority of its users have never considered doing.  Likewise, I don't do many things that many Evernote users do on a daily basis.  Having said all this I would probably agree that Evernote should probably focus on the few things that the vast majority of users consider indispensable and cut back on some of their side offerings.

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57 minutes ago, idoc said:

Evernote should probably focus on the few things that the vast majority of users consider indispensable and cut back on some of their side offerings.

 

These two links should address your concern. Hopefully what they say will become a reality.

  • Focused Direction for past 2.5 years

 

  • New Employees

https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2016/03/17/new-evernote-team/

 

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