May become a former Evernote customer

[Mark78 46]

I just filled out a survey from Evernote about pricing. That's it. No space to allow me to share my thoughts. So, I hope someone high up in Evernote will pay attention to what I write here, because they are about to lose a faithful Premium Evernote user of 6 years.

Evernote in many ways has been a wonderful product. I really appreciate it's cross-platform capabilities. I have used it on iOS, Android, Windows, Window ap store and web.

Here my observations/gripes/reasons for looking elsewhere. In other words, some real gut-level customer intel:

• It seems like Evernote peaked about 2 years ago. Then it seems like it is declining. I have made suggestions for improvement and there is no response. In this business, that is practically suicide.
• The "new" web product is atrocious. Yes, it is great for not creation but it is hugely terrible for organization. This RADICAL trashing and transformation of a very successful product is uncalled for.
• I have complained REPEATEDLY about the horrible search capabilities of the Windows desktop app. It takes FOREVER to get around to producing results. The real pain is that as you type, every character, character by character, it searches and STALLS. God forbid if you make one little mistake while typing. Meanwhile, the search interface in Android is incredible. It is very frustrating as a customer to complain about a REAL problem and Evernote is deaf. Does nothing to fix this.
• I can't tell  you how many times a day I'm using the Windows desktop application (on different machines, ranging from a Windows 7 PC of a couple of  years to a hypersonic brand new with Windows 10 machine) and it will stall with the infamous "Evernote not responding". Please. That has caused me to abandon the desktop application to slog my way through that dreadful "new" web monstrosity.

All of this portrays a dying company to me. Not the incredible, vibrant, innovating company of just a couple of years ago. I have a ton of data in Evernote, both for work and a separate account for personal stuff.

Evernote never communicates to me about what they do about the security and PRIVACY of these notes that we entrust to their care. Meanwhile, everyone else in today's world practically falls over themselves to let it's faithful users KNOW what they do to protect OUR data. Not just security but PRIVACY. Over the last 6 years, I don't recall Evernote ever going out of their way (i.e., an email) to let me know. Maybe it's on a blog page somewhere. Well, I don't have time to "keep up" with a blog page.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Onenote just keeps getting better and better. I am waiting for Microsoft to finally wake up and smell the coffee to do two things to entice former Evernote users into its fold:

1. Provide an easy way to import Evernote notes into Onenote
2. Support a note tagging scheme like Evernote. I HEAVILY rely on tags.

Evernote... are you listening? This long-time, faithful Premium customer is close to exiting, going to your competitor and never coming back. I am a person that refers people to great productivity technology. Evernote has gotten new customers because of my recommendation. I can't do that anymore because I simply don't trust Evernote anymore.

Anyone out there in the upper echelons of Evernote listening? Knock, knock, knock... are you there?

Get back to what you were. Start innovating. Start improving. Don't EVER stop.

Or you'll be gone.

Sincerely,

Waiting.

 

[jbenson2 2,147]

Yes, the survey was very rigid with no chance for the honest feedback they supposedly wanted.

"Your feedback is an essential part of how we make decisions on which features to add and which ones need a little fine-tuning. Can you spare a few minutes to answer questions that will help us make Evernote better than ever?"

The only feedback they were concerned about was my view on new Evernote pricing.
 

I'd love to see Evernote let their employees engage in some open dialog similar to the way it used to be with Dave Engberg. Back in those heady days, Dave helped explain what was going on with the program and the company. That is when Evernote was named Company of the Year.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/201112/evernote-2011-company-of-the-year.html

But now, the turnover is so high, it difficult to develop any sort of user / employee relationship.  Oh, well, I can dream of the good old days.

 

[briancaldwell 202]

Hi there. 6-year Evernote'r here. We listen. We can't always respond. We do value your input and do take action to continually make a better product. Unfortunately, surveys are generally designed for one purpose and the pricing survey was decidedly focused. Good thing we have forums which provide you with a platform for your rich feedback.

1. I encourage you to try the brand new Windows v.6 client that is rolling out now to our users around the world. I suspect the improved search capabilities will thrill you, but also encourage you to try out the many other new features. https://blog.evernote.com/blog/2016/04/21/evernote-windows/
2. Evernote's 3 Laws of Data Protection are our bedrock promise to you regarding your data . I believe you will find it enlightening reading https://evernote.com/legal/data-protection.php

[Frank.dg 1,385]

21 hours ago, mdvanouse said:

The real pain is that as you type, every character, character by character, it searches and STALLS. God forbid if you make one little mistake while typing.

There's a neat little registry hack called ENRegED which allows you to alter a couple of things really easily in Evernote's registry. One of them enables you to change the "Search as you type" delay, offsetting Evernote's almost instant "incremental search". Evernote's default is set to 150 milliseconds. I changed mine to 1000 milliseconds (1 second)... which gives me ample time to write what I want or delete, etc.)

Here's a screenshot of the utility:

 

Here it is in action in Evernote for Windows v.6:

 

As you can see, there is a 1 second delay from when I stop typing... you decide what delay you want. This allows me to delete typos, think of search operator syntax, etc.

Here's a dropbox download link. It's safe and many people have used it to their satisfaction:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jaeatn2k6lbj14q/ENRegEd.exe?dl=0

This hack was created by Evernote user "spg SCOTT".

Here's a shared note he created and which I've duplicated and am re-sharing here:

http://www.evernote.com/l/ATS74I-me4FGprfIyYgToZ2vyzwScpgZZqQ/

Download the file and/ or save the above note and duplicate it. It'll come in handy for more than one thing. Most likely a few of the fixes it affords have become redundant with v.6... but as you can see, just the delay thing alone is worth the hassle :-)

[Mark78 46]

Thanks, Frank.dg for the helpful idea about throttling down the incremental search. (Are you the Frank dg of WorkFlowy fame?)

Thanks to Team Evernote (briancaldwell) and your quick response. My intention is to at least get my thoughts heard. Too often, companies find out that they are losing their customer when the customer bails out. By then it's too late. I care about Evernote and would prefer to stay. That's why I'm talking now.

One thing Evernote should immediately do is more (not a lot) surveying of its customers. Most of it can be closed end, how you like or dislike certain things, then some suggestions for improvement, then 1 or 2 questions that can take an open-ended response.

I look forward to trying out Evernote 6, when it is an incremental version above ".0". 

My big huge complaint is the way that Evernote gutted Evernote Web in the "latest and greatest". There are MANY times I need and rely on that. The "old" was close to the same functionality of the desktop version. The "new" departs significantly to the point of a massive DOWNGRADE of functionality. That is a serious, serious lapse in Evernote's judgment.

Let's hear more about your roadmap. Where is Evernote going? We users are along for that ride. It's nice to get ample warning ahead of time that says, "Hey, we're totally changing the user interface". I agree with jbenson2's comments.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

10 minutes ago, mdvanouse said:

I look forward to trying out Evernote 6, when it is an incremental version above ".0". 

We're already there. Not perfect, but addresses most, if not all of your gripes... notwithstanding my next comment...

10 minutes ago, mdvanouse said:

My big huge complaint is the way that Evernote gutted Evernote Web in the "latest and greatest". There are MANY times I need and rely on that. The "old" was close to the same functionality of the desktop version. The "new" departs significantly to the point of a massive DOWNGRADE of functionality. That is a serious, serious lapse in Evernote's judgment.

As I understand you started using Evernote web mainly due to your desktop issues. V.6 might lure you back to desktop. The (old) web client never was, nor will (the new) ever be as robust as the desktop clients. Mostly people miss its familiar setup... but not a heck of a lot was scaled back in real practical terms.

Hanging out in the forums a tad more will hopefully give you a bit more perspective. It's not all doom and gloom. You'll notice an improvement in many ways this ship is being run.

[Mark78 46]

1 minute ago, Frank.dg said:

As I understand you started using Evernote web mainly due to your desktop issues. V.6 might lure you back to desktop. The old web client never was, nor ever will be as robust as the desktop clients. Mostly people miss its familiar setup... but not a heck of a lot was scaled back in real practical terms.

 

What started out as a necessity -- using the web application (switched on to "old" layout) -- has now become habit and preference. I have little to no interest in the Windows application. Better use of computer resources that way. Works better in my work flow.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

So then your preference lead you to what you call a monstrosity. Maybe you'd prefer to stick to the demons you know. Point is... quit whining and check out v.6... then you can rant some more.

[Frank.dg 1,385]

14 minutes ago, mdvanouse said:

(Are you the Frank dg of WorkFlowy fame?)

 

I am indeed. WorkFlowy blogger in residence. Guess I have to say sorry for the "whining" comment then, ha!

[Mark78 46]

1 minute ago, Frank.dg said:

 Guess I have to say sorry for the "whining" comment then, ha!

Didn't notice. Definitely can count on you to come up with a great productivity hack for my top two productivity tools: Evernote & WorkFlowy! Both are open in separate tabs in Chrome right now!

Mark

[Frank.dg 1,385]

Just now, mdvanouse said:

Didn't notice. Definitely can count on you to come up with a great productivity hack for my top two productivity tools: Evernote & WorkFlowy! Both are open in separate tabs in Chrome right now!

Mark

I'll send you a complimentary download link for my book as an "I-really-mean-it" sorry. Check out your private Evernote messages...

[briancaldwell 202]

@Frank.dg I'm a huge fan of your work on WorkFlowy :-)

We have very improved search functionality rolling out in v6 and some other things planned for the near future. Keep an open mind about leaving our default settings in place in the future, and thanks for your ongoing help in this community!

[Frank.dg 1,385]

2 hours ago, briancaldwell said:

Keep an open mind about leaving our default settings in place in the future

It seems that the registry gets reset to default every time I install an update or new version... so I'll be able to try out the default settings as is with any new roll-outs before I tweak anything :-). So there's more to come?! Rhetorical question, ha! I can't believe people aren't shouting from the rooftops about the new nested tags search superpowers. As I recall this was a much requested feature... and now it's almost flying under the radar. It's amazing how (especially) power users become set in their (our) ways, so much so that we're resistant to huge beneficial changes. 

[N10S 1]

For what it's worth... I'm impressed... v6.0.5.1723 and Thanks, to EN for keep moving the ball forward... however incrementally.  BTW, thanks FRANK

[Mark78 46]

I downloaded version 6.05... with some trepidation since I thought that Evernote would have eviscerated the desktop application like they did the web application (a la, "Minimalist") and to my immense relief the excellent functionality is there without the painfully slow searches. I'm also getting fewer application stalls in Windows. The interface seems cleaner. Now, if Evernote would take the same approach in the web application, I would be thrilled.