Clipper turns out scrambled web pages

[dreamspy 0]

Hi 

I'm using chrome Version 50.0.2661.102 (64-bit) and Evernote Web Clipper 6.8.1 on a mac 10.11.4. 

I'm frequently getting scrambled web pages when I clip with the web clipper. F.x. when I'm clipping this page: http://www.practicallyedible.com/pressure-cooker-pasta-sauce/ then this is an example of my output (see attachment).

This happens quite allot so I'm wondering if there 's something wrong with my setup, or if the clipper simply fails quite often to clip webpages properly?

regards

Frímann

 

 

[rubenb 51]

Thanks for the bug report. I was able to reproduce the problem with the link you provided. We'll have a look.

Workaround: Use "Simplified Article" instead of "Article" to avoid the overlapping text.

[maud 0]

I'm discovering this on so many pages I've imported using the web clipper too. It seems to be happening on some full page clips as well. Any news of a fix? Using simplified article cuts out too much for many of the pages I'm interested in.

[chanatx 14]

@maud Yes, we're working on this and hope to have a full fix for it shortly.

[Mike P 2,616]

I agree that it seems to be happening a lot. As well as the "simplified article" option, using the "full page" option also seems to work for me. Unfortunately the site that gives me most problems (Investors Chronicle) is behind a paywall so there is no point in sharing the link.

 

[Mike P 2,616]

This is still a real issue. I am finding many of my web clips are garbled. What is the timescale for fixing this?

[rubenb 51]

On 7/17/2016 at 4:47 PM, Mike P said:

This is still a real issue. I am finding many of my web clips are garbled. What is the timescale for fixing this?

If you could share any URLs which we can use to reproduce the problem, that would be very helpful. Thanks.

[Mike P 2,616]

This is not actually as straight forward as I thought. It depends on which platform you look at the created note in. For example webclipping http://www.thinksaveretire.com/2016/05/23/seven-things-will-never-retire-say/ looks perfect in windows but the web version looks like the picture below. Here is the public link for my note http://www.evernote.com/l/AT32_Y_WtxJJ3IzQnXm44vsvc8me_Lo4xtg/

My clipping of http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/22/intelligence-services-using-dark-practices-against-jeremy-corbyn is here  http://www.evernote.com/l/AT3Z1qkJYfBJ5pixHYGeiZs2Fvu0kKA6Vuo/ and looks terrible on both windows and the web.

[Mike P 2,616]

A further thought that might help track down the problem. I have one site that I clip from a lot and now seems to cause a lot of clipping problems. The site is http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/ but unfortunately most of it is behind a paywall. Looking through my clips, all clips before 7th April 2016 are fine. Clips from  26th April 2016 cause problems. Obviously, it is possible that something changed on their site, except that the problems are wider than just this site.

[weaverh 4]

Here's a comparison of clipper results I did to support another user.  The source page is: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-21/australian-agricultural-trade-performance/7647784

1) Examples straight from Web Clippers

Safari/Article (Jumbled on public link, but clean in Evernote desktop client):

(web) https://www.evernote.com/l/ACYir7-_Na5E2ohGoR6Jq_rQpbeq8cwj0G8

(client) https://www.evernote.com/l/ACaMhoTVu4NIsovP3PHwY5a4R5EAUPlbUeU  Unless I knew that I would be sharing a public link of the note, this is probably the method I would use most, as it looks great in the desktop client and leave off many of the page elements that do not have relevant content. You can see this in the screenshot I provided of how it looks in my Mac's desktop client.  

Safari/Simplified Article (Clear but no image): https://www.evernote.com/l/ACYxyBlrkXxBL6Zmmmbm4rf1s_-COrZcGeE If the image isn't important to me, I'd use this method.  I can always click the link back to the source URL to see the page in its original format. 

Safari/Full Page (Clean; Web Public link requires horizontal scrolling):  https://www.evernote.com/l/ACZ7bdgO8gtDDbWLqAcRrebf6map8_sum9g   The horizontal scroll is a bit annoying, but not a total deal breaker for me...although I really dislike the unused page real estate on either side of the clip.

Chrome/Article (Jumbled): https://www.evernote.com/l/ACac7RDHEzpBt5yJMyvssbBs4g3FLz4WRpY This is jumbled even in my desktop client, so it's totally unusable.

Chrome/Simplified Article (Clear but no image): https://www.evernote.com/l/ACa5_qASTB1KprCBvsJ8NB_GiMx0i9P27UA

Chrome/Full Page (Clean; Web Public link requires horizontal scrolling):   https://www.evernote.com/l/ACaZOBJ-ZsFLHIgVy4j5yEfXXCxtvZJZYh0

2) Change formatting after a manual copy/paste or after content is clipped. You do have the option of selecting the content and then choosing either "Simplified Formatting" or "Make Text Plain" from the Format menu of your desktop client.   Here is what those options look like:

Simplified Formatting: https://www.evernote.com/l/ACaDRkRoNQdF2bxBE2f0TJT2j0VziaTA5fc I actually really like this one.  It's clean in all versions and retains the image.  The buttons at the top of the page are easily deleted.  

Make Text Plain: https://www.evernote.com/l/ACaW-hndjplCfpjVQh1RQNuczdSIzVO2Gqg

[Mike P 2,616]

Thanks weavrh. I was aware that there were workarounds (see my post  on the 31st May) and your post gives some really useful information. The chrome/Article (Jumbled) example is horrific! (For information It's just as bad on the windows desktop client). Amazingly, simply highlighting the text and copying and pasting it to an empty evernote note works perfectly. http://www.evernote.com/l/AT0OSbgOWtVL5r1gXplW6KgtfP0o9pf2Y9g/

I'm personally not willing to accept that the webclipper is no longer able to do as good a job as it used to (ie before 7th April). Indeed, Evernote themselves said:

On 27/05/2016 at 5:59 PM, chanatx said:

@maud Yes, we're working on this and hope to have a full fix for it shortly.

The webclipper is absolutely crucial to my workflow and, while I accept that highly formatted webpages might need a different approach, it used to capture most articles beautifully.

[Sarah Scrivner 0]

I'm having the same problem. The text is overlapping and impossible to read. I clip mostly from Westlaw and LexisNexis. I've been clipping from these same sites for about a year and never had a problem until May. Using the simplified article approach doesn't work because when I clip statutes it removes the reference numbers before the subsections (meaning I always have to go back to the original site to find the citation). 

[Mike P 2,616]

This is getting silly. We've been waiting for a fix for over two and a half months. After some Googling I have managed to revert back to version 6.7.1 (March 2, 2016). Webclipper now seems to be working fine again.

Then, off course, it automatically updates to version 6.9 and is completely useless again. Please can Evernote let us have a version of 6.7.1 that will not update as you seem to be no nearer to fixing the problem with more recent versions. (Manually editing the crx  manfest file to stop it updating runs into Chrome security problems)

 

[Bob Byrd 0]

Just to add my grievance to the mix...

 

Simplified Article view for http://www.gcflearnfree.org/windows8/getting-started-with-windows-8/1/ gives me garbage using Chrome Version 51.0.2704.106 m (64-bit) in WIndows 10.

[smhumphrey 1]

On 27/05/2016 at 5:59 PM, chanatx said:

@maud Yes, we're working on this and hope to have a full fix for it shortly.

I have to say, it's now August and still no fix. In the meantime EN has increased its prices.  EN and I shall be parting ways I'm afraid. Onenote isn't perfect but it is free. 

[M.Yessimkhan 0]

So, as I can see this problem has been around for a long time now.

I started using evernote just couple of days before. And it's irritating. I save the simplified version of an article. Then go to evernote... look up the article and realize it's not full article but only half of it... mostly the introduction. The rest was cut out. Then I try doing it again multiple times and then bum... it works finally! The whole article is available. But then I revisit it later and find out that it's again cut out. Don't even get me started about saving full articles.

Is this issue going to be solved in the nearest future or not?

And if not, could you please suggest me good platforms for saving articles?

P.S. I'm using windows 10 on my PC.

[Mike P 2,616]

Quote

And if not, could you please suggest me good platforms for saving articles?

I've reluctantly had to give up using webclipper, because checking that it is actually readable in Evernote and then going back and saving the information in another way is ridiculous. I can't understand why there is not more of an outcry about this. I would have thought that Chrome on windows 10 was a pretty common set up so if somebody has a way of actually getting it to work i would love to hear it.

I now just copy and paste the content into a blank note. Works every time. Amazingly, it somehow knows the address of the article and automatically populates the URL field, so the clickable web address of the source article still appears at the top of the note.

 

[Piil 0]

I can see I'm not alone. I have experienced problems with webclipper frequently lately. An recent example is http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/articles/analytics/practical-advice-for-better-business-forecasting.html.

The problems both occurs with evernote add-on i Chrome for Windows and on firefox for android.

Hope you soon get it fixed. Webclipper was my primary reason to chose evernote in the first place...

[Mike P 2,616]

Hi Everybody. You  may have seen this post:

It would be great if as many contributors to this thread as possible could sign up for the prototype to make sure it solves our problems and give feedback to the developers. Personally, I'd be quite happy if I could get a non-updating version of Chrome version 6.7.1 which worked perfectly, but I guess that's not going to happen!

 

 

 

[Mike P 2,616]

3 hours ago, Piil said:

I can see I'm not alone. I have experienced problems with webclipper frequently lately. An recent example is http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/articles/analytics/practical-advice-for-better-business-forecasting.html.

The problems both occurs with evernote add-on i Chrome for Windows and on firefox for android.

Hope you soon get it fixed. Webclipper was my primary reason to chose evernote in the first place...

I can confirm that clipping that web page also gives a garbled version for me.