Chance of a 64bit evernote?

[sinman 3]

My EN seems to freeze often upon recovering from background (HDD issue?) I may be wrong here, but if it was 64bit, could it not be assigned more virtual memory and recover from other status faster?

So would there be any chance of a 64bit Evernote?

Thanks

[EdH 1,670]

There is no reason to go to 64 bit unless memory is an issue. Microsoft, for example, will tell you up front don't bother with Office 64 bit unless you specifically need a ton of RAM for really large Excel spreadsheets. It does nothing for the other apps and can introduce issues with plugins which may not work right or at all with the 64bit version.

I don't think Evernote's freezing problem has anything to do with 32bit vs 64bit. It has to do with it shoving everything in that one database file. The Mac client is much faster and I think that is because every note is multiple files in a massive folder structure - one file for the text, one for images, attachments, etc. Then the EN client puts them together on the fly.

In Windows everything is in a single database and it requires maintenance and updates, so editing and saving a 100KB note can cause your machine to freeze while 50MB or more of disk activity happens.

I have a screaming fast Surface Pro 4 with a 512GB SSD and 16GB of RAm and EN still routinely freezes. I have an anemic Macbook at home (1.2GHz Core M processor) and 8GB of RAM and it never freezes. Same data. Over 16,000 notes and 8GB of data.

[jefito 5,589]

This is the Windows client, correct?

There's no guarantee that a 64-bit executable will be any faster than a 32-bit executable in this case. For example, on the machine I'm working on here,I have an Evernote database of about 2000 notes, and its virtual size currently is ~512MB (working set is ~256MB), well under the 2GB limit for 32-bit executables. There's plenty of virtual room for Evernote to grow into.  Granted, I do experience the occasional lag when starting some operations; hard to tell what's causing that, except that given the stats above, half of Evernote is probably living in the page file currently. The drawback in your case may be amount of physical memory you have available; if you are squeezed for physical memory, then more of your programs may be forced to live in the page file on disk, causing slowdowns.

Whether or not there will be a 64-bit Evernote is a different question. Producing one may be made difficult, depending on a number of factors, including availability of 64-bit versions of 3rd-party libraries used by Evernote; it's rarely just a simple recompile, and can sometimes be quite painful. Plus they probably need to still support 32-bit environments. Win XP hasn't died altogether. But that question would be for an Evernote staffer to answer definitively.

[Dan745 3]

Quote

There is no reason to go to 64 bit unless memory is an issue. Microsoft, for example, will tell you up front don't bother with Office 64 bit unless you specifically need a ton of RAM for really large Excel spreadsheets. It does nothing for the other apps and can introduce issues with plugins which may not work right or at all with the 64bit version.

I would like to correct this, because it is not correct.

There are two reasons that if you have a 64 bit computer, 64 bit applications are faster.

First, programs compiled to 64 bit can usually be made to run faster on 64 bit CPUs than 32 bit programs can be made to run on 32 bit CPUs.  This is even before considering that if the software is memory intensive, then it will run far, far faster in 64 bit.

Second, on a 64 bit Windows computer, 32 bit applications have to run in a 32 bit CPU emulation mode.  It's really more of a thin compatibility layer than a big-time emulator, but there is usually still a performance hit involved.

From Microsoft, "Running 32-bit Applications" --

"WOW64 is the x86 emulator that allows 32-bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows."

They usually run seamlessly, but also more slowly.  How much more slowly depends on the application, what it's doing, and also on the 64 bit chip that is installed (emulating on an Itanium is slower, for instance).  In addition to the slowdown because of the conversion/emulation, the emulator itself takes up some address space and CPU time, which may limit for instance the number of threads.

There is an upside: "WOW64 enables 32-bit applications to take advantage of the 64-bit kernel. Therefore, 32-bit applications can use a larger number of kernel handles and window handles."

See also from the PVS-Studio blog, "Why do 64-bit applications work faster than 32-bit ones?"

Microsoft is even working on an emulator that allows x86 Windows applications to run on ARM-based devices, like the ones that Smartphones use.  That's a much bigger task of emulation since the instructions are totally different.

Anyway, it's not true that there is no reason to switch to Office 64.  On the contrary, if you have a 64 bit machine, and do not require 32 bit plugins -- although most Office plugins have been converted to work as 64 bit -- then there is no reason not to switch to the 64 bit version.  It will be faster out of the gate, and if do you need to work with large files, then it will be magnitudes faster.  It's even likely that at some point in the future, developers will stop supporting the old 32 bit plugins, which is already the case for some Photoshop plugins.

If you do upgrade your computer from 32 bit to 64 bit but keep running 32 bit applications, you may be disappointed in your upgrade because it's actually possible that some applications will run slower than they did before, on the 32 bit computer for which they were optimized.

It's true though that plugins are one of the big impediments for applications switching over to 64 bit.  This was maybe most notoriously true for Photoshop and for Office, but most plugins for those have been available in 64 bit for awhile now.  Evernote may often be less processor-intensive than those but running applications as 32 bit on a 64 bit computer will still less efficient and will use some resources for CPU emulation.

SpankyJ on the Microsoft Developer blog explains why 64 bit applications cannot use 32 bit plugins: "It is important to understand that once you’re loaded up in the WOW64 you’re a 32bit process and there’s no turning back. You have to use 32bit dlls all around. On the other hand, once you start up 64bit you’re 64bit, no 32bit dlls allowed."

One hacky solution that works for Photoshop is to use a 64 bit plugin that is a wrapper for 32 bit plugins.  There are a couple of those available, but I don't know if that approach would work with the 32 bit plugins for Evernote.  I doubt it, since Photoshop plugins tend to go off on their own and work with an image, while Evernote plugins are more tied into the user experience.

Dan

p.s. In this forum editor, I tried to use letters like "a)" and "b)", but it converts "b)" into a smiley with sunglasses...which is a little bit annoying...

[EdH 1,670]

1 hour ago, Dan745 said:

Second, on a 64 bit Windows computer, 32 bit applications have to run in a 32 bit CPU emulation mode.  It's really more of a thin compatibility layer than a big-time emulator, but there is usually still a performance hit involved.

I generally agree with your post and we use Office 365 here and force 64 bit versions on all PCs, but as the other post said, this is mainly because I develop some pretty large and complex data models in Excel using the DAX engine and 32bit Excel has fallen over flat.

As for performance, I'd wager anyone using 32bit office just fine (i.e. not big Excel models) would never notice any performance impact of 32bit vs 64bit simply because they aren't taxing the processor to begin with.

I'd like 64 bit evernote, but that is on principle. On Windows, the bottleneck is the MySQL database on the hard drive, so no amount of processor or RAM will speed that up, and EN isn't a memory hog where it needs to address over 3GB of RAM. And since I am sure there are existing 32bit Windows EN customers, going to 64 bit only introduces cost.

That said, it is coming. Apple has forced all apps on both iOS and MacOS to be 64bit. I am sure MS will do the same at some point, but not sure when, because as of today, if you really want to, you can install a 32bit version of Windows 10.

[jefito 5,589]

8 hours ago, Dan745 said:

There are two reasons that if you have a 64 bit computer, 64 bit applications are faster.

First, programs compiled to 64 bit can usually be made to run faster on 64 bit CPUs than 32 bit programs can be made to run on 32 bit CPUs.  This is even before considering that if the software is memory intensive, then it will run far, far faster in 64 bit.

Second, on a 64 bit Windows computer, 32 bit applications have to run in a 32 bit CPU emulation mode.  It's really more of a thin compatibility layer than a big-time emulator, but there is usually still a performance hit involved.

This is not universally true. If your application is I/O bound, then the I/O may very well dominate running time. For compute-intensive applications, then 64-bit will probably be faster. It really depends on what your application is doing. Evernote is probably a mix; remember, Evernote runs on a SQlite database. Without doing some benchmarking or profiling, it's hard to know for sure. Is the infamous lag-while-searching problem due to I/O or to searching through a large in-memory cache (and is that cache well-designed, and the algorithms well-chosen, which is an entirely different set of criteria and mainly independent of word size)? And let's not that Windows system calls incur their own overhead. 

Where I work, we support 32- and 64-bit versions of a large-ish GIS application that can suck in huge amounts of data (think large Lidar point clouds). I'll take 64-bits any day, particularly once all of that data gets into memory. The release versions of our executables are actually roughly the same size (~60MB, plus ~210MB of DLLs). The pain points for supporting both models have mainly been getting compatible libraries for the things we do.

[Colin2018 0]

Hi,I also often see Evernote's dying, unable to open the window. I need to end the evernote process in Task Manager before you can start it again. Win10 64bit, 8Gbit RAM, hope developers pay attention to this issue.Thanks.

[EdH 1,670]

On 4/13/2018 at 8:37 PM, Colin2018 said:

Hi,I also often see Evernote's dying, unable to open the window. I need to end the evernote process in Task Manager before you can start it again. Win10 64bit, 8Gbit RAM, hope developers pay attention to this issue.Thanks.

Evernote's problem isn't 64bit vs 32bit. 64bit will only help in RAM needs above 3GB per process. Evernote takes very little RAM. Mine says 56MB right now.

The performance issue is the database, which is on the hard drive, not RAM.

Edited April 17, 2018 by EdH
fixed 56GB to say 56MB

[jefito 5,589]

2 hours ago, EdH said:

Mine says 56GB right now.

ITYM 56MB...  

Otherwise, I pretty much agree, that it probably wouldn't make that much difference. There's certainly some inefficiency running a 32-bit application on a 64-bit OS; there's a layer that acts like the 32-bit OS API, and translates the parameters and results back-and-forth, but Windows API calls are typically kernel calls anyways, which is a slowdown anyways. I suppose that the availability of more addressable storage might make it easier for Evernote to cache more of the database in memory, but Evernote uses SQLite as its database engine, so the caching could take place there. Porting 32-bits to 64-bits is not always fun / easy, and so may be a lower priority task for Evernote at this time. It wouldn't hurt, but maybe there's other things they'd rather be doing...

[EdH 1,670]

Part of the issue is the new crop of Windows on ARM machines. Those will only run 32bit apps if they are based on the x86 chips. So even if Evernote made a 64 bit version, it would need to maintain the 32bit platform as well. 

If WoA is not successful, then it won't matter, but if it is, or at least successful enough to want customers on it, EN should stick with 32bit for a while to see how that shakes out.

[RL7836 13]

Older thread but the question remains relevant. I just had an issue w/ EN that required me to kill the program in task manager. I noticed that the program was still 32-bit, so started to search interwebs to ensure I'm not running an old, feeble version. This thread gave me my answer & provided a bit of an education along the way (many thanks to prior posters).

However, now I'm curious. Is there a rough timeline for a 64-bit Windows-based Evernote?

[EdH 1,670]

I wish they would. They converted to 64bit on the Mac I think last year.

[dconnet 529]

2 hours ago, RL7836 said:

Is there a rough timeline for a 64-bit Windows-based Evernote?

No. At least that I'm aware of!

[jefito 5,589]

3 hours ago, dconnet said:

No. At least that I'm aware of!

I'd hope that you'd be someone who'd know...  

[EdH 1,670]

On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 8:38 AM, dconnet said:

No. At least that I'm aware of!

I do find it odd that the Windows client is the only 32bit client you have now. All the rest are 64 bit.

[dconnet 529]

17 hours ago, EdH said:

I do find it odd that the Windows client is the only 32bit client you have now. All the rest are 64 bit.

It's probably the only 32bit OS we support anymore - So even if we had a 64bit version, we'd still have to have a 32bit one...

[EdH 1,670]

49 minutes ago, dconnet said:

It's probably the only 32bit OS we support anymore - So even if we had a 64bit version, we'd still have to have a 32bit one...

Not sure why. No one is using 32bit Windows that you support anyway. These stats indicate less than 2% are on a 32bit platform, and most of that is Windows 7, which is EOL'd in about a year.

[jefito 5,589]

6 hours ago, EdH said:

Not sure why. No one is using 32bit Windows that you support anyway. These stats indicate less than 2% are on a 32bit platform, and most of that is Windows 7, which is EOL'd in about a year.

Sure, but if your customers are still using it, you don't want to freeze them out. We still do a 32-bit application for that reason, though we also do a 64-bit version, which is much better for the things we do (geographic rendering and analysis, we need to handle very large data sets sometimes). Took a while to shake out any 32-bit assumptions for the 64-bit code, and make everything build off the same code base, but it's pretty seamless now. The decision oint, I guess, is how much of a pain point that is vs. the fact that 32-bit versions still run fine on 64-bit OS's. Our experience is that they run fine.

[Jordan Thompson 30]

Here's another reason: Evernote on Mac is really, really bad.  It downright sucks.  I was using wine to run the windows version and it was much more acceptable than maintaining a virtual machine.  Now that Mac OS has "updated" to 64 bit, the 32 bit windows apps won't run on it.

[PinkElephant 8,071]

The current EN app runs fine under Catalina, the actual WebClipper does work with all relevant browsers, including Safari. All current EN apps for the Mac are 64bit.

If it is not working for you, this may help:

1. Make sure all content is synced to the server, and there is  o other open access to the account. This is not absolutely necessary, but will help to avoid syncing problems. Local  otebooks that will not be synced will be lost in the uninstall, so if you have any, back them up before.
2. Make a COMPLETE uninstall, this means using the AppCleaner app, and checking all and every components to be uninstalled (not only those the AppCleaner would uninstall). Scroll down, there are more components hidden down the window.
3. Reinstall the EN app. I prefer the version from the EN Website over the AppStore version, because from the AppStore it will execute in a sandboxed setting which for me led to problems.
4. After the app is installed, Make sure to give it all the necessary rights in the Catalina settings, security and privacy. In the privacy tab, go to each position and check whether there is EN in the list. If you find it, set the check mark. Under Catalina this is most important, because security is stricter than before.
5. When all this is done, open the app, log into your account and let it rebuild the database from the server. This may take a while, depending on the size of the data and the Internet Connection.

When done, it should run like a charm. At least my installation on my MBP does.

With WebClipper it works similar, it is just that the uninstall is done in the Safari settings, extensions, and the new version is only available on the AppStore. Skitch is still another issue, you find advise in the forum if you search for it. But in general EN is perfectly ready for Catalina.

[Jordan Thompson 30]

2 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

The current EN app runs fine under Catalina, the actual WebClipper does work with all relevant browsers, including Safari.

If it is not working for you, this may help:

1. Make sure all content is synced to the server, and there is  o other open access to the account. This is not absolutely necessary, but will help to avoid syncing problems. Local  otebooks that will not be synced will be lost in the uninstall, so if you have any, back them up before.
2. Make a COMPLETE uninstall, this means using the AppCleaner app, and checking all and every components to be uninstalled (not only those the AppCleaner would uninstall). Scroll down, there are more components hidden down the window.
3. Reinstall the EN app. I prefer the version from the EN Website over the AppStore version, because from the AppStore it will execute in a sandboxed setting which for me led to problems.
4. After the app is installed, Make sure to give it all the necessary rights in the Catalina settings, security and privacy. In the privacy tab, go to each position and check whether there is EN in the list. If you find it, set the check mark. Under Catalina this is most important, because security is stricter than before.
5. When all this is done, open the app, log into your account and let it rebuild the database from the server. This may take a while, depending on the size of the data and the Internet Connection.

When done, it should run like a charm. At least my installation on my MBP does.

With WebClipper it works similar, it is just that the uninstall is done in the Safari settings, extensions, and the new version is only available on the AppStore. Skitch is still another issue, you find advise in the forum if you search for it. But in general EN is perfectly ready for Catalina.

Sure, it may run, but it is horrible when compared to its windows sibling. 

[PinkElephant 8,071]

Well - I do run both, and I disagree.

Both my installations of EN run smooth and with good performance.

Each is running with the latest official release available (no betas), and under the latest release of the OS, which is 1909 for Win10 and 10.15.2 for Catalina. No tricks applied, just a clean install.

Since my PC is vintage 2012, and my MacBookPro is a 2018 model, I can not compare performance to the last millisecond, but each install does perform on a very high level. I find relevant information in a blink after filling the search box, AI contextual search is available on the spot, operations on several notes are executed fast etc. Sometimes when it takes a second it is because a sync is active.

If you have a fresh install, your database should be fine. If not, it often helps to refresh the local database. To find the options, press and hold the alt/opt key before opening the help menu with the mouse. Below the usual stuff additional options will show, among which there are rebuilding the search index and reconstructing the database. You can as well force a sync with the server data (by holding down shift before clicking sync, if I am not mistaken). 

Running anything on a Mac under Wine is IMHO usually not a good thing. It creates more problems than it solves. Either use BootCamp to install Windows as an option on start-up, or (which is my solution) run the Parallels app to install virtual machines to run Windows (or other OSes) inside of the MacOS. Windows programs are executed stable and with good performance there.

[Jordan Thompson 30]

I'm not talking about speed, I'm talking about the layout, the fact that it warns me every time I try to move a note, etc

[PinkElephant 8,071]

Since this is nothing I would have noticed until now, it is nothing that would disturb me. I even can’t say whether there is a difference between the Mac and the Windows Client regarding noticing the User.

As a Premium User, you could issue a support ticket describing EN in more detail what you would like to have changed.

[Jordan Thompson 30]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Since this is nothing I would have noticed until now, it is nothing that would disturb me. I even can’t say whether there is a difference between the Mac and the Windows Client regarding noticing the User.

As a Premium User, you could issue a support ticket describing EN in more detail what you would like to have changed.

Believe me, I have. Honestly if there was another product out there that was as good, I would seriously consider switching. I really like the windows version, I tolerate the android version, and I loathe the Mac one. 

[PinkElephant 8,071]

For me, it is indifferent whether I am using the Windows or Mac client. The machines sit on 2 desks back to back in my HomeOffice. I use the machine that runs the software I need for the task at hand. EN serves (in one of the minor roles it has in my setup) as a platform where documents are available independently from the OS I am using at that moment. And I really don’t care, both are performing well.

Scanning with my Fujitsu ix500 is neater on the Windows side, because the Mac ScanSnap Home (64bit) is quite basic in it’s functions. But it works, so no problem with scanning on the Mac if needed. 

The EN Clients are pretty interchangeable in my workflows. I have the bigger monitor on the Mac (because I do my photo editing there), so most of my EN administration like moving and joining notes, tagging etc. I do on the Mac.

The one thing that would improve my workflow would be a more unified user interface for the 2 desktop clients. By the way, the Mac is already 64bit, but last time I checked the Windows was still 32bit. Not that I would complain, both are doing the job.

[CalS 5,280]

1 hour ago, Jordan Thompson said:

Believe me, I have. Honestly if there was another product out there that was as good, I would seriously consider switching. I really like the windows version, I tolerate the android version, and I loathe the Mac one. 

Windows and Mac EN are definitely not the same functionally.  I don't exactly loath the Mac version but I do find it harder to use and it just takes longer to get something done.  Could be I'm less familiar with Mac EN, but it does not work as well as the Windows version, some features missing for my use case.  🤷‍♂️

[DTLow 5,736]

4 hours ago, Jordan Thompson said:

I really like the windows version, I tolerate the android version, and I loathe the Mac one. 

2 hours ago, CalS said:

I don't exactly loath the Mac version but I do find it harder to use and it just takes longer to get something done.  Could be I'm less familiar with Mac EN, but it does not work as well as the Windows version, some features missing for my use case.  🤷‍♂️

I'm a Mac user and haven't been on a Windows machine for years        
So what am I missing with Evernote use?

One feature I know is sequencing when merging notes.     
Windows uses the selection sequence; Macs use the note list sequence.

Also, Mac's dont have the on-demand-sequencing; it's not a feature I need.
 

[CalS 5,280]

More to do with work flow for me.  On a lark I reconfigured (added an SSD and memory) to my daughters old Mac to see how EN worked there.  Can't be specific since it's been a bit, but I was doing normal business on that Mac and I would stumble on something that didn't work as it did on Windows.  I would determine the alternate on the Mac and it was not as simple as Windows.  Nothing massive, just not as easy.  So I set the Mac up for visitors and I will occasionally use it like a mobile device, access as opposed to work.  Could just be my use case. 

[EdH 1,670]

• Mac version doesn't have notes on demand, which is super-handy with a 10GB and growing database. I don't need all of those notes on my machine at all times.
• When you create a table of contents, the Mac version doesn't do anything to let you know it is a TOC. The windows client lets you search for sourceurl:"file://Table*" to see all table of contents notes.
• Mac version has a useless tool bar for notes. In fact, it has no tool bar. Just a big green SHARE button. You have to hit the ellipses to get to useful commands like print, trash, etc. There is no productivity gain for this. This is just Evernote trying to get people to share notes to get others to install and buy Evernote.
• You cannot put your shortcuts across the top like you can on the WIndows client, so you have this long list down the left that makes you scroll further to even find your notebooks.
• The mac version has no user interface to allow automatic importing of files through a monitored folder.

Those are just a few things off the top of my head. I do my level best to NOT use my Mac client, instead saving work when I am at my PC. I know some of those can be done via scripting, or may not be of value, but objectively, the Mac client is less capable than the Windows client. Whether or not those capabilities matter to someone is an individual issue for someone to decide.

[s2sailor 2,183]

A couple of others that I find useful. In addition to controlling the merge order you can also define what the border between the merged notes looks like.  Also Windows allows you to set color and font for tag and notebook names helping them stand out in the left hand pane.

[PinkElephant 8,071]

Maybe I am not such a hardcore user, most of the things mentioned above I have not even noticed before.

For my typical workflows I enjoy a sufficient support by the Mac app. If there are things missing that work with the Windows app, I have probably not missed them because I do not use them.

Example: Import folders:

Yes, now it was mentioned I used them when I was on Windows. I scanned into folders, and it got converted into new EN notes.

Since I have my Mac, I either import directly from my scanner (ix500) into EN, or I scan from my iPhone with ScannerPro via a workflow I have set up as well directly into EN. So I don’t miss anything. And I know that if I need to setup an import folder one day, I could use for example Hazel to get the files into EN notes on my Mac as well. Less elegant, with an additional piece of software, but it works.

In general I agree: Other users with other use cases will use and need to use such functions, so it would be nice to have all the clients unified and happy.

[CalS 5,280]

3 hours ago, s2sailor said:

A couple of others that I find useful. In addition to controlling the merge order you can also define what the border between the merged notes looks like.  Also Windows allows you to set color and font for tag and notebook names  helping them stand out in the left hand pane

And the ability to save the view on searches and notebooks.

[EdH 1,670]

4 hours ago, s2sailor said:

A couple of others that I find useful. In addition to controlling the merge order you can also define what the border between the merged notes looks like.  Also Windows allows you to set color and font for tag and notebook names  helping them stand out in the left hand pane

Yes. I never merge notes on the Mac. I just stick them in a temp notebook and merge when I get to my PC. I never know what order they will get merged in. 

[s2sailor 2,183]

4 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Since I have my Mac, I either import directly from my scanner (ix500) into EN,

How do you have this set up?  I have the same scanner wireless to the Mac running Mojave and everything works great.  I can scan directly into Evernote.  I've been holding off upgrading to Catalina because I think that will force me to use ScanSnap Home and I didn't think that would allow scans directly into Evernote.  I don't want to scan into their cloud and I've heard that import folders are possible on the Mac but, as I recall, were difficult to set up.  I could hook the scanner to the PC but that is the work system and I'd like to avoid that.

[dcon 166]

13 hours ago, s2sailor said:

that will force me to use ScanSnap Home

I got that email saying the Evernote specific version is now dead - Hey! Upgrade to ScanSnap Home! (firmware update plus PC software update)

(reads the fine print) Um, this looks like they're taking away USB scanning and forcing me to wifi - and their cloud. <expletive> no! (I take my scanner to remote places with my laptop [dog shows] that have no wifi)

[PinkElephant 8,071]

I am on ScanSnapHome since quite a while, now under Catalina.

USB is working, WiFi is working (I had some trouble with it, and you use an USB connection to set it up again), Cloud is working.

The app itself seems to be on the lean side regarding functions, but these are available when you setup profiles. So I created some profiles like EN-simplex, EN-duplex (both with OCR), HighRes etc. When scanning, I choose the appropriate profile, and there we go.

To use the SW, one has to convert the EN edition scanner to a normal ix500 by firmware update. It makes it work as any other ix500 (like mine, which was a standard one from the beginning), but it can’t be reverted. 

In general for a normal User the ScanSnapHome-solution IMHO should do the job. And for those who need more, the scanner should work with another software solution specially able to serve advanced scanning tasks. But these do not come for free when buying the scanner.

[Bucho 0]

I have the evernote scanner and when I updated my Mac to Catalina my evernote scanner will not scan. I uninstalled the scan snap and went through the steps but it did not help. Is there something that I did wrong. My evernote scanner is IX 500 and is around 7 years old. Any thoughts or help.

 

Thanks Ken

[Bucho 0]

37 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

I am on ScanSnapHome since quite a while, now under Catalina.

USB is working, WiFi is working (I had some trouble with it, and you use an USB connection to set it up again), Cloud is working.

The app itself seems to be on the lean side regarding functions, but these are available when you setup profiles. So I created some profiles like EN-simplex, EN-duplex (both with OCR), HighRes etc. When scanning, I choose the appropriate profile, and there we go.

To use the SW, one has to convert the EN edition scanner to a normal ix500 by firmware update. It makes it work as any other ix500 (like mine, which was a standard one from the beginning), but it can’t be reverted. 

In general for a normal User the ScanSnapHome-solution IMHO should do the job. And for those who need more, the scanner should work with another software solution specially able to serve advanced scanning tasks. But these do not come for free when buying the scanner.

I have the evernote scanner that I purchased around 8 years ago from evernote. When I updated my Mac to Catalina I could not scan. I uninstalled the old Scan snap and installed the Scan

snap home and followed the directions but in the end an error message came up with something about not reading the firmware on the scanner. Not sure what to do next.

Also If I buy another new scanner from evernote will the new one be comparable to the updated  Catalina  on my Mac.

 

Thanks Ken

[PinkElephant 8,071]

My steps have been:

Uninstall all ScanSnap SOFTWARE from my MacBookPro using AppCleaner app, to really wipe all parts of it. Caution: This will as well erase the folders containing copies of all scans, so make sure to back them up (copy them to another folder) if you still need the content.

Link the ix500 to the Mac using the USB cable. Go to the Fujitsu website and upgrade your firmware to the latest edition available for your scanner. Caution: If it is an EN edition scanner, it will be converted to a normal ix500 by this. This can’t be reverted - and without doing, the new 64bit-SW will not run with your scanner. (*)

From the Fujitsu Website get the DMG with the ScanSnapHome-Software. Install it on your Mac.

Go to the Macs settings, Security & Privacy, and go down the list of settings in the last tab. I think the one before is the Firewall. Check each category, and where ScanSnap or EN is mentioned, make sure the option is checked. 

Connect to the scanner via USB, set it up (WiFi etc.) and run a test. It should work now.

In ScanSnapHome create profiles that allow you to scan directly into a new EN note.

(*) I did not have to do this, since I have a standard ix500. Maybe you have to get the ScanSnapHome running first before you can upgrade the firmware. You have to try how it works, or go through Fujitsu support on this. From my knowledge, ScanSnapHome will not work with an EN edition scanner. Anyhow, the scanner should run the latest firmware, even if it was a normal ix500 from the beginning.

[dcon 166]

20 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

USB is working, ...

...

To use the SW, one has to convert the EN edition scanner to a normal ix500 by firmware update. It makes it work as any other ix500 (like mine, which was a standard one from the beginning), but it can’t be reverted. 

Ah, that's good to know! The SS web page certainly seemed to imply everything would be done via wifi...

Now I can debate about whether to do it or not... Though I'm wondering if my scanner is dying - it now has a black bar on the backside scan. Tried cleaning as suggested, but that didn't fix it. So at least for now, I've disabled 2-sided scanning.

[PinkElephant 8,071]

@dcon Can you post a visual of your scanners problem here to see what it might be ?

[dcon 166]

16 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

@dcon Can you post a visual of your scanners problem here to see what it might be ?

Here's a scan I just did...

2019_12_30_08_21_20.pdf

[PinkElephant 8,071]

@dcon This is for sure no dirt, this is a block of sensors on the back side scanning array not working. I doubt that this can be fixed without replacing the part. If it is the sensor itself or a conversion chip I cannot say from viewing the scan. But there is no signal coming from this part of the sensor.

So it is simplex scanning (like you do), or go for a replacement.

Personally I do most of my day to day scanning by my iPhone today, using the ScannerPro-App. My ix500 is employed when scanning more than apps. 10 pages. And the new ix 1500 is a very nice scanner ...

[dcon 166]

17 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

This is for sure no dirt

I didn't figure it was. But all the googling seems to imply "this is how to fix it". You know... the internet... sigh.

For now, single sided scanning is fine. For things that are truly double sided, I can use Acrobat to reorder the pages. When the scanner fully dies, I will probably go for another ix. They're not cheap, but I've been loving this one! (It also helps I was an EN employee when I got it - EN had a blowout sale for employees and we got it for something like 80% off!)

[PinkElephant 8,071]

For 80% off it is a real steal.

Things like this I evaluate by „money to be spend vs. time to be saved“. Often the cheap solutions do not save enough on the time side of the equation. So anybody who will spend 15 hrs or more with scanning stuff will find the ix-price pretty attractive. Below this, the mobile app will do fine.

[CalS 5,280]

On 12/31/2019 at 3:55 PM, PinkElephant said:

For 80% off it is a real steal.

Things like this I evaluate by „money to be spend vs. time to be saved“. Often the cheap solutions do not save enough on the time side of the equation. So anybody who will spend 15 hrs or more with scanning stuff will find the ix-price pretty attractive. Below this, the mobile app will do fine.

If you like a smaller footprint the s1300i does a nice job.  Still does double sided with 10-15 page capacity.

[dcon 166]

On 1/2/2020 at 11:25 AM, CalS said:

If you like a smaller footprint the s1300i does a nice job.  Still does double sided with 10-15 page capacity.

Oooo. That one looks nice - I'll have to keep it in mind when it gets time... I do often bring mine to dog shows (where I'm secretary) - that would travel _much_ better!

[PinkElephant 8,071]

When mobile I do not bother to carry that sort of equipment. My iPhone is up to all scanning except where I have to handle a bulk of pages, maybe even duplex. Then the ix500 does the job - with everything else I am faster and get similar results just using the iPhone . And I do not need to ramp up a computer to do so - it goes via WiFi or 4G directly to the EN server, creating a note there, many times already in the right notebook, with title and standard tags.

To make a difference to using the phone, my office scanner needs to be optimized for heavy scanning, which means 50 pages in the feeder etc.

But if you fall in between, good luck with picking the right equipment. Nothing worse to be at a nice show, and have to struggle with the gadgets.