Bill Myers

Apparently you don't know how to play the non-sequitur game. The rules are: 1. Post something in the Evernote users forum. 2. Artichoke. 3. President McKinley.

It hadn't actually occurred to me until I read this blog post, but 2023 was a really good year for Evernote under Bending Spoons' ownership. Syncing is faster and I can't remember the last time I had a sync conflict. Evernote is the most stable that I've ever experienced it to be, and I've been using it since 2012. For the first time in quite a few years, I feel fully confident in trusting Evernote with data I cannot afford to lose. I hadn't even thought about it, frankly. Because I've just been using Evernote for my daily business and not worrying about it. I know the under-the-hood work didn't come without some challenges, and some users experienced some pain. But I really feel Bending Spoons has done a good job making the product one I can trust. I kicked legacy to the curb awhile back and I've come to like v10 better. I'm looking forward to seeing what Bending Spoons has up its sleeve for v11. New design, but keeping my workflows intact? I'm all for it. I don't need Bending Spoons to be perfect, and I don't need them to cater to my every whim. I just need Evernote to be reliable. And now, in my estimation, it is. Well done, folks.

I'd suggest you sort your notes by the date created instead. That takes care of your problem very easily. The nice thing about the create date is that you can modify it manually. If you're like me and sometimes you don't scan meeting notes into Evernote until a few days later, you can change the create date to the date the meeting actually occurred. You can do that by clicking the three dots in the top right corner, choosing "Note Info", and then modifying the create date. As for the "date updated" changing when a note is moved, I doubt it's a bug and I'm sure it's not insane. I have a background in selling document management solutions, and often there is a use case for knowing who did what to a document when. That includes moving it. That may not be a use case you have, but again, all you need to do is sort by create date and you should be fine.

You're hoping that a for-profit company will go bankrupt. As the result of deciding to stop offering near-unrestricted access to their services -- for free. I'm really not sure you're acquainted with how the world works.

There are lots of free and low-cost alternatives to Evernote "NOW," and there have been for years. Instead of posting hostile comments in a user-to-user forum, try a Google search. It's not anyone else's responsibility to do your shopping for you.

I'm not an anti-Evernote agitator, but I've been concerned about the quality of support. Fortunately I haven't had any significant support needs, but I shudder to think about what would happen (or not happen) if I did. Bending Spoons is an app developer that has acquired other apps. I think it's reasonable to say they ought to have anticipated a surge in support requests and prepared for that. If it helps, though, I've been using Evernote since 2009. There have been periods where support has been worse and others where it was much better. I think it's possible that if we wait this out, things will get better.

Nice post, @gazumped. Neither you nor I have control over how people respond, but I think this is exactly the right message. I don't know who decides such things, but is it possible this could be pinned to the top of the forum? The more people who see this, the better.

It's like that Woody Allen joke, "The food here is terrible, and the portions are too small."

Blockbuster? Too modern for me. There hasn't been a real computer since Univac I. The tech world has gone to sh*t since they stopped using vacuum tubes and punch cards.

I'm really impressed with this word choice. Seriously. It makes this whole thread worth it. You must kill at Scrabble.

You know what I think would be better content for @Pierre42's YouTube channel? A video of them at the grocery store carrying on about "blackmail" when the poor checkout clerk rings up their order and asks for payment. I would pay money to watch that video. And I wouldn't even feel as though I'd been blackmailed.

*Shakes magic eight-ball* All signs point to NO

I've been playing around with AI search and it's been pretty hit or miss. Sometimes it zeroes in on exactly the note I want, and sometimes the search results are downright nonsensical. For instance, I told it to find notes about sales prospecting and it came up with a pretty good list, although four of the 12 search results don't even contain the search terms. On the other hand, I also told it to find notes about writing and it found a bunch of notes about something called Dialectical Behavior Therapy, one of which it identified as the best match. On the other hand, a note with a webclip about something called "Story Grid," which is about writing, was buried about halfway down in the search results. This is not an "I hate Evernote" or "AI is teh suck" post. But I'm genuinely curious if anyone else has tried AI search and if so what their experience has been. It is in beta, so that may have something to do with its lack of accuracy. I'm also wondering if it's going to learn as I use it more. For that matter, maybe there are ways to word my searched better than I am (although if it's really finicky, I think that would defeat the purpose of a tool that is supposed to enable us to use natural language queries)? I'd be very interested to know how it's working for others who have tried it. I actually think it could be a very useful tool for me, but based on what little I've seen, it looks like it has a ways to go.

Apology accepted. If I also came across as too combative, I apologize as well. Your job requires you to analyze data. I'm a know-it-all with a big mouth. Only one of us gets paid for our thing, though. I'm still not sure there's anything more to discuss, because I don't believe either of us actually has enough information to draw any conclusions. Also, I don't think it matters whether one of us is right or wrong. But maybe I'll clarify a couple of things and that will be OK. Yes, I got that. That's what I meant, too. Here's why I don't think it's worth beating this dead horse much further: I just think we're too far apart in terms of what we consider "indicators." To me, those bullet points are assumptions and not facts. There is also the fact that neither of us can control what happens inside or outside of Bending Spoons by arguing about it. Nor will I change the minds of people coming on here to complain about the new pricing, the new restrictions on the free plan, or any other grievance they choose to air out. Nor will I change any minds by arguing about "argument culture." On the other hand, I'll feel better if I stay out of arguments I don't need to be involved in. That's something I can actually control.

The only indicators I see here are telling me that you would be all too happy to argue this into the ground. The need to prove oneself right is often an impediment to learning. Hey, I get it. I used to obsessively participate in Internet argument culture, so I know all the signs. Like the challenge above, demanding that I play your game. One of my character defects is to every once in a while slip into that whole argument for argument's sake thing. Like I've been doing in this forum for the past two or three weeks. I'll give you some advice that probably won't register today, but may resonate with you someday: it isn't worth it. Argument culture isn't about proving the point. It's about the act of arguing as an end in itself. In the immortal words of General Leia to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, "It's a trap!" I'm going to go back to focusing on those threads that offer me a chance to learn something new about Evernote. I withdraw from your argument, and if you want to interpret that as a "forfeit" on my part, that's great. As long as I'm not perpetuating a pointless argument, I'm happy. And believe it or not, I really wish you all the best.

It's not an analysis. It's something you choose to believe. You don't have enough information to make an informed analysis. Most companies prioritize user growth in the short term, the long term, and everything in between. It's considered a truism that even under the best of circumstances, you lose about 20 percent of your customers every year. Could Bending Spoons be an exception to the growth mindset? Sure. But you don't know that they are, and I don't know that they aren't. But I think I'm on solid ground saying we're not going to answer the question here, in a forum that is really supposed to be about users helping other users with Evernote questions.

At the risk of being accused of further "bashing" people like yourself, to put it plainly: you chose to bet on the idea that a for-profit service would be available to you completely free indefinitely, even though neither the old Evernote company nor Bending Spoons had ever made you any such guarantee. If it was going to upset you that much to have the rug pulled out from under you, then that wasn't a good bet to make. Evernote doesn't sell your data or sell advertisements to make money. It's funded solely through subscription revenue. So a free user who doesn't convert to a paying customer represents a cost to the company, not a benefit. If you weren't aware of this, or you were but didn't see the implications, consider this a lesson learned. As for the price point that would have enticed you to subscribe, I remember Evernote having significantly lower subscription prices at one time and it didn't appear to convert a lot of free users to paid customers. It doesn't matter whether you or I would subscribe at a certain level. It matters whether enough people would do so. I don't think there were ever enough. As for Bending Spoons "leaving money on the table," you don't know that. You want to believe it, but you don't know it. People here have been talking about storage space and bandwidth costs, but those aren't the only expenses the the company has to take into account. There is SG&A, like salaries. Also, Bending Spoons bought the Evernote product. Even if they chose to amortize that cost, they're going to have to find a way to make that money back. Just because something would suit your needs or wants doesn't mean it would make good business sense to offer it to you, and it sure as heck doesn't mean someone is morally obligated to do it. If you believe Evernote is overbuilt for your needs, it doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong. As for giving so little notice to free users, I'll grant you that wasn't a great PR move on Bending Spoons part. But unless you can point to something in the Ts and Cs that obligated them to give free users more notice, you have no recourse. Whether it was "nice" or not in your eyes doesn't enter into it. I once thought Evernote was becoming bloated with worthless features because I didn't need them. I thought tags were stupid until I found a good user for tags. I thought the home screen was silly until I began using it, and now I find it's become a significant part of my daily workflow. My point is simply that one person's junk is another person's treasure. If those features aren't useful for you, then you're right, Evernote is not catering to you. There are other companies that clearly are catering to the wants you've described. Go use their services instead. And if it turns out that Bending Spoons backed themselves into a corner, that their cost structure forced them to price Evernote out of the market, that will be unfortunate. But as I keep saying, it's a mistake they had a right to make. Who among us hasn't made mistakes, even in business? Anyway, I am a happy Evernote user. I don't know if I'm a "power user" -- I don't have a lot of notes -- but given the amount of time per day that I use the service, I'd daresay I'm a heavy user. I really love a lot of the features and am learning more about the product on the regular. It helps me greatly. If that's not the case for you, that's OK. I don't feel the need to tell less full-featured services they're doing something wrong. Maybe Evernote isn't either. Something to consider.

Not anymore. Earlier this year when I was unemployed I explored moving my notes to OneNote as I had an active Microsoft 365 subscription that I wasn't about to cancel. I learned the the import tool Microsoft used to offer had been deprecated some time ago. There are free and low-cost alternatives that do offer some kind of Evernote import tool, though. And you're right: Evernote was never intended for such light use. People who want to use it that way could just as easily use a different tool in the same category.

That's fair. I did use your post as a springboard from which to make a larger point. For the record, where your POV on this begins and ends is very clear. We could debate the finer points of our analogies, but none of us really know the reality behind the scenes at Bending Spoons. Here are the only things I know for sure about this: first, Bending Spoons is not offering the kind of subscription plan you're talking about; second, they've shown no indication that they're going to; and third, there are services in this category that do offer free and "economy" plans. Well, and I also know that whatever happens, it's out of my hands.

This assumes we know that the lack of a such a plan is just a failure to "consider" it. We don't know how much Bending Spoons paid for Evernote. We don't know how much it is costing Bending Spoons to deal with the technical debt they inherited when they purchased Evernote. We don't know how much they're having to sink into development to come up with new features to keep up with competitors. (I've seen forum posts bashing Evernote for failing to innovate, and yet others insisting that Evernote is wrong to invest in features that light users don't want. Well, Bending Spoons can't make a circle that's a square.) And of course there is the cost of storage and bandwidth for each new user. Bending Spoons isn't a democracy. They'll do what they believe is in the best interests of their company. If they turn out to be mistaken, it's a mistake they have a right to make. I'm probably not going to get anywhere with an analogy but I'll get it off my chest anyway. Reading threads like this strikes me as being like someone going to a Porsche dealer and saying, "Your cars are too expensive and the supposed high quality isn't worth it to me. Here's the car I want you to sell me." "Oh, you're describing a Kia." "Yeah, exactly. Sell me a car like that." "I can't. We only sell Porsches. A Porsche is nothing like a Kia. And besides, there's a Kia dealer just down the road from us. They'd be happy to help you, I'm sure." "I don't want to go down the road! I want you to sell me a Porsche that's just like a Kia!" "I'm sorry, I can't help you." "You don't care about your customers, you stupid, greedy, @!!#$!!!. You're going to fail as a business and I'm glad! And I'm also not going to leave because I want to keep yelling at you!" Maybe Evernote is overpriced. Maybe it's not a Porsche. But that seems all the more reason to seek out the free or low-cost options that are just down the proverbial road. I'm not sure why it's "bashing" anyone simply because I'm pointing out something that is true: there are other readily available products that satisfy the demands of this angry cohort. I can't think of a single post I ever saw in this forum where anyone ever blamed users for taking advantage of Evernote's formerly generous free plan. None of us voiced an opinion until a bunch of people came out of the woodwork to complain about the new restrictions to the free plan (and the increase in prices, for that matter). I think it's fair game to point out that it was always dicey to rely on a for-profit company to offer generous freebies in perpetuity. And asserting that Bending Spoons had any kind of legal or moral obligation to keep the free users happy is putting oneself on shaky ground, at best. But let's say I'm wrong. Let's say this was the biggest blunder in the history of business decisions, and the company goes under. My prediction: the world will go on spinning. I've said it before, I'll say it again: if Evernote gets to a point where it is just pissing me off to no end, I will bail. But none of you will know it, because I won't be kicking over the chairs on the way out. Evernote is under no obligation to be what I want it to be. Absent any crimes or fraudulent activity, the best thing I can do when a company ceases to satisfy me is take my business elsewhere and leave it at that.

Believe it or not, I sympathize. I am not yet a retiree but I was unemployed for six months this year, and I had to pinch pennies. I canceled my Evernote subscription and went on the free plan. Had the new restrictions been put in place during that time, I'd have needed to find an alternative. The thing is, there are free and low-cost alternatives to Evernote. Apple Notes and Google Keep are free if one's needs are basic. OneNote has a free version. As others have pointed out, if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, OneNote is part of that package. Joplin has a free version. These are just a few examples. I think you might be better off trying one of these alternatives than banging your head against a brick wall trying to get Bending Spoons, the owner of Evernote, to do something they don't appear to be inclined to do. As for the broader issue, I don't think it's fair to be singling out Bending Spoons for the shortcomings of capitalism. Since Bending Spoons is not, to the best of my knowledge, a publicly traded company, we don't know how much their executives get paid or how many expensive personal possessions they have. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic. Again, I get it. When I was on unemployment, I was on a "fixed income" that didn't go very far. Which is why I would again suggest you look to the free and low-cost competitors to Evernote that already exist.

Yeah, I think offering a time-limited trial is an idea with merit. On the other hand, it's possible Bending Spoons considered it and decided shutting off all the free users, or trying to manage two different free tiers (a grandfathered one for existing free users and another for new users) might for whatever reason be impractical. Still, my only real opinion about this is that if it is a mistake, it's theirs to make. It's a free-market system. Of course, it would be PITA if Evernote did go away, because in the last few months I started relying on it heavily and am blowing up my note count. It would be just my luck. You heard it here first, folks: if Evernote goes the way of the dodo, you will have me to blame and not Bending Spoons.

I've come to the conclusion that there is nothing we could possibly say to dissuade the complainers or their defenders. It's become abundantly apparent that it's not so much about what they have to say as it is hearing themselves say it. All I can say is that it is interesting that so many people declare that Evernote is a crappy product with one breath, and then with the next demand free or low-cost access to it when there are free or low-cost alternatives. If Evernote sucks so hard, why are people so unwilling to walk away from it? Or upset that they feel they have to? I guess I'll never know. Peace out.