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Correct. If you do that, you will lose ALL your note links. Export still has value. It provides one means of backup (though somewhat lossy given loss of note links) and it also provides a means of note portability (again, somewhat lossy given loss of note links). For someone who doesn't use note links, this isn't an issue. For those who do use note links, there are workarounds. This is certainly suboptimal, but it is what it is, and I haven't seen any indication from EN that they are going to change this. And given the v10 debacle, improving note portability probably isn't high on EN's priority list (just my own speculation).

A few points of clarification. Note links are not unique to Evernote. As for importing Evernote notes to other apps, yes, you will lose existing note links, but that's due to EN's enex format, which does not preserve note links. If you import enex files into Evernote itself, you will lose existing note links. There are workarounds for this, but the issue is the enex format, not a limitation of enex importers. There are export formats that preserve note links, e.g., Joplin's jex format.

To be clear, I never said EN is sharing user data with other parties. I have no evidence to suggest that they are. For sure, they are reading your data. Server-based services will not work, but that doesn't mean there is no use for EN. After all, Evernote has offered Local Notebooks for many years, and still does in v6, and I find storing note data in a note app more convenient and much easier to search, access and edit than maintaining a folder full of notes myself. And that all happens without EN being able to read my notes. Similarly, there are a few note apps that do use zero knowledge encryption (e.g., Joplin), and that app offers many features that EN does (and some that EN does not), and manages to perform well as a note app without the devs behind the app or the cloud service that the data is stored on ever having the ability to read users' notes. So any suggestion that note apps require access to user data to function is false (not saying you are suggesting that, but certainly people could read your comment that way, IMHO). Note app users do have choices here. If they are willing to give up privacy over all* the notes they store in a note app, then EN v10 once it reaches approximate feature parity with v6 would be an great choice, and there are plenty of others as well. In exchange you get server-based services that may be of significant value. But for users who wish to maintain privacy of their notes, there are note app options, and you need not be relegated to writing notes in Notepad and dumping them in a folder. * I think once EN phases out v6, there will be no cross-platform note apps that offer local-only note options; except perhaps DevonThink and the paid version of OneNote? You would know more about that than I would.

That's really an individual choice. What you shred might be docs that others would just throw in their personal trash, while still others would throw in a public trash can. And what you throw in the trash might be docs some would shred. Everyone has their own comfort level around data privacy. Why do people use Google or Facebook - these companies provide free services because users are the product and their data and usage are aggressively data mined. Apparently billions of people are cool with that, at least with respect to the data they put into those services. So again, it really comes down to your comfort level. I'm guessing the data on EN's cloud (which is hosted by Google) is encrypted both in transit and at rest in the cloud (someone PLEASE correct me if I'm mistaken! I would be shocked if they didn't implement this level of security). The issue for some (in particular those who use Local Notebooks) is that EN holds the decryption key, so EN can *and does* decrypt your data. With respect to hacker risk, hackers almost never succeed in brute force decryption (so long as reasonably good encryption is used), what they do is find the decryption key and since EN stores the decryption keys for every user, that is what hackers would target. The attractiveness of zero knowledge encryption, which Evernote and many other note apps do NOT offer, is that *only* you can decrypt your notes because only you hold the decryption key.

The steps EN has been taking seem consistent with the argument I've made that their focus is on reaccelerating growth, and worrying about monetization later. That's why the new dashboard isn't Premium-only; only some of the frills are reserved for Premium. So yes, from your perspective, it may seem like a $70 hamburger, but the fact is that Premium subs like yourself, who fall into the power user camp, have a high exit hurdle, and EN is well aware of that. Which is why you will continue to pay for that $70 hamburger - because $70 to avoid the headaches and lost time of finding a suitable replacement and actually moving not just a huge # of notes, but also your workflow, to another app, seems like a bargain!

While EN doesn't really lock you in, for sure there is value in having notes in a widely supported, readable format like markdown. After the v10 debacle, I'm also inclined to move everything to markdown and never move to an app that doesn't use markdown. Markdown is becoming the de facto universal travel visa in the note app space - it allows you to easily move anywhere, even if that anywhere isn't even a note app, but rather .md notes in folders synced over dropbox or nextcloud.

Agreed, this doesn't add much for those who are very familiar with how to take advantage of Evernote's flexibility. I don't think this is intended at power users. I believe it's intended to convert some of the 80% of non-daily users to daily use. As well as to bring in some new users. I think that angle may be why this was prioritized over bringing v10 to feature parity with v6 or the *long* list of highly requested features (that would largely benefit power users). We'll be able to see whether my thesis is correct over the next couple of months - do we get new features while feature parity remains outstanding and while years-long popular feature requests are ignored.

It could be that some of those dropped features from v6 are never coming back (we know with high confidence that is the case with at least some features), while others are difficult to incorporate into v10 and will take more time, while still others may be deemed very fringe and may not be nixed, but on a far back backburner. You've been around long enough to know this is nothing new for Evernote. Their QA has been rubbish for many years. They never learned that lesson and it really bit them with this major release. And to your point, it goes beyond just the QA process - it's not like they weren't aware of some of the problems; we have posts on this forum and elsewhere from beta testers who communicated the bugs to EN, and yet the general release contained many of these bugs, so clearly a decision was made to press forward, consequences be damned (or perhaps they felt the consequences of delaying were even worse).

If you only keep data in EN that you don't care if their computers are reading and you trust their security (despite the fact that much, much larger corporations have been breached, including recently a major cybersecurity firm), then no, you shouldn't be concerned. If you have data that you don't want anyone else to potentially be able to read, then that data should probably be kept elsewhere. I have lots of notes in synced notebooks in EN. But as I'm on EN v6, I also make use of Local Notebooks to keep other notes completely private (these never go to the cloud). Eventually v6 goes away and I'll have to move those notes elsewhere, likely a note app that uses zero knowledge encryption (meaning no one except me, not even the note app company, can decrypt the notes).

And knowing how mobile app stores work, Evernote shouldn't have released v10 before it was ready (or before making it very clear to users what they were in for), knowing full well that people who rely heavily on the mobile app could experience significant workflow disruptions. I know all about the android apk's because I've been providing those links in this forum. But neither you or I can say that an Evernote apk from a third party website if free of malicious software. The only party who can guarantee that is Evernote, and they aren't providing users with a v6 apk, nor are they explaining why they aren't doing so. Taking a risk on a third party app site for a note taking app is not acceptable for some users. But you are, of course, free to dismiss user complaints as non-justified, while you sit back in the comfort of v6.

Seems that is your assessment anytime people justifiably complain about a new EN release breaking workflows. To each his own. I can empathize with people paying $70 per year and having an inferior, buggy release dropped in their laps and having their workflows disrupted. And as you well know, there is no rolling back on iOS and EN is not providing a link to a prior version on Android, so going back to Legacy and waiting it out is simply not possible for everyone.

All that note data would certainly be valuable to potential acquirers who are active data miners, such as Alphabet/Google. I use the Local Notebooks feature (pre-v10) keep private notes private.

Exactly. Even the forum members who routinely defend EN at every turn are using . . . wait for . . . Legacy.

Perhaps. But ignoring the furor and not soothing concerns is going to leave Premium subs who are unhappy with v10 feeling quite salty - remember ~1/12 of them come up for renewal each month - are these people going to be motivated to pay for one of the most expensive note apps? From the posts I'm seeing here and at reddit (where the discontent far exceeds anything I've seen in the years I've been on this forum), I'd bet they are seeing the largest attrition of Premium subs they have ever seen. Right, that lack of comms is going to give people whose renewals come up, some pause before forking over another $70. I think that 200mm is cumulative signups. I'd be surprised if active weekly users is over 50mm or active daily users is over 20mm. Premium subs will be a very small fraction of active daily users. I think where we differ is on timing. I don't think the focus will be on paying subs this year. In the future, for sure, but not this year. Again, I'm basing this on the behavior I'm seeing from EN. I think active daily users is less than 20mm, and paying users is maybe 1mm at best. Just a guess. Completely agree that EN has a market problem and where it is positioned in that market. @Wanderling Rebornposted a survey and he and I had a discussion around that starting with the following post: The most interesting thing about that survey is that only 20% of the people who responded (presumably all active EN users) were daily users (and I would guess that most of the Premium subscribers are daily users). When you have a daily use product that only 20% of your users use daily, you have a problem - you may need different products - one to really cater to your daily use userbase and another (or multiple others) to cater to your less frequent users. One product cannot possibly maximize value for both portions of your userbase, and by sticking to one product, it may be more difficult to differentiate yourself from the numerous competitors (a problem EN didn't have several years ago when they essentially defined the space), especially the free options you note from the OS giants (MS OneNote, Apple Notes, Google Keep) - I agree with you that for people for whom the "second brain" idea isn't really important, any of these free alternatives will probably be fine and even Dropbox may suffice just to have some notes and documents synced across devices, as you note.

It's fascinating watching Evernote's response and lack thereof, to this v10 slow motion train wreck. We have seen many paying subscribers complaining about v10, including many who are threatening to leave. The total lack of response on this forum or on reddit from EN (even if it's to encourage Premium subs to roll back to Legacy) is interesting. It suggests to me that the argument I made earlier (linked below) that EN (and their VC backers) don't really care about paying subs (right now) because their focus is on growing the userbase (because that's what will drive valuation) is essentially correct. EN's behavior certainly seems to comport with my thesis, does it not? Would love to hear from those who truly believe that EN's focus is on Premium subs - what is your evidence for this belief?

I'd say the odds of EN incorporating Local Notebooks into v10 are zero. For the past few years, they have deemphasized Local Notebooks (I'd bet many users who started using EN within the last few years don't even know the feature exists - when they hear "local notebooks", they're thinking offline notes), so this has been a long time coming. The odds of maintaining v6 in perpetuity are also zero. You don't switch to a new platform to unify the codebase only to maintain an older codebase that differs dramatically for each OS. If you need to keep certain notes/notebooks confidential, you should start planning out what you will do when v6 is abandoned. You don't need to actually do anything with your notes yet, as v6 should be around for at least a few months (my guess is closer to 6 mo, but that's just one user's speculation), but you should have a plan.

I don't think Electron is the problem. EN's rollout of v10 was a disaster, but there are well received Electron apps, such as Visual Studio Code. I'm using Joplin (also Electron as you note) and like it. For cross platform note apps, unless you are content to stay in Apple's walled garden, you will be hard pressed to avoid Electron. EN moved to Electron because they could see the writing on the wall. Maintaining disparate codebases for each platform while your competitors are using a unified codebase is a losing strategy. I think the root of the problem is EN's approach to QA of their software. This has been an issue for many years, and their fast and loose approach really bit them with v10 and their move to Electron.

Yeah, new device or new server syncs take a long time and are a hassle for mobile devices. The devs are aware, and are working on a Joplin server (available in pre-release form) that eliminates a lot of the overhead that Webdav uses. Probably not appropriate to post here, but a thread in the Joplin forum shows huge speed improvements in sync speed by eliminating the webdav overhead. I moved to Drobox from Nextcloud for the sync speed, and am curious to try the Joplin server once they release and package in easy to deploy form for non-techies. The plugin development pace is great (and has features EN does not - outline view, one-click backlink search and creation, note tabs (I believe EN Mac has tabs, but EN Windows never got this)), so I'm using Joplin for new notes while still having a foot in EN for my old notes and new web clips where Joplin's clipper doesn't get me the desired clip - EN's clipper is probably still best in class.

Tools > Options > Synchronization > Advanced Settings - change attachment download behavior to Manual. Only the attachments you select for download get downloaded to your mobile device.

You may already be familiar with these options using Joplin, but in case you're not: 1. There is a plugin for tabs, so you can have multiple notes open as tabs in the Joplin app (a feature that EN Windows never had). 2. To open multiple notes in windows separate from the Joplin app window (as you can do in EN), you have to use an external editor, which you can specify in Options. I use Typora for this, but you can point the app to any editor, and when click the toggle external editor button, the note launches in external editor. Repeat for other notes you want in separate windows.

Anchors, outline mode, internal note links. This category of features has been highly requested for many years. Amazing that at the end of 2020, EN still does not have it. It's one of the key reasons I'm experimenting with Joplin (along with no local notebooks and no zero knowledge encryption). The built-in editor has a TOC function that checks for markdown headers in the note and builds a TOC at the top of the note, which gets updated as headers are added or deleted. A convenient way to navigate long notes. Another option is using an external editor like Typora, which has outline view - there's a left pane that shows all your headers in an outline format, very much like the TOC in Joplin's native editor, except the outline view, when enabled, is always onscreen. So you can click around to your different headers, while in the native editor, you have to get back to the top of the screen (CTRL+Home or CMD+Home) to access TOC.

Prior to Evernote, we had MS Word and Notepad and search. Why reinvent the wheel and create Evernote? Using a separate editor for a particular set of notes stored in Evernote is less complex than having a menu option in EN for outlines? MS Word didn't have outlines 12 years ago?

Current Premium users are willing to pay $8/mo over current Basic. Per my plan, EN takes current Basic and removes device limit and maybe 1 more feature (along with development focus on daily users, not on socks and mugs and bags or on new colors), then charge ~2/mo for it. They're not going to lose many Premium members to paid Basic given they're currently paying $8/mo over free current Basic. What they stand to gain is the large number of daily users who are currently Basic users upgrading to new Basic. Per my earlier post, they can offer free trial Basic for 6mo or 1yr, and if they start the clock at the same time for existing users, they can't really cry foul because they'll have plenty of advance notice. And for new users who are prospective daily users, 6mo or 1yr trial is long enough for them to make a decision. And it's longer than many of the competitors are offering. For the 80% of non-daily users and prospective non-daily users, these people generally aren't paying under the existing scheme and won't pay under my proposed scheme. They need a different product - maybe multiple products, built off the same core Evernote product with extensions that support the uses of the different types of non-daily users. E.g., if someone uses EN just for recipes, rework the UI to customize the note experience into a digital recipe book experience - free trial and $6/yr after that. Similar for other categories of non-daily users. There is no future for a be everything to everyone in one note app anymore, like there was years ago. Too much competition, and they're busy carving out sections of the note app userbase. Look at how Obsidian and Roam are picking off the research segment. Evernote could have built this in years ago, but they were so busy with growing userbase, and what did they get for it? Many millions of very low intensity note takers who are never going to pay for the app as it currently exists; again ~80% are non-daily users for a product that is designed for daily use.

Right, the bulk of the revenues likely comes from the ~20% of users who are daily users. The group they have ignored for years. So many highly requested features have languished in limbo, some for 8, 9, 10 years - some are almost as old as Evernote itself. It was one thing to ignore these users' requests back in the first 5-7 years of EN's existence, as there was little in the way of serious competition. Back then when people were contemplating leaving, there was OneNote (with all the drawbacks it had back then) and DevonThink for those content to stay in Apple's walled garden, and that was about it. Different game today with so many competitors. They cannot afford to continue to ignore their daily users, at least not while they are charging one of the highest prices in the note app market. Now that the product is Electron-ized, we'll see where they focus their attention - is it to build deeper interactions with their daily users, or try to grow the userbase by bringing in people who've tried the product and left or people new to note apps. Or as our last couple of posts have suggested - maybe split their offerings - a more feature-rich but more complex app for daily users, and a lighter, simpler product for casual note takers - i.e., the 80% who aren't daily users. A point on daily users - there are many daily users who aren't on Premium; I'd guess the majority of daily users are on Basic. I think EN can convert a good chunk of these people with (1) a renewed focus on building useful features, and unlike the article's notion, EN knows exactly where to start - the miles long list of highly requested features, and (2) a paid Basic or Plus (whatever you want to call it, but I'm thinking something like Basic Legacy with no device limits and maybe 1 or 2 other features) for ~$25/year.

And yet Joplin with a tiny fraction of EN's budget and development resources, preserves note links in its export format. 🤔