I'm just posting this here in case the Evernote dev team sees these posts. Just for reference, I'm using the most up to date versions at the time of writing, on macOS and iOS - but the issue I'm highlighting has been going on for a long time.
I've been an Evernote user for ten years and have recommended this application to everyone. I basically 'live' in Everynote. The application is pretty much open all day, every day, and I manage everything through it, and my calendar.
I've noticed in the recent period of time that the basic functionality - writing, organising, and accesing notes - has gotten worse. I'm impressed that the Evernote team have expanded the functionality to include things like notebooks, and even scanning images to make them searchable, and so on, but none of this is the one thing Evernote is supposed to do well: Write, organise, and access notes.
Here are some of my frustrations as a long-time user:
I've found syncing between my iOS device and my desktop causes 'conflicts' almost every time. I never risk using it, which is a shame because this was previously a brilliant feature that I would have wished to count on. Now I leave additional notes on my phone and merge them manually on my desktop.
If I search Evernote, I can't press CMD+A to select all of the text from a previous search. I have to use the mouse to select the previous search text and delete it or wait while I backspace several times.
When I create a new note, the cursor is in the content section of the note, not the title. So what? You might think... But it means every note is called 'Untitled' unless I manually move the cursor to the Subject box and type one in. Very often, my notes are just a few words and the subject is all I need. At least let me specify where the cursor will begin in a preference.
Speaking of preferences, where are the preferences for the desktop client?
Syncing on the desktop is supposed to happen continuously but doesn't. It doesn't happen continuously on my phone either. This means I often discover I have notes with no content popping up and the 'Sync Now' option seems to have been completely removed from the desktop version. I presume your devs work next to an internet node but most people have a slightly slower connection. Please give me back the sync now option.
If I select an existing note and press Tab using the desktop app, the 'Expand Note' button is highlighted. Why on earth would I want to do that with the Tab key? Clearly I want to edit the contents of the note...
Often, when I add a URL (which is often) to a note, I get a massive unwated preview that attempts to play videos inside the note - too small to view the video properly and too large to sit conveniently inside the note as a preview of the contents. At least give me the option to choose whether links will be added as a preview. But as I mentioned... Where are the preferences? Yes, I know, I can convert the preview back to a link - something that I have to do manually using my mouse. Why would any user always want a preview embedded in a note? Why on earth is this the default (and unchangeable) behaviour? My best guest is that your devs wanted to show the feature off. That's fine - let me disable it too.
I don't, personally care about tags, embedded images, notebooks, integration with other applications, live shared notebooks, or any other advanced functionality that has been added to Evernote.
I care about Evernote doing ONE THING REALLY WELL. This was the case in the past but I am so frustrated by the many little, but impactful, issues with the basic functionality that I'm now looking for an alternative. Many people say positive things about Onenote. I don't want to migrate my thousands of notes to another system but I'm frustrated, every day, several times a day, but these many little kinds of 'unthink' by the team developing Evernote.
If you could just make Evernote perform really well as a text note system, it would be wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm still a fan, just a disappointed one.