DinoF

Thanks gazumped for your reply. I think you've come the closest to understanding my concerns and not coming up with the inane suggestion of not using Evernote if I don't trust cloud servers - something which I've already put into practice as far as Evernote is concerned and don't need to be reminded. I'm not totally ruling out cloud servers, using them for instances where they store specific files which I recognise as my own and can access in much the same way as if they were on my computer. With Evernote's ability to capture some of my interactions on the internet which ends up stored in the cloud in a complex manner, I believe that becomes a whole new ball game.

Thanks guys for trying to help. However, it's no solution to the complexity of how the data is stored and accessed by the user, let alone the control that the user has to either store or erase their own data. You might have devised a way of exporting your data in a way that allows you to keep track of it, but if you were to delete any of that exported data, I think that the deletion does not extend to what's stored by Evernote. I've raised this issue as a discussion point and people may agree or disagree with it, but as far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been any explanation that would convince me to go back to Evernote, even though I'd like to.

Your comment on where and with what I use my data being up to me is not the point in question. I know that technology like SQL Lite database, Google's servers, and search processes have been around for a few decades. How exactly these technologies are used to manage data I generate is more of the issue for me. The fact that I know that my data appears in SQL Lite databases or Google servers but they provide no tool like a "Windows Explorer" to physically see and access the files without a higher level of knowledge required to use various search engines or queries for SQL Lite databases is closer to the issue I have with applications like Evernote. I think your "Car" analogy was not as relevant to my issue as you may have thought it was. However, I'll pose a similar incomplete "Car" analogy by saying that it's like buying a car without tools to change a spare tyre, so that if you get a flat, you have to go through the endless and inane call centres to arrange someone to fix it. As far as your suggestion to use something else instead of Evernote, then there was no reason to suggest it because that's a given.

It depends on what exactly you mean by extensive search features. Most people, I believe, with a reasonable idea of computers are familiar with applications like Windows Explorer where they can see exactly the files they generated and their locations. You're probably a more accomplished computer user and it seems to make sense to you the way the information is presented. I've used and enjoyed using computers for a number of years and have noticed that with the introduction of cloud storage and other new innovations, whilst very useful in themselves, the clarity of where and how the files generated and stored and accessed, has been lost in legalistic jargon, extreme reliance on inadequate knowledge bases and user support systems or technical explanations that fail to satisfactorily explain the new complexities to anyone other than one with your level of expertise. The best way in which I can describe my dissatisfaction with the management of user data is by a comparison of the older system whereby the user generated information which was stored on one's own computer and had the tools to look them up and know where and how they're stored. What's the current equivalent of that system?

I guess my concern is that applications like Evernote operate in certain ways with data generated by subscribers. Unless a user is certainly above average in understanding the complexity of how the data is stored, I find that many applications, like Evernote, provide very little and rather complex user interface access to that data. To make matters worse, any attempt to find out more about some of these complexities are buried in knowledge bases and user forums that take too much time and effort to search for the specific information one seeks, often ending up in not finding the specific answers one sought. This lack of simplicity in accessing one's own data and understanding where it's held is the reason why I've chosen to discontinue in the use of Evernote. It's regrettable, because there are some very good and useful aspects to this software, but it's my information and no amount of EULA or Terms and Conditions or published assurances about the privacy of my data can substitute for a simplified system that unequivocally explains what's done with that data, where it's kept and how it's accessed.

Just a simple bunch of question about how Evernote stores one's data. I presume that it's stored "in the cloud" somewhere and if so, is there any way of viewing those files with something like Windows Explorer? If not, how are they stored? Is it possible to store Evernote data on one's own computer?