JMichaelTX

ISSUE:  Web Clipper Fails to Load on Amazon Product Page Running in Chrome on macOS Mojave

JMichaelTX  2021-07-07

Running Google Chrome 91.0.4472 & Evernote Web Clipper 7.13.8 ( on macOS 10.14.6 (Mojave)

• EN Web Clipper Consistently Fails to Load on an Amazon Product Page

I have not been on this board for quite a while -- basically since Evernote made the terrible decision to switch to using Electron instead of a native Mac app.  I will NEVER switch to the EN Electron app.

I wrote this to @gbarry in Nov 2020, and it continues to be true:

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Just so you, the dev team, and senior management know, EN Mac without scripting support is worthless to me, and many others.  I have over 200 scripts and macros that are required for my many daily/hourly workflows using Evernote.

I can't wait for another year or two to see whether or not you decide to add scripting support back in.  So I have already started the process that will soon lead to me moving all of my Notes to another app.  Most likely that will be DevonThink Pro.

IMO, Evernote has made two HUGE mistakes after making us wait two years:

1. Using the Electron IDE.
2. Dropping AppleScript support.

I wish you personally the best of luck.  I am sorry to leave Evernote after 10+ years, but you leave me with no choice.

@Ian Small, I am so, so, disappointed in, and upset with, you.  When you took over as Evernote CEO, I thought great things were ahead.  I could not have been more wrong.  

Goodbye, Evernote.

On 10/19/2020 at 1:37 PM, MrIllustrator said:

Go to this YouTube video at around 33:09 and listen to Ian Small say himself "Less than 2% of our audience" He moved them to the bottom because 98% of users don't use tags and they were "in the way". I wonder if Ian Small is in the (less than 2%) somehow I don't think so.

https://youtu.be/7gz0mxGC4-0

I just read this 12 days after it was posted, so maybe other comments might mitigate what I'm about to write.

"Less than 2% of our users use tags." (quote from Ian Small, Evernote CEO)

First, I find this extremely hard to believe (even though I heard Ian Small say those words myself), given that Evernote does NOT support a full hierarchical NB (a la folders) structures.

I am astounded!

  Without NB hierarchy and without Tags, how do these 98% organize their Notes!?!?!?

If it is true, I am sorry to say that it speaks very poorly about these 98% of EN Users.  They either have very few Notes, or don't have the mental organizational talent to understand the benefit of, and need for Tags.  Again, very surprising since Tags are today used all over the place, on web blogs, news articles, web apps, and, of course, desktop and mobile apps.

I also wonder what population the "users" are taken from:  ALL users, including the free account users, or paid account users?
I don't know the numbers, but it would not surprise me if 98% of ALL Users are the Free account users.  That might explain some of this.

13 hours ago, wbutchart said:

It’s a quote from a film, stop picking fights where there are none. Chill out and calm down. 

I'm quite calm and chilled out.  It is you who seems to be picking a fight by making your post.  Stick to the topic.  No one needs your advice and you're not a forum moderator.

16 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

My excuse to you stands

Famous last words.   LOL

4 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

@JMichaelTX Sorry if you feel it to be disrespectful - it is a literal quote from Star Wars, and I did not say „my“ . Maybe I made a translation mistake. It was not meant as an insult.

It absolutely was disrespectful.  You should know better than to use those type of phrases, regardless of the source or translation.  

6 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

I do not excuse anybody (no need for that)

The tone of your post comes across as excusing Evernote.  In fact you literally are providing excuses for why we should not be concerned about posting an update that literally says "Evernote for iOS version 10.1 is now available", the key word being "NOW".

8 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

I think it really makes no sense to put blame on an employee of EN who decides to inform us in good faith about an upcoming update.

This is NOT about placing blame, but holding them accountable for doing proper QA of both the app and their posts.  Why waste users time checking for an update that is not there.  Waiting another hour and verifying the update is really available is only common sense and shows respect for your customers time.

38 minutes ago, CalS said:

Auto sync still seems to have a lag in it. 

Auto sync between my iPhone 11 EN iOS 10.1 and EN Mac 7.14 is one thing that is doing very well.  Takes about 15 sec max, sometimes only 2-3 sec.

12 minutes ago, JMichaelTX said:

Good News!  It fixes two critical bugs that were preventing me from using EN iOS:

Well, it looks like I spoke too soon.  The test note I created in EN iOS 10.1 iPhone resulted in DUP Notes, with one of them being blank.

Nothing has changed from the pre-Ian Evernote behavior of releasing updates with obvious bugs.

Screenshot of Note List in 10.1 Showing Dup Notes

The Dup that is Blank:

40 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Patience, young padwan..

First of all, I am NOT your "young padwan".  This remark is very disrespectful.

Quote

padwan - Urban Dictionary

www.urbandictionary.com › define › term=padwan

A term that geeks use on geeks that they are feeling superior to. Being called a padwan suggests you are a lesser geek.

40 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

It needs to spread through the release Server structure hosted by Apple. On my iPhone it was not available an hour ago, when I checked on my iPad it was there and is just downloading now. 

Quit making excuses for Evernote.  Please let them respond to my direct posts to them.

IAC, Evernote should have waited until they could independently verify that the update was in the App Store.  This is just common sense and good customer service.

2 hours ago, AgnesP said:

Hi all! Evernote for iOS version 10.1 is now available on the App Store.

OK, the 10.1 update is now available in the App Store.

Good News!  It fixes two critical bugs that were preventing me from using EN iOS:

1. Now syncs properly from Notes created in EN Mac 7.14.
2. A List Note created in EN iOS is now properly saved (previously it was often lost), and it syncs well with EN Mac.

Kudos for fixing these bugs.  However, Ver 10.0 should NOT have been released with these bugs, especially after 9 months of EN iOS Beta testing.

2 minutes ago, JMichaelTX said:

Actually it is NOT available.  The App Store is still showing Ver 10.0.4.

@AgnesP, since I could not edit my above post, here is a screenshot:

27 minutes ago, AgnesP said:

Hi all! Evernote for iOS version 10.1 is now available on the App Store.

Actually it is NOT available.  The App Store is still showing Ver 10.0.4.

You guys should really double-check both the app and the app store before you publish things.  Every time we learn what you say is incorrect reduces our trust in you, which is already low due to the many bugs in the initial release of Ver 10.

On 9/7/2020 at 12:31 PM, rob24hrs said:

Hit nail on head!

Roger that!  Let's hope the nail will survive and respond appropriately.  😉

On 6/18/2020 at 4:05 PM, Shane D. said:

Today we’re following up Ian’s latest blog post with an update to our Behind the Scenes series where we go into greater detail about the work being done to move our rebuilt apps from Preview status to Beta release. 

Shane and @Ian Small,

I hope you guys and the entire Evernote Team are doing well.

I have to say that I, and some of my colleagues, are getting very concerned about the health of Evernote.

Your "Behind The Scenes" series started out really well, and we had been receiving an update about once a month.  It has now been 3 months now since this last update, and nothing posted elsewhere.  You guys have been in re-development nearly two years now, so I think it is fair to expect some results to start showing up.  I know you don't like to share any type of projections, but I think your loyal fans and supporters deserve to hear from you now.

Can you at least give us a status by platform?  Which are in beta, and for how long?  And it would be great if you could give us at least a preliminary target for the next release.  We know full well that it won't be perfect, and may slip, but we need some indication from you.  IMO, it is better to give us some target now, rather than continue keeping us in the dark.

Best Regards,

JMichaelTX
Loyal Subscriber for 10+ years

18 hours ago, Sigward said:

Are these still the most current instructions to completely Remove and Reinstall EN on a Mac? Please advise. Thank you.

Yes. Nothing, NOT one thing, that affects backup and restore has changed with Evernote.  If you have any specific questions about the process, feel free to post them.

FWIW, I prefer AppDelete to ensure that all files related to the app are removed.  I've been using it for years without any problems.  I have not checked AppCleaner recently, but when I decided to go with AppDelete, AppCleaner did NOT remove all of the files it should have.  But don't rely on me or anyone else, do your own homework to ensure you get the best app for you.

11 hours ago, adkisson said:

This solution depends on Mac Automation. Mobile users with a Mac can benefit if you leave it running.

This script accepts natural language tags in a variety of formats that begin with "repeat".

Thanks for sharing.  I haven't test your script, but it looks like a very clever script.  👍

1 hour ago, richfbrown said:

I have had this same issue for well over a year and have reported it to Evernote several times. Their answer is always "we don't know when it will be fixed".

I believe Evernote has stopped making any updates to most, if not all, of their apps until they are ready to release the complete rewrite of these apps.  I just watched the latest "Behind the Scenes" video, and the Evernote CEO, Ian Small, indicated they are in the "Preview" phase of most of the apps, with about 25K selected users (private Beta group).  The next phase is Beta, and then the GA release of course.

They did not mention a time frame, but I would not be surprised if it took at least 3-6 months before the GA release.  Could be longer.

I know that's hard to accept, and hard to understand, but Ian says they are methodically working through the rewrite, and carefully considering all of the feedback they are getting from the 25K private Beta group.

So, basically we will have to "grin and bear it" for a while longer. 😉

2 hours ago, Jamesgstewart said:

I've been trying to recreate andy_dg's excellent app for encrypting pdfs directly within Evernote

IMO, it is best to encrypt PDFs (and any other files) BEFORE you put them into Evernote.  IAC his process basically encrypts the PDF that is stored outside of Evernote, and then triggers an update/sync.

I have switched to GPG for encrypting all my files.  I'm not sure what level of encryption Andy uses AES-128 or AES256), but I highly recommend AES-256 only.  For more info see:

@Pete Blakemore, did you read this just above, and try it on your Mac:

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Hold OPTION on your keyboard and click on Help. Next, go to Troubleshooting >Open Database folder

13 hours ago, Document Collector said:

MacOS spotlight and Windows Search aren't enough (they dont search within documents).

Actually Mac Spotlight does an excellent job of searching within the content of just about every document type.  If Spotlight is not finding your content, you may need to force a reindex of Spotlight.

13 hours ago, Document Collector said:

overall, is it a good idea to upload my gigantic library of books, articles etc. into Evernote, alongside everything else? 

The answer depends on you -- what would be your objective of putting all of this in Evernote, particularly if a lot of is "random/useless junk".  Why do you even keep that stuff on your hard drive?

One of the main reasons that I put stuff in Evernote is that I want access to the information from multiple devices, from anywhere in the world.  Do you have that need?  Another is that I do a lot of web clipping of business, technical, and personal topics that I want quick access to.  Evernote has a great web clipper that makes this very easy.

I generally do NOT put books, or very large PDFs into Evernote.  Instead, I put an abstract and a link to the book/PDF on my local drive.  I do this mainly because I don't need world-wide access to them, and really large files are slow to upload and obviously take a lot of space.  I have an external 6TB Thunderbolt drive I use to store books, large videos, and other stuff like that.  Works very well.  Spotlight index all of that, and I can easily find what I want.

If you just have some unknown urge to keep all of this stuff, but you can't identify a specific need for the information, then I'd just put all of it on an external USB hard drive.  You can get a 1TB (and much larger) USB drive for very cheap today, and it would be  virtually effortless to move all of that stuff to the drive.

You might try this: write down a list of keywords that you would be interested in.  Then do a Spotlight search in the Finder of each keyword, or maybe combinations of keywords.  This will yield a nice list of files and folders that you can browse through, as you have time.  If you find any really interesting stuff that you might like to have access to in the future, then move it to a folder for later uploading into Evernote.

Questions?

On 5/8/2020 at 7:34 PM, Phito11 said:

This has for the most part worked for me in the past, but I feel like I totally messed this up.

It is not clear in what way it is not working for you now.  What makes you think your organization is "messed up"?

You will quickly learn that for the most part Evernote users who frequently post in this forum have organized their notes, and strongly advocate for, one of these two methods:

1. Minimal use of Notebooks, rely on tags and keywords in the Note title
2. Use Notebooks as the primary organizational tool, and may, or may not, have some use of tags.

Of course that is an over-simplification, and there are many that use combinations of 1 and 2.

But neither method is "right" or "wrong" in and of itself.  It mostly depends on how you think, what is logical to you, what is intuitive to you, and the type of information you have.

One thing that can help guide you is what kind of information do you want to store and organize in Evernote?

• Some real-world topics are well-suited for a hierarchical organization, things like Projects, Tasks, Property Management, Client Management, etc.  Hierarchical Notebooks (like folders in Mac and Windows OS) are well-suited for these.
• Other topics might fall in several different categories, like Insurance, Computers, people etc.  Tags are well-suited for these.

I have found that my information falls into both of the above groupings, so I use a bit of both NBs and Tags.  I would use NBs more IF Evernote fully supported multilevel hierarchical NBs.

IMO, the word "organization" is sometimes misused.  When I think of organization I tend to think of the structure of the information, like a book or magazine, or like a subject notebook.  The organization is largely about presentation, controlling which sections and pages come in what order.  Text books, for example, are laid out to first show the basics of the subject, and then to progressively get more complicated and detailed.  The order of the chapters is meant to be followed by the students.

However, if you want to find some specific information, you don't want to have to manually scan through the entire book.  That's were the index at the back of the book comes in.  And, of course now that the entire book can be digital, we can do a full text search very quickly.  But that can be a problem in that it might produce too many false positives.  Again, that's where the index helps.  The index is really a set of keywords that we might call tags.

So tags and keywords in a Note title are best suited for finding just the information we want, with a bare minimum of false positives.  I will say one advantage I have found of tags vs title keywords, is that tags are a defined set of keywords that Evernote maintains for you.  So when you need to assign a tag, you can pick from a list.  Whereas Title keywords are subject to typos, misremembering, forgetting, synonyms, etc.  Plus some keywords don't feel natural in a Title, but I still want to "index" that Note with that keyword, so it is a tag.

Well, I don't know if all that will really help you or not, but maybe it will give you some ideas.  Don't be afraid to experiment with small sets of information (Notes) to test and find out what works best for you.

Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions you may have.

BTW guys, if you are going to do much AppleScript work, then I highly recommend Script Debugger 7 .  It provides a great IDE for development, exploring the scripting object models, real-time display of variables, and of course great full-featured debugging.

3 hours ago, bmat said:

is there a way to list the properties that we can interrogate with applescript?

Yes.  Open the Script Editor.app, and then open the Evernote Dictionary by menu File > Open Dictionary, and choose "Evernote.app"

There is a search box, where you can type "note" to see the Note properties, and "tag" to see tag properties.  You want the "tag class" or "note class".  Looks like this:

2 minutes ago, Scott Citron said:

would love it more if there were a way to visually tag notes with a color or label system.

As a workaround, you can try using colorful emojis at the start of the title, like this:

"❗Here is My Important Title"

5 hours ago, MarcSic said:

Had a support chat about the issue and was told that the development team is aware of the issue and working on it

That's very good.  I original submitted a bug report, and was told the Devs were aware of the issue, but could not reproduce it.

With so many people now reporting the same issue, one would hope that by now the EN Devs have been able to reproduce it.