Evernote 6.8.5.6298 no longer opens PDF to Acrobat

[TdeV 88]

There's nothing in options to indicate that I don't care for Evernote's pdf tool. Where do I reset where Evernote looks for pdf?

TIA

[CalS 5,280]

Go to default apps setting and change it there, Choose default app by file type is the wording in Windows 10.  Attach whatever program you want to PDF.  Location varies a bit based upon version of windows, I think.  My Windows 10 view.

[TdeV 88]

@CalS Howdee, long time no see!

I'm on Win 7/64. NOTHING has changed in my system except that I let Evernote upgrade itself to this version. PDFs are set to be opened by Acrobat (outside of Evernote). Inside of Evernote, I can't see how to load the file.

[CalS 5,280]

5 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@CalS Howdee, long time no see!

I'm on Win 7/64. NOTHING has changed in my system except that I let Evernote upgrade itself to this version. PDFs are set to be opened by Acrobat (outside of Evernote). Inside of Evernote, I can't see how to load the file.

Hello.  Well, if you right click in the PDF and click open do you get Adobe?

[7wonders 0]

It's such a terrible change! Inline pdfs can no longer be opened directly. And right click 'open with' doesn't work as well. pdfs can't be directly edited with Adobe, making pdfs in notes basically useless. I may stop using evernote just because of this stupid change.

And I can't find anywhere how to view pdf as attachment. So if there're multiple pdfs in a single note, good luck with scrolling down to find the pdf. 

 

 

[TdeV 88]

@7wonders There is a setting in Options where you can set to view pdfs as attachments.

Not very good news about the interface with Adobe though. Certainly right click, find the right Open, then click to open is quite cumbersome!

Edited December 6, 2017 by TdeV
clarity

[jefito 5,589]

9 hours ago, TdeV said:

Not very good news about the interface with Adobe though. Certainly right click, find the right Open, then click to open is quite cumbersome!

There doesn't seem to be a local setting for Evernote's default program, but there is a global setting. Try this:

• Find a PDF file in Windows Explorer.
• Right click on it, and select Properties
• You should see an "Opens with:" control on the General tab
• Click the "Change" button
• Select the program that you want to use, and return tho the Properties dialog
• Click OK

If you're in Evernote, clicking on a PDF file should now use that program. It may still show the default (Edge browser) icon in the attachment block, but if you completely exit Evernote (File / Exit), then restart, it should show the correct icon.

[TdeV 88]

Hi @jefito and @CalS

My Windows settings have been set (for many years) for pdf to be opened by Adobe.

My issue is with THIS version of Evernote. In prior versions of Evernote, on the note display there was a toolbar near the top page of the pdf. Clicking on the eye opened that particular pdf file in Adobe. This NO LONGER works.

[CalS 5,280]

3 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Hi @jefito and @CalS

My Windows settings have been set (for many years) for pdf to be opened by Adobe.

My issue is with THIS version of Evernote. In prior versions of Evernote, on the note display there was a toolbar near the top page of the pdf. Clicking on the eye opened that particular pdf file. This NO LONGER works.

Yeah, and this has been reported earlier in the beta threads.  The other PITA with the google PDF viewer change is that we can no longer drag a PDF from EN using an icon.  Don't know if EN is going to do anything about either of these items. 

In the meantime, I have found the quickest way to open the PDF with this configuration is to right click in the PDF and select Open (not Open with).  Open uses your default PDF program.  Two clicks instead of the old one.

[agsteele 2,944]

My default program for PDFs is and remains Adobe Acrobat. So this offered solution isn't a fix for me. I have the same experience as @TdeV and @CalS I'm resigned to the right click, scroll to Open approach.

[agsteele 2,944]

16 hours ago, 7wonders said:

It's such a terrible change! Inline pdfs can no longer be opened directly. And right click 'open with' doesn't work as well. pdfs can't be directly edited with Adobe, making pdfs in notes basically useless. I may stop using evernote just because of this stupid change.

And I can't find anywhere how to view pdf as attachment. So if there're multiple pdfs in a single note, good luck with scrolling down to find the pdf. 

 

 

right click, scroll to Open is the least bad solution for directly opening in your default PDF program.

right click, scroll to view as Attachment is still the option to switch to Attachment view within a note.

[jefito 5,589]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

This NO LONGER works.

Hmm, it worked for me, as I tried it before I suggested it. I'm on the latest beta, but not, I think) on the latest Windows release (Fall Creator Edition) here at work. Maybe it's the latter condition that's causing this? 

[TdeV 88]

3 hours ago, jefito said:

Maybe it's the latter condition that's causing this? 

I think so @jefito. AFTER this release 6.8.5.6298 (306298) Prerelease (CE Build ce-1.36.3494) on Windows desktop.

[CalS 5,280]

4 hours ago, jefito said:

Hmm, it worked for me, as I tried it before I suggested it. I'm on the latest beta, but not, I think) on the latest Windows release (Fall Creator Edition) here at work. Maybe it's the latter condition that's causing this? 

Not sure we're all on the same page, or me anyway. 

1. The "eye" in the older PDF toolbar to one-click open PDFs is gone, left with the recent introduction of the google PDF viewer. 
2. The drag icon that was in that same older PDF tool bar is also gone.
3. And the maybe one off I am seeing of not having the same context menu for PDFs downloaded from the web into the import folder (can't rename PDFs anymore).  Worked on 6.8.1, doesn't on 6.8.5.  May have been broken in between its just I have 6.8.1 on another machine that works fine.

If you work a lot with PDFs these last few releases have been problematic and sub optimal.

[agsteele 2,944]

16 hours ago, CalS said:

Yeah, and this has been reported earlier in the beta threads.  The other PITA with the google PDF viewer change is that we can no longer drag a PDF from EN using an icon.  Don't know if EN is going to do anything about either of these items.

A good observation. I have to right click| select view as Attachment | then drag and drop to whichever location I require.

As you noted elsewhere... sub-optimal

[jefito 5,589]

15 hours ago, CalS said:

Not sure we're all on the same page, or me anyway. 

Dunno what I'm missing, but I'm able to configure Windows to get Evernote to open PDFs with whatever program I choose on Win 10, both the Fall Creator's version, and the prior one. When viewed as an an attachment, double-click takes me there (rather than the default Edge). Granted, I don't do much with PDFs than view them, so I don't have use cases for dragging them in and out of Evernote, once they're in there, so I wouldn't call myself a PDF power user. I do seem to be able to drag PDFs out of Evernote to the desktop / Explorer and back, which is about as far as I go. *shrug*

[CalS 5,280]

1 hour ago, jefito said:

Dunno what I'm missing, but I'm able to configure Windows to get Evernote to open PDFs with whatever program I choose on Win 10, both the Fall Creator's version, and the prior one. When viewed as an an attachment, double-click takes me there (rather than the default Edge). Granted, I don't do much with PDFs than view them, so I don't have use cases for dragging them in and out of Evernote, once they're in there, so I wouldn't call myself a PDF power user. I do seem to be able to drag PDFs out of Evernote to the desktop / Explorer and back, which is about as far as I go. *shrug*

Missing link, the above is when not viewing as an attachment.  

In the paperless part of my EN use case I have more than 18;000 notes that only contain a PDF.  So I prefer to view the contents when accessing a note.  This recent PDF viewer is full of potholes.  Stuff that used to work doesn't anymore, either feature removal or bug.  Not feeling the love.  

[jefito 5,589]

5 hours ago, CalS said:

Missing link, the above is when not viewing as an attachment.

In the paperless part of my EN use case I have more than 18;000 notes that only contain a PDF.  So I prefer to view the contents when accessing a note.  This recent PDF viewer is full of potholes.  Stuff that used to work doesn't anymore, either feature removal or bug.  Not feeling the love.  

OK, gotcha. I feel your pain, albeit only very faintly...  

[CalS 5,280]

3 hours ago, jefito said:

OK, gotcha. I feel your pain, albeit only very faintly...  

At least a bit of sympathy, thanks.  

[FactMan 196]

Have you tried to open images (png, or jpg)? That also seems to be messed up. I couldn't find a way to change the image to view as an attachment (this is in the beta). I suspect that there are a lot of users who are feeling your pain but are fed up with a seeming lack of response from Evernote in the form of a version that actually works as designed.

 

[CalS 5,280]

3 hours ago, FactMan said:

Have you tried to open images (png, or jpg)? That also seems to be messed up. I couldn't find a way to change the image to view as an attachment (this is in the beta). I suspect that there are a lot of users who are feeling your pain but are fed up with a seeming lack of response from Evernote in the form of a version that actually works as designed.

 

Opening or viewing as attachment seems to work fine for me for a jpg in a note by itself.  Put the image in a table and heaven only knows what will happen.  Try this:

1. Take any screen clip which appears in note 1.
2. Create a note 2 in its own window and create a table in that note.
3. Drag the image from note 1 into the table in note 2.
4. Annotate the image in the table in note 2, you have to right click to get there since the annotate icon does not appear.
5. Save the annotation.
6. The annotation made to the image in note 2 does not appear in note 2.  The annotation appears in the original image in note 1.  Not what I would expect.
7. Maybe this is a fringe case, but then again this could be standard practice for someone creating documentation with screen clips. 

And yeah, if you spend enough time in the forums there is a level of frustration with feature roulette and stuff just not working right.  Not sure how the microcosm of the forum relates to the overall user base, but I would think any correlation wouldn't be good.

The value received from EN still far exceeds pain for me, but I can't help but be mystified how/why some of this stuff happens.  It's like there is no steward of the brand (this is a bit snarky but kind of how I feel at the moment).  

[agsteele 2,944]

6 minutes ago, CalS said:

The value received from EN still far exceeds pain for me, but I can't help but be mystified how/why some of this stuff happens.  It's like there is no steward of the brand (this is a bit snarky but kind of how I feel at the moment).  

Actually, I often feel this about IT service businesses. I could recount many examples of a perfectly good product being changed for a largely worse incarnation. Evernote doesn't feel that different. I am often left pondering what question or issue the change answers. It wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that the change in the PDF stuff has been driven by an increase in cost of the licence fees paid to FoxIt for the old viewer or the new Google PDF viewer licence represents a cash saving. Then it is presented to the end users as an improved interface when it is evidently nothing of the sort - just different... A start-up can easily be responsive to its customers. As the business grows the powers-that-be inevitably start to believe that they know what customers want...

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,954]

8 hours ago, agsteele said:

Actually, I often feel this about IT service businesses. I could recount many examples of a perfectly good product being changed for a largely worse incarnation. Evernote doesn't feel that different. I am often left pondering what question or issue the change answers. It wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that the change in the PDF stuff has been driven by an increase in cost of the licence fees paid to FoxIt for the old viewer or the new Google PDF viewer licence represents a cash saving. Then it is presented to the end users as an improved interface when it is evidently nothing of the sort - just different... A start-up can easily be responsive to its customers. As the business grows the powers-that-be inevitably start to believe that they know what customers want...

Waaaiiit a minute.... You're making a reasonable point based on experience, in a calm and rational tone of voice.  Are you sure you're in the right forum? 

[CalS 5,280]

9 hours ago, agsteele said:

Actually, I often feel this about IT service businesses. I could recount many examples of a perfectly good product being changed for a largely worse incarnation. Evernote doesn't feel that different. I am often left pondering what question or issue the change answers. It wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that the change in the PDF stuff has been driven by an increase in cost of the licence fees paid to FoxIt for the old viewer or the new Google PDF viewer licence represents a cash saving. Then it is presented to the end users as an improved interface when it is evidently nothing of the sort - just different... A start-up can easily be responsive to its customers. As the business grows the powers-that-be inevitably start to believe that they know what customers want...

In this instance it may have to do with requests to scroll PDFs in the window, or something to do with the Google relationship.  In either case, not good to launch the baby with the bathwater.     Presentation mode anyone?

[CalS 5,280]

1 hour ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Waaaiiit a minute.... You're making a reasonable point based on experience, in a calm and rational tone of voice.  Are you sure you're in the right forum? 

Hey now, don't I get an attaboy?  I thought I was calm and factual.  

[ainsley005 0]

Can anyone please explain why the pdf feature has been "improved" in the last release to make dragging pdfs from the EN window to other locations impossible? Now I have to download the pdf and then move it - adding unnecessary steps. 

Can still drag notes created as pictures, so why this change?

EN - please add this back in.

[agsteele 2,944]

On 16/12/2017 at 11:47 AM, ainsley005 said:

Can anyone please explain why the pdf feature has been "improved" in the last release to make dragging pdfs from the EN window to other locations impossible? Now I have to download the pdf and then move it - adding unnecessary steps. 

Can still drag notes created as pictures, so why this change?

There has been a change in the PDF engine in this release of Evernote. I think Evernote now has the Google PDF viewer embedded instead of the previous FoxIT viewer. A number of PDF functions have disappeared - presumably because the Google viewer doesn't support it. Nobody is saying why the change has been made but I doubt that the missing functions will return unless Google happens to build them into its viewer or Evernote reverts to the old FoxIT engine.

Edited December 18, 2017 by agsteele
greater clarity

[paulofnm 4]

I would like very much to see this change reversed.

"Open with" is not working properly in my case (nothing happens when I try it; my default reader is PDF X-Change). I had to change for  "show as an attachment", losing the ability to preview the PDFs inside of Evernote.  Sad business...

[CalS 5,280]

2 hours ago, paulofnm said:

I would like very much to see this change reversed.

"Open with" is not working properly in my case (nothing happens when I try it; my default reader is PDF X-Change). I had to change for  "show as an attachment", losing the ability to preview the PDFs inside of Evernote.  Sad business...

Right clicking in the PDF and then simply clicking Open should work.  

However, there was an issue recently where if the PDF name had a period in it the context menu would not work.  Is this by any chance your case?  

The issue is fixed in the current Beta,  it may have been fixed in the current Public, I just don't remember.  

[paulofnm 4]

10 hours ago, CalS said:

Right clicking in the PDF and then simply clicking Open should work.  

However, there was an issue recently where if the PDF name had a period in it the context menu would not work.  Is this by any chance your case?  

The issue is fixed in the current Beta,  it may have been fixed in the current Public, I just don't remember.  

Thanks for the response CaIS (and Merry Christmas everyone, by the way :). 

This is exactly the case. "Open" works just fine in files without a period in their name. Happy to hear the issue has been corrected in newer versions (most of my files have periods in their name: that is my standard way of writing dates).

[CalS 5,280]

5 hours ago, paulofnm said:

Thanks for the response CaIS (and Merry Christmas everyone, by the way :). 

This is exactly the case. "Open" works just fine in files without a period in their name. Happy to hear the issue has been corrected in newer versions (most of my files have periods in their name: that is my standard way of writing dates).

You are welcome, and Merry Christmas back at you. 

[FactMan 196]

6 hours ago, paulofnm said:

Thanks for the response CaIS (and Merry Christmas everyone, by the way :). 

This is exactly the case. "Open" works just fine in files without a period in their name. Happy to hear the issue has been corrected in newer versions (most of my files have periods in their name: that is my standard way of writing dates).

I must be getting old - in the early DOS days writing periods in file names other than before extensions was a no-no. So, old habits die hard! I use a hyphen "-", although some people prefer to use the underscore "_". I prefer the hyphen because it allows you to sort versions of files - like Evernote database back-up versions - and edit parts of the filename easily. The underscore means you have to move the mouse to locate the correct place (or repeated key presses on the right or left arrow). The other thing about DOS naming was limited-length file names - I have gotten out of that habit! I still like to have 'spaces' to break up words, which the Mac OS has always allowed. Again, the handy-dandy hyphen comes in useful.
Oh, and Merry Christmas to all!

[jefito 5,589]

3 hours ago, FactMan said:

I must be getting old - in the early DOS days writing periods in file names other than before extensions was a no-no. So, old habits die hard!

Yea, that hasn't been applicable in a lot of years (I started with DOS 1, so even before file directories).

[CalS 5,280]

On 12/25/2017 at 10:03 AM, FactMan said:

I use a hyphen "-", although some people prefer to use the underscore

I guess I like the period because for whatever reason it makes it easier for me to read dates. 

Though I will use the underscore when I want it a part of a search, notes re software releases for example.

[notetakeingguy 90]

I hate this change. I wanted to have the first pate view of the PDF, and then the ability to double click on it to open. Now the double click to open doesn't work. I guess my only option is go back to a previous version of Evernote?

[agsteele 2,944]

Hi @notetakeingguy

I'm not sure you will find it easy to roll back to an earlier version of Evernote unless you kept an installation program from back before Christmas. There have been a number of 'updates' since this issue first appeared.

Like, you I found double clicking on the PDF an intuitive way of opening a document embedded in a note. Right-click | Open doesn't seem quite as simple. But I have become used to this and it comes as second nature now.

This is an 'improvement' that doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. At least the alternative option is still two clicks away.

[notetakeingguy 90]

I'll have to look if I saved an old installation program (or sometimes can get them off FileHippo). Evernote does this a lot (e.g. when E-mailing notes stopped including URLs stored in the note) , so I've learned to save the old installation program though sometimes have to accept that certain features are gone.

[Fiveby21 1]

How can I roll back to an earlier version of Evernote?

[notetakeingguy 90]

Uninstall the Evernote you have. Then you can go to places like filehippo: to download an earlier version. I'm sticking with 6.5.4.4720.

[claynichols2015 3]

Right-click on the preview of the PDF and choose OPEN  or OPEN WITH...

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Just for the protocol: The last posting in this thread was 2 years old - until now ...

I would say, we better let it RIP 👻