User Experience Improvements

[Ollie Dalton 2]

I like Evernote and I use it a lot for both personal and professional purposes.  However, there are a number of frustrations that cause me to now be actively looking elsewhere.  It is frustrating to note that some of these issues have been widely reported/discussed before, some of them several years ago.  Whilst Evernote has a number of redeeming features, the UX is lagging behind a number of other services.  

 

1. Tables.  
   1. Tables are buggy.  I have some notes with several tables and the tables move down the note (ie extra spaces are inserted) between closing and reopening the note.  For those which I print, this is a real problem as it upsets the layout.
   2. Inability to edit tables properly in android app (cannot resize, add, or remove columns, colour)
   3. In Android, when using a keyboard with cursor keys, the down key moves to the next cell to the right.  Not down.
   4. Copying / pasting often leads to tables that cannot be modified at all with an extra column to the right that cannot be clicked on or typed in to (or deleted!).
   5. If a table is created and formatting applied but the text then deleted, when new text is added the formatting is removed.
2. Bullets / Number Lists
   1. Copy and paste UX is poor.  Pasting a bullet list and getting a load of asterisks is unacceptable.
   2. Different styles of numbered lists would be beneficial.  As per this list, sub-items are numbered (eg this it item 2.2.), with no choice for letters or i, ii, iii etc.
3. If one opens a note (note a) which has a link to another note (note b), then clicks that link the linked note (note b opens.  If, from the main EN window, the original note (note a) is then double-clicked it does not open.  Instead, the window now showing note b is focussed. 
4. Inline tagging / special character searching.
   1. Note based tagging is great.  However, inline tagging is often needed, especially in complex/lengthy notes.
   2. As a minimum, the ability to search for some special characters in text search (eg #idea or #todo or #TellTheBoss) would be helpful.  But proper inline tagging would be amazing, either as part of the existing tag system, or sitting alongside it.
5. Check boxes
   1. This is somewhat related to inline tagging, but the ability to have more than just a ticked or unticked status would enhance productivity.  For example, Not started, started, deferred, delegated, completed.
   2. It would be best if this was user definable as everyone's needs will differ.
6. Colour
   1. Lots of people want colour in their notes, whether that be just the background of a note, or the notebook itself. 
   2. I use a lot of notes with tables, and now we can colour those these notes are so much easier to read/use.  
7. Printing
   1. Ability to print from EN web and Android (and I guess iOS too, but I don't use it!) would enhance productivity.  I am out of the office a lot with my tablet, but often don't use my laptop.  But I can't print from EN android.
8. Templates.
   1. I have templates for things I do on a regular basis (one for each workday for example).  I have a 'templates' notebook, which holds these notes but the UX for creating a new note from this is clunky.  Having a template repository linked from the New Note button would be so incredibly useful.

 

I am aware of a number of these items being discussed before (I have upvoted where I have found them), but I wanted to add weight to the argument for some of these improvements.  Please, Evernote, don't lag behind!  

Ollie

 

 

[CraigZ 21]

Lots of interesting ideas here, many already posted and discussed in the features request section, but hard to respond to as a group as people will have different opinions as to the value of each specific feature (something you'll see here often, lol). 

Perhaps seek out the specific posts for each specific feature and vote and comment, adding any unique use or perspective that you think helps sell the feature.

[DTLow 5,736]

On 2018-04-11 at 6:21 AM, Ollie Dalton said:

I like Evernote and I use it a lot for both personal and professional purposes.  However, there are a number of frustrations that cause me to now be actively looking elsewhere. 

I upvoted the request for "User Experiece improvements", but your points should be addressed as separate request posts.

You could look into using alternative editors for your work.
The Evernote editor is fine for basic notes but I use Word/Pages for word processing, Numbers/Excel for spreadsheets, ...
The documents are stored as attachments to notes.

[TK0047 422]

On 4/11/2018 at 9:21 AM, Ollie Dalton said:

• Tables.  
  1. Tables are buggy.  I have some notes with several tables and the tables move down the note (ie extra spaces are inserted) between closing and reopening the note.  For those which I print, this is a real problem as it upsets the layout.
  2. Inability to edit tables properly in android app (cannot resize, add, or remove columns, colour)
  3. In Android, when using a keyboard with cursor keys, the down key moves to the next cell to the right.  Not down.
  4. Copying / pasting often leads to tables that cannot be modified at all with an extra column to the right that cannot be clicked on or typed in to (or deleted!).
  5. If a table is created and formatting applied but the text then deleted, when new text is added the formatting is removed.
• Bullets / Number Lists
  1. Copy and paste UX is poor.  Pasting a bullet list and getting a load of asterisks is unacceptable.
  2. Different styles of numbered lists would be beneficial.  As per this list, sub-items are numbered (eg this it item 2.2.), with no choice for letters or i, ii, iii etc.
• If one opens a note (note a) which has a link to another note (note b), then clicks that link the linked note (note b opens.  If, from the main EN window, the original note (note a) is then double-clicked it does not open.  Instead, the window now showing note b is focussed. 
• Inline tagging / special character searching.
  1. Note based tagging is great.  However, inline tagging is often needed, especially in complex/lengthy notes.
  2. As a minimum, the ability to search for some special characters in text search (eg #idea or #todo or #TellTheBoss) would be helpful.  But proper inline tagging would be amazing, either as part of the existing tag system, or sitting alongside it.
• Check boxes
  1. This is somewhat related to inline tagging, but the ability to have more than just a ticked or unticked status would enhance productivity.  For example, Not started, started, deferred, delegated, completed.
  2. It would be best if this was user definable as everyone's needs will differ.
• Colour
  1. Lots of people want colour in their notes, whether that be just the background of a note, or the notebook itself. 
  2. I use a lot of notes with tables, and now we can colour those these notes are so much easier to read/use.  
• Printing
  1. Ability to print from EN web and Android (and I guess iOS too, but I don't use it!) would enhance productivity.  I am out of the office a lot with my tablet, but often don't use my laptop.  But I can't print from EN android.
• Templates.
  1. I have templates for things I do on a regular basis (one for each workday for example).  I have a 'templates' notebook, which holds these notes but the UX for creating a new note from this is clunky.  Having a template repository linked from the New Note button would be so incredibly useful.

I upvoted your request as well. In short, good summary of the requests that are floating around.

I would definitely want the templates, color requests (more customization of notes, snippets, backgrounds, highlighters etc.) Those would be my top priorities. I learned to live with the bullets and tables the way they are at this time.

Although I am a heavy tag user, never thought about the inline tagging. I know OneNote had the option to tag portions of the note which I thought was awesome at first (when I used to use it years ago) but it made it cumbersome to tag portions of the note therefore I did not get value out of it. But I can see the need for it for sure for some users.

I agree with the opening the note links comment, that bothered me for a while as well. I would like the option to open the new note where I want it or it should follow a logic.