(Archived) Offline notes on iPad

[EduardoFandangle 2]

I'm wondering why my notes are not available to me offline on my iPad. I use Evernote for all my note taking, however if it is unable to cache offline then it becomes next to useless when I need to recall something in front of a client while not connected to the net.

The website states:

"All notes that you create or view on the iPhone will be cached locally, so you can view them again even without a network connection. This feature is available to all users."

I'm using the free version on the iPad and would like to know if this is true only for the iPhone. Can you please indicate the scenarios where offline caching does work, because as far as I can see this statement is incorrect. I'd like to continue using Evernote, but will be forced to change if I can't get to my notes on demand while offline.

Thanks in advance.

[engberg 89]

If you have a Premium account, you can set notebooks to automatically synchronize and cache your data in offline notebooks.

http://blog.evernote.com/2009/12/23/hug ... -and-more/

If you have a Free account, the application will tend to cache the data you have already viewed on that device, but it won't be generally searchable or 100% reliable. (If the application needs space, it may reclaim some of the cache.)

[EduardoFandangle 2]

Thanks for your reply Dave. I create all my notes on the iPad, so I'd expect to be able to view them offline as well, however they tend to only display the subject line after synchronizing. I'll suffer with it for a short while and cross my fingers for an update. Beyond that I'll have no choice but to seek out an alternative. At this rate the basic iPad Notepad is more reliable, albeit far less functional.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I'll suffer with it for a short while and cross my fingers for an update. Beyond that I'll have no choice but to seek out an alternative.

Uh, the "update" is to upgrade your account to premium.

If you have a Premium account, you can set notebooks to automatically synchronize and cache your data in offline notebooks.

http://blog.evernote.com/2009/12/23/hug ... -and-more/

[EduardoFandangle 2]

Uh, the update would be to "fix" the product to behave as the quote from the site reads (as above). Everyone puts a different value on subscription services. I don't particularly see the point paying for my own notes, having migrated to the iPad from paper recently. Maybe my opinions will change with time, but until then I'll be looking for consistency within the functionality of the apps I use, not just occasional offline viewing of notes if the app decides it suitable.

Enjoy.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Relying upon the iPad's cache for your notes is risky. You do know if you ever have to uninstall the EN app & reinstall, the notes will be gone from the device? Or if you have a problem with your iPad & take it to the Genius bar & they give you a replacement, your notes will not be on the replacement device? Or the iPad gets stolen & you get another...no notes on the new device. If you sync'd them up to the EN servers, they will be there. But they will not be on the iPad.

I don't particularly see the point paying for my own notes, having migrated to the iPad from paper recently.

That's certainly your choice. And if it's not worth it to you to pay for an EN premium account, then you're going to want to look elsewhere.

[EduardoFandangle 2]

Burgers, I'd like to read my notes on the device on which they were created. Thanks for your recommendations to pay for that privilege. I appreciate the synchronization to a server feature and the value of the availability of my notes on other devices. Unfortunately this conversation is deviating from the original question, as there currently does not seem to be a solution to my notes being reduced to headings after they've been synchronized.

Dave (hopefully you're still out there), when you say the free app tends to cache data already viewed on that device, is that only specific to content that is not stored in Notebooks? I'm looking for a use case that best works for me.

Thanks in advance.

[jefito 5,589]

Dave is always out there. In that, he's just like my mother.

I think that he's posted on the caching behavior before, but I'm not an iPad user, so I can't tell you what that is; you should probably engage in some forum searching.

~Jeff

[EduardoFandangle 2]

Thanks Jeff, will do. All the best to your Mum :-)

[engberg 89]

Dave is always out there. In that, he's just like my mother.

Ok, that's not what I want to think about when I get in to work on Monday morning...

Eduardo - the caching we do on the Free app is kind of like the caching that your web browser does while you're browsing. Your browser will tend to store images, icons, etc. as you browse the web. If you happen to view a page that contains some content from the local cache, it will load faster and save you a little bandwidth, but that's not a reliable "offline mode" for your browser.

[jefito 5,589]

Dave is always out there. In that, he's just like my mother.

Ok, that's not what I want to think about when I get in to work on Monday morning...

Heh. At least it means that I am usually on my best behavior in the forums.

~Jeff

[EduardoFandangle 2]

Thanks for your reply Dave. In that sense, does it behave differently to the free Windows app? The sync doesn't seem to affect the Windows app negatively.

I'm interested to hear whether there is a strategy to align the function of the Evernote clients across the various platforms on which it can run (while appreciating the differences in those target platforms and the effort required to enable that to happen). Do you know of a move to make the iPad app behave more like the Windows app, or is it where Evernote want it to be at the moment?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

In that sense, does it behave differently to the free Windows app? The sync doesn't seem to affect the Windows app negatively.

The Windows & Mac clients use a local database that is stored on the hard drive, regardless if the account is free or premium. The iPad does not, for free accounts.

[EduardoFandangle 2]

Ah, that's disappointing. Hopefully there will be a push for consistency in the application behaviours across the different platforms. I wonder if that's a problem specific to the iPad architecture, or if it's just a characteristic of the design of the app on that platform. I know I have plenty of storage space on the device, so that's not really an issue.

Keen to hear from an Evernote person on the strategy going forward.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Ah, that's disappointing. Hopefully there will be a push for consistency in the application behaviours across the different platforms. I wonder if that's a problem specific to the iPad architecture, or if it's just a characteristic of the design of the app on that platform. I know I have plenty of storage space on the device, so that's not really an issue.

viewtopic.php?f=45&t=16615&p=66566&hilit=premium#p68266

[sterlingz 7]

I too find this behavior very irritating, and it's one of the reasons I don't use the iOS Evernote clients for note-taking any longer. I'm a Premium subscriber, but unless I create a note in a synchronized notebook, it will be gone from the device after the next sync and no longer available for offline editing. I've been burned by this several times, needing to go back and edit something after I'd boarded a plane. I've never thought this was the right way to handle things. If it was created on the device, it should stay on the device. Period. By default, notes get dumped into my personal notebook which is not synchronized. Simplenote, Dropbox based text-editors, and even the built in Notepad handle this better.

[sterlingz 7]

Uh, the update would be to "fix" the product to behave as the quote from the site reads (as above). Everyone puts a different value on subscription services. I don't particularly see the point paying for my own notes, having migrated to the iPad from paper recently. Maybe my opinions will change with time, but until then I'll be looking for consistency within the functionality of the apps I use, not just occasional offline viewing of notes if the app decides it suitable.

Enjoy.

I think you have a valid point.

[karloffpropaganda 1]

To be fair, the simple inclusion of the little star symbol would be awesome to settle all this. I noticed this only today - on the iPhone and iPod Touch Evernote has the little star to press if you want to 'favorite' the note for offline use, but I couldn't find it anywhere on the iPad version.

How sad. This would be cool for the next update *hint hint* because I really think that Evernote for iPhone and Evernote for iPad should definitely have the same functions as each other - they both use iOS after all, so they definitely should be consistent.

Just some constructive criticism to keep the Evernote team working hard =)