REQUEST: Narrower window

[eat_chocolate 4]

Hi,

I love Evernote and use it daily but it seems like with the latest upgrade to v3.1.1 the minimum width of the window has increased significantly. I suspect it has to do with the new card view but I'm strictly a list view user (with titles only!) and for my purpose the wideness comes as ungainly and unnecessary — I find a lot of white-space to the right of my notes now. It's true, it's hardly a critical issue but would love to be able to shrink it down more to size.

Thank you,

k

[peterfmartin 221]

Welcome to the forums, eat_chocolate?

Which window are you talking about? Would you be willing to share a screen shot?

[eat_chocolate 4]

Hi,

I was speaking of the primary window but I guess there are different set-ups? Attached is a screenshot of mine at the minimum width allowed, it doesn't let me shrink it any further. I only use the list view with all but the title columns disabled. As you can see, as I have the left-hand notebook area as narrow as needed (without hiding any content) it leaves the primary content area too wide for (my) comfort. With the default formatting of Arial at 13pt, it runs about 115 characters per line and I would love to be able to get it down to about 90.

Thanks for the quick response!

k

P.S. Okay, I see. If I were to pop open a notebook by double-clicking, I can shrink that window much more but I prefer working in a single panel mode.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

hi. welcome to the forums.

i made this request for a narrower view a few times in the past as well. i tend to open a bunch of notes in their own windows and hide the left panel to get as much on the screen as i can. but, 13" gets used up pretty quickly.

i really like the suggestion of tabs. several people have made it, but the idea hasn't gained traction yet.

[Dan Newman 2]

This is most definitely a regression in the latest build, though. I user BetterSnapTool to resize windows on my laptop screen (snap email to left-half, snap Evernote to right half), and Evernote no longer neatly fits into half of the screen on my 15" MBP, whereas it did before. Please fix this!

[johnwhenry 1]

I have the same frustration - very annoying - similar to the way the Skype application has a minimum size. Makes no sense at all to me - please fix asap.

[k-profiler 1]

This is a big issue for laptop users. Please fix it asap.

[mdcgin 3]

+1, I use evernote side by side with other apps, this makes it impossible.

[senorfunes 1]

Agreed. This is such an issue that's it has caused me to move almost totally away from Evernote to a much simpler note taking program. I'm heavily dependent on side-by-side windows and Evernote takes up more than half of my 15" screen at its smallest possible window size. Evernote has far more to offer than the other program, and I will use it occasionally for word processing and synced notes that require substantial formatting, but it is unfortunately all but useless to me for the purposes of note-taking. 

[Jackolicious 808]

You can double click on a note in the note list to open that note in its own window. This is often useful in side-by-side scenarios.

[eat_chocolate 4]

That's good to know but I'd still prefer the primary window to be more resizable. After all it's the window I find myself in most of the time, browsing through notes and notebooks. And, under those conditions, it's more than just a matter of screen real estate, it negatively impacts readability too due to excessive line length. With the content area at its narrowest and the font size set to the default of 13 points, I still find the lines spanning uncomfortably long.

 

Greater flexibility of the primary window size would be much appreciated.

[remedy5 10]

I would also like the ability to view the main window on one-half of a laptop screen (in my case, a MacBook Air). This would allow me to use the other half of the screen for browsers and other apps.

 

Thanks.

[Juan Ibiapina 0]

This is a Major issue for me. Dropping Evernote until this is resolved.

[rosstex 0]

Agreed! I use BetterSnapTool and splitting Evernote into half the screen takes up far more than half the screen. This is very annoying.

[JohnKershaw 1]

Agreed! I've been using Notational Velocity for years (love the Simplenote sync) but I keep 'looking over the fence' at Evernote, with its everywhere-grab simplicity and massively greater functionality. I'm a teacher whose students are increasingly using iPads, and I keep hearing how Evernote is the only way to fly for student/teacher notebooks.

 

So I open it up again, upgrade to the latest version, and BAM - I remember it has a HUGE, Skype-like monster window that won't let me shrink it to be a narrow slice at the side of my screen. My setup currently is:

 

1. iMessage down the left side, 1.5 inches wide, tied to a short-cut key. Contacts in top half, conversations in bottom half. I can see who's online and see (just) if they've said anything recently.

 

2. NV down the right side, maybe two inches wide, small notes list sorted date order at top, most of the space available for actual text.

 

3. Main window (browser, code editor, whatever) sits in the middle. 

 

 

I'd love to replicate this setup with the more powerful Evernote - but not at the cost of more than half of my screen! Evernote is a helper app, where I keep info related to the THING I'M ACTUALLY DOING. It's a delicious side order, but not the main meal:

 

 

Mac OS is a beautiful multi-window environment and I love to work in it, BECAUSE it allows me to arrange my windows. Apps should never enforce 'their' view of the workflow on the user - apps that don't 'play nicely' with other apps don't get to play

 

I can't actually type into this EVERNOTE forum window AND see Evernote itself at the same time! Crazy.

 

If I widen this forum window to fit the text box I'm typing into here, all my Evernote text is hidden, and there's a pointless empty white space where my info should be:

 

 

On the other hand, I've just used Evernote to push these 3 screenshots online and it was a seamless, painless, even enjoyable experience.

 

Please Evernote, let me use you!

 

John.

[MK Safi 2]

Using Top List View without a sidebar makes it way too wide for what's being displayed. 

 

Look how it's so nice and easy to use nvALT app side by side with a web browser:

 

 

With stubborn Evernote, this is what I have:

 

 

Even the single note view refuses to go down to 30% of screen width. I don't understand why these restrictions are in place.

 

I would like to take advantage of Evernote reliable cross-device syncing, so please make it possible.

 

Thanks!

[moverton 1]

The min width and min height are both incredibly frustrating. My textbooks are PDFs, and I can never get the main window or a note window to comfortably fit on my MacBook's 15" screen, which it could were there not a hard limit to how small the windows could get. The note window always feels too wide. If I go the other route and try to fit it along the bottom, there's too much unused whitespace on the right side of the note in addition to the min height that ensures the window is too tall. I don't think I've ever needed the controls the bar on the top of the note offers, so there's a fully inch that could be trimmed off.

 

If someone knows how to edit the app's framework files, I'd love to know how to set a smaller minimum width and height. I've dug around, but there are a ton of files that contain min, width, height, size, etc.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

The min width and min height are both incredibly frustrating. My textbooks are PDFs, and I can never get the main window or a note window to comfortably fit on my MacBook's 15" screen, which it could were there not a hard limit to how small the windows could get. The note window always feels too wide. If I go the other route and try to fit it along the bottom, there's too much unused whitespace on the right side of the note in addition to the min height that ensures the window is too tall. I don't think I've ever needed the controls the bar on the top of the note offers, so there's a fully inch that could be trimmed off.

 

If someone knows how to edit the app's framework files, I'd love to know how to set a smaller minimum width and height. I've dug around, but there are a ton of files that contain min, width, height, size, etc.

 

The min height and width restrictions on Evernote are unwelcome, especially on the 11" MBA. The best solutions that I have found for it is to (1) use full-screen whenever possible, (2) double-click on a note to open it in its own window -- this allows you to shrink the note size down a lot more, and (3) close the sidebar. Ideally, like nvALT (notational velocity) we'll eventually gain more flexibility.

[saywhatbrett 2]

Not being able to conform the window to my workspace is very frustrating, especially while trying to maximize certain features such as the note reminders.

[Strajk 3]

Just why, Evernote? I'm dev myself, it's just changing the number! It's not a bug which should take 2 years to solve...

 

It's sooo irritating 

[GT_Kenny 3]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE fix this! Evernote developers are you out there listening to your customers?

[uniquer 2]

PLEASE FIX THIS.....

 

 

 I am embarrassed for evernote that I can't have this application side by side comfortably with a pdf while I take notes. Dragging part of the application off the screen seems to work but that is a pathetic work around. 

[MK Safi 2]

I'm glad Mac Notes will finally support photos across devices in iOS 8, which is due today! That was the only thing keeping me from switching to Notes. I hope to never have a reason to switch back to Evernote again.

[Jackolicious 808]

We are listening. Thanks for the feedback!

[kriskhaira 4]

I'm an Evernote Premium user on a MacBook Pro Retina 15" and I'm finding this really annoying too. I use Divvy to manage my windows and would like Evernote's width to be able to resize to 50% of my screen so I can use it as a reference while coding. Using the 'Open Note in Separate Window' isn't good enough for me because I'd like to be able to switch to another note quickly.

[chariley 1]

Good grief, I swear your windows are getting bigger. I used to be able to fit six Evernote windows in my screen for my essays. Now there's the annoying unnecessary white space that's taking much of it instead. Just why did you fix something that was not broken.

 

Now, please fix it back! And give option to reduce the size of the windows a little bit further (with text wrapping of course, don't introduce a new nightmare to all of us)

 

Can't believe it's been two years.

 

 

[tannoreth 1]

This is ridiculous... Why hasn't this been fixed? It's not enough to say that you're listening - either give an explanation as to why it's so hard to change the width or fix it! The whole point of Evernote is to improve the user's efficiency... not being able to multitask is definitely less efficient!

[GT_Kenny 3]

I actually deleted Evernote from my mac because of this stupid reason. I have to say I miss it a lot, but on my 13" macbook it was ridiculously space consuming, and even on my 23" inch screen it ate up a lot more space than the content itself needed (to do list, short notes, etc...)

 

The really annoying thing is that it would probably take half an hour for one programmer to fix that width restriction (I'm just guessing here), but given the fact that my first request on this is 6 months old and it is still hasn't been fixed, I guess premium users like me mustn't be that important... 

[uniquer 2]

I stopped using it because it is frustrating not being able to size the window where I want it. 

[gg1234 1]

I also stopped using Evernote for this stupid reason! One would have thought that one of the primary uses of a note taking application was to take notes while reading something else... The huge minimum window/note size limit makes this practically impossible without going crazy.

[Joshua222 0]

Dear Evernote,

 

Please allow us to make the application window much smaller...think of how you tear a small piece of paper to make a physical note. 

 

Thank you for making an awesome product!

[Kari Sinkko 0]

I went to Journler made by an individual which meets my needs. I tried removing items from the toolbar thinking it would fix it, but no.

[eliasradelius 1]

Dear Evernote,

 

How is this issue progressing? We are a large number of people wanting nothing else than using Evernote to be as productive as possible. I now find myself unable to keep a note side-by-side with a document that I am working on due to the size of the Evernote window. 

 

When can we expect a fix for this issue? It would be great to know if it's in the pipeline or whether I should look for an alternative workflow...

 

Best,

Elias

[Kari Sinkko 0]

Oh, I found a way to make this happen. You need to edit the window resizing of nib files but I can't find which file to edit so I gave up and went back to Journler. It's just a matter of setting the minimum to around 300px.

[eliasradelius 1]

Oh, I found a way to make this happen. You need to edit the window resizing of nib files but I can't find which file to edit so I gave up and went back to Journler. It's just a matter of setting the minimum to around 300px.

Tweaking nib-files...sounds a bit risky? I'm not a developer/hacker and I'm not sure I would feel comfortable doing that.

[Kari Sinkko 0]

I'm not a developer/hacker, just somebody wanting to fix it and found that as a possible way.

[GT_Kenny 3]

How is this issue progressing?

 

Erm.. I hope this picture might give you an idea:

[eliasradelius 1]

Spot on! I think that captures the feeling for most people in this thread.

[Strajk 3]

But they said they are listening - no mention about thinking, working, or maybe fixing it.

[Jackolicious 808]

This issue is in progress. Stay tuned and keep your clients up to date!

[SoftwareMarcus 388]

We've just released Evernote for Mac 6.2 Beta now with narrower windows.  Download and read more about it in my forum post.

[MK Safi 2]

It works! Thanks so much!

[PhilGBoston 0]

This issue is what keeps me from using Evernote on a regular basis.  Please get smaller Evernote.

[gandalfsaxe 0]

On 24 September 2015 at 9:23 AM, SoftwareMarcus said:

We've just released Evernote for Mac 6.2 Beta now with narrower windows.  Download and read more about it in my forum post.

SoftwareMarcus, I can confirm that this was fixed for a while in the beta, but it's back now. I can't resize the window down to 50% half screen on my MBP 15" Retina. Please fix this again, and for the love of god, stop bringing it back

[jbenson2 2,147]

5 hours ago, gandalfsaxe said:

SoftwareMarcus, I can confirm that this was fixed for a while in the beta, but it's back now. I can't resize the window down to 50% half screen on my MBP 15" Retina. Please fix this again, and for the love of god, stop bringing it back

SoftwareMarcus left Evernote for greener pastures.

Another employee might see your post, but you will get a faster reply if you submit a Support Request. 

 

[alwayzambitious 16]

any updates? it is these features that are more core to the task of taking notes that i wish that were improved before evernote added before the ability to chat or present within Evernote existed. maybe the core features will be worked on for the next release!

[Evernote rox 0]

Bump...

I would like to be able to use Evernote at less that 1/4 of the screen width on a Macbook 12". I could use it side by side with Sublime or iTerm in split view. This would be very convenient. As of now, Evernote is just too wide to make this practical.

This seems like it should be doable, especially if it's in Top List View or the window is just a single note.

[GT_Kenny 3]

Wooow. It is truly unbelievable that this issue still exists. After so many years.

I've stopped using evernote for this reason but still getting the email updates about this thread and find it shocking.

It is twenty *****' seventeen! What a horrible way to treat customer's requests. Fortunately there are many other options nowadays.

[lylak 0]

Extremely disappointed that this issue still exists on Mac... just purchased Evernote premium and will be requesting a refund due to this. It makes this program completely unusable - I only use Evernote in split screen. If there is a reason this can't be accomplished it would be nice to know what it is, because without one it just seems like laziness and poor customer support. 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I think I might have requested a narrower option six or seven years ago. I don’t recall users or developers being terribly interested. I wonder why.

 

On a Macbook, (an Air in the old days), it’s been terrible, and I don’t know what purpose the extra large window serves. I’ve learned to work around it, but I think it’s attention to little details like this (basically, how the app works in practice in different environments) that really gain the loyalty and respect of users, so I encourage Evernote to sweat the details. Competitors are, frankly, crushing Evernote in this respect — it’s just kind of annoying to use Evernote in conjunction with other apps.

[Osinv 0]

I totally agree, why doesn't Evernote allow to reduce the width when in Mac split screen? It's so dissapointing.

[PinkElephant 8,071]

If this is on the old Mac client, no way. You have posted in that subforum.

The legacy software is declared end of life, no more changes, not even bug fixes.

[Lucas Tran 0]

On 5/15/2013 at 10:56 AM, Jackolicious said:

You can double click on a note in the note list to open that note in its own window. This is often useful in side-by-side scenarios.

Thank you so much!!!!!