Highlight text

[Normansavigar 6]

Is there a way to highlight text in a Note, as though one has used a highlight marker over the text?

[GaryLKing 46]

Not from with-in Evernote.

It has been requested many times.

Regards,

Gary

[ROSinclair 3]

Big Missing from an otherwise good product. Moreover, why hasn't this been addressed by the development team?

[jefito 5,589]

'Cuz they're doing other stuff that they think is higher priority?

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Big Missing from an otherwise good product. Moreover, why hasn't this been addressed by the development team?

As has been mentioned many times on the board, EN reads all the posts here but does reply to all of them. As Jeff said...

'Cuz they're doing other stuff that they think is higher priority?

[ever111 24]

Looks like bolding, italics, are available. Can't use them?

And I'm not sure how highlighting would show up with various color settings, and across various platforms, etc. That might open a big can of worms?

[jefito 5,589]

And I'm not sure how highlighting would show up with various color settings, and across various platforms, etc. That might open a big can of worms?

Let's add a little context, most of which has already been divulged on the forums, as this is a fairly common request. Yes, it's possible: Evernote even does it on at least one of the iOS clients. And you can add it yourself, by hand, with the EMNL Editor (http://enml-editor.ping13.net/). It's really just a little bit of HTML. And if it were generally available, then, like other font options, it'd be up to the user to decide whether or not it's appropriate for their usage. There is no big (or small) can of worms to the technology. It's really just adding some UI to each of the clients, and that's where the higher priorities I speak of come in.

[Snkscore 4]

And I'm not sure how highlighting would show up with various color settings, and across various platforms, etc. That might open a big can of worms?

Let's add a little context, most of which has already been divulged on the forums, as this is a fairly common request. Yes, it's possible: Evernote even does it on at least one of the iOS clients. And you can add it yourself, by hand, with the EMNL Editor (http://enml-editor.ping13.net/). It's really just a little bit of HTML. And if it were generally available, then, like other font options, it'd be up to the user to decide whether or not it's appropriate for their usage. There is no big (or small) can of worms to the technology. It's really just adding some UI to each of the clients, and that's where the higher priorities I speak of come in.

Wow thanks for pointing me toward the enml editor. I had assumed the reason EN didn't allow images to be resized was that they simply didn't support it, but clearly they do (in the markup). I'm considering writing my own service to resize all my large images. Crazy that they don't let you do this from the client.

[David Anderson 1]

And I'm not sure how highlighting would show up with various color settings, and across various platforms, etc. That might open a big can of worms?

It's just a matter of setting font background color. Works just fine for the web (various color settings, various platforms).

Also, it's available in the Clearly plugin. I use it all the time. Very frustrating that it's not in the windows client editor.

[FactMan 196]

Going to ENML editor works well, so long as you make sure the note is synchronized to the web client first, make the changes in ENML editor, then synchronize back to the desktop version. Just make sure that you are not going to be removing all formatting after highlighting, because that will take out all your hard work.

I just copied the highlighting text to another note, so I have it ready to hand when I need it: <span style="x-evernote: highlighted; background-color: #f6ee96">Text</span>. Obviously, you wrap the "span" codes around the text you want highlighted, or you will just have "Text" highlighted throughout your note.

[mlife 1]

I'm just getting back into EverNote after discounting it when it first came out. I'm really liking it, but am surprised there is no highlighting ability. After reading David's post, I experimented with Clearly. I discovered that if I highlight in Clearly, then import to EverNote and click near highlighted text, then any new text I input in EverNote carries over the highlighting format from the Clearly text! In this case, there is no way to switch highlighting off. Seems like it would be very easy for developers to add highlighting feature to Evernote. Hope they do soon!

[winrad 1]

This may not be the most efficient but you can highlight by taking the following steps (for Mac):

1. select the text you want to highlight

2. from menu item, select "format" -> "show fonts" or [apple key]+T

3. click on "document color" icon which will bring up the "colors" window

4. click on yellow color in the "colors" window

5. on "show fonts" window, click the "text color" icon

6. on "color" window, click on black color

7. close the "show fonts" and "colors" window

Lots of steps but it works for me

[mlife 1]

Thanks winrad for that method!

There is probably a similar way to do it on the PC, but I couldn't figure it out. I have the most up to date Evernote, there is no, "show fonts" menu, only a "fonts" menu under "Format". Under "Fonts" there is no "Document Color" icon.

Considering Evernote already has the capability to highlight, I imagine it's only a matter of time before they institute it in the GUI - it's a tool with such obvious utility.

[irvstern 0]

Winrote, thanks so much, those steps worked perfectly!

[DigitalScribe 9]

Add this simple feature to all the clients - particularly the tablet clients - and I could get rid of so many other products I rely on. I would be willing to pay MORE for the Premium service if I could just highlight! Please give us some Word From On High about when this feature will be implemented!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Add this simple feature to all the clients - particularly the tablet clients - and I could get rid of so many other products I rely on. I would be willing to pay MORE for the Premium service if I could just highlight! Please give us some Word From On High about when this feature will be implemented!

Evernote does not publish ETAs.

[Mark Duncan 0]

Evernote, please add highlighting, works great in Clearly...why not in Mac & iOS?

[Asya 0]

I tried using Evernote on and off, and highlighting is badly needed! I stop using it because there is no easy way to do that. Text color change does not work - it is difficult to read.

[Joseph Juhnke 2]

I use Evernote for research. I go out and using any device (wonderful!) I capture documents, images, you name it. I put them all in one notebook. Then I parse the documents by re-reading them and highlighting key passages for consolidation in my findings document (also created in Evernote). Highlight is really critical for this.

PLEASE ADD HIGHLIGHTING

Check out branchfire.com. Their whole app is based on marking up documents. Clearly there is some value to it.

Currently, I use text color as best I can.

[jefito 5,589]

I don't think that anybody's saying that there's no value in this feature -- heck, I'd use it myself -- my point is that Evernote, while I'm pretty sure that they can see the value in it too, appears to have determined (on most of its clients, anyways) that other features are more important. For us users out here, their prioritization is opaque.

[Jhanlon 4]

+1 for highlighting in Windows version ... a VERY important feature to me ... much more so than other stuff in recent updates

[yclkvnc 2]

+1 for highlighting in Windows version. Client is capable of highlighting, if you paste a highlighted text from browser/word it shows correctly, so why not add it to the toolbar ?

[CatherineDold 0]

Please please please add some easy highlighting! I'm shocked that this basic tool is not already in there. Really limits the usefulness of Evernote for research! 

[LOOregano 0]

Wouldn't this look much better highlighted?

I also would very much like and use highlighting.  It keeps me from using evernote for more.

 

[dlu 628]

Thanks for posting!

[sigsegv 0]

Need highlighting too please. I'm using Evernote on windows and Android os.

[loneboat 0]

+1 on this.  I would love highlighting.  I google it about once a month hoping it's slipped in under the radar and I just missed it.

[ChrisLeMarr 0]

I have a solution to the evernote highlighting limitation: use a pdf file, annotate it, and save. 

 

1) My workflow: Print an article to evernote using a automator action

2) File article in appropriate folder

3) Right click and open pdf in preview to annotate, save and evernote automatically refreshes

 

I realize this will be of little use to those who need to edit the text at a later date, but for those of use looking to organize research, archived meeting notes, and other information this is a relatively simple workaround.

 

Hope this helps!

[ELF 0]

Not sure if this was posted already, but if you read an article in Evernote Clearly, you can highlight text there and then save to Evernote. Keeps the highlighted text in place. 

[mmmore 6]

+1 for a highlighting feature.

 

I love Evernote, but at work many use Microsoft OneNote. I must say that I find some elements of OneNote much better than Evernote. Especially the more extensive formatting features in OneNote make note taking easier. I hope similar features will also come to Evernote.

[John Lucas Roberts 4]

+1 for Mac/iOS ability to highlight from within EN

[Tschortscho 0]

+1 for the ability to highlight text within the Evernote client for Windows.

[EileenCecelia 1]

+1 for ability to highlight text.  Please, please, pretty please?

[Seaniedee 2]

I can't think of a single downside to highlighting. Nor can I think of a reason why no one at Evernote would respond to this request other than the mildly condescending, "Thanks for posting." I think this happens at every successful software company; they lose sight of who their software is for: The users and not the developers. 

[jefito 5,589]

I can't think of a single downside to highlighting. Nor can I think of a reason why no one at Evernote would respond to this request other than the mildly condescending, "Thanks for posting." I think this happens at every successful software company; they lose sight of who their software is for: The users and not the developers.

Why do you think that dlu's reply was condescending? The Evernote folks here who post are usually happy to see requests; some of them, in their secret hearts of hearts might even want highlighting. But the power to schedule such features is not always in their hands. At a guess, they are most likely currently paying homage to reminders, another popular feature request, which just surfaced on the Android betas.

[Seaniedee 2]

Usually when I tell someone that something is very important to me and they are the only person who can give it to me, I expect something more than, "thanks for posting". It's not like people are suggesting some new feature that's going to elicit a response like, "Highlighting? Wow, that's an interesting new idea" as they race down the hall to tell the developers. Rich text word processors and note-taking programs have had highlighting for years. It's basic stuff, and they can't even say that it's coming.

 

And I understand the Evernote people who post here don't have any power, so why bother posting at all? It's like when you call a company's customer service department and they can't do anything but apologize. It's not customer service if they can't do anything. It gets back to Evernote's key people -- the ones who do have the power -- being out of touch.

 

People are asking for a basic feature, not some complex functionality. If Evernote wants to be number one, they need the basics.

[jefito 5,589]

Usually when I tell someone that something is very important to me and they are the only person who can give it to me, I expect something more than, "thanks for posting".

Sorry, but that's just your expectations talking.

It's not like people are suggesting some new feature that's going to elicit a response like, "Highlighting? Wow, that's an interesting new idea" as they race down the hall to tell the developers. Rich text word processors and note-taking programs have had highlighting for years. It's basic stuff, and they can't even say that it's coming.

It's true; this one's been requested for awhile, and it would be a useful feature. There's even one Evernote client that supports it, I think. However, it's company policy not to disclose feature roadmaps before time (usually they just start appearing in betas).

 

And I understand the Evernote people who post here don't have any power, so why bother posting at all? It's like when you call a company's customer service department and they can't do anything but apologize. It's not customer service if they can't do anything. It gets back to Evernote's key people -- the ones who do have the power -- being out of touch.

You misunderstand me; I didn't say that they don't have power, but they may not have the power to schedule features that they want, vs. features that the company wants. And requesting features does add impetus for implementing them (so long as they align with Evernote's goals). But there's that pesky company policy on feature roadmaps. So they value your feedback, and dlu said "thanks". Why does it need to be more complicated than that?

[CatherineDold 0]

So true -- it's not like highlighting is some exotic new gadget. It's a very basic, time-honored tool of research. Kind of boggles the mind that it's not included in evernote.

 

Yes, I have started using clearly and its highlighting function. It helps some. But I typically find and save articles and such first, and then later go back and read through them -- and highlight the information I want to note. I can't do that in Evernote right now. 

 

I've tried changing the text color, size, etc. It's not a great option. 

[Seaniedee 2]

I'm not making it more complicated. This is my reaction to their uninformative response. Saying thanks does not necessarily mean thanks. In fact, words without actions often mean nothing. It's classic PR speak.

 

A basic feature is not a roadmap. What do you think, that someone is going to  say, "Hey, Evernote is introducing highlighting, let's beat them to the punch!"

 

Hey, you're an evangelist, I get it. I'm just not buying it. Every software company starts out with the idea of giving users what they need, but name me one who has not lost its way. I've worked with some of them, and i can see it happening at Evernote. The whole UI is getting stale. If I didn't have a ton of notes already in Evernote, I'd be looking at other options very intensely over the next few months. Nobody seems to have a complete package at the moment. Google Keep is a  post-it note app at the moment and unimpressive if you want to make PC notes. OneNote is like an awkward patched-together Frankenstein monster. Others look pretty, but lack clever integration across platforms. It's there for the taking for Evernote, but if users are asking for a basic feature and they can't even say, yes it's coming, well, someone will catch up soon.

[jefito 5,589]

Just because I'm an evangelist doesn't mean I agree with everything they do. However, my experience with (as opposed to your assumptions about) folks like dlu, Jackolicious, xdelplanque, and other Evernote staff is that they are genuinely happy to hear feature requests, and not condescending at all. 

 

On the topic "software companies who have not lost their way", that's your issue; if you want to push it for whatever you think it's worth, then go ahead. And rather than making broad and unjustified claims like "the whole UI is getting stale", maybe it would be more valuable if you were more specific as to exactly which aspects of their UI (or UIs, since they are different in different clients) you think are stale, and what they might do to freshen them up.

[winrad 1]

I've posted how to highlight in evernote client for the mac in this thread earlier but it's a pain in the ass to do so. I highlight almost every day, and I agree, it's the most basic of functions for note taking software. Even iOS and Android clients have this feature but the desktop client does not. First let me just say that I love evernote and the team has done a good job, but there are 2 things that have really bothered me about this software.

 

1. highlighting (most basic function of note taking)

2. speed of software

 

As a software entrepreneur, this leads me to believe that evernote has some core problems that reminds me much of microsoft type bloatware that I had to use in the 90s and into the last decade. The truth is I use evernote mainly because there is no other replacement for it that's cross platform and where I can carry my notes everywhere. I use my mac, PC, iOS and Android devices on a daily basis. They keep adding features to the software that I rarely use which I believe makes the program bigger in size and slower for devices. I realized that it wasn't my computer that was too slow having recently upgraded to the new macbook pro retina and iphone 5. It was evernote that was slow. 

 

The thing I love about google is that they are obsessed with speed. Speed of search. Speed of execution. Speed of results. My wish for evernote is that they focus on speeding up the software so it feels light and nimble plus include highlighting of course I'll never forget Steve Jobs keynote when he announced snow leopard. He said that they mainly focused on speeding up OS X and making it more efficient. That blew my mind. When I upgraded, it freed up about 12GB of hard disk space and OS X was faster. I was in heaven.

 

Some examples of software I love who are obsessed with speed (and light memory footprint) is: Dropbox, utorrent and chrome

[rzamor1 1]

I just decided to move from TreePad to Evernote. I thought the big problem I would have going to Evernote was loosing the sub-folder levels. I finally worked it out in my mind how to use tags to achieve what I wanted.  Now I find the basic formatting tool to Highlight Text is not available. Gosh even TreePad could do that. I thought I was moving up in technology. I give presentations and need to highlight sections, changing font colors is not an effective work around.

 

Another problem I have with no highlight option available is the opposite of adding one. Sometime I copy text from the web and the background color comes over. I just want to remove that background and find I have no way of doing that. Come on people if you can show the background how come I can't edit it to remove it. Simply Formatting isn't what I'm looking for either, because the fonts all change.

[PeteTheViking 0]

+1. Really REALLY need highlighting in Evernote!

[dany05 0]

+1 for a highlighting feature

[Roginator 3]

Please add highlighting - you can even do it in Google Docs which is browser based. Plus if you copy and paste from Google Docs, the highlighting is retained. Surely not that much of a big step to add to Evernote?

[layonl 0]

up! where is the process on this higlight feature evernote?

[layonl 0]

this topic is interesting i'm following!

[Seaniedee 2]

I feel at this stage, considering this feature is a lot easier than some of the other things Evernote have introduced lately, someone at Evernote has just decided, ***** them, they will not dictate to us what goes into our product. I can't think of any other reason no one there has responded to the thread in any meaningful way. And I don't think anything will happen until someone like Google creates something more significant than Google Keep, which at the moment is not much more than a pretty shopping list program for Android. But once they do, Evernote will start listening to users again like they used to.

 

In the meantime, when I want to edit a note, I use Firefox and an add-on called TextMarker! This allows me to highlight text in notes and save it.

[dlu 628]

I feel at this stage, considering this feature is a lot easier than some of the other things Evernote have introduced lately, someone at Evernote has just decided, ***** them, they will not dictate to us what goes into our product. I can't think of any other reason no one there has responded to the thread in any meaningful way. And I don't think anything will happen until someone like Google creates something more significant than Google Keep, which at the moment is not much more than a pretty shopping list program for Android. But once they do, Evernote will start listening to users again like they used to.

 

In the meantime, when I want to edit a note, I use Firefox and an add-on called TextMarker! This allows me to highlight text in notes and save it.

 

 

Do you really feel like we don't listen to our users at all? I would disagree

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I can't think of any other reason no one there has responded to the thread in any meaningful way.

 

Well, there's the (oft' repeated) fact that EN does not publish their roadmap or ETAs.

[Seaniedee 2]

Burgers, this isn't a roadmap we're talking about. As I and others have stated, this is not some new and wonderful feature that, were it to get out, Evernote might be beaten to the punch by a rival. This is something every other rich text editor program already does. And it's not a huge programming task either. It would be a couple of hour's work at most. This is at least an oversight, and not too far off a bug. If we were to say, "Hey, the letter E doesn't work when we hit the keyboard," and Evernote was to state that they do not publish roadmaps for such features, everyone would just roll their eyes.

 

dlu, practically every non-listener in the history of mankind would say they listen when told they don't. That's the nature of the non-listener. In fact, it's their biggest flaw. Were non-listeners to actually hear the criticism, they would would respond by saying, "What am I not hearing?" How many years have users been asking for the ability to highlight in Evernote? And what is Evernote's official response? The closest to a response from Evernote has been, "Thanks for posting!" It's the equivalent of me asking my wife to get me a coffee on the way home from dropping our child off from daycare, but she comes back without it. Not because she forgot, not because it was too difficult a task, and not because she didn't listen. In fact, I have no idea why she didn't get me a coffee because all she will say on the matter is, "Thanks for telling me what you would like!"

 

I guess I would just get my own coffee and use TextMarker!

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I can't think of any other reason no one there has responded to the thread in any meaningful way.

Well, there's the (oft' repeated) fact that EN does not publish their roadmap or ETAs.

 

 

 

Burgers, this isn't a roadmap we're talking about.

 

 

Then I don't know what "meaningful way" you want Evernote to respond. I'd guess if you asked them if they thought highlighting was helpful, pretty, fun, etc. they'd probably all say 'yes'.  But I'm not sure what purpose that would serve.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

And it's not a huge programming task either. It would be a couple of hour's work at most. This is at least an oversight, and not too far off a bug.

There's really no way you can say that, since you are not familiar with the under-the-hood part of Evernote & how it affects the various platforms EN lives on. And...it's not a bug, either. It may simply be low on their priority list. Either way, debating the issue serves no purpose.

[Seaniedee 2]

 

I can't think of any other reason no one there has responded to the thread in any meaningful way.

Well, there's the (oft' repeated) fact that EN does not publish their roadmap or ETAs.

 

 

 

>Burgers, this isn't a roadmap we're talking about.

 

 

Then I don't know what "meaningful way" you want Evernote to respond. I'd guess if you asked them if they thought highlighting was helpful, pretty, fun, etc. they'd probably all say 'yes'.  But I'm not sure what purpose that would serve.

 

What I'd like to know is when is it going to be fixed. It's a matter of opinion whether it's an oversight or a bug or whatever, but I don't think anyone has ever said it should not have been there from the start.

 

And I have been a coder, so I know it's not a major task. I know for sure that when an Evernote clone hits the market with every Evernote feature plus highlighting, and people start migrating their notes for the lack of that one feature, Evernote will suddenly implement it.

 

I'm willing to deal with the fact that there is really nothing that currently competes with Evernote and work around this, but in my mind, that creates a monopoly situation, and we all know what power does. So, to anyone who even thinks about asking for this feature, I say we are wasting our time. After this many years, it's not coming.

[Mark Duncan 0]

Thanks dlu for responding, it's nice to know the thread has been seen. While lack of highlighting cannot be considered a bug, it does appear to us to be an oversight at the least. We know the editor supports the formatting for highlighted text via copy/paste, and even within the Clearly plugin. What would it hurt to add the controls in the desktop editor? Why not sooner than later? Love Evernote regardless.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

What I'd like to know is when is it going to be fixed.

 

Like I said...

 

Well, there's the (oft' repeated) fact that EN does not publish their roadmap or ETAs.

 

 

 

And I have been a coder, so I know it's not a major task.

 

98% of the people here are or have been coders. As such, anyone who claims something is easy (that affects the many platforms EN lives on) and yet has no intimate knowledge of the Evernote code is a fool.

[DigitalScribe 9]

What I'd like to know is when is it going to be fixed.

 

Like I said...

 

>Well, there's the (oft' repeated) fact that EN does not publish their roadmap or ETAs.

 

 

 

And I have been a coder, so I know it's not a major task.

 

98% of the people here are or have been coders. As such, anyone who claims something is easy (that affects the many platforms EN lives on) and yet has no intimate knowledge of the Evernote code is a fool.

 

 

Unless I'm mistaken this feature has already been implemented on the iPad (and for some time now). Which begs the question of why it wouldn't even be in the web or desktop interfaces by now.

[jefito 5,589]

A: I repeat what I've said before: this is a fair request, and I'd probably use it if it were available.

 

B: Anyone who claims that this is just a couple of hours of work doesn't really know what they're talking about, or is just not familiar with software practices used in software shops that are larger than one or two people. First, there's the obvious issue of designing the UI and implementing the feature across at least 5 separate clients, in a number of different languages. Testing (including round-tripping among the various products) isn't free, and neither is documentation. Documentation needs to be translated as well.

 

C: The assertion that Evernote is not listening because it hasn't implemented feature X is fairly silly -- Evernote has many, many feature requests, and not enough time to implement them all. So they choose. True enough, I myself would hope that they'd choose this one earlier rather than later, but even though they haven't, that doesn't mean that I think that they're not listening to their customers. They're just doing other stuff.

[Seaniedee 2]

What I'd like to know is when is it going to be fixed.

 

Like I said...

 

>Well, there's the (oft' repeated) fact that EN does not publish their roadmap or ETAs.

 

 

 

And I have been a coder, so I know it's not a major task.

 

98% of the people here are or have been coders. As such, anyone who claims something is easy (that affects the many platforms EN lives on) and yet has no intimate knowledge of the Evernote code is a fool.

 

 

And as some of us have said, this is not a roadmap. It's a basic text editing feature. It's a bug or an oversight or a flaw, call it what you want. It should be fixed.

 

And as for being a fool, there are some things you don't need intimate knowledge of a particular piece of software to know. The ability to highlight notes is already there. It's just not implemented. Look, I get it: as far as you're concerned, anything Evernote does is awesome and there is nothing missing and nothing to be fixed. I just have a different opinion.

 

As for being a fool, maybe it's the emperor who's the fool.

[Seaniedee 2]

A: I repeat what I've said before: this is a fair request, and I'd probably use it if it were available.

 

B: Anyone who claims that this is just a couple of hours of work doesn't really know what they're talking about, or is just not familiar with software practices used in software shops that are larger than one or two people. First, there's the obvious issue of designing the UI and implementing the feature across at least 5 separate clients, in a number of different languages. Testing (including round-tripping among the various products) isn't free, and neither is documentation. Documentation needs to be translated as well.

 

C: The assertion that Evernote is not listening because it hasn't implemented feature X is fairly silly -- Evernote has many, many feature requests, and not enough time to implement them all. So they choose. True enough, I myself would hope that they'd choose this one earlier rather than later, but even though they haven't, that doesn't mean that I think that they're not listening to their customers. They're just doing other stuff.

 

Again, you're title is Evernote Evangelist. It's basically in that very title that you will say Evernote is great. I understand limited resources and priorities, but this is a basic text editing feature. I love the Gmail add-on, that's awesome. But people have been asking for this feature for years! They have not responded for years! That's pretty much not listening. Were they to come out and say, "No one wants highlighting, we're not doing it ever!" that would at least show they heard us.

 

It's disappointing, that's all. As I've said, there is a workaround. Just like if the letter E wasn't working, I could just copy and paste from another program. It's almost that level of oversight.

[ever111 24]

And it's not a huge programming task either. It would be a couple of hour's work at most. This is at least an oversight, and not too far off a bug.

There's really no way you can say that, since you are not familiar with the under-the-hood part of Evernote & how it affects the various platforms EN lives on. And...it's not a bug, either. It may simply be low on their priority list. Either way, debating the issue serves no purpose.

Then quit debating and name calling.  People CAN say it, but there might be no way they "can be certain".  But as far as anybody knows, the code could even be there, but is not functional for some reason.  Nobody knows unless the coder looks at it.  Sounds like a strong assertion of the unknown, as far as it not being a bug, without looking at the design/code.

[jefito 5,589]

Again, you're title is Evernote Evangelist. It's basically in that very title that you will say Evernote is great.

That's untrue. Please go back and re-read my post. Nowhere do I claim that Evernote is great; my feelings about Evernote are irrelevant to what I posted. Here are the highlights: Point A was that I would like to have the feature. Point B is that it takes longer than some people think to produce the feature. Point C was about my belief that Evernote does listen to their customers (more on this shortly).

The fact of the matter is that it's in the Evangelists' brief to try help people out with their Evernote problems, not to proclaim how great Evernote is all the time. Sure I like Evernote, and use it every day, but all of us Evangelists have at one time or other expressed frustration/annoyance/disagreement -- publicly -- with Evernote's policies/implementations/documentation/what-have-you.

I understand limited resources and priorities, but this is a basic text editing feature. I love the Gmail add-on, that's awesome. But people have been asking for this feature for years! They have not responded for years!

Evernote users have asked for lots of stuff for years, and validly, too. As far as I can tell, Evernote appears to have a large backlog of feature requests that take time to plow through, while they are attempting to execute some strategic features of their own choices. Whose idea of what feature is basic/critical/no-brainer should have highest priority? Yours? Mine? No, the choice is really up to Evernote, the people in the best position to know the costs of implementation *and* whose livelihood depends on them making good choices (if they ***** up, then maybe Google Keep/Springpad/OneNote eats their lunch).

That's pretty much not listening. Were they to come out and say, "No one wants highlighting, we're not doing it ever!" that would at least show they heard us.

No -- listening is just listening; it doesn't imply immediate action or talk. Note that some folks get offended when Evernote staff say things like "Evernoted" or "Thanks for the request" without further discussion. Sometimes it's best to just say nothing.

By the same token (and company policy) that they Evernote doesn't typically reveal their roadmaps, they also rarely explicitly slam the door on feature requests, that is, they rarely say "we're not gonna do that". That seems like a sensible policy in my book (particularly, as DigitalScribe and others note, it's been available on iOS for some time, and it's demonstrable that some people do want highlighting, so that kind of statement would be silly on its face) -- policies and priorities change, time passes, and stuff gets implemented. Here's hoping that highlighting is one of them.

[ever111 24]

I feel at this stage, considering this feature is a lot easier than some of the other things Evernote have introduced lately, someone at Evernote has just decided, ***** them, they will not dictate to us what goes into our product. I can't think of any other reason no one there has responded to the thread in any meaningful way. And I don't think anything will happen until someone like Google creates something more significant than Google Keep, which at the moment is not much more than a pretty shopping list program for Android. But once they do, Evernote will start listening to users again like they used to.

 

In the meantime, when I want to edit a note, I use Firefox and an add-on called TextMarker! This allows me to highlight text in notes and save it.

 

 

Do you really feel like we don't listen to our users at all? I would disagree

 

Well, you "would" disagree?  So, do you disagree?  Or would it have been better to say, "We do listen and are listening."

 

i'm thinking that it's 3 against one, so I have chimed in.  If you had said, "We do listen, and this is a good suggestion", it would have saved everybody involved in this tiff (or more) a lot of trouble. At least I myself would have not felt the need to come to the rescue.   Just sayin.

[ever111 24]

...some folks get offended when Evernote staff say things like "Evernoted" or "Thanks for the request" without further discussion. Sometimes it's best to just say nothing.

 

Wow, kind of like talking to the wall or out in the deep woods is much preferred by most?  And that some folks get offended (is that the right word?) is interesting.  Maybe if they asked a question and got one of those two answers?

 

Actually, jefito, I thought your previous to last post was pretty good, but the just previous one - well.

I think I was told, after I previously questioned, that the system assigns the title, including the threatening one that burgers has.

Neither she nor you assigned your own title, right?

Would have been nice to just explain that to the person.  The titles set the whole tone of the posts we make, and the title assignment is at fault. It just happened again.  I reported this long ago.  But then, my title automatically changed to what I have now, and I am currently satisfied with it.  :-)  Hope it doesn't change to something bad again.

 

[Seaniedee 2]

Again, you're title is Evernote Evangelist. It's basically in that very title that you will say Evernote is great.

That's untrue. Please go back and re-read my post. Nowhere do I claim that Evernote is great; my feelings about Evernote are irrelevant to what I posted. Here are the highlights: Point A was that I would like to have the feature. Point B is that it takes longer than some people think to produce the feature. Point C was about my belief that Evernote does listen to their customers (more on this shortly).

The fact of the matter is that it's in the Evangelists' brief to try help people out with their Evernote problems, not to proclaim how great Evernote is all the time. Sure I like Evernote, and use it every day, but all of us Evangelists have at one time or other expressed frustration/annoyance/disagreement -- publicly -- with Evernote's policies/implementations/documentation/what-have-you.

>I understand limited resources and priorities, but this is a basic text editing feature. I love the Gmail add-on, that's awesome. But people have been asking for this feature for years! They have not responded for years!

Evernote users have asked for lots of stuff for years, and validly, too. As far as I can tell, Evernote appears to have a large backlog of feature requests that take time to plow through, while they are attempting to execute some strategic features of their own choices. Whose idea of what feature is basic/critical/no-brainer should have highest priority? Yours? Mine? No, the choice is really up to Evernote, the people in the best position to know the costs of implementation *and* whose livelihood depends on them making good choices (if they ***** up, then maybe Google Keep/Springpad/OneNote eats their lunch).

That's pretty much not listening. Were they to come out and say, "No one wants highlighting, we're not doing it ever!" that would at least show they heard us.

No -- listening is just listening; it doesn't imply immediate action or talk. Note that some folks get offended when Evernote staff say things like "Evernoted" or "Thanks for the request" without further discussion. Sometimes it's best to just say nothing.

By the same token (and company policy) that they Evernote doesn't typically reveal their roadmaps, they also rarely explicitly slam the door on feature requests, that is, they rarely say "we're not gonna do that". That seems like a sensible policy in my book (particularly, as DigitalScribe and others note, it's been available on iOS for some time, and it's demonstrable that some people do want highlighting, so that kind of statement would be silly on its face) -- policies and priorities change, time passes, and stuff gets implemented. Here's hoping that highlighting is one of them.

 

 

First of all, sorry about the evangelist comment if that is a system-generated title. I assumed your job was to evangelize, which in certain realms means to convert to a way of thinking based on faith rather than facts.

 

Secondly, we'll have to accept that there are a couple of things we won't agree on. To me, there is the Mars definition of listening (to hear the sound) and then there's the Venus definition, which involves qualities such as acknowledging, empathizing, acting upon in some way, etc. I have heard nothing from Evernote officials that suggests they understand how important highlighting is to its users, so to me, they aren't listening. (I don't buy this roadmap stuff at all. This is not even close to a groundbreaking new feature and to me, suggesting they can't give out top secret information like, "We're going to implement highlighting", is just what I'd expect from an evangelist.) And we also disagree on how basic highlighting is for a text editing program. I can't think of a single rich-text note editing program that doesn't have at least basic highlighting. So, shouldn't the market leader have that function? No need to answer. It's a rhetorical question and my opinion on this is clear.

[winrad 1]

There's no excuse for the lack of a highlighting feature in evernote. It's a note gathering and organizing software for god's sake. Even iOS has highlight feature and the fact that the desktop software doesn't have it shows how clueless evernote is. I'm becoming less and less enthralled with evernote. It now reminds me of what microsoft used to be: BLOATWARE. I don't know about anyone else but evernote loads slow, syncs slow, takes long to pull up notes sometimes and is filled with features that I truly believe not many people use but they won't and probably refuse to add highlighting. This shows how clueless and lost they are. I have evernote on my iphone 5 (which still runs slow compared to other apps), ipad 1, galaxy nexus and macbook pro retina. I used to think it was my devices that were old and perhaps that's why it's slow but once I've upgraded (except ipad 1) to the latest, it's still slow. I'll give one example of a piece of software that simply runs friggin awesome with a low memory footprint: DROPBOX. Do u know how fast dropbox syncs? It's an extremely efficiently and effective piece of software. I wish evernote was a good as dropbox in terms of speed and reliability across all platforms.

[CatherineDold 0]

What it all boils down to is Evernote is a notetaking and research tool -- without one of the most basic tools of research: highlighting good stuff you find in your mountains of research. 

 

It's a huge gap. 

[jefito 5,589]

First of all, sorry about the evangelist comment if that is a system-generated title. I assumed your job was to evangelize, which in certain realms means to convert to a way of thinking based on faith rather than facts.

Yeah, in the software world, there's evangelists and evangelists; meaning supplied by context/organization. In this case, the role was chosen by Evernote -- I might have chosen some different name for it, but whatever, the role is still the same (I do think that I could change the title that you see under my avatar, though probably not the group; just haven't bothered). Usually we aim to try to help other users out by suggesting solutions, workarounds, etc. -- we try to keep these rooted in facts, but these may also include Evernote's public statements. But the role doesn't preclude us from having or offering our own opinions in the forums either, because when it comes down to it, we're Evernote users too.

[PaceWalker 6]

Highlight feature ,pleaseeeeee 

[sigsegv 0]

Well, I Finally solved my problem. Now I'm using Microsoft One Note. It does basically the same that Evernote and has highlight feature since first version. It has an android applet too so....

 

Sorry but this feature is very important for me and for a lot of users too, as I can see by this thread.

I'm not a fan of MSFT but you let me no choice.

 

Phil.

[Brizz 0]

wow.  I'm blown away evernote doesn't offer this.

 

 

went searching in Google for quick answer to 'highlight' ...and this is first thing that shows up.

 

 

i mean...really? ...have been user for quite a while...but only recently actually started using for ACTIVE research (going back through and doing things w/it--as opposed to clipping everything I find interesting).

 

pretty much puts a damper on that whole idea.  If I can't HIGHLIGHT major things I get from article...whats the point of having all of it?

 

So the option is to move to Onenote..over not having HIGHLIGHT? ...wow.

[gustavgi 308]

I finally bought an Ipad just for the highlight feature. Makes you think of if Apple may have paid Evernote for this exclusive feature.

[Seaniedee 2]

Evernote tells me it has a new update. 

• Fixes:
  • Misc bug fixes for editing notes across various Evernote clients

 

I pray this is the one that fixes the lack of highlighting........

 

 

 

No, it's not. I swear, they are never going to fix this. In fact, I think they've hired a guy whose only job is to make sure this never gets fixed. If he catches someone even thinking about fixing it, he steps in. I wish I knew his name.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Evernote tells me it has a new update.

• Fixes:

• Misc bug fixes for editing notes across various Evernote clients

I pray this is the one that fixes the lack of highlighting........

No, it's not. I swear, they are never going to fix this. In fact, I think they've hired a guy whose only job is to make sure this never gets fixed. If he catches someone even thinking about fixing it, he steps in. I wish I knew his name.

LOL. That was humorous

Maybe he is the same guy walking around with the Windows start button in his pocket! I wish I knew who he was too!

[Seaniedee 2]

Evernote tells me it has a new update.

• Fixes:
• Misc bug fixes for editing notes across various Evernote clients

I pray this is the one that fixes the lack of highlighting........

No, it's not. I swear, they are never going to fix this. In fact, I think they've hired a guy whose only job is to make sure this never gets fixed. If he catches someone even thinking about fixing it, he steps in. I wish I knew his name.

LOL. That was humorous

Maybe he is the same guy walking around with the Windows start button in his pocket! I wish I knew who he was too!

Apparently, Microsoft fired that guy and it is fixing that in Windows 8.1, due out in June.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Evernote tells me it has a new update.

• Fixes:
• Misc bug fixes for editing notes across various Evernote clients

I pray this is the one that fixes the lack of highlighting........

No, it's not. I swear, they are never going to fix this. In fact, I think they've hired a guy whose only job is to make sure this never gets fixed. If he catches someone even thinking about fixing it, he steps in. I wish I knew his name.

LOL. That was humorous

Maybe he is the same guy walking around with the Windows start button in his pocket! I wish I knew who he was too!

Apparently, Microsoft fired that guy and it is fixing that in Windows 8.1, due out in June.

Nah. As I understand it, the Start button will be mainly for show (no start menu), and won't even appear in Metro, right? I'm a little unclear, but my guess is that he is still chuckling and gloating around the office.

[Seaniedee 2]

 

 

Evernote tells me it has a new update.

• Fixes:
• Misc bug fixes for editing notes across various Evernote clients

I pray this is the one that fixes the lack of highlighting........

No, it's not. I swear, they are never going to fix this. In fact, I think they've hired a guy whose only job is to make sure this never gets fixed. If he catches someone even thinking about fixing it, he steps in. I wish I knew his name.

LOL. That was humorous

Maybe he is the same guy walking around with the Windows start button in his pocket! I wish I knew who he was too!

Apparently, Microsoft fired that guy and it is fixing that in Windows 8.1, due out in June.

Nah. As I understand it, the Start button will be mainly for show (no start menu), and won't even appear in Metro, right? I'm a little unclear, but my guess is that he is still chuckling and gloating around the office.

Yeah, I guess it's not a real start button. That's a shame. Like you, I'm not even clear what it does. I swear, these companies become successful by producing things that users want and need, but at some point they decide, the users don't know what they want. "They (the users) think they want stuff like highlighting and start buttons, but we know better." And then they go bust and they act like they never saw it coming. Every major technology company in history thought they were bullet proof. But if you look at companies that failed, it was always because someone else came along and gave their users what they wanted. Mind you, for now Evernote is safe because there's a Firefox add-on/workaround. 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Every major technology company in history thought they were bullet proof. But if you look at companies that failed, it was always because someone else came along and gave their users what they wanted. Mind you, for now Evernote is safe because there's a Firefox add-on/workaround.

 

Companies also fail b/c they sit on their laurels & stagnate, especially in the IT/computer industry.  Any app I've had for many years has changed fairly dramatically over time, usually for the better.  Just because "we never did it that way before" doesn't mean it's not a good idea, especially in the long run.  I'm PC so can't directly address the issue.  But often, change is good.  And sometimes you have to drag your users along kicking & screaming.  Of course, there will be some collateral damage.  But there always be users leaving for some reason or another (IE, they are resting on their laurels & no big improvements have been added).  The bottom line is, well the bottom line - if the income continues to increase, they will know they've done something right.  If it stalls or especially drops, then they will know they need to figure out why users are leaving (missing feature? feature removed? competition? stability?  etc, etc, etc.  Money talks.

[rzamor1 1]

Why don't we rely on the power of social media to get this basic editing tool added to Evernote.  I just "Liked" Evernote on Facebook and requested it. Then I went on Twitter and tweeted "Please add the basic editing tool of highlighting to Evernote PC desktop version.".  Obviously they don't care about Evernote forum users opinions, but if we had a strong enough voice in social media outlets it might force them to reconsider.

[Seaniedee 2]

Why don't we rely on the power of social media to get this basic editing tool added to Evernote.  I just "Liked" Evernote on Facebook and requested it. Then I went on Twitter and tweeted "Please add the basic editing tool of highlighting to Evernote PC desktop version.".  Obviously they don't care about Evernote forum users opinions, but if we had a strong enough voice in social media outlets it might force them to reconsider.

 

My gut feeling is they aren't going to do anything. I've started using Google Docs for my notes. Honestly, for how I use it, I don't see the huge benefits in Evernote over Google Docs. Google supports highlighting. The downside is I have a few hundred notes in Evernote. I guess I'll just use Evernote as backup of old notes and move them one by one as I use them.

[GoldenToy 13]

I'd also like to request Highlighting in Evernote. It works with clearly and then get's displayed in the Evernote, so please Evernote development team, add a another icon for text highlighting next to bold, italic and underlined. Personally, I think that's a much more useful function that that stupid strike through. 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

check out these things done by the Chinese,free storage, cloud sync, all platforms supported, reminders, highlight, background, template, email to note, multiple folder, tags, search, collaboration, clipping. Soon there will be international versions of these. Let's just wait.

http://note.youdao.com

 

http://www.wiz.cn/

 

http://note.sdo.com/

Wow. The resemblance to Evernote is uncanny.

http://note.sdo.com/static/img//0802/mac1.jpg

http://note.youdao.com/images/dl-1.jpg

[Metrodon 2,184]

I think the only thing less trustworthy than an American company hosting my data might be a chinese one...

[BrianJ 7]

I recently started using Evernote and am totally diggin' it. Thanks for the great productivity tool.

 

Just wanted put in my vote for the ability to highlight text in Notes. I'd get a lot of value out of the addition of that feature.

[dlu 628]

Highlighter is available in our latest beta for version 5.0.0 http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/41033-evernote-for-windows-v5-beta-3/

[BrianJ 7]

Highlighter is available in our latest beta for version 5.0.0 http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/41033-evernote-for-windows-v5-beta-3/

 

Sweet, that was fast. Thanks for the update dlu.

 

I was all set to download the beta but got scared off by the warning that, while unlikely there's the potential for data loss. Think I'll wait for the stable release. I'm looking foward to being able to highlight Notes!

[TomCasm 0]

I'd like to see the highlight feature available in the web version.

[BABnyc14 6]

Did this ever get added to the web version for Windows?  Can't find it in the formatting options, but if it's there and someone can clue me in, I'd appreciate it, thanks.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Web interface should be identical regardless of windows/mac/linux. 

 

Just tested on my Mac, no highlighter available on the web. 

 

Highlighting is available on the desktop clients.

[mejones 2]

Why is highlighting in PDF annotation so clunky? In preview on mac, text can be highlighted with ease, without the need to draw a straight line, and adjust the size of the highlighter to match the text. Would be great to see this looked at in the future.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Why is highlighting in PDF annotation so clunky? In preview on mac, text can be highlighted with ease, without the need to draw a straight line, and adjust the size of the highlighter to match the text. Would be great to see this looked at in the future.

This post is about highlighting text in the body of an Evernote note, not about PDFs.

 

But to answer your question, Evernote's built-in PDF annotation tools are not standard PDF annotation tools a la Preview, they are their own beast. I don't know why Evernote chose to go that route. This isn't a big deal since it is no more difficult to open a PDF in Preview than it is to open the PDF in the Evernote annotation tool. If you want regular, standard annotations, open any PDF  attached to an Evernote note in Preview. If you want the more freestyle Evernote annotations, open it in Evernote's built in tool.

 

The only place where this becomes an issue if on iOS, where an attached PDF cannot be easily opened in a third-party annotation application, so if you want to annotate a PDF stored in Evernote using iOS, you are stuck with Evernote's tools, or a roundabout workflow to open it in a third party PDF reader like PDF Expert or Good Reader. 

 

On the Mac, you have a choice. 

[b00lz 0]

Only today I signed on to Evernote.com as a new user. During my first note creation process, I realized that I am unable to use a highlighter color to highlight text/notes. If this has already been addressed by Engineering/Development and is an available feature, please let me know how to use this feature in Chrome (Windows 7). If not, then please know that users like me would very much appreciate this feature in the future (requesting). Thank you!

[xaa 18]

hi, 

 

I am wondering if you can think to change the background color for the highlight? 

 

For now the yellow color is used but this make the search function confused because the words highlighted by the search are also in yellow (at least on Evernote Windows)

 

Either change the highlight during the search or change the highlight color for the body text. Thank your for your feedback.