Feature Request: Highlighting

[TaliskerCats 4]

I'm a Premium user and have been using Evernote for over a year and love it. I'm using it for a number of different uses and research projects. 

 

 I agree with those people who would like the ability to highlight within a note. I don't want to have to go to a different solution to highlight something. (I've seen comments that Evernote has heard this requirement from a number of people -- well if you have that should tell you its something people really want and see as a problem that you don't provide it. And no Clearly is not the answer--if I want to go to another product I'll go to a pdf reader that has highlighting capability.)

[gazumped 11,664]

The fact that the interest has been acknowledged but nothing has been done might suggest that it's not that easy to do...

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

(I've seen comments that Evernote has heard this requirement from a number of people -- well if you have that should tell you its something people really want and see as a problem that you don't provide

Evernote seems to know where they want to take the product. The fact that a number of users have requested something does not make it a given that it will be implemented.

[TaliskerCats 4]

That may be ... but as a product manager for a major computer company I can tell you that you ignore your users at your peril. And I've seen lots of requests for this function ... and they have the technology available because they have Clearly. I saw they want to add task management but from my point of view they will never implement anything as good as taskcoach so they would be better off addressing requirements like highlighting and addressing task management by integrating with tools like taskcoach.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

That may be ... but as a product manager for a major computer company I can tell you that you ignore your users at your peril. And I've seen lots of requests for this function ...

And there are a lot of requests for other things as well. And the users who have posted on this board only represent a small fraction of the 50+ million Evernote users. There is no way for you to know where your feature requests fit into the grand scheme of things just because you see a lot of posts on this board for it. Or it may be on their list of things to do but other things have a higher priority.

[TaliskerCats 4]

Then is there another place for the 50 million users to request a feature? Because I haven't found one yet. Which means that this is the only forum where people can register their wishlists for features. And I didn't say there was a way for me to know where something fits on the list -- but when you have a lot of people speaking out and saying they want something, you can bet your bottom dollar there are a lot more that people also want it but who don't speak out for one reason or another.

[gazumped 11,664]

Posting something here as a feature request will usually get someone's attention;  or you could follow the support requests link - there's a feedback option somewhere down there too. 

 

Evernote run gatherings of various sorts around the world,  have a cross between a 'focus group' and a 'think tank' going somewhere to generate developments internally,  use beta testers,  have pages on various networks like f-book and LinkedIn,  get feedback through faults being reported and the option above and generally try to make themselves as approachable as possible. 

 

But even simple upgrades have to go into a lengthy queue because there's a lot of users and breaking the app for even one client would be a lot less popular than being a little late adding a new feature...

[gustavgi 308]

That may be ... but as a product manager for a major computer company I can tell you that you ignore your users at your peril. And I've seen lots of requests for this function ...

And there are a lot of requests for other things as well. And the users who have posted on this board only represent a small fraction of the 50+ million Evernote users. There is no way for you to know where your feature requests fit into the grand scheme of things just because you see a lot of posts on this board for it. Or it may be on their list of things to do but other things have a higher priority.

 

Yes that's a nice statement that can be used on every request ever made... There is however room for qualified guesses on which features a huge part of the Evernote userbase wants. For example, Evernote also removes features from time to time, but if Evernote suddenly removed the feature to let the user input text into Evernote I would say that's a bad idea based on my guess that there are a lot of evernote users that isn't using evernote just for uploading images etc....

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Yes that's a nice statement that can be used on every request ever made...

Absolutely.

There is however room for qualified guesses on which features a huge part of the Evernote userbase wants. For example, Evernote also removes features from time to time, but if Evernote suddenly removed the feature to let the user input text into Evernote I would say that's a bad idea based on my guess that there are a lot of evernote users that isn't using evernote just for uploading images etc....

As Gaz mentioned, EN has several sources (including this message board) they use to compile feature requests & enhancements. And yes they do remove features from time to time. I don't see how that relates to my point that EN may have chosen to either not add a feature or give it a lower priority than other things.

[lenarr 27]

Very simply, Evernote: we continue to want highlighting directly on notes. Been asking since 2010.

 

Thanks,

lena

[gdmilner 18]

My experience has been that Burgers'N'Fries and gazumped will almost always respond to a reasonable feature request by first trying to persuade you you are being unreasonable. I think they should consider a new way of opening such responses. 

 

Yes, highlighting would be nice, and has been MUCH requested. I don't know why EN has not put it in yet. I have listened to all their podcasts and have not heard a decent response to this question yet. 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

My experience has been that Burgers'N'Fries and gazumped will almost always respond to a reasonable feature request by first trying to persuade you you are being unreasonable. I think they should consider a new way of opening such responses. 

 

Yes, highlighting would be nice, and has been MUCH requested. I don't know why EN has not put it in yet. I have listened to all their podcasts and have not heard a decent response to this question yet. 

Definitely a case where you're misinterpreting/misconstruing, which is clear if you actually *read* our posts. Nowhere have either of us intimated or said anyone is being unreasonable. We *do* point out valid reasons why EN has not added a feature. Either not on their list, not as easy as some users may seem to think it is or is simply not a high priority. I don't know why that's so hard for you to understand.

[gazumped 11,664]

..and there I thought I was (usually) good naturedly

 

1) offering any available options that occur to me as work-arounds,  since it's pretty obvious that requests in the Forum won't translate to working updates overnight,  or even within a week or two,  and

 

2) pointing out that Evernote don't share their plans with anyone on the basis it's their product; and flattery / threats / badgering and other juvenile behaviour won't get things done any faster.  (So far as I know,  no-one's tried bribery yet...)

[jefito 5,589]

...bribery...

Maybe if I sent them some Maine lobsters by Fed-Ex... hmmm...

[gazumped 11,664]

...bribery...

Maybe if I sent them some Maine lobsters by Fed-Ex... hmmm...

 

No no no - you have it wrong - I was hoping someone might get around to bribing me...

[gazumped 11,664]

There are even older than since 2010 requests, for example due date or reliable formatting, but we are told, that EN has different priority!!! I wonder which priority, unless they are flipping the priority list. Because no one who uses Evernote and follows the forum can tell me, that page camera on smartphone or other have been higher on the priority list. And, if someone wants to reply to tell me that EN knows better, they have other sources then forget it.

 

I've wanted (and still do) Due Dates since forever,  but as I mentioned above Evernote march to their own tune and don't share the sheet music.

[jefito 5,589]

There are even older than since 2010 requests, for example due date or reliable formatting, but we are told, that EN has different priority!!! I wonder which priority, unless they are flipping the priority list. Because no one who uses Evernote and follows the forum can tell me, that page camera on smartphone or other have been higher on the priority list. And, if someone wants to reply to tell me that EN knows better, they have other sources then forget it.

There's no fixed priority list: priorities can change. Length of time on a priority list means little, if anything. How the priorities are determined is up to Evernote; how could it be any different? They know their long-term goals for their product, and they know the the resources that they have; we out here can only guess. For me, it comes down to this: if I can't trust them to make good decisions over what goes into a product that I depend on, why would I continue to use it?

[PaceWalker 6]

http://note.youdao.com/ This chinese replication of evernote has exactly the same function as evernote for absolutely free,and ad-free, a much better looking user interface, clients available across all platform, with highlight function available and  even allow you to set reminders on checkboxes among many other functions on top of what evernote can do. I wonder why evernote has't done what this Chinese competitor does and make me wonder why i should still be paying for evernote premium when there is an free application there to use.

 

[jefito 5,589]

http://note.youdao.com/ This chinese replication of evernote has exactly the same function as evernote for absolutely free,and ad-free, a much better looking user interface, clients available across all platform, with highlight function available and  even allow you to set reminders on checkboxes among many other functions on top of what evernote can do. I wonder why evernote has't done what this Chinese competitor does and make me wonder why i should still be paying for evernote premium when there is an free application there to use.

Nobody's making you pay for Evernote. Even so, you're not paying for editing features so much as paying for more capacity; the free version of Evernote will most likely have reminders for free and premium users, when they come.

 

Question: is this a "Chinese replication of Evernote" (i.e., is it an Evernote client in Chinese silks, using the Evernote servers/ecosystem for note storage) or is it a "Chinese competitor" (using its own servers)? On the topic of "much better looking interface", judging by the pic of the desktop version, looks like they've pretty much cloned Evernote's Windows desktop. Oh right. "Chinese replication".

 

Competition is a good thing. If Youdao works for you, then you should use it.

[Bartman001 14]

Back to topic.  BRING ON THE HIGHLIGHTING!!

[jefito 5,589]

I'm sure not that any digressions will going to make the request for highlighting any more apparent to Evernote than it already is, but sure, have a "+1" on me...

[RayN 0]

I'd just like to add my two-pennyworth. Yes we REALLY need highlighting in evernote. For me, this is the most significant negative about evernote. If I could find another package with most of the excellent features of evernote, but also had highlighting, I'd move to it in a  shot. Its particularly curious because evernote does actually support highlighting in imported documents, but  doesnt have a highlight tool  within evernote itself.

[rfalconer 0]

For me, this is the most significant negative about evernote. 

 

Yes. +1

[slevatron 0]

it is mind-boggling how a highlighting feature has not come as a standard tool with Evernote. The formatting cannot be that difficult - it is possible on pdf readers and Clearly, and also word processors, so why so difficult in Evernote? There is not a chance in hell I will ever pay for Evernote until such a fundamental tool is included - the fact that the developers have dodged requests for this for over three years doesn't give me the greatest confidence that they want to continue to develop with their current users in mind. Shame.

[gazumped 11,664]

it is mind-boggling how a highlighting feature has not come as a standard tool with Evernote. The formatting cannot be that difficult - it is possible on pdf readers and Clearly, and also word processors, so why so difficult in Evernote? There is not a chance in hell I will ever pay for Evernote until such a fundamental tool is included - the fact that the developers have dodged requests for this for over three years doesn't give me the greatest confidence that they want to continue to develop with their current users in mind. Shame.

 

It's a shame that such a universally useful tool doesn't have a long list of 'simple' things that weren't included from the get-go,  but considering the degree of general development over the past three years it's disingenuous to claim the lack of a minor feature and future development is the reason for not subscribing.  It won't make Evernote add the feature any sooner...

[gravesy 0]

+1 on request for highlighting! 

[c0rinne 0]

I've been using Evernote Premium for less than a week and the 1st thing I noticed was that I needed to highlight something and the capability wasn't there. This lack is something that boggles the mind because it's such an obvious tool when working on documents. 

[BradStiritz 1]

Hey everyone,

 

Physical highlighter pens revolutionized reading when they were introduced 40 years ago and continue to be extremely popular reading tools. You practically can't walk into a coffee shop these days without seeing at least one student highlighting away in his/her textbook. In the electronic world, people find highlighting to be just as incredibly useful, and that's why every major document-creation application (other than Evernote & old-style ASCII text editors) supports highlighting. 

 

So the question is, why not Evernote? The Evernote evangelists / apologists keep saying the same things, year after year after year: 

 

"Highlighting is just another feature request, among all the myriad others"

 

"If it hasn't been implemented yet, it must be really hard to do"

 

IMHO, as a professional software developer, these aren't credible explanations. Let's take the first one. Imagine that Evernote only provided Courier New and there was no font selection. Would it be reasonable for the evangelists to say, "Font selection is just another feature request.." ? Probably not, because font choice is considered a key fundamental feature of contemporary word-processing, like Bold, Italic, and Underline. So how fundamental is highlighting? Ask any student.. As for the supposed difficulty of adding highlighting to Evernote: in software terms, "highlighting" is simply changing the background color from white to yellow or whatever. Representing this in XML, the world-standard internal text document format, is trivial.

 

So if one or both of these "explanations" truly reflects the company's internal thinking, this is really a bad sign. If highlighting is truly viewed as "just another feature" by the company's managers, then I'm afraid they're drastically misreading / misunderstanding / ignoring their customers' needs and desires. If highlighting "is just really hard to do", this speaks to a software design flaw of epic proportions, which has boxed the developers in and actually prevents them from implementing highlighting without a major rewrite.

 

Thinking about both of these scenarios makes me sad, because I really want to like using Evernote. Instead, I continue to feel frustrated at this company that just keeps failing to provide this really basic & fundamental feature for their customers.

 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi. Thanks for the comments! I don't know what the difference is between a feature request and a fundamental feature, though.

As one of those Evangapologists, all I can say is that I am guessing and speculating based on experience. I may well be wrong about the technical challenges, and you make some good points, but the fact that it appears on a platform already suggests that they recognize its importance, and that there must be a reason why they don't offer this oft-requested feature. My guess is technical stuff.

Sometimes, seemingly easy stuff is just hard, especially when you are designing for every major platform and have to get all the developmemt teams on the same page.

Anyhow, let's hope they get it on all of the platforms before the next school term starts

[BradStiritz 1]

>there must be a reason why they don't offer this oft-requested feature

 

Yes, I'm sure as well that there's a reason-- I'm just afraid it's what we might characterize as a very poor, bad, or disturbing reason-- if we knew what that reason is. But the company continues to consciously not share this reason with its customers. Look around, other companies admit problems & issues, why not this one? After all this time, I just don't feel it's fair for the evangapologists (great coinage, BTW!) to continue asking users to give the company every benefit of the doubt on this issue.

 

Let's please get real: Highlighting is a major key feature that users want. Why not just admit it? A sincere apology usually goes a long way. If the company could just officially come out and say : 

 

"We know! We're sorry that we don't have it!"

 

this would at least show some basic respect for the user base. I'm sure a lot of people have a sense of all the things I spelled out in my previous comment. These endless, empty, speculative excuses that I see on the Forum just don't make a good impression, sorry to say..

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

>there must be a reason why they don't offer this oft-requested feature

Yes, I'm sure as well that there's a reason-- I'm just afraid it's what we might characterize as a very poor, bad, or disturbing reason-- if we knew what that reason is. But the company continues to consciously not share this reason with its customers. Look around, other companies admit problems & issues, why not this one? After all this time, I just don't feel it's fair for the evangapologists (great coinage, BTW!) to continue asking users to give the company every benefit of the doubt on this issue.

Let's please get real: Highlighting is a major key feature that users want. Why not just admit it? A sincere apology usually goes a long way. If the company could just officially come out and say :

"We know! We're sorry that we don't have it!"

this would at least show some basic respect for the user base. I'm sure a lot of people have a sense of all the things I spelled out in my previous comment. These endless, empty, speculative excuses that I see on the Forum just don't make a good impression, sorry to say..

Those of us oft' referred to as Evernote apologists have often (as in A LOT) posted that EN reads every post (because they do) but does not reply to each one or even each thread. If that offends you, then I'm sorry & I guess them's the breaks. Highlighting exists on some platforms & it's reasonable to expect it will be on all platforms eventually. Just because *you* consider something a "basic" feature doesn't mean it trumps another feature that another user considers "basic". Due dates have been promoted as coming "soon" for several years and are just now rolling out. If this offends your sensibilities, then you probably should find another app from another company ASAP. As for myself, I've worked offline with several EN staff over the years & although I've had my issues with the app (many posted about on these boards), as a long time developer myself, I appreciate that they are concerned about their users & their experience. Of course, no matter how large or small your user base is, there will always (ALWAYS) be those who are never satisfied & you eventually realize that that's a part of life, right up there with death & taxes. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease. And sometimes the squeaky wheel simply makes you turn the radio up.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

>there must be a reason why they don't offer this oft-requested feature

 

Yes, I'm sure as well that there's a reason-- I'm just afraid it's what we might characterize as a very poor, bad, or disturbing reason-- if we knew what that reason is. But the company continues to consciously not share this reason with its customers. Look around, other companies admit problems & issues, why not this one? After all this time, I just don't feel it's fair for the evangapologists (great coinage, BTW!) to continue asking users to give the company every benefit of the doubt on this issue.

 

Let's please get real: Highlighting is a major key feature that users want. Why not just admit it? A sincere apology usually goes a long way. If the company could just officially come out and say : 

 

"We know! We're sorry that we don't have it!"

 

this would at least show some basic respect for the user base. I'm sure a lot of people have a sense of all the things I spelled out in my previous comment. These endless, empty, speculative excuses that I see on the Forum just don't make a good impression, sorry to say..

 

I'm not sure why you expect Evernote staff to apologize for not having this or that feature. If you expect companies to respond this way for any features some users want, then I think you'll have a long time to wait before you see anyone groveling. I don't expect any company to share their road map with users or explain why they didn't do what some users have asked them to do. Amazon doesn't tell us why the Kindle DX has not had a software update since 2011, disappeared from the virtual shelves for a while, and then came back with its absurdly high price. Apple refuses to apologize to us for the lack of a retina screen on the Mini and Macbook Airs, even though I want to see it! I'm sure I could list all kinds of examples.

 

Evernote has highlighting on iOS, they have it in Clearly, they have indicated it will come in Mac (http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/25929-howto-highlight-not-supported/?p=200269), and I think it is a good bet that if all those platforms have a new feature like this, then Windows and Android will get it as well. What more should they say?

 

Unlike Microsoft's recent 180 degree flip-flop on the Xbox, we aren't talking about a new design direction that has angered the user base (Evernote has had one or two of these as well). We're talking about a feature that they are slowly rolling out to each client. I fail to see why this "empty, speculative excuse" for why things take a while to develop is unsatisfactory to you. 

 

If Evernote opens up about the inner workings of the company and design process, I'd love to hear it as well, but do we really expect to extract an apology from them for not sharing with us how the sausage gets made?

[gc-7p183 2]

There's an easy and free and configurable way to do this on windows.

 

Install AutoHotKey  http://www.autohotkey.com/

 

download WinClip and include it into your AHK script

http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/74670-class-winclip-direct-clipboard-manipulations/

 

and make something like the following

 

;; press shift-win-h to hightlight the text (for evernote)

+#h:: 

Send ^c ; copy

ClipWait, 2 ; wait for content to arrive

text = %clipboard% ; convert to text

WinClip.Clear() ; remove all text from the clipboard

WinClip.SetHTML( "<span style='background-color: #FF0;'><pre>" . text . "</pre></span>") ; add some custom html

Send ^v ; send it back

return

 

 

it works perfectly. You can use the same trick to format the text in any way (colors, format, borders, even things that are not normally available via the evernote menus)

 

The evernote format is just html after all ...

[jbenson2 2,147]

That's easy?

[gazumped 11,664]

If anyone has the time to whip up some basic AHK / WinClip scripts that would illustrate in more detail what you need to do I'd certainly be interested and very very grateful..

[mos123 0]

+1 for the highlighting.

 

While waiting, the only quick turnaround for me (so far) is to copy the note to word, edit it there (highlighting included) and paste it back to the same note or in a new one.

[melaniek 0]

Evernote is a solid product for on the job field notes. As a designer, consultant, and researcher, I need to be able to collaborate with people on multiple platforms and manage a lot of field content. 

 

HOWEVER,

It is a terrible product for analyzing those notes. From a simple re-read to in-depth coding, the task is crippled by the lack of HIGHLIGHTING.

 

With services and apps of all sizes and functionality... I am struggling to understand why Evernote does not do this yet in its text notes. 

 

Please. If you want this to be a strong field research tool or heck, just a basic text editor. Add highlighting functionality.

 

 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Evernote is a solid product for on the job field notes. As a designer, consultant, and researcher, I need to be able to collaborate with people on multiple platforms and manage a lot of field content. 

 

HOWEVER,

It is a terrible product for analyzing those notes. From a simple re-read to in-depth coding, the task is crippled by the lack of HIGHLIGHTING.

 

With services and apps of all sizes and functionality... I am struggling to understand why Evernote does not do this yet in its text notes. 

 

Please. If you want this to be a strong field research tool or heck, just a basic text editor. Add highlighting functionality.

 

 

Yeah, well ~85%+ users here are (or claim to be) in IT.  So welcome to the club.

 

Second, if lack of highlighting is holding your users back, maybe you should find more highly qualified users. 

 

Having said all that, if you read through the thread, there are viable reasons posted as to why highlighting has not been implemented on the Windows client.  Yet.

[slevatron 0]

Its not on the Mac version either. The best way (but not that effective) to highlight I find, is to use the 'Clearly' function, highlight using this, and then clip to evernote. Forgive my lack of knowledge in this field but if highlighting can be implemented into clearly and deal with different types of formatting, why cant it be implemented into evernote? strange. 

[Metrodon 2,184]

It's in the latest Mac beta - http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/39197-evernote-for-mac-520-beta-2/

 

There's a big Windows update coming - there's probably no point complaining until after that release, if indeed this feature isn't included.

[BradStiritz 1]

 

 

Second, if lack of highlighting is holding your users back, maybe you should find more highly qualified users. 

 

 

Seriously? Your excuse for Evernote lacking what is widely acknowledged as a fundamental text-editing feature is that users should be able to cope without it? Have you ever heard of a business that operates this way?

 

"Our restaurant doesn't provide salt and pepper - we only value conniseurs with impecable taste."

"This gym doesn't have water fountains - maybe if you were fitter, you'd be less thirsty."

 

You Evernote Evangelists are just corporate shills who dont get paid. Sucks to be you.

 

 

Actually, I interpreted the remark as, "If users are slowed down by Evernote's lack of highlighting, then they're stupid". This is pretty mean-spirited IMHO. What can we infer from this? Well, anyone who's authorized & trusted to speak publicly for a company is obviously being paid to reflect the firm's philosophy & ethos, Evernote is a pretty small firm. It seems fair to guess then that Evernote's CEO is probably a highly confident & tough hombre, to not care that his employees are insulting the user base in threads like this one.

 

I think I read him saying in a recent interview that they're hoping to IPO soon. It will be interesting to see what their financials look like in the SEC filing. (None as of yet listed on Bloomberg.) A key question to ask will be: is the guy seriously holding the line on costs? Maybe lack-of-highlighting is just a glaring but understandable reflection of his refusal to "overspend" on product development pre-IPO. Maybe the P/L is still weak, in which case highlighting may be seen as a  "luxury", particularly with early-stage investors (who are looking to cash out via the IPO) breathing down his neck.

 

Behind the scenes, there must obviously be some logic at work & self-interested rational choices being made. We just have to try to connect the dots..

[jefito 5,589]

Actually, I interpreted the remark as, "If users are slowed down by Evernote's lack of highlighting, then they're stupid". This is pretty mean-spirited IMHO. What can we infer from this? Well, anyone who's authorized & trusted to speak publicly for a company is obviously being paid to reflect the firm's philosophy & ethos, Evernote is a pretty small firm. It seems fair to guess then that Evernote's CEO is probably a highly confident & tough hombre, to not care that his employees are insulting the user base in threads like this one.

Connect these dots: Evernote users labelled as "Evangelists" are not paid employees of Evernote. We get the badge as a recognition that most of the time we actually help users with problems using Evernote. Aside from that, we get to speak our minds as we wish (just like the other users do), and that includes about Evernote the product, and Evernote the business.

As an aside, I can tell you for a fact that it doesn't suck to be me.

[ZZZ 135]

Actually, I interpreted the remark as, "If users are slowed down by Evernote's lack of highlighting, then they're stupid". This is pretty mean-spirited IMHO. What can we infer from this? Well, anyone who's authorized & trusted to speak publicly for a company is obviously being paid to reflect the firm's philosophy & ethos, Evernote is a pretty small firm. It seems fair to guess then that Evernote's CEO is probably a highly confident & tough hombre, to not care that his employees are insulting the user base in threads like this one.

 

 

Just look upon it as one of the mysteries of the software world, though it's a good example of how if you create a good product that you make people want you can by and large treat your customers like garbage, at least until something better comes along, which so far it hasn't.  I do think they should at least change the term Evernote Evangelist to Evernote Antagonist.  It would much better reflect how the majority of them interact with users, managing to turn almost every single thread into an argument.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

If you have a complaint about  a post by an evangelist (or any other user), please feel free to use the report button. 

 

Feel free to continue to discuss the topic of this thread.  However, any further posts discussing your opinions of the evangelists will cause this thread to be locked. 

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Feel free to cast as many aspersions as you want...with the report button. This thread is not the place to do it.

Locked.