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(Archived) REQUEST: Selective Notebook Syncing


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With over 60,000 notes in my account, I find Evernote is virtually unusable on any of my Android or iOS devices. Though syncing seems to have improved in the past few months, I still have to wait multiple minutes after opening the Evernote app before I can see any notes (unusable for me), and I often get reports on Android that the app is frozen. Short of simply suggesting Evernote fix this (I'm sure it's no simple matter), I wonder if a possible workaround might be to offer an option to limit which notebooks are synced to the device. Each notebook could have three possible settings: Not Synced (doesn't show up at all on that device), Synced (visible but not stored locally, same as current norm), and Offline (visible and stored locally, same as currently available option). This would be similar to how the DropBox Client has the option to not sync certain folders. This would allow me to see all my notebooks on the web version, or my Mac client (which works fine), but only limited notebooks on my portable devices (no need to see my 'archive' notes on them). I'd hope that with fewer notes to deal with, the portable devices might become more usable. I'm sure there are other reasons (privacy?) one might not want certain notebooks synced on every device as well. Seem doable?

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With over 60,000 notes in my account, I find Evernote is virtually unusable on any of my Android or iOS devices. Though syncing seems to have improved in the past few months, I still have to wait multiple minutes after opening the Evernote app before I can see any notes (unusable for me), and I often get reports on Android that the app is frozen. Short of simply suggesting Evernote fix this (I'm sure it's no simple matter), I wonder if a possible workaround might be to offer an option to limit which notebooks are synced to the device. Each notebook could have three possible settings: Not Synced (doesn't show up at all on that device), Synced (visible but not stored locally, same as current norm), and Offline (visible and stored locally, same as currently available option). This would be similar to how the DropBox Client has the option to not sync certain folders. This would allow me to see all my notebooks on the web version, or my Mac client (which works fine), but only limited notebooks on my portable devices (no need to see my 'archive' notes on them). I'd hope that with fewer notes to deal with, the portable devices might become more usable. I'm sure there are other reasons (privacy?) one might not want certain notebooks synced on every device as well. Seem doable?

 

Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves.  I also have over 60,000 notes in my EN account & agree the iOS app is pretty much unusable for me as well.  (I can use the iPad app on another, MUCH smaller account with little to no problems.  I would suggest you do what several of us have done (at least regarding iOS) & use the "Clever" app. I also use FastEver & FastEver Snap to send notes/photos to my EN account from my iPhone & iPad.

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/30589-my-review-of-clever-third-party-evernote-client-for-iphone/

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With over 60,000 notes in my account, I find Evernote is virtually unusable on any of my Android or iOS devices. Though syncing seems to have improved in the past few months, I still have to wait multiple minutes after opening the Evernote app before I can see any notes (unusable for me), and I often get reports on Android that the app is frozen. Short of simply suggesting Evernote fix this (I'm sure it's no simple matter), I wonder if a possible workaround might be to offer an option to limit which notebooks are synced to the device. Each notebook could have three possible settings: Not Synced (doesn't show up at all on that device), Synced (visible but not stored locally, same as current norm), and Offline (visible and stored locally, same as currently available option). This would be similar to how the DropBox Client has the option to not sync certain folders. This would allow me to see all my notebooks on the web version, or my Mac client (which works fine), but only limited notebooks on my portable devices (no need to see my 'archive' notes on them). I'd hope that with fewer notes to deal with, the portable devices might become more usable. I'm sure there are other reasons (privacy?) one might not want certain notebooks synced on every device as well. Seem doable?

 

Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves.  I also have over 60,000 notes in my EN account & agree the iOS app is pretty much unusable for me as well.  (I can use the iPad app on another, MUCH smaller account with little to no problems.  I would suggest you do what several of us have done (at least regarding iOS) & use the "Clever" app. I also use FastEver & FastEver Snap to send notes/photos to my EN account from my iPhone & iPad.

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/30589-my-review-of-clever-third-party-evernote-client-for-iphone/

 

I'll have to give Clever a try on my iPad to see if it is any better, but I haven't found a similar solution for Android. As you mentioned, the headers are downloaded, and even though the syncing has improved so they don't always start the minute I access Evernote, there is still a long delay before they are displayed. Adding a note quickly isn't bad with the widget, but trying to quickly peek at an existing note (the typical reason for opening the app on a portable device) isn't currently possible.  If there was an option not to download headers for specific notepads, I could cut down the overhead on my portable devices dramatically, presumably making them behave like they would with a much smaller Evernote account.

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With over 60,000 notes in my account, I find Evernote is virtually unusable on any of my Android or iOS devices. Though syncing seems to have improved in the past few months, I still have to wait multiple minutes after opening the Evernote app before I can see any notes (unusable for me), and I often get reports on Android that the app is frozen. Short of simply suggesting Evernote fix this (I'm sure it's no simple matter), I wonder if a possible workaround might be to offer an option to limit which notebooks are synced to the device. Each notebook could have three possible settings: Not Synced (doesn't show up at all on that device), Synced (visible but not stored locally, same as current norm), and Offline (visible and stored locally, same as currently available option). This would be similar to how the DropBox Client has the option to not sync certain folders. This would allow me to see all my notebooks on the web version, or my Mac client (which works fine), but only limited notebooks on my portable devices (no need to see my 'archive' notes on them). I'd hope that with fewer notes to deal with, the portable devices might become more usable. I'm sure there are other reasons (privacy?) one might not want certain notebooks synced on every device as well. Seem doable?

 

Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves.  I also have over 60,000 notes in my EN account & agree the iOS app is pretty much unusable for me as well.  (I can use the iPad app on another, MUCH smaller account with little to no problems.  I would suggest you do what several of us have done (at least regarding iOS) & use the "Clever" app. I also use FastEver & FastEver Snap to send notes/photos to my EN account from my iPhone & iPad.

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/30589-my-review-of-clever-third-party-evernote-client-for-iphone/

I'll have to give Clever a try on my iPad to see if it is any better, but I haven't found a similar solution for Android. As you mentioned, the headers are downloaded, and even though the syncing has improved so they don't always start the minute I access Evernote, there is still a long delay before they are displayed. Adding a note quickly isn't bad with the widget, but trying to quickly peek at an existing note (the typical reason for opening the app on a portable device) isn't currently possible.  If there was an option not to download headers for specific notepads, I could cut down the overhead on my portable devices dramatically, presumably making them behave like they would with a much smaller Evernote account.

I agree. With 4G on my Android it can still take quite a while to open a note. I have no notebooks downloaded at the moment. I will try the beta and see if that alleviates the problem.

I am curious about the Mac. You don't experience overall lag, slow searches, loss of focus (notes disappearing while editing -- you have to then go and find them), or any other problems like this with so many notes?

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With over 60,000 notes in my account, I find Evernote is virtually unusable on any of my Android or iOS devices. Though syncing seems to have improved in the past few months, I still have to wait multiple minutes after opening the Evernote app before I can see any notes (unusable for me), and I often get reports on Android that the app is frozen. Short of simply suggesting Evernote fix this (I'm sure it's no simple matter), I wonder if a possible workaround might be to offer an option to limit which notebooks are synced to the device. Each notebook could have three possible settings: Not Synced (doesn't show up at all on that device), Synced (visible but not stored locally, same as current norm), and Offline (visible and stored locally, same as currently available option). This would be similar to how the DropBox Client has the option to not sync certain folders. This would allow me to see all my notebooks on the web version, or my Mac client (which works fine), but only limited notebooks on my portable devices (no need to see my 'archive' notes on them). I'd hope that with fewer notes to deal with, the portable devices might become more usable. I'm sure there are other reasons (privacy?) one might not want certain notebooks synced on every device as well. Seem doable?

 

Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves.  I also have over 60,000 notes in my EN account & agree the iOS app is pretty much unusable for me as well.  (I can use the iPad app on another, MUCH smaller account with little to no problems.  I would suggest you do what several of us have done (at least regarding iOS) & use the "Clever" app. I also use FastEver & FastEver Snap to send notes/photos to my EN account from my iPhone & iPad.

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/30589-my-review-of-clever-third-party-evernote-client-for-iphone/

 

I'll have to give Clever a try on my iPad to see if it is any better, but I haven't found a similar solution for Android. As you mentioned, the headers are downloaded, and even though the syncing has improved so they don't always start the minute I access Evernote, there is still a long delay before they are displayed. Adding a note quickly isn't bad with the widget, but trying to quickly peek at an existing note (the typical reason for opening the app on a portable device) isn't currently possible.  If there was an option not to download headers for specific notepads, I could cut down the overhead on my portable devices dramatically, presumably making them behave like they would with a much smaller Evernote account.

 

I agree. With 4G on my Android it can still take quite a while to open a note. I have no notebooks downloaded at the moment. I will try the beta and see if that alleviates the problem.

I am curious about the Mac. You don't experience overall lag, slow searches, loss of focus (notes disappearing while editing -- you have to then go and find them), or any other problems like this with so many notes?

 

For me I can't even see the note headers to select from in a reasonable time. Even with WiFi, the app opens, I'm in the 'All Notes' window, and the spinning circle goes around for a minute or two before any note headers appear on the screen. 

 

As far as the Mac client, it generally works well, but there are often little lags. For example, I often scan mail with a SnapScan scanner. It creates a note with the PDF, which I then go into to rename and alter the date and tags, but usually after starting to type the title, a sync will begin which freezes Evernote, so sometimes my typing appears once the sync is over, sometimes it doesn't. Annoying, but at least usable. The portable apps work for adding content, but are unusable for viewing it.

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With over 60,000 notes in my account, I find Evernote is virtually unusable on any of my Android or iOS devices. Though syncing seems to have improved in the past few months, I still have to wait multiple minutes after opening the Evernote app before I can see any notes (unusable for me), and I often get reports on Android that the app is frozen. Short of simply suggesting Evernote fix this (I'm sure it's no simple matter), I wonder if a possible workaround might be to offer an option to limit which notebooks are synced to the device. Each notebook could have three possible settings: Not Synced (doesn't show up at all on that device), Synced (visible but not stored locally, same as current norm), and Offline (visible and stored locally, same as currently available option). This would be similar to how the DropBox Client has the option to not sync certain folders. This would allow me to see all my notebooks on the web version, or my Mac client (which works fine), but only limited notebooks on my portable devices (no need to see my 'archive' notes on them). I'd hope that with fewer notes to deal with, the portable devices might become more usable. I'm sure there are other reasons (privacy?) one might not want certain notebooks synced on every device as well. Seem doable?

 

Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves.  I also have over 60,000 notes in my EN account & agree the iOS app is pretty much unusable for me as well.  (I can use the iPad app on another, MUCH smaller account with little to no problems.  I would suggest you do what several of us have done (at least regarding iOS) & use the "Clever" app. I also use FastEver & FastEver Snap to send notes/photos to my EN account from my iPhone & iPad.

 

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/30589-my-review-of-clever-third-party-evernote-client-for-iphone/

I'll have to give Clever a try on my iPad to see if it is any better, but I haven't found a similar solution for Android. As you mentioned, the headers are downloaded, and even though the syncing has improved so they don't always start the minute I access Evernote, there is still a long delay before they are displayed. Adding a note quickly isn't bad with the widget, but trying to quickly peek at an existing note (the typical reason for opening the app on a portable device) isn't currently possible.  If there was an option not to download headers for specific notepads, I could cut down the overhead on my portable devices dramatically, presumably making them behave like they would with a much smaller Evernote account.

I agree. With 4G on my Android it can still take quite a while to open a note. I have no notebooks downloaded at the moment. I will try the beta and see if that alleviates the problem.

I am curious about the Mac. You don't experience overall lag, slow searches, loss of focus (notes disappearing while editing -- you have to then go and find them), or any other problems like this with so many notes?

For me I can't even see the note headers to select from in a reasonable time. Even with WiFi, the app opens, I'm in the 'All Notes' window, and the spinning circle goes around for a minute or two before any note headers appear on the screen. 

 

As far as the Mac client, it generally works well, but there are often little lags. For example, I often scan mail with a SnapScan scanner. It creates a note with the PDF, which I then go into to rename and alter the date and tags, but usually after starting to type the title, a sync will begin which freezes Evernote, so sometimes my typing appears once the sync is over, sometimes it doesn't. Annoying, but at least usable. The portable apps work for adding content, but are unusable for viewing it.

Thanks for reporting this. I'll try and pay more attention to the headers on my Android device, but so far, I haven't seen the same phenomenon. As for the Mac, I'm glad to hear that it is (generally) working well for you. I'll have to do more testing with my account, because I was working under the assumption that the number of notes was a significant factor with my problems, but I have far fewer notes in my account right now than you do, so it doesn't look like the number matters so much after all.

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...I haven't found a similar solution for Android. As you mentioned, the headers are downloaded, and even though the syncing has improved so they don't always start the minute I access Evernote, there is still a long delay before they are displayed. Adding a note quickly isn't bad with the widget, but trying to quickly peek at an existing note (the typical reason for opening the app on a portable device) isn't currently possible.  If there was an option not to download headers for specific notepads, I could cut down the overhead on my portable devices dramatically, presumably making them behave like they would with a much smaller Evernote account.

 

 

There is definitely a major disconnect with Evernote marketing hype - they tout their multi-device capability and their desire to be our 2nd brain.

"Capture anything - Access anywhere - Find things fast"

 

On the Windows client, yes; but on the Android smart phones? Really?

As you and others and I have found out - Evernote cannot store large number of notes accumulated by long-time customers onto the Android phone's micro SD storage. Even though I can easily store data from other apps - music, videos, and dozens of hour-long podcasts in this Evernote forbidden region.

And the titles only (with no content) consume a large hole in the primary storage leaving minimal remaining space for other apps.  I only have 24,000 notes and gave up after a few days. I uninstalled Evernote due to the above issues.

I did not buy my phone to become a single program device.

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...I haven't found a similar solution for Android. As you mentioned, the headers are downloaded, and even though the syncing has improved so they don't always start the minute I access Evernote, there is still a long delay before they are displayed. Adding a note quickly isn't bad with the widget, but trying to quickly peek at an existing note (the typical reason for opening the app on a portable device) isn't currently possible.  If there was an option not to download headers for specific notepads, I could cut down the overhead on my portable devices dramatically, presumably making them behave like they would with a much smaller Evernote account.

 

 

There is definitely a major disconnect with Evernote marketing hype - they tout their multi-device capability and their desire to be our 2nd brain.

"Capture anything - Access anywhere - Find things fast"

 

On the Windows client, yes; but on the Android smart phones? Really?

As you and others and I have found out - Evernote cannot store large number of notes accumulated by long-time customers onto the Android phone's micro SD storage. Even though I can easily store date from other apps - music, videos, and dozens of hour-long podcasts in this Evernote forbidden region.

And the titles only (with no content) consume a large hole in the primary storage leaving minimal remaining space for other apps.  I only have 24,000 notes and gave up after a few days. I uninstalled Evernote due to the above issues.

I did not buy my phone to become a single program device.

 

My Evernote files, which take up 30GB on my Mac for the full content, take up 1GB on my Android for headers only (no offline notebooks). Seems like a lot for metadata (though I do have offline search enabled). A shame my phone has to deal with all that when there's only a few thousand notes I would care to search/access from that device.

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Offline search is going to require a fair bit of storage. Consider that you need to build a tree of sorts for a search index of all the test in all of your notes, with note locations encoded in...

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Quote: Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves. (Burger n Fries)

 

 

I am interested in the comment above. I use evernote for my paperless home stuff. All my bank statements, bills, receipts etc all live in evernote. The problem is that I'd also like to use evernote at work on a work computer. When I installed and logged in, it looked like it was downloading all my personal banking, bills etc onto my work computer which I do not want. What I'd like to be able to do is have a work notebook that syncs to my online account (so it isn't just living on my work laptop in case of hard drive failure) but my personal stuff doesn't sync to my work computer.

 

So is it actually downloading my personal stuff or just the headings

 

Is this doable? I am a premium user if this makes a difference.

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The awesome Burgers is talking about on a mobile device.

 

If you have the Mac or PC client then you will download all of your data. There is no difference here between free and premium users.

 

Looks like your best options would either to be the web client at work or maybe set up a free account and use that for work. You could share your notebooks back to your personal account (i think free users can share a single notebook with edit permissions) so you have them available on your computer at home.

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Problem with web is I can't use the outlook integration.

Problem with free account is hitting the upload limit.

Currently I am using onenote with a live.com account and it does everything I need, including outlook integration, selective notebook synching, cross device/platform synching, and no upload limit I've run into. Seems ironic that free onenote does this but paid EN does not.

I don't want to switch to onenote as I have a EN scanner.

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Problem with web is I can't use the outlook integration.

Problem with free account is hitting the upload limit.

Currently I am using onenote with a live.com account and it does everything I need, including outlook integration, selective notebook synching, cross device/platform synching, and no upload limit I've run into. Seems ironic that free onenote does this but paid EN does not.

I don't want to switch to onenote as I have a EN scanner.

 

I'm pretty sure your scanner will function if you aren't using Evernote.  You may need to tweak settings but you have to do that with pretty much all scanners, if you want to change default values, IME.

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Quote: Unless you have a premium account & specify which notebooks are to be sync'd for offline access, only the header information on all notes is downloaded - not the notes themselves. (Burger n Fries)

 

 

I am interested in the comment above. I use evernote for my paperless home stuff. All my bank statements, bills, receipts etc all live in evernote. The problem is that I'd also like to use evernote at work on a work computer. When I installed and logged in, it looked like it was downloading all my personal banking, bills etc onto my work computer which I do not want. What I'd like to be able to do is have a work notebook that syncs to my online account (so it isn't just living on my work laptop in case of hard drive failure) but my personal stuff doesn't sync to my work computer.

 

So is it actually downloading my personal stuff or just the headings

 

Is this doable? I am a premium user if this makes a difference.

 

If you read the post I was addressing, the OP is referring to mobile devices.  So as Metrodon said, my answer was directed to that specific question.

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