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Windows client slower and slower


Kencel

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Hello,

 

I've lost count of how many threads I've seen where Windows users complain about the slowness of Evernote - and that it is becoming ever slower as the months go by.

 

In all of these posts I've seen a few suggestions to get this sorted out, but none of them seem to work. Individual users might have had luck with some of them, but there seems to be no fix for the mass of users experiencing this.

 

I really do love evernote, but it's quite counter productive to see the client freeze up many times pr day. It breaks the flow of being productive.

 

I hope someone posts a magical fix to this problem, but from what I've read that's not likely to happen. So what can be done? How can we make Evernote team prioritize this, as it's been a repeating subject for longer than a year.

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Hi.  As is the case with most software,  Evernote's speed depends on a lot of things including the speed of your internet connection,  the age and health of your system(s),  and the expertise of the user.  If you have a specific problem with slow performance,  a general system houseclean,  shutting down any competing internet usage and a database rebuild are often (usually?) effective.  Most of the complaints you've seen are historical,  and one of the drawbacks of a forum like this is that if new users sign in with a problem and read past horror stories,  there's a strong temptation to just give in and accept that their issues are just more symptoms of a general malaise when in fact the issue is minor and completely curable.

 

So.  If you have an issue and you're a premium user,  report it after signing in to this link > https://www.evernote.com/SupportLogin.action

 

If you're a free user,  then please post a new thread with your specific issue - not forgetting to quote which Evernote client you're using,  and exactly what problems you're seeing,  and when they occur.

 

Please also do a Google search to check for suggested fixes,  and uninstall / restart / reinstall the latest version of Evernote so you're using the most recent code.

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EN Mac is having similar slow performance issues.

See https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/78806-evernote-603-on-mac-extremely-slow/

 

While it is always easy to blame the user, when software consistently has performance problems across many users and platforms it certainly points to possible design issues.  IMO, the sync issue may also be related to slow performance because the client app is having to continually sync.

 

Also, kept in mind that Evernote has now added all of these "very cool" (in their opinion) features like EN Context that is in continuous communications with their servers.  This has to have at least some impact on performance.

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It's also very easy to say that any fault 'has to' be down to the software,  not the circumstances in which it's being used.  To verify whether or not there's a fault it's always necessary to rule out basic factors like connection speed and corrupted local data.  The Forums are pretty good at providing first-aid fixes and work-arounds.  When you've gone through the re-installs,  the rebuilds,  the security settings and anything else that may be relevant,  then you can call it a fault.  If users aren't prepared to carry out any basic checks,  they run the risk of going without any service through some local minor issue that Evernote can't fix because it's not anywhere in their control.

 

There was some comment in the forums about Evernote not being able to fix faults they can't replicate.  That would be because if they can't break it,  they can't see how it gets broke,  and therefore can't design a fix.  Same sport of thing applies to basic checks - until they're carried out,  Evernote can't dismiss them as possible causes.  Doing the checks also helps pinpoint where things are falling down and saves working through several million lines of code looking for a needle in a C++ stack.

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These days the first things I would want to know are CPU type, disk type and size, memory available and typically used, and data base size, number of notebooks, notes and tags.  Quick way to most likely eliminate hardware as the issue.

 

 AFAIK, EN win has been performing well since 5.5 or so (unless you delete a character at a time in the search bar which hangs for a bit sometimes).

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Given the primary functions of the Evernote app, it should NOT be CPU or memory intensive.  It's not like Evernote does massive number crunching like decryption, video editing/rendering, etc.

 

Thus, even PC/Macs on the low-power end should be adequate to run Evernote.  I've never seen Evernote publish minimum, or even optimal, HW requirements.  I have a low-power MacBook Air (2011, 4GB) that has ran Evernote fine for years, until recently with EN Mac Ver 6.0.6 (see details here).

 

For most users it appears that Evernote runs fine, and doesn't require excessive CPU or memory.

 

But for some, like those in this thread, and in the Mac thread I posted above, Evernote does NOT run fine.

If all other apps on one's machine run fine, but Evernote does not, then Evernote needs to be investigated.

Frankly, I suspect new features like EN Context (which requires a lot communication with EN Cloud) and the sync issues many have reported as at least being contributors to the poor performance.  This would likely be most apparent on low-power machines.

 

IAC, I never suggested that all performance problems reported by users are due to Evernote design and/or bugs.  But there are too many reports by both EN Win and EN Mac users to ignore the issue and discount it as "user error".

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Who is suggesting that issues should be ignored?  Just saying that if your particular device isn't running Evernote as fast as you'd like,  you can't just say "Evernote is at fault" - it's down to individual users to do their own due diligence and check to see whether any of their own processes are contributing to or causing the problem.  If not,  then Evernote should be doing something about it.  If there are local issues,  then fix those before expecting Evernote to wave a magic wand and fix your problems for you...

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All I said was I would investigate equipment as a part of the process, a simple independent contribution to the thread.  Don't know how "user error" got into that?  

 

If I were at EN addressing the issue my decision tree would start with hardware and then work its way down to how efficient the software is in using those resources.  Let the chips fall where they may.  I would guess, and I repeat guess, that how EN performs search locally is consuming/competing for memory and/or disk resources.  Going from HDD with lags to SSD with no lags tells me that (on both an old and new machine).  Issues should be triaged and addressed with some process.

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I think it is a reasonable expectation of users in today's computing environment to be able to install an app (where their system meets/exceeds the min HW required) without any problems, and certainly not have to spend hours and hours trying to debug the problem, and reinstall and reinstall the app.  In particular, the update of an app that is running well should go very smoothly.  All to often I see the Evernote update creating new problems.

 

Today's computer HW far exceeds the needs of most apps, and the systems and software have matured to the point that the app installer can ensure that the user's HW and OS meet the requirements of the app.

 

I am appalled at how many times the solution to the Evernote user's problem is to reinstall, and then use an uninstaller, and then reinstall again and again.  I don't see this happening with any apps other than Evernote.

 

But then these days I'm mostly on a Mac, which except for Evernote, is largely plug-n-play, or should I say install-n-run.  ;)

I do remember the "good old days" in Windows, where it seems that there was always some issue to solve.

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S'funny,  but a search for 'apple' and 'disappointing' gets around 2M hits with headlines like "Another Day, Another Disappointing Apple Update",  and I didn't even try 'unhappy' or 'outrage' yet...

 

In a long history of messing with computers I've never had a day that didn't require a reboot,  or an update,  or some tweak to make my systems behave the way I imagine they should.  It's simply unrealistic to expect Evernote to wave a magic wand and get their multi-OS,  multi-device,  multi-featured app to work perfectly every time with every combination of hard and software,  and every degree of user experience.  Sometimes things go wrong.  Then you fix 'em.  It's a basic fact of life...

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The customer support advice to re-install is often a common early step, and not just for Evernote. It's usually easy to do with end-user software, it can make sure that the user's computer is in more of a known state, and walking a user through an install step can get them to be more aware of any messages/options that may have missed in prior installations and provide clues as to where to go next. It does work with some frequency -- otherwise support organizations wouldn't waste expensive support time on recommending it (one support call can blow your profit on software with low profit margins). It's not intended to be a panacea, obviously, but as a first step, it can be a good one. 

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I think it is a reasonable expectation of users in today's computing environment to be able to install an app (where their system meets/exceeds the min HW required) without any problems, and certainly not have to spend hours and hours trying to debug the problem, and reinstall and reinstall the app.  In particular, the update of an app that is running well should go very smoothly.  All to often I see the Evernote update creating new problems.

 

Today's computer HW far exceeds the needs of most apps, and the systems and software have matured to the point that the app installer can ensure that the user's HW and OS meet the requirements of the app.

 

I am appalled at how many times the solution to the Evernote user's problem is to reinstall, and then use an uninstaller, and then reinstall again and again.  I don't see this happening with any apps other than Evernote.

 

But then these days I'm mostly on a Mac, which except for Evernote, is largely plug-n-play, or should I say install-n-run.  ;)

I do remember the "good old days" in Windows, where it seems that there was always some issue to solve.

1.  It would be good to know what the hardware requirement is for acceptable performance under what usage parameters.  Probably not the core issue but something with which to level set..

 

2.  Couldn't agree more about all the problems, whatever the solutions.  This is a thread on client slowness though...   ;)

 

3.  Hey now, a boy's got to have his toys to play with.  What's the fun of something just working?  (last statement reeking with sarcasm for which I know of no emoticon)

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S'funny,  but a search for 'apple' and 'disappointing' gets around 2M hits with headlines like "Another Day, Another Disappointing Apple Update",  and I didn't even try 'unhappy' or 'outrage' yet...

 

That really means nothing.  A count of a Google search is ridiculous.  Without actually inspecting the hits you don't know how relevant the hits are.  IAC, most of the real complaints are likely due to Apple iOS updates, which, to be honest, have been disappointing in the last couple of years in terms of producing new bugs in the update.

 

But with regards to the Mac, updates have rarely, if ever, caused an problem that required uninstall/reinstall.  In fact, on my 4 Macs, I've never had an update issue on any of them for at least 5 years.

 

I will acknowledge that I am slow to update anything.  I wait at least a few weeks (maybe longer) to see if there are any reports of material issues that would affect me.  The only exception is serious security updates, and even then I wait a few days.  I recommend this approach to all.

 

I think we (myself included) are getting a bit off-topic here.

 

I just want to encourage Evernote to do much better testing of their apps prior to releasing an update.

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Hi.  As is the case with most software,  Evernote's speed depends on a lot of things including the speed of your internet connection,  the age and health of your system(s),  and the expertise of the user.  If you have a specific problem with slow performance,  a general system houseclean,  shutting down any competing internet usage and a database rebuild are often (usually?) effective.  Most of the complaints you've seen are historical,  and one of the drawbacks of a forum like this is that if new users sign in with a problem and read past horror stories,  there's a strong temptation to just give in and accept that their issues are just more symptoms of a general malaise when in fact the issue is minor and completely curable.

 

So.  If you have an issue and you're a premium user,  report it after signing in to this link > https://www.evernote.com/SupportLogin.action

 

If you're a free user,  then please post a new thread with your specific issue - not forgetting to quote which Evernote client you're using,  and exactly what problems you're seeing,  and when they occur.

 

Please also do a Google search to check for suggested fixes,  and uninstall / restart / reinstall the latest version of Evernote so you're using the most recent code.

 

 

Hi, and thanks for answering.

 

I've got 35mbit connection (this really shouldn't even affect local evernote usage), a new and healthy system and I've got to say I'm an experienced user.

 

I'm also a premium + business user and have been dealing with this issue for 6+ months, hoping that the next update should solve it.

 

I've also read enough to have tested all the "tricks" for solving this, and to understand that this is a issue with Evernote.

 

I've got 1933 notes and probably 100-150 tags. Just 3 notebooks.

 

Then only thing I've not tried, which isn't an option is to delete all the notes and start a fresh install of evernote without a note to sync. 

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I'm also a premium + business user and have been dealing with this issue for 6+ months, hoping that the next update should solve it.

 

In that case, you might want to try EN Support Chat, if you have not already.

 

See Evernote Chat Support., available business days 7am-7pm US CST. 

(Chat option appears AFTER you click “Continue” on initial “Evernote Support” page.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

I'm also a premium + business user and have been dealing with this issue for 6+ months, hoping that the next update should solve it.

 

In that case, you might want to try EN Support Chat, if you have not already.

 

See Evernote Chat Support., available business days 7am-7pm US CST. 

(Chat option appears AFTER you click “Continue” on initial “Evernote Support” page.)

 

 

Hi again,

 

I did. No response as of yet.. 

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Well, I must join.

I have Evernote on 3 different platforms:

 

Desktop station Dell server/Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit/RAM 8/Intel Xeon X5355 (5.9 Windows Experience Index)

Laptop Asus N Series/Windows 8.1/Intel i7/RAM 8

iPhone 4/iOs 7

 

10653 notes

 

Evernote, on all these platforms, have been going slower and slower in the past year, even though I have reinstalled Evernote on each platform lately to speed it up.

I spend much more time in the forum lately because it is becoming a problem in my workflow.

I do not share my love with the program with colleagues anymore, because each and everytime I show it, we look at the screen for the longuest time, waiting for the spinning wheel to disappear.

Worst offenders: erasing a PDF in a note (I can wait for full minutes before the program finishes its job) or scanning a business card (more often than the contrary, Evernote will just quit).

 

Premium account for a couple of years.

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Well, I must join.

I have Evernote on 3 different platforms:

 

Desktop station Dell server/Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit/RAM 8/Intel Xeon X5355 (5.9 Windows Experience Index)

Laptop Asus N Series/Windows 8.1/Intel i7/RAM 8

iPhone 4/iOs 7

 

10653 notes

 

Evernote, on all these platforms, have been going slower and slower in the past year, even though I have reinstalled Evernote on each platform lately to speed it up.

I spend much more time in the forum lately because it is becoming a problem in my workflow.

I do not share my love with the program with colleagues anymore, because each and everytime I show it, we look at the screen for the longuest time, waiting for the spinning wheel to disappear.

Worst offenders: erasing a PDF in a note (I can wait for full minutes before the program finishes its job) or scanning a business card (more often than the contrary, Evernote will just quit).

 

Premium account for a couple of years.

 

Ditto. You and me both, brother. :)

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It's also very easy to say that any fault 'has to' be down to the software,  not the circumstances in which it's being used.  To verify whether or not there's a fault it's always necessary to rule out basic factors like connection speed and corrupted local data.  The Forums are pretty good at providing first-aid fixes and work-arounds.  When you've gone through the re-installs,  the rebuilds,  the security settings and anything else that may be relevant,  then you can call it a fault.  If users aren't prepared to carry out any basic checks,  they run the risk of going without any service through some local minor issue that Evernote can't fix because it's not anywhere in their control.

 

There was some comment in the forums about Evernote not being able to fix faults they can't replicate.  That would be because if they can't break it,  they can't see how it gets broke,  and therefore can't design a fix.  Same sport of thing applies to basic checks - until they're carried out,  Evernote can't dismiss them as possible causes.  Doing the checks also helps pinpoint where things are falling down and saves working through several million lines of code looking for a needle in a C++ stack.

Totally agree. Check all factors on your part before saying Evernote causes this slowdown. 

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Tired of EV slowness and have  since migrated much of my stuff away from evernote to G Drive. Productivity software should make you more productive. I have been able to replicate my EV workflow in Drive to much better effect. Yes, setting up and organizing a new filing system was a pain but once done the only time lag is waiting for G to run its initial sync on startup and then I'm off and running. Its fast mostly and the search function solves most of my remaining filing issues. When I don't have time to folderize, I just drop it in and I know that I will find it in 3 searches at most. Software is to get work done, not fall in love with. I solved the web clipper problem with screen capture and direct pdf save to drive. There is one more step, but still way faster than EV and I end up with a pdf rather than html that I can drop into an email directly if it needs to get to someone. Yes, Drive is missing the OCR function but there are ways to OCR and have your file in drive in a couple of steps. Mostly I have implemented a new filing notation that minimizes this need and google search is so fast and the rendering of results also fast that I would have already found what i need in Drive while EV is still sputtering away trying to keep up with my keystrokes in the search box. The EV client for PC is pretty much useless now as a productivity tool. The WEB interface is the only bright spot now but I don't prefer it to the client.

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Tired of EV slowness and have  since migrated much of my stuff away from evernote to G Drive. Productivity software should make you more productive. I have been able to replicate my EV workflow in Drive to much better effect. Yes, setting up and organizing a new filing system was a pain but once done the only time lag is waiting for G to run its initial sync on startup and then I'm off and running. Its fast mostly and the search function solves most of my remaining filing issues. When I don't have time to folderize, I just drop it in and I know that I will find it in 3 searches at most. Software is to get work done, not fall in love with. I solved the web clipper problem with screen capture and direct pdf save to drive. There is one more step, but still way faster than EV and I end up with a pdf rather than html that I can drop into an email directly if it needs to get to someone. Yes, Drive is missing the OCR function but there are ways to OCR and have your file in drive in a couple of steps. Mostly I have implemented a new filing notation that minimizes this need and google search is so fast and the rendering of results also fast that I would have already found what i need in Drive while EV is still sputtering away trying to keep up with my keystrokes in the search box. The EV client for PC is pretty much useless now as a productivity tool. The WEB interface is the only bright spot now but I don't prefer it to the client.

 

Similar story and I was contemplating moving to Google Drive too. Your post is the nudge needed to do so. Thanks !

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Tired of EV slowness and have  since migrated much of my stuff away from evernote to G Drive. Productivity software should make you more productive. I have been able to replicate my EV workflow in Drive to much better effect. Yes, setting up and organizing a new filing system was a pain but once done the only time lag is waiting for G to run its initial sync on startup and then I'm off and running. Its fast mostly and the search function solves most of my remaining filing issues. When I don't have time to folderize, I just drop it in and I know that I will find it in 3 searches at most. Software is to get work done, not fall in love with. I solved the web clipper problem with screen capture and direct pdf save to drive. There is one more step, but still way faster than EV and I end up with a pdf rather than html that I can drop into an email directly if it needs to get to someone. Yes, Drive is missing the OCR function but there are ways to OCR and have your file in drive in a couple of steps. Mostly I have implemented a new filing notation that minimizes this need and google search is so fast and the rendering of results also fast that I would have already found what i need in Drive while EV is still sputtering away trying to keep up with my keystrokes in the search box. The EV client for PC is pretty much useless now as a productivity tool. The WEB interface is the only bright spot now but I don't prefer it to the client.

 

Similar story and I was contemplating moving to Google Drive too. Your post is the nudge needed to do so. Thanks !

 

 

Thanks dashel and SridharO. 

 

I've been looking for a replacement for Evernote as well since I posted, without luck of finding one.

 

Using Google Drive hasn't even struck me as an option, but after reading your post I would hope that you could write some more about your setup for using it.

 

I'm a fan of GTD process, and have implemented a perfect system for it in Evernote, so when changing I would need to keep the system in a likewize flow as it is today - but of course - without the slowness that's killing efficiency. 

 

I'm thinking about trying out LiquidPlanner as a go-to system for GTD, and use that as my "all"... that's my best pick beside Evernote, anyways. So, please, tell me about your workflow and setup in Google Drive?

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@Kencel. SridharO

 

I never used Evernote or any software for GTD so I can't help you there. I use paper for GTD. Tried everything and paper is just fast and bulletproof. I carry around a 3 ring binder and getting projects and next action items in and out of there is way faster than any piece of software. I personally find software gets in the way for GTD purposes. A four drawer filing cabinet for me is the fastest filing tool. But in an effort to go paperless back in the day there was paperport 10, slow and clumsy and then along came evernote and it was Wow. Not as fast as my filing cabinet but nice UI and very effective file management for projects and also apps for most devices. So my use of EV was strictly as a pdf intensive filing cabinet and project manager of sorts with the web clipper, the tagging and the OCR. Then it got slower and slower. I looked at G-drive again and played around, no tagging, no OCR, nothing close to the note format in EV that allows you to put pdf's , MS docs, images, audio into one file just like a regular file in my drawer. Can't do that in G Drive or any other filing system really except for onenote. You have to create another nested folder to achieve the same thing. Yet you need to keep your nested folders only so deep otherwise you can never find anything without search. EV only lets you go so deep - Stack - Notebook - Note - scroll for Individual items. This is a very effective filing system. So if you want to organize drive in the same way you have to go Main Folder (Stack) Folder (Notebook) sub-folder (Note) sub-sub folder (individual item) and stop there. If you can do away with sub-sub folder, even better, so everything is just 3 layers deep. You also have to name everything properly from sub-sub all the way to main folder which is a pain but once you have a naming convention that suits your work flow ie (date-name-version) it gets easier. Didnt have to do this in EV since notebooks got sorted in alphabetical or whatever order you wanted to view in and the UI made everything easy to find at a glance. You have to work at G-drive to achieve this but Drive's new UI makes this easier since images, doc files, pdf's etc get rendered as big thumbnails in grid format. You also have to work at the search function. there are a few tutorials on using the search function to its full effect and once you get the hang of it you'll find that search box your best friend as you begin to use it more and more and find stuff fast. Problem is you cannot restrict a search to a single stack or notebook like in EV which when combined with OCR and tagging made it the best search function for a cloud/client filing system ever. That is, till the client app became slow beyond belief. Just my 2 cents.

 

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Multiple machines (Win7, Mac, i-everything).  No real speed issues noted.

Longterm user, 20K notes.

Old version (4.6.7.8409/Win7) remains robust/instantaneous.

New versions (Win7) are discernably slower - EN's instantaneity is impaired.  I'm talking a blink, a heartbeat.  Not seconds/minutes.  It's just not instant anymore.

Once in a blue moon the thing hangs for a few seconds.  I restart the PC, lots going on, then I'm fine.

I do find the clipper & Clearly acting up lately - dragging/freezing - could be FFX, could be anything.

 

/Schooner

 

Update 15.03.05:  Clipper/Clearly issues convincingly associated to use of CCleaner.  Logout/Login resolves.

 

/Schooner

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@dashel

 

Thanks for your 2 cents.

 

The issues you are mentioning is the same I've come accross when trying to replace Evernote. I haven't found a solid solution to replace the "reference" function of GTD with it.

 

Also, I'm a fond user of the tags and keep a good controll of things because I've used multiple tags when needed. It's not easy to accomplish this elsewhere. I haven't found a solution for this in OneNote, LiquidPlanner, Google Drive or any other alternative I've looked to.

 

Are you really so hardcore that you use pen and paper for GTD in 2015? :P I haven't tried to do so myself. Don't you have to keep rewriting your lists as you go along?? 

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