How has Evernote improved in the last year?

[Dan Barron 3]

I have used Evernote some over the past few years, but have never made the commitment to it. At this point, I only have a few notes in it. But I have decided that now is the time for me to start using it or something similar as an "outboard brain." I am writing this post because, at the moment, I am trying to decide between Evernote and OneNote. (I've looked over a lot of other systems--it's come down to these two for me.)

I've done some research on both. Each has features the other doesn't, but overall they are comparable and I feel like I can live with the feature set of either one. So what it's going to come down to for me is security, safety of data, reliability (generally, and specifically of syncing), and support.

In terms of usage, I'm looking to use it more as a vault for research materials and other things that I want to store long-term than as an active note-taking piece, though I'm sure I'll do some of that as well. I have Windows machines, but do most of my desktop work on Linux. (I know I will either have to use the web version, or run Windows in a VM to use either one on Linux.) My mobile devices are Android.

I will say I am leaning toward Evernote, as it does seem to have a few extra features that might be useful to me. But I am aware of the problems that Evernote users have been experiencing over the last couple of years. I've read the post from Jason Kincaid and the blog post it prompted from Evernote CEO Phil Libin pledging to work hard to increase the stability, quality, and design of Evernote. That blog post was dated January 4, 2014.

What I am asking in this post is how well has Evernote lived up to the pledge, from the perspective of a little over a year later? How have things improved? What areas still need improvement? Is syncing fixed? Has design improved? If you were thinking of leaving Evernote, are you closer to doing so or have you decided not to, and why? How do you feel about its prospects going forward? Are you convinced they've turned a corner and things will only get better, or are you still skeptical they can pull it off?

Any insight you'd care to post here would be very much appreciated as I make this important decision. I'm looking for honesty, but not bashing, and not a comparison of the two systems, expect perhaps as speaks to quality and stability (as opposed to why one feature set is better than the others.)

Thank you very much in advance.
 

[Metrodon 2,184]

I've had one sync problem since I started using Evernote. Remember to sync your devices when you switch between them and make sure you do your own backups and Evernote is a very strong solution as a general tool.

Ito not going to be the one app that you can do everything with, but I think a user who tries to squeeze everything into a single application is always going to be disappointed.

As a side note, support is pretty dreadful but this forum is pretty good and Libin is best ignored.

[jefito 5,589]

Primarily a Windows Evernote user here, with two accounts and shared notebooks between them (work and personal); Secondary uses with the web and a couple of Android devices that usually are for read-only access to my notes, not for creating them.

 

From my end, the Windows client has stayed largely the same, with improvements in stability (I had a couple of syncing glitches early on, between the shared notebooks, but that seems to have been fixed). The Work Chat thing doesn't seem to have gone over quite as well as Evernote intended; I can see the outlines of something useful there, but they haven't quite nailed it yet. it doesn't affect me all that much, as my notebook shares were set up before Work Chat came along. Context is interesting, but hasn't really affected me much. Overall, it's been very reliable over 6+ years of use, and even though I generally ride the beta track.

 

I've gotten better at using Evernote in my day-to-day stuff, particularly work, where it's really useful in my software development role: I can capture all sorts of useful information for a task in a single task's note, like screen caps (Evernote has a nice screen cap facility), attachments  relevant to a particular task or bug and external links to other relevant information and our bug-tracking system; and I use Reminder notes to track current activities, as well as a weekly journal note that ties everything together using note links. Retired tasks go into a Journal notebook, as well as the weekly journal note. Web pages that contain technical information are easily assimilated using the web clipper, another really bright spot. I keep things as simple as possible, because it's low maintenance, and in case I ever need to switch over to a new system. That being said, I don't spend a lot of time contemplating other systems; I generally operate believing that I could switch to OneNote if I really needed to, since my requirements are necessarily simple, but because Evernote works so well for what I need it to do, there's no need to make the effort. I opened it once, is about all I know about it.

 

Echoing Metrodon, the customer support took a big hit this year, particularly relative to free users, but response time to premium users has also suffered as best I can tell. Anecdotally, Premium chat is more direct, if you can get in, but I've never tried, as I've never really had a show-stopping issue that would make that necessary. You can often get faster support here in the forums.

 

The Android client has changed a fair bit, and solidified some, but I'm not a heavy user and don't have workflows for it. Pretty much read-only and occasionally useful as such.

 

The web client has been useful in the past, often for accessing the other account when I'm logged into one account in the Windows client; sometimes I want to do maintenance, move notes around, that sort of thing. Currently things are in flux with the web client: the old one was more along the lines of the desktop applications, and useful that way. The new one, which they're calling the web beta is still not fully baked, and is prettier, and possibly a lot lighter weight, but certainly less useful than the older one. I give them a pass for now as it's clearly a work in progress, and you can still switch back to the old version. But the new one's just not there now (as the Evernote folks admit in the forums), and there will probably be massive outrage if they pull the plug on the old one any time soon.

[gazumped 11,652]

Hmmn.  What they said,  pretty much.  I think you're pretty well covered in as much as Evernote has thoughtfully provided an "Import from OneNote" feature (don't know how effective it is mind..)  and there's some software around that converts the other way - see http://www.thetechchat.com/2014/09/05/how-to-convert-notes-from-evernote-to-onenote/ for more details.

 

My take on this would be that it depends very much on the purpose for which you use your app,  and your tech-friendlyness in terms of working around the differences between what the apps have been designed to do,  and what you want to achieve.  Lateral thinking is definitely a good skill to have.  Given my comments above though,  why not use both apps - do everything in duplicate for a week - to decide which works best for you?  Make a choice based on that first exposure,  then stick with it for at least 3 months.  At the end of your second trial,  you could either export your stuff into the 'other' app,  or decide to continue.

 

It's a bit like the brown dress / blue dress thing that's currently annoying me - some folks will swear by Evernote (which includes me and the two guys up there),  others will opt for OneNote.  I'm a pragmatist though.  I also use OneNote - and shock, gasp - other software,  when it does what I want to better than either one.

 

Just 'cause you're about to buy a new hammer,  don't go around hitting everything.  Sometimes a paintbrush is also required. 

[Dan Barron 3]

I appreciate everyone's input. But again, my question revolves around whether or not Evernote is making good on its promise to improve, especially the core functionality around safety of data, stability, and syncing.

 

I am a software developer myself, so I am able to find workarounds for what I might to do that the app doesn't provide, which is why I am convinced that honestly either would work for me. It's the core issues I'm concerned about.

 

It's good to hear I have recourse if the one I choose turns out to be the wrong choice. But still I'd prefer to avoid having to do that if I can.

[Metrodon 2,184]

One sync issue in many years of use. What else do you want to know?

Your data is at risk if you use any cloud application.

I use the Mac app, I don't remember any issues with stability.

[gazumped 11,652]

If it's of any help EN's present desktop and mobile device apps have been rewritten considerably over the past year,  and syncing has much improved.  There have been new problems like unexplained issues with Windows 7 for some users.  We tend not to know about OneNote issues - that's obviously a different forum - but I believe that ON has gone through some serious development.  One issue that gave me some concern with OneNote - check out the website for OneTastic:  http://omeratay.com/onetastic/

 

"Onetastic is a free multi-purpose add in for Microsoft OneNote 2010 and 2013. The added functionally includes a calendar view of all your notes, custom Styles, and image utilities. Also you can create simple macros to automate routine tales. Or just download macros others have made."

 

It was also written by a MS engineer in his own time to add functionality to the basic product.  With Evernote you have a development team working full time on a specific OS,  not one of the guys moonlighting on a personal project.  Just my 2c.

 

Anyhow the fact that we're all still posting to this forum and still using the app tells you which way our opinions and our answers are likely to be skewed...

[CalS 5,280]

Safety of data, stability and syncing have improved over the past year IMO.  Not all the way home yet, but getting closer.  Syncing appears to be a complicated process for a novice user and more belts and suspenders would help.  I have never had any sync issues myself.  Anything I consider hyper sensitive I store in a local notebook and back up myself.

 

Functionally EN seems to be focusing on business versus personal, so not too much added.  I would say the IOS versions have improved the most functionally for me, doesn't help with Android, no knowledge there.  I also use EN as a storage facility, not so much as a note taking app.  EN search and the notebook/tag metaphor are great for that.

[jefito 5,589]

What you're asking for is pretty open-ended. Some of us have already told you that stability is good (though not always perfect).

 

Why don't you tell us what you think the problems are that you think should improve? What design issues? What is your experience with Evernote? What is your workflow? What is Evernote missing?

[Dan Barron 3]

I seem to be antagonizing some here, and I don't mean to. My general question is whether people who use Evernote every day feel that Evernote has been living up to Libin's pledge to concentrate on solving core problems in 2014. And I'm not repeating this for people who have responded (and whom I thank for their impressions) but for others that might come along and answer later.

 

I think my mistake was mentioning OneNote. Imagine if instead I had simply said, "Thinking of using Evernote...Are the problems fixed or at least headed in the right direction?" I will do the same scrutiny with OneNote before I decide.

 

To be clear, I'm not 'accusing' Evernote of any specific problems. I just found a lot of posts in the end-of-2013 time frame about syncing problems and loss of data, Libin's pledge to do better, and I'm attempting to find out if power users believe that things are actually getting better.

 

I will just respond to a few specific comments here:

 

jefito: "Why don't you tell us what you think the problems are that you think should improve? What design issues? What is your experience with Evernote? What is your workflow? What is Evernote missing?"

 

I don't have a workflow yet with Evernote. I don't have specific issues I'm looking to get fixed. I specifically am asking whether the significant syncing and stability issues are on the mend or not.

 

Metrodon: "I've had one sync problem since I started using Evernote. Remember to sync your devices when you switch between them and make sure you do your own backups... Your data is at risk if you use any cloud application."

 

Good to hear, and, yes, no matter what I will make my own backups. Always do.

 

gazumped: "some folks will swear by Evernote (which includes me and the two guys up there),  others will opt for OneNote.  I'm a pragmatist though.  I also use OneNote - and shock, gasp - other software,  when it does what I want to better than either one. ... Just 'cause you're about to buy a new hammer,  don't go around hitting everything.  Sometimes a paintbrush is also required."

 

I'm definitely of the best-tool-for-the-job camp and like to choose good tools and connect them with services like IFTTT and Zapier. So I don't expect Evernote to be Everything. But point well taken.

 

csihilling: "Safety of data, stability and syncing have improved over the past year IMO.  Not all the way home yet, but getting closer."

 

Exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. Thanks!

 

gazumped: 'One issue that gave me some concern with OneNote - check out the website for OneTastic:  http://omeratay.com/onetastic/ "Onetastic is a free multi-purpose add in for Microsoft OneNote 2010 and 2013. The added functionally includes a calendar view of all your notes, custom Styles, and image utilities. Also you can create simple macros to automate routine tales. Or just download macros others have made.' It was also written by a MS engineer in his own time to add functionality to the basic product.  With Evernote you have a development team working full time on a specific OS,  not one of the guys moonlighting on a personal project.  Just my 2c.'

 

Well, I think it's fine that someone created an add-on to add to OneNote's functionality. I'm pretty sure MS has a development team working on OneNote, too. Add-ons just give more functionality so I welcome any efforts to create them. Evernote has add-ons, too, right?

 

Maybe this topic has run it's course, but I do appreciate everyone's input. Ultimately I have to make the call and see how it goes, but I will take all you've said into consideration. Thank you very much.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Many satisfied Evernote users do not use this forum, so you won't get their feedback here.

In the past year, Evernote did a great job of eliminating Spam in this forum. Due to the problems with Evernote Support, this Spam problem was seriously affecting users looking for answers. The problem has been solved now.

 

In my opinion, Evernote has improved the capturing of websites.

Evernote search is powerful and does a very good job of finding the indexed information

 

Other comments relating to changes in 2014 and 2015

 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/04/evernote-premium-price-phil-libin

 

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/7/7511183/evernote-lays-off-20-employees-globally-in-a-partial-restructuring

 

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2014/11/24/evernote-i-love-you-but-you-annoy-me/

 

 

There are tons of anecdotal user comments in these 2014 links:

 

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/78102-whats-going-on/

 

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/66103-power-user-discontent-best-alternatives-to-en/

[Wordsgood 526]

I've been using Evernote (EN) for almost two years now and only recently became Premium. Though I would have done so long before had my finances not been so tight. (Senior furry kids requiring a of extra vet care.)

Many of the problems you probably read about in other threads on the Forum are likely things that I too was alarmed about. I spent a few months looking at other notetaking options, including Onenote. But as others have said, it's a really personal decision, and in the end, Evernote won me over.

There is one thing you may want to consider if you think you'll be aquiring many tens of thousands of Note in a relatively short period of time, and that is EN's ongoing struggles with scalability. They advertise as being able to handle up to 100,000 Notes per account, but a few people had so much trouble when reaching 30 to 40 thousand or more notes, that their accounts slowed so much as to be useless. I know of a couple former power users who did move their data out of EN. One did switch to Onenote for this and a couple other issues. Her username is BurgersNFries and she's still active on the Forum. As is Grumpy Monkey, the other former power user who moved his data out of EN. If you want to know more about why they (reluctantly) moved their data out of EN, then do a couple Forum Searches for posts authored by them, and maybe add the word "scalability" to your search.

To be clear, neither BurgersNFries or Grumpy Monkey are anti-Evernote and both still think it's a great app.

While EN has switched it's focus to Business users, and the quality of Tech Support isn't what it used to be, all the features that make it a great "External Brain" to help you "Remember Everything," are all still there. And it's ability to do both, and do them well, are precisely why I use Evernote. Plus, there web clipping is 2nd to none.

Plus, I think their Tech Support is still light years ahead of Microsoft's. The latter is great at producing How To articles and interactive tutorials for all their products, but my personal experience of dealing with their Support dep't a few times, were frustrating to say the least. And their user forums don't come near to being as easy to use and helpful as this EN user forum.

Oh, if it matter's to you, I use the Windows and Android clients. Both have always worked quite well for me.

[Nadya De Angelis 24]

The only thing that I can currently use without issues is Evernote's web clipper. Everything else is broken: search (different search results on different devices), data loss (gone forever), numerous bugs (not fixed). Synchronization doesn't work. Old notes are not accessible any longer, or their formatting is corrupted. 

 

So, for me Evernote hasn't improved at all. It used to be a reliable, stable service, but now it is simply too dangerous to keep in it any important information. 

[Wordsgood 526]

Nadya, I'm very sorry to hear you're having such problems with your Evernote Database. Have you worked with Tech Support on any of these issues? Even if you're a free user, I believe Support is available to you for things like data loss, though it could take a while if you're a free user.

Also, have you posted on this forum about each issue you're having, with details about exactly what happened with each problem, what you've tried to do to resolve them, and what client(s) you're using? i.e. Windows, Mac, Android, etc.

If you haven't previously posted about the problems you're having, then please start a new topic and do so. Other forum members will do their best to help you as their time permits.

To Dan and anyone else that might read this and has Sync problems...

The key things to remember with Sync are:

▶ The Save function, if your Client (device) has it, is not the same as Sync. Save is handy to use when working on a long note or when you might have interruptions on your Client. For example, when I use my Android phone to create a fairly long Note, and know that I might get a call while working or need to flip quickly to another app, I use the Save feature every few lines so I don't lose my work before finishing it and Syncing.

▶ You are NOT Syncing between devices (clients). You are Syncing to and from the Evernote Servers. This is the case with ALL Cloud Services, even when they advertise as having the ability to Sync between devices. What they really mean is they allow you to Sync your data To and From their Servers.

▶ Even a slight blip in your internet connection, can ***** up a Sync if it happens during a scheduled auto-Sync or a manual Sync.

Best Practices for Syncing are:

➡ The very first thing you shoul do each and every single time you open Evernote on any device (client), is to do a manual Sync.

This will download the latest, sucessfully Synced version of your Notes to your device.

➡ The very Last thing you should do before exiting Evernote on any device (client) is to manually Sync UP to the Evernote Servers.

This will save the latest version of your Notes to the EN Servers.

➡ These manual Syncs are in addition to the regular, scheduled auto-Syncs set to your preference on each device - they are not instead of them. The manual Syncs provide and extra level of safety to ensure the Evernote Servers always have the most current versions of your Notes, as well as help to avoid Sync Conflicts.

Cheers!

[John in Michigan USA 129]

[snip]

 

Best Practices for Syncing are:

➡ The very first thing you shoul do each and every single time you open Evernote on any device (client), is to do a manual Sync.

This will download the latest, sucessfully Synced version of your Notes to your device.

➡ The very Last thing you should do before exiting Evernote on any device (client) is to manually Sync UP to the Evernote Servers.

This will save the latest version of your Notes to the EN Servers.

➡ These manual Syncs are in addition to the regular, scheduled auto-Syncs set to your preference on each device - they are not instead of them. The manual Syncs provide and extra level of safety to ensure the Evernote Servers always have the most current versions of your Notes, as well as help to avoid Sync Conflicts.

Cheers!

 

Good advice generally. As to the Best Practices, I am baffled why the dev team seem unable to automate these best practices, should be easy to program option for 'auto-sync at startup' and 'autosync at shutdown'. Shouldn't it?

[DutchPete 247]

Sync on exit already exists, at least on the Win version - see menu/tools/options/sync tab

 

Good advice generally. As to the Best Practices, I am baffled why the dev team seem unable to automate these best practices, should be easy to program option for 'auto-sync at startup' and 'autosync at shutdown'. Shouldn't it?

 

[GiacomoLaw 134]

I converted from OneNote to Evernote, and I prefer Evernote much more. I find it more powerful and neater.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

 

Sync on exit already exists, at least on the Win version - see menu/tools/options/sync tab

 

Indeed it does. However, last time I checked, that feature was bugged. The bug is that about 1/4 of the time, Evernote win client would hang while exiting. Letting it hang there for up to 5 minutes didn't result in clean sync plus a clean evernote shutdown. So, having to choose between possibly corrupting my local copy of the Evernote db, and having that corruption either break sync completely, or worse, corrupt the my main DB (on the Cloud, accessed by the Web interface or the API), I decided to forgo sync on exit.

 

Or, if I'm preparing for a high stakes meeting, up against a deadline, etc. I end up doing the manual workaround, forcing sync, wait for it to finish. For added peice of mind, before exiting the Win client I will sync a different device and make sure critical/recent changes show up. Also, check both clients for Note Conflicts. If all's well, exit the Win client.  Since sync is flakey (a separate issue from the sync-on-exit bug) it is the only way to be sure...That makes me and sometimes very

[mwlodarski 37]

I've been a Premium user for a year now and it seems I have been lucky. No data loss or sync issues for me.

 

However, I was trying to get my wife use Evernote and she complained about sync problems all the time. I investigated the issue and it turned out she simply did not know she needs to "sync" when switching between her Mac and Android phone. Google Docs & Gmail made many of us forget that some apps need manual synchronisation

 

Evernote is my second most used app on my Mac, just after the browser and before e-mail client. It works extremely well. The search is fast and reliable. I only have approx. 3000 notes so do not know about search performance with larger databases.

 

Evernote for Android is not so great. It seems it requires internet connection for search. I rely on saved searches in Shortcuts and switching between searches takes time and often does not work. Hopefully they improve it in 2015.

 

I am looking at OneNote from time to time but Evernote has so many more useful features for my product/project management life.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

But I am aware of the problems that Evernote users have been experiencing over the last couple of years. I've read the post from Jason Kincaid and the blog post it prompted from Evernote CEO Phil Libin pledging to work hard to increase the stability, quality, and design of Evernote. That blog post was dated January 4, 2014.

What I am asking in this post is how well has Evernote lived up to the pledge, from the perspective of a little over a year later? How have things improved? What areas still need improvement? Is syncing fixed? Has design improved? If you were thinking of leaving Evernote, are you closer to doing so or have you decided not to, and why? How do you feel about its prospects going forward? Are you convinced they've turned a corner and things will only get better, or are you still skeptical they can pull it off?

 

I appreciate everyone's input. But again, my question revolves around whether or not Evernote is making good on its promise to improve, especially the core functionality around safety of data, stability, and syncing.

 

It seems that most are trying to avoid directly answering your question.  Perhaps they have not experienced the issues/bugs themselves, but if you search these forums for forum tag "issue", "bug", "crash", "data lost" (search individually) you will find many hits.  

 

The EN Mac Ver 6 release had many issues, particularly with the Mac App Store version.

Do a forum tag search on "EN6".

 

IMO, there are many issues with sync.  There have been many, many sync issues posted.  Perhaps some of these were caused by the user, but there are far too many reports to ignore them.  IMO, sync issues are caused by poor design which makes it too easy for the user to get out of sync, and by actual bugs.  Do a forum tag search on "sync".

 

My direct answer to your question is no, CEO Phil Libin has not fulfilled his promise to focus on quality and improve the user experience.  Quite to the contrary, Evernote has focused on a completely new vision/direction trying to move to the business world.  I'm talking about Evernote Context and Work Chat.

 

IMO, there are still far too many new bugs in every new release, and the focus is more on providing/improving the new business features.

 

Eventually Evernote usually gets the major bugs fixed.  Some serious bug seem to affect some users, but not others.  The way I have dealt with this is to NEVER accept an update immediately.  In fact, I usually wait several weeks to see what other users post.  I remained on Ver 5.5.2 for months until Ver 6.0.6 had been released several weeks.  Ver 6.0.6 is the last in a series of Ver 6 updates released mostly to fix bugs introduced with Ver 5.6 on.

 

I think experienced, cautious users are able to make Evernote work for them.  But I have to say it is not fun worrying about every Evernote update I make that I could become one of those users whose account has been made virtually unusable.  I guess it's a backhand compliment of sorts that I now highly depend on Evernote every day.  If I made an update and it broke Evernote for me, I would be in a world of hurt.

 

Well, I've rambled on trying to address the overall issue of EN quality.  I just reread you initial post, and thought I'd try now to directly answer each question:

 

My answers are based mostly on my EN Mac experience, some EN iPhone, and a little EN Win.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1.  How have things improved?

 

There have been a few improvements, like the ability to copy HTML links and paste them in other apps like this forum;

Some new features I use a lot like highlighting

But the major thing for me is new bugs, and those have NOT decreased.

 

2, What areas still need improvement?

 

Much, much better testing and debugging PRIOR to release, sync, scaling (note count > 30K), security (encryption by Notebook), feature consistency across clients, sharing (which has actually gotten worse), a number of long-term bugs, consistency of Search results across all clients

 

3, Is syncing fixed?

 

No.  Like Wordsgood, I have developed my own sync best practice to minimize sync issues, but it's still too easy to get sync issues, and the conflicting note reports are not very good.  I have lost critical data because somehow I made changes on the iPhone that overwrote major changes I had made on the Mac.  Maybe I made a sync mistake, but I should NOT have lost data.  Should have gotten conflicting notes with both copies.

 

 

4. Has design improved?

 

No, in fact many of us Mac users think it has gotten worse. IMO, there are UI design issues across the board, like the extensive use of low-contrast text, small light-colored icons, grey on grey.

 

 

5.  If you were thinking of leaving Evernote, are you closer to doing so or have you decided not to, and why?

 

I'm not thinking of leaving right now, since Evernote is working OK for me with 12K+ notes.  But I'm very concerned that as I approach 30K I might run into serious performance issues.  So, I keep my eye open for new/updated PIMs that work across many platforms.

 

 

6.  How do you feel about its prospects going forward?

 

I am very concerned that the extreme focus Evernote has now made on business tools (Work Chat, EN Context, Presentation) will prevent them from working on bugs and on adding general features that have been long requested.  An example is allowing the user to set the image to be used for thumbnail for the note.

 

 

7.  Are you convinced they've turned a corner and things will only get better, or are you still skeptical they can pull it off?

 

I don't think they have turned the corner since they continue to release updates that are buggy and have not been properly tested in-house.  I guess more than anything what I expected or hoped for, after Libin's response to Kincaid, is that there would be a big increase in testing and quality control BEFORE each release.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Well, this has been just one person's POV.  I hope it will be of some use to you.

Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions.

[Nadya De Angelis 24]

The only thing that I can currently use without issues is Evernote's web clipper. Everything else is broken: search (different search results on different devices), data loss (gone forever), numerous bugs (not fixed). Synchronization doesn't work. Old notes are not accessible any longer, or their formatting is corrupted. 

 

So, for me Evernote hasn't improved at all. It used to be a reliable, stable service, but now it is simply too dangerous to keep in it any important information. 

 

Nadya, I'm very sorry to hear you're having such problems with your Evernote Database. Have you worked with Tech Support on any of these issues? Even if you're a free user, I believe Support is available to you for things like data loss, though it could take a while if you're a free user.

Also, have you posted on this forum about each issue you're having, with details about exactly what happened with each problem, what you've tried to do to resolve them, and what client(s) you're using? i.e. Windows, Mac, Android, etc.

If you haven't previously posted about the problems you're having, then please start a new topic and do so. Other forum members will do their best to help you as their time permits.

 

Oh yes, I spent hours if not days of my precious time dealing with Tech Support. Writing emails, resending them when they got lost, making screenshots and screencasts, explaining the issues over and over again, deleting and reinstalling. In 2014 I got ZERO results. I mean, literally none of the problems I reported has been fixed. Lost notes gone forever (lots of messages exchanged with Tech Support, -> "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do").

 

Contacting Tech Support has become a complete waste of time. Last time I tried it a week ago (being a paid user), no reply until now. Besides, what can they reply? "Sorry we still did not fix this issue you reported twice in 2014"? "Sorry we lost your ticket again, please reopen it"?

 

And yes, I posted my issues here, several times. Of course experienced users can give some good advice, but unfortunately they cannot help with things that are broken on Evernote's side. 

[Wordsgood 526]

Yikes! I wish I had some answers or suggestions even, but it seems like you've covered all the bases. :-(

The only thing that I can currently use without issues is Evernote's web clipper. Everything else is broken: search (different search results on different devices), data loss (gone forever), numerous bugs (not fixed). Synchronization doesn't work. Old notes are not accessible any longer, or their formatting is corrupted.

So, for me Evernote hasn't improved at all. It used to be a reliable, stable service, but now it is simply too dangerous to keep in it any important information.

Nadya, I'm very sorry to hear you're having such problems with your Evernote Database. Have you worked with Tech Support on any of these issues? Even if you're a free user, I believe Support is available to you for things like data loss, though it could take a while if you're a free user.

Also, have you posted on this forum about each issue you're having, with details about exactly what happened with each problem, what you've tried to do to resolve them, and what client(s) you're using? i.e. Windows, Mac, Android, etc.

If you haven't previously posted about the problems you're having, then please start a new topic and do so. Other forum members will do their best to help you as their time permits.

Oh yes, I spent hours if not days of my precious time dealing with Tech Support. Writing emails, resending them when they got lost, making screenshots and screencasts, explaining the issues over and over again, deleting and reinstalling. In 2014 I got ZERO results. I mean, literally none of the problems I reported has been fixed. Lost notes gone forever (lots of messages exchanged with Tech Support, -> "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do").

Contacting Tech Support has become a complete waste of time. Last time I tried it a week ago (being a paid user), no reply until now. Besides, what can they reply? "Sorry we still did not fix this issue you reported twice in 2014"? "Sorry we lost your ticket again, please reopen it"?

And yes, I posted my issues here, several times. Of course experienced users can give some good advice, but unfortunately they cannot help with things that are broken on Evernote's side.

[Etonreve 188]

I appreciate everyone's input. But again, my question revolves around whether or not Evernote is making good on its promise to improve, especially the core functionality around safety of data, stability, and syncing.

 

I am a software developer myself, so I am able to find workarounds for what I might to do that the app doesn't provide, which is why I am convinced that honestly either would work for me. It's the core issues I'm concerned about.

 

It's good to hear I have recourse if the one I choose turns out to be the wrong choice. But still I'd prefer to avoid having to do that if I can.

 

Thanks for raising this. I was an Evernote Premium user for several years, but after years of dysfunction (crashing mostly), I went back to the free status.  I miss Evernote, but am not going to drive myself nuts over it until I'm sure the bugs have been worked out.

[Etonreve 188]

Yikes! I wish I had some answers or suggestions even, but it seems like you've covered all the bases. :-(

 

 

The only thing that I can currently use without issues is Evernote's web clipper. Everything else is broken: search (different search results on different devices), data loss (gone forever), numerous bugs (not fixed). Synchronization doesn't work. Old notes are not accessible any longer, or their formatting is corrupted.

So, for me Evernote hasn't improved at all. It used to be a reliable, stable service, but now it is simply too dangerous to keep in it any important information.

Nadya, I'm very sorry to hear you're having such problems with your Evernote Database. Have you worked with Tech Support on any of these issues? Even if you're a free user, I believe Support is available to you for things like data loss, though it could take a while if you're a free user.

Also, have you posted on this forum about each issue you're having, with details about exactly what happened with each problem, what you've tried to do to resolve them, and what client(s) you're using? i.e. Windows, Mac, Android, etc.

If you haven't previously posted about the problems you're having, then please start a new topic and do so. Other forum members will do their best to help you as their time permits.

Oh yes, I spent hours if not days of my precious time dealing with Tech Support. Writing emails, resending them when they got lost, making screenshots and screencasts, explaining the issues over and over again, deleting and reinstalling. In 2014 I got ZERO results. I mean, literally none of the problems I reported has been fixed. Lost notes gone forever (lots of messages exchanged with Tech Support, -> "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do").

Contacting Tech Support has become a complete waste of time. Last time I tried it a week ago (being a paid user), no reply until now. Besides, what can they reply? "Sorry we still did not fix this issue you reported twice in 2014"? "Sorry we lost your ticket again, please reopen it"?

And yes, I posted my issues here, several times. Of course experienced users can give some good advice, but unfortunately they cannot help with things that are broken on Evernote's side.

 

 

The web clipper is the only thing that works for me, too, -- usually.  And I did all the things suggested and opened numerous support tickets.  In one instance, a candid technical person told me that the company knew of the problem and that it simply wasn't high on the list of problems to resolve. He also said there was no way I could be notified that the problem had been fixed.  I had to keep trying and hope that one bright day Evernote would work as it was supposed to. That was in 2013.

 

I've been using One Note and Google Drive.  They're not as convenient as Evernote but they do work and are free.

 

It's been a while, but I seem to remember that I couldn't print properly from Evernote, which is a major design flaw.

[logandb 227]

I've been frustrated ever since the release of version 5 for Windows with waiting for the desktop app to catch up with practically anything I'm doing.  Every few moments while typing, adding tags, etc. it will freeze while the hard drive light blinks away furiously.  Sometimes I have to resort to EN Web for some peace and lately I've resorted to having it open simultaneously so I have somewhere to go while the desktop is recovering from its latest bout of catatonia.  However, I do love the web clipper and would miss it greatly, as I do import folders and email to EN.

 

I started using Google Drive in parallel in August last year as a backup because I was concerned that poor performance was going to cause the app and the company to fold.  It's not ideal, but better than having all my eggs in one basket!

 

On the plus side, the Android app has come a long way and the new web app is almost tolerable.

 

For now, I cope with the negatives in the hope that a version 6 will appear in the next few months with better back-end database management and solve all of these problems!

 

So, to answer the question:  "Yes, but not quite enough yet!"

[GiacomoLaw 134]

Will EN slow down when you get a larger number of notes?

[GiacomoLaw 134]

I've been frustrated ever since the release of version 5 for Windows with waiting for the desktop app to catch up with practically anything I'm doing.  Every few moments while typing, adding tags, etc. it will freeze while the hard drive light blinks away furiously.  Sometimes I have to resort to EN Web for some peace and lately I've resorted to having it open simultaneously so I have somewhere to go while the desktop is recovering from its latest bout of catatonia.  However, I do love the web clipper and would miss it greatly, as I do import folders and email to EN.

 

I started using Google Drive in parallel in August last year as a backup because I was concerned that poor performance was going to cause the app and the company to fold.  It's not ideal, but better than having all my eggs in one basket!

 

On the plus side, the Android app has come a long way and the new web app is almost tolerable.

 

For now, I cope with the negatives in the hope that a version 6 will appear in the next few months with better back-end database management and solve all of these problems!

 

So, to answer the question:  "Yes, but not quite enough yet!"

 

I also find that Evernote for Windows freezes nearly all the time, which is really annoying. I backup my notes with revert, as it does it automatically.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Will EN slow down when you get a larger number of notes?

 

Some people say yes, others say no. 

Some people say to do full uninstalls and reinstalls when the program slows down.

Others suggest installing a SSD solid-state drive to speed up the program.

I hit the wall when I reached 30,000 notes. Others hit the wall at higher numbers.

This has been mentioned often by many other users.

Evernote has issued bug releases to address the speed and "not responding" problem,

 

I have not seen anything from Evernote that confirms they have actually tested the program up to the maximum 100,000 note level.

[Etonreve 188]

 

Will EN slow down when you get a larger number of notes?

 

 

I hit the wall when I reached 30,000 notes. Others hit the wall at higher numbers.

 

 

I have18,000 notes and hit the wall well before that.

[Etonreve 188]

  Sometimes I have to resort to EN Web for some peace and lately I've resorted to having it open simultaneously so I have somewhere to go while the desktop is recovering from its latest bout of catatonia.  However, I do love the web clipper and would miss it greatly, as I do import folders and email to EN.

 

...

 

On the plus side, the Android app has come a long way and the new web app is almost tolerable.

 

 

 

I have to use the Web version of Evernote.  The clipper is the most valuable feature to me.  The Android version was slow and it took up a lot of space.  I removed it.

[logandb 227]

Will EN slow down when you get a larger number of notes?

 

I'm not sure whether it is number of notes or database size.  I have 13.5K notes in a 5.2 GB database and I have been experiencing issues since about 2/3 this level.  I believe some heavier users (@burgernfries is one if I recall) have been practically forced to abandon EN at the 40-50K note level.

[logandb 227]

 

  Sometimes I have to resort to EN Web for some peace and lately I've resorted to having it open simultaneously so I have somewhere to go while the desktop is recovering from its latest bout of catatonia.  However, I do love the web clipper and would miss it greatly, as I do import folders and email to EN.

 

...

 

On the plus side, the Android app has come a long way and the new web app is almost tolerable.

 

 

 

I have to use the Web version of Evernote.  The clipper is the most valuable feature to me.  The Android version was slow and it took up a lot of space.  I removed it.

 

 

I've found EN for Android pretty usable.  It's certainly slower on my old Galaxy Tab 10.1 than the Galaxy S6, but it performs better than the desktop for some of my uses.  I frequently scan single-page documents using the document camera, which is quite fast and it's really easy to copy docs to Google Drive via sharing.

[CalS 5,280]

29k notes, 16GB data base and rarely a slow down.  Windows 7 and SSD.  Don't know if it makes any difference, but 8 notebooks and maybe 300 tags.  Hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself.

[John in Michigan USA 129]

 

Will EN slow down when you get a larger number of notes?

 

Some people say yes, others say no. 

Some people say to do full uninstalls and reinstalls when the program slows down.

Others suggest installing a SSD solid-state drive to speed up the program.

I hit the wall when I reached 30,000 notes. Others hit the wall at higher numbers.

This has been mentioned often by many other users.

Evernote has issued bug releases to address the speed and "not responding" problem,

 

I have not seen anything from Evernote that confirms they have actually tested the program up to the maximum 100,000 note level.

 

 

Interesting. At c. 1600 notes I am seeing some long wait times just like you describe before you "hit the wall" at 30,000 notes.

I have to ask, are you running the righteous-sounding IFTTT hack you posted about?:-P http://thenerdystudent.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/using-evernote-as-task-manager.html#more

If so, I wonder if jbenson2 's problem might be in the Windows network objects layer, and not in Evernote?

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

29k notes, 16GB data base and rarely a slow down.  Windows 7 and SSD.  Don't know if it makes any difference, but 8 notebooks and maybe 300 tags.  Hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself.

 

Cal, I think both of these are significant factors:  "Windows 7 and SSD"

 

The other big one is RAM.  How much do you have?

 

Just to compare, I have about 13K+ Notes running on multiple Macs without any slowdown.

Here's one example, with a 256GB SSD running Mac OSX Mavericks:

 

[Morticia 193]

Win 7 Pro, no SSD, Evernote in autostart, 2000+ tags, 150+ notebooks, 13500+ notes.

On 2 GB RAM it was slow, often with long wait for everything.

Now 8 GB no problem. Faster than the web-version.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Win 7 Pro, no SSD, Evernote in autostart, 2000+ tags, 150+ notebooks, 13500+ notes.

On 2 GB RAM it was slow, often with long wait for everything.

Now 8 GB no problem. Faster than the web-version.

 

Thanks for posting:  "On 2 GB RAM it was slow, often with long wait for everything.  Now 8 GB no problem"  

That tends to confirm my intuition about RAM.

 

RAM is particularly important if you don't have SSD, since with low RAM the OS is having to swap out often to a relatively slow spinning hard drive.

[CalS 5,280]

 

29k notes, 16GB data base and rarely a slow down.  Windows 7 and SSD.  Don't know if it makes any difference, but 8 notebooks and maybe 300 tags.  Hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself.

 

Cal, I think both of these are significant factors:  "Windows 7 and SSD"

 

The other big one is RAM.  How much do you have?

 

8GB.

[Morticia 193]

 

Win 7 Pro, no SSD, Evernote in autostart, 2000+ tags, 150+ notebooks, 13500+ notes.

On 2 GB RAM it was slow, often with long wait for everything.

Now 8 GB no problem. Faster than the web-version.

 

Thanks for posting:  "On 2 GB RAM it was slow, often with long wait for everything.  Now 8 GB no problem"  

That tends to confirm my intuition about RAM.

 

RAM is particularly important if you don't have SSD, since with low RAM the OS is having to swap out often to a relatively slow spinning hard drive.

 

 

I was thinking about buying a new computer. But since I need a new phone I tried with upgrading first. Like I always did before

And the 4 year old computer is really fast and funny again.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 

Will EN slow down when you get a larger number of notes?

 

I hit the wall when I reached 30,000 notes. Others hit the wall at higher numbers.

This has been mentioned often by many other users.

Evernote has issued bug releases to address the speed and "not responding" problem,

 

JB, some users are reporting increasing the RAM on their PC solved the performance issue.

It looks like 8GB is a good size to have.

 

May I ask  how much RAM you have?

(It would be good to know the other relevant specs on your PC as well).

 

Thanks.

[s2sailor 2,185]

Increasing memory from 4 to 8 GB was my first step as well and did help a little ... for a while, but it just delayed the inevitable.  The true "fix" for me was the upgrade to an SSD.