Why I will stop using Evernote

[GerardKlein 1]

Just to let you guys know (could not find a feedback button on the site). I'll stop using Evernote because I lose data every now and then. I think it is caused by sync errors. Saw it happening now as I was typing while Skyping with my colleague. It is irritating that you cannot have two users writing in the same note. But what happened now was that I typed in a number of thing in a shared list of todo's. (Over a conversation af about 45 minutes). He then accidentally clicked in his copy of the note and (on my screen) it jumped back to the state it was in at about halfway through the conversation. So lots of ToDo's are missing. (Leaving me with the naging feeling of what I forgot).

 

That is not what I need from a collaboration tool.

 

I also noted that with solo usage and if I'm working via a poor and slow internet connection (on the road or at certain client locations) the chance of synching errors increases and I end up with a document that contains multiple duplicates of my text. Cleaning that up is a pain to say the least. 

 

So all in all it is unreliable and I lost to much information for me to keep on using it. Unless somebody has a golden tip (hope so) on how to prevent these problems. In that case I'm all ears...

 

(edit: typo's)

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi. Sorry to hear about your trouble.

 

(1) Don't open a note at the same time on multiple computers if you want to avoid trouble.

(2) Share a note with someone, but don't give them editing privileges if you want to keep them from opening it while you are using it. 

(3) Use airplane mode if you are having mobile sync issues. 

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I'm also sorry to hear about your loss of data.  That is never good, and always frustrating.

 

But Evernote is not, and has never claimed to be, a tool for simultaneous editing of the same document/note.

If that is what you need, then you may want to take a look at Google Apps.

Perhaps you could use GA for simultaneous editing, and then copy or clip the final version to Evernote.

 

Evernote sync is not as good, as rock solid as it should be.

 

Until Evernote improves sync, I have found the following to be helpful in preventing sync issues:

1. Use multiple short Notes rather than one long Note that has many/frequent edits
2. It is best to consistently manually sync, and sync often, especially after:
   1. Entry/Edit of an important note
   2. End of Session BEFORE you close or put your machine to sleep
   3. End of Day
   4. Start using a different device
      1. Even if you notice the Sync icon spinning on EN iOS when you switch to the app, do a manual sync anyway after it finishes spinning
      2. I have noticed that the initial sync does NOT always do a full sync.
      3. I'm not sure about Android devices, but I would do the same just to be safe.

[GerardKlein 1]

Thanks! Sounds reasonable, and as some important homework for Evernote. This would be OK in say 2008 but we've moved on since then...

 

What is your usecase when you prefer Evernote over Google docs? I use both (end then some, depending on what my clients use) whith these limitations on collaboration, I find it hard to see the upshot.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Thanks! Sounds reasonable, and as some important homework for Evernote. This would be OK in say 2008 but we've moved on since then...

 

What is your usecase when you prefer Evernote over Google docs? I use both (end then some, depending on what my clients use) whith these limitations on collaboration, I find it hard to see the upshot.

google mines my data. evernote doesn't.

google is great for collaboration with documents, but i need a personal information manager / notetaking app.

the syncing in google is pretty amazing and no small feat of engineering, though we take it for granted now, and i'm not surprised that few others have been able to match its power. the syncing at evernote is what it is: at regular intervals rather than instantaneous. i doubt that will change. evernote began as a personal, external brain, and this kind of syncing, which was "anti-social," suited that use case. evernote has moved into collaboration and business, so the sync may not be appropriate for everyone's situation.