How to uncheck boxes in a list

[David68 3]

Is there a way to uncheck all boxes in a list, from the phone app? For example a grocery list is made, you check all the boxes that you have gotten all the groceries you wanted, then you want to uncheck all the boxes at once so you can reuse this list. Thanks.

[gazumped 11,652]

Nope,  sorry - you could save a 'standard' blank template and copy that to a new note each time you go shopping...

[waisel 0]

This is a stupid kludge, but it works.

Copy your list, with checked/unchecked boxes.

Paste into a Word document (no, notepad does not work -- it will include brackets and Xs)

Copy the list from Word back to Evernote. Now you have a plain text list without checkboxes.

Select the list in Evernote, hit Shift-Ctrl-C. (Or the comparable combination on a Mac)

Now you have a clean list with unchecked boxes.

 

 

[jefito 5,589]

7 minutes ago, waisel said:

Select the list in Evernote, hit Shift-Ctrl-C. (Or the comparable combination on a Mac)

Request was made specifically for "phone app", either Android or iOS (the user didn't specify). No way to do this in the Android app, as far as I can tell.

[jdmarch 49]

Windows has "Check all" and "Uncheck all" commands, which I use regularly. Mac and Android do not. As a LOOONG time Evernote user, I find the inconsistency in commands between platforms to be very frustrating (to put it mildly and more politely than I actually feel).

[David68 3]

I just use my notepad app for this and most things since Evernote doesn't offer this basic feature.

[Simon Wheatley 8]

This is how I clear all checkboxes:

Select all

Turn off checkbox formatting

Turn on checkbox formatting

My list is now all unchecked 

It it wasn't a pure list, e.g. if there were paragraphs in between checkboxes, then I suspect the paragraphs would end up with checkboxes.

 

[BradleyR 2]

Looks like this feature was added:

Select everything you want check or uncheck. Does not matter if you include text that does not have checkboxes.

Do a long right click (hold it down for a second or two) on the selected area and release.

A drop-down window should appear where your mouse right clicked.

Move your mouse pointer to "To-Do" and then click either "Check All" or "Uncheck All".

That should do it.

Note I am using the Windows Desktop version of Evernote 6.7.5.5825 (305825) Public (CE Build ce1.28.2184)

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,938]

Cool! Never noticed this before. Welcome to the forums, @BradleyR. For me, a simple right-click works, without holding it especially long.

[KenF 6]

Apparently "check/uncheck all" still only works on the Windows desktop version? So add "to-do lists" to the list of "Things Evernote Is No Good For." Sigh. 

[Major Major 10]

Well, it's good for Windows desktop users. ?

[Fascinating1 0]

Yay!  Thank you BradleyR!

[Jemial 0]

*bump*

 

is this feature available on mobile yet? I use primarily use Evernote for checklists for recurring events (work travel packing list, groceries, etc). It’s a poor UX to run through and uncheck all items. 

Has anyone found an alternative app for recurring checklists for mobile that they like?

 

 

 

[David68 3]

I use colornote for grocery lists now and anything where I need boxes checked and unchecked since Evernote refuses to add this necessary feature to mobile. Colornote isn't perfect but it works for simple checklists. I basically replaced Evernote with colornote as a result.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,938]

If all you want is checklists that reside on your phone, this is correct, Evernote is not the tool for the job. Colornote is great for this--I also use it for to-do lists, packing for trips, etc. Evernote's strength is its multi-device, multi-platform capability, so that I can create a note on my phone (checklist, an idea or draft, a Web page, a photo, etc.) and later view and edit it on my desktop or laptop. And vice versa, etc. Evernote's editors have their limitations, different ones on different operating systems, but for me it serves this broader purpose very well.

[David68 3]

I don't only want checklists. I want the user interface of Evernote with the benefit of a simple checklist option. This feature is not difficult to implement. I would stay with Evernote if they offered it, but this feature is very important to me and I need to use it, so I had to go elsewhere to get this feature. As a result I found it just more convenient to use ColorNote for most of the things I used to use Evernote for. The bottom line is Evernote needs to step it up and add this very easy, basic feature that many people want. If colornote can do it with their much more basic interface, Evernote certainly can as well. 

[CalS 5,280]

Other side of the fence here.  Far easier and simpler to share grocery lists with my wife using Wunderlist than Evernote.  Not really EN's forte.  Keeps my help desk hours to a minimum as well.  Everything else in EN.  Horses for courses.

[David68 3]

Thanks, does wunderlist allow the mass unchecking of boxes in one command from their mobile app? 

[PinkElephant 8,068]

Wunderlist for shared ToDos, like our family grocery list. Works excellent, especially the sync between users while shopping is lightning fast. One list per shop, one for „if you do not get it here, get it there“-items. Checked items are collected below the unchecked ones, and can be reactivated.

Things for my personal ToDos. For notes, I export the link from EN into Things, and do the ToDo-Control there. Things is fine, but does not allow to „share“.

For reusable checklists, I think the proposal to create a „unchecked“ master note as a template, create a copy of it and fill it with „checks“ is the best solution. I am doing this with the checklist for my yearly tax return that I process with EN. Works fine, the workflow is „check them all“, with nearly never the need to uncheck anything. I think the EN checklists are not handling well when you check and uncheck permanently in the same list.

[CalS 5,280]

22 minutes ago, David68 said:

Thanks, does wunderlist allow the mass unchecking of boxes in one command from their mobile app? 

Never tried it, but don’t think so.   Not  much of an impact on grocery lists. But I suppose it might be for other use cases. 

[PinkElephant 8,068]

No collective check or uncheck.

In Wunderlist, each item on a list is an individual entity that can be created, shared, checked or be reactivated, moved to other lists etc. They are handled one by one. Beyond sharing items, you can share the content of a complete list. 

[boneycur 18]

The argument that "this is not what Evernote is meant for" is negated by the fact that what is being requested has been a feature in the Windows app for a long time. The correct response should be, "Sorry, but Evernote is not meant to be a fully cross-platform application."

Thank you, @Simon Wheatley, for posting the best Android-friendly workaround to this Evernote half-feature:

On 4/22/2017 at 1:51 AM, Simon Wheatley said:

This is how I clear all checkboxes:

Select all

Turn off checkbox formatting

Turn on checkbox formatting

My list is now all unchecked 

It it wasn't a pure list, e.g. if there were paragraphs in between checkboxes, then I suspect the paragraphs would end up with checkboxes.

 

It's not a complete solution, as it can be kludgey for long lists, but it does work.

And, actually, you don't have to Select All. You can select only a few items in a list and toggle them off (by clicking the check-box button, which removes the check-boxes completely) and then toggling them back on again.

[gazumped 11,652]

1 hour ago, boneycur said:

The argument that "this is not what Evernote is meant for"

On a quick scan through the thread I couldn't find anyone actually saying that - most posts here seem to be suggesting options or commenting on differences between apps.  Such differences as exist may be addressed by Evernote's current project to update and 'harmonise' the main clients.  Results due later this year...

[boneycur 18]

8 hours ago, gazumped said:

On a quick scan through the thread I couldn't find anyone actually saying that - most posts here seem to be suggesting options or commenting on differences between apps.  Such differences as exist may be addressed by Evernote's current project to update and 'harmonise' the main clients.  Results due later this year...

Thanks for responding, @gazumped-in-Wales. 😉

CalS wrote: "Not really EN's forte."
Dave-in-Decatur wrote: "Evernote is not the tool for the job."
KenF wrote: 'So add "to-do lists" to the list of "Things Evernote Is No Good For."'

In my opinion, This is not what Evernote is meant for sums up those responses pretty well.

I stand by my point that if (to quote Dave-in-Decatur further) "Evernote's strength is its multi-device, multi-platform capability, so that I can create a note on my phone (checklist, an idea or draft, a Web page, a photo, etc.) and later view and edit it on my desktop or laptop," then cross-platform functionality should be taken seriously and not cherry-picked. 

The fact that we can't really use Evernote in Android for checklists...
or for merging notes 
or to add time-stamps  
or to paste images into existing notes 
or resize text to have a consistent font size (if pasted from other places)
all of which are features I need and use every day in Evernote and have to wait until I'm at my desktop client to do them, tells me that Evernote has never been really serious about being truly multi-platform.

I'm not complaining. I like Evernote. I've had a premium account since 2011 and have almost 14,000 notes. I'm a committed user and I recommend it to people I think will benefit from it. I'm just suggesting that you're defending an aspect of the app for which there is little defense. If one is going to tout one's multi-platformness, then be multi-platform, dammit. Don't be kind of multi-platform.

I, for one, am looking forward to the forthcoming Harmonized Edition. (First time I've heard of it, btw, so thanks for that ray of hope.)

Okay, I'll get off my high horse now. Have a nice...uh...Saturday morning! 🌤️

[gazumped 11,652]

12 hours ago, boneycur said:

In my opinion, This is not what Evernote is meant for sums up those responses pretty well.

OK I may have been a little nitpicky,  but my point was you can use the current Evernote for lists - there are even ways to speed up routine tasks like this - https://filterize.net/blog/using-filterize/3-ideas-how-to-clear-all-checkboxes-of-a-checklist-automatically/

As for harmony - see https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/306-behind-the-scenes-series/

 

[boneycur 18]

39 minutes ago, gazumped said:

There are even ways to speed up routine tasks like this - https://filterize.net/blog/using-filterize/3-ideas-how-to-clear-all-checkboxes-of-a-checklist-automatically/

As for harmony - see https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/306-behind-the-scenes-series/

 

Thanks for these two references, @gazumped. I'd not heard of Filterize and it looks pretty cool (albeit a bit expensive...but maybe worth it). I will check it out.

I don't remember receiving any notifications of the Behind the Scenes video series, so I appreciate that link, as well. I just watched a couple of them and they're well-done and informative.

Thanks!

[gazumped 11,652]

You are very welcome.  🙂

[CalS 5,280]

13 hours ago, boneycur said:

CalS wrote: "Not really EN's forte."

To be clear I was commenting on EN's effectiveness as a "pure" to do list app, grocery lists and repeatable sequences.  I prefer my task lists to include the context of the note to which they are attached, so saved searches are the substitute.  So I mostly use reminders with check-boxes for highlighting follow up items within the note.  My preference, no more, horses for courses and all that.

Relative to the topic at hand since I use Windows primarily for my heavy lifting. No problem there as the clear check box feature exists.  I do have a vacation check list where this clearing check bodes comes in handy, after a duplicate note,. But relative to groceries, I now use Microsoft To Do, Wunderlist in its next gen.  Easiest way to share a list with my wife, EN being overkill for that use case.  🤷‍♂️