Conflicting Modifications/Sync/Application issues

[meh! 5]

I'm a programmer; I know and understand "diff" and timestamps.

I "get" that these guys want money, and are about to kick off everyone with 2+ devices, but when they have proven totally inept at understanding basic pre-school coding concepts I'm finding it a hard concept to handle: pay money to clueless idiots who never fix anything, or, go through the pain of moving to something else ?

So basically about half the time I update notes, I end up with a "Conflicting Changes" version - and this even happens for no reason at times, so I get TWO *IDENTICAL* notes.  That's the first idiotic thing: why are they not even checking if a note is identical before marking it as duplicate?  I am a programmer - do not tell me about spaces and tabs - this is a 101-basic problem that evernote should have solved.

Next: I see a "dot" in the Sync column of some notes... why?  What's that about?  Looks like some ghastly bug they're perpetually not fixing.  This is a rhetorical question: I do not want to know why.  This is a bug Evernote needs to fix, not anything we need to waste breath on.

Next: My mac version crashes *every* time I close it.  No matter how many times I submit a crash report to apple... same every time.

Next: I've got one "note" that I use semi-regularly, and it's mysteriously "vanished" at least 3 times now - first time I thought I was going crazy, second I realized I wasn't, third I just got angry: that kind of programmer screwup is unforgivable: it is REALLY HARD to notice something that's "missing"... it should never be possible for anything to "vanish"

EVERNOTE: If you're reading - blacklist all "feature creep" for a month, and go back and fix everything that's broken!!!

Finally:  I *am* a programmer: this page stinks of total ineptitude:  https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313378 - the first 2 suggestions are cool - no worries - but EVERY ONE OF THE NUMEROUS ONES THAT FOLLOW HIGHLIGHT THAT THIS PRODUCT IS A STEAMING PILE OF BUGGY RUBBISH.  The mere fact they've got SEVEN different suggestions for how to overcome their inbuilt bugs (e.g. " Uninstall/Reinstall Evernote") tells us that they get loads of complaints about this - but have never taken the time to fix anything.

GUYS: How about you make this thing work before you demand money from us???

[Historynerd 34]

Do you have instant sync enabled? If not, you have to click the sync button after you have made changes to notes, otherwise these changes won't Be reflected on you other devices and then you get conflicting changes.

The dot you talk about: is that a blue dot that appears in front of a note? That is to indicate a note has been changed and you need to sync.

[meh! 5]

1 hour ago, Historynerd said:

Do you have instant sync enabled? If not, you have to click the sync button after you have made changes to notes, otherwise these changes won't Be reflected on you other devices and then you get conflicting changes.

The dot you talk about: is that a blue dot that appears in front of a note? That is to indicate a note has been changed and you need to sync.

Everything kindsof syncs by itself without me telling it, so I guess it's enabled.  I say "kindof" because as I mentioned, I'm getting "conflicting changes" *way* too often, the dots don't seem to go away, and one note in particular regularly vanishes...

Hitting the "sync" button does not make the dots go away ever.

It's incomprehensible that such an obvious flaw just lives on year after year.  Does anyone in Evernote even *use* evernote ?  I suspect not!  How could anyone work for a company and never bother to fix such basic and obvious faults???

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,937]

7 hours ago, meh! said:

I "get" that these guys want money, and are about to kick off everyone with 2+ devices

Not true. You can use >2 devices, you just can't have >2 logged in to Evernote at once, if you're using it for free (the Basic level).

7 hours ago, meh! said:

So basically about half the time I update notes, I end up with a "Conflicting Changes" version - and this even happens for no reason at times, so I get TWO *IDENTICAL* notes.  That's the first idiotic thing: why are they not even checking if a note is identical before marking it as duplicate?  I am a programmer - do not tell me about spaces and tabs - this is a 101-basic problem that evernote should have solved.

In my experience, Conflicting Changes are rare and don't happen for no reason. Obviously, since you're a programmer, it's unlikely you're making a mistake; but you might look into it just in case. As to Evernote not checking whether the notes are identical: that's because they don't read your data, which many of us consider a good thing, though not being programmers we're probably wrong.

7 hours ago, meh! said:

Next: I see a "dot" in the Sync column of some notes... why?  What's that about?  Looks like some ghastly bug they're perpetually not fixing.  This is a rhetorical question: I do not want to know why.  This is a bug Evernote needs to fix, not anything we need to waste breath on.

The dot in the Sync column means the note needs to be synced. In Tools > Options > Sync, what's the frequency of syncing that you have set? The only bug here is the one ... no, Dave, don't say that! :slapsownface:

7 hours ago, meh! said:

Next: I've got one "note" that I use semi-regularly, and it's mysteriously "vanished" at least 3 times now - first time I thought I was going crazy, second I realized I wasn't, third I just got angry: that kind of programmer screwup is unforgivable: it is REALLY HARD to notice something that's "missing"... it should never be possible for anything to "vanish"

Agreed, things shouldn't just vanish. Editing on two devices without managing login and sync is a good way to make it happen, though.

7 hours ago, meh! said:

Finally:  I *am* a programmer: this page stinks of total ineptitude:  https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313378 - the first 2 suggestions are cool - no worries - but EVERY ONE OF THE NUMEROUS ONES THAT FOLLOW HIGHLIGHT THAT THIS PRODUCT IS A STEAMING PILE OF BUGGY RUBBISH.  The mere fact they've got SEVEN different suggestions for how to overcome their inbuilt bugs (e.g. " Uninstall/Reinstall Evernote") tells us that they get loads of complaints about this - but have never taken the time to fix anything.

Don't know how you deal with users of all the software you've written, but pretty much any major program I've ever had advises its non-programmer users to do things like making sure they're using the latest version, making sure they haven't changed a simple setting, looking at the product's online help and advice, and rebooting. It's not unusual, in fact it's pretty much industry standard; and it's definitely not buggy rubbish, though I grew up on a farm and I could swear I smell some somewhere on this thread.

[Sugeeth Krish 473]

@meh 

1. Start of an Evernote session : Force a sync. 
2. Carry on with your work without bothering about sync ( Based on your device setting, Evernote may periodically attempt syncing in the background. This should not bother you work.) 
3. End of session : Force a manual sync. 

Done.. 

You should not have any problems with Evernote sync at all. I bet you anything that even after that you get a 'Conflict' 

I understand your a programmer, but that has nothing to do with the Sync at Evernote or degrading what a lovely piece of software Evernote has designed at built. I understand your hurt at EN reducing devices to 2 ( may be your a basic user and your hurt), i take that criticism, but this forum is also not a garbage dump for any inadept users to come and rant at Beautifully working pieces of Software Design. 

EN does have issues, I admit, but if their sync Engine was *****, you seriously think EN would have gotten around so many years, and so many users? 

Evernote is one of the best sync engines around, and if you are attempting to go to OneNote or some other alternatives, may be you'll realise that EN got right, what multi million dollar corporations have not. 

 

[briancaldwell 202]

@meh! Generally, sync works for pretty much everyone when connected to the Internet, but we hear about edge cases from time to time that we need to investigate further.

I'd be curious to know what version of Evernote for Mac you are using. 
What version of Mac OS you run.
What type of Internet connection you have; speed, how pervasive the connection is, if your provider drops connections.

The black/gray dot in the Sync column indicates an un-synced note. If the dot persists this usually indicates a poor Internet connection, as Evernote cannot reach the servers in oder to perform the sync function. 

[meh! 5]

Hi @briancaldwell

I'm on ADSL, so why do those dots stay there after I click the sync button?  Why does the sync animation stop after I click it, if those dots still say?  If something is broken, why are your systems not getting a "this user clicked sync and ***** happened" warning?  If ***** is happening, as it clearly is to me in multiple situations, why do I get no errors or warnings or messages of any kind?

You have at least 2 very serious problems: #1 - nobody is paying attention to customer bug reports:  I know this, because your help desk have thrown SEVEN ridiculous desperate guess-steps into your help page:   https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313378 - go look at all the suggestions from #3 onwards, and you can see that "Evernote is broken" is getting stuck at your help desk, and not reaching developers to fix.

#2 if course, is the software quality: stuff is clearly going wrong for me, unacceptably often, and you're not fixing it when I report it, and it looks like you're not doing anything to try and work out automatically when it's broken (eg: those dots not going away) so you can hunt down causes.  I'm submitting crash reports to apple - are you reading them?

I'm using the latest evernote on everything; I've got the latest non-developer O/S on my mac, Win 7 on my 2 PCs, and latest update on my Samsung S7

 

[briancaldwell 202]

If the black dots that you show in your screenshot are never resolved (i.e. indicating that the notes are not syncing) then your account may have an issue that is unique to you. 

I presume that you have filed a support ticket for the issue with your account. If you message me your ticket number(s) I will ask our CS team to contact you. 

[meh! 5]

8 minutes ago, briancaldwell said:

If the black dots that you show in your screenshot are never resolved (i.e. indicating that the notes are not syncing) then your account may have an issue that is unique to you. 

I presume that you have filed a support ticket for the issue with your account. If you message me your ticket number(s) I will ask our CS team to contact you. 

This response perfectly illustrates my entire point.

option (a) - fix the bugs

option (b) - do nothing and make customer jump through hoops until they go away

which option did you pick?  "(b)" as usual...

When my customers tell me I've got bugs in my products, I *immediately* work to fix the bugs; and we almost always get them solved within a few hours.  It's rare that you get a customer willing to work for you, for free, to help you solve problems.  For every "me" out here, there's 1000+ other people who just think "***** - evernote is ***** - I'll find something else..."

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,937]

I participate in a number of software forums, and the level of disrespect and even spite that I see on the Evernote forums is beyond anything I've ever seen anywhere else. Maybe it's because the program quickly becomes so much a part of people's personalized workflows that some of us tend to become personally incensed when it doesn't work right, or simply work as we expect it to or wish it would. Whatever the reason, it makes this an unpleasant place to come to and try to help out fellow-users.

meh, you don't even know you have a bug, as opposed to something hinky in your Internet connection, a corruption in the database, having reached your upload limit, or even the remote possibility of user error. Are you saying that, as a programmer, you've never had a user of your programs come to you with a problem that wasn't a bug in your code? If the sync issue you're having were a genuine bug, I'd think that many more of the millions of EN users would be reporting it.

Please, send in your support ticket, find out if it's a bug, and report back the result. That can help all of us. Experience and information beat furious accusations every time.

[meh! 5]

Dave - stop trolling.  I said outright I'm a programmer, so yes, I *know* these are bugs.

I've participated in 100x more forums than you.  The only way to make people fix anything is to "not be nice".  Nice people get tickets closed and no action.

If you bothered to open your eyes, you'd notice the very response above yours is an evernote employee, who's now investigating a fix.

You should READ what you reply to, then you'd see I already did the support time-waste, which is what started this post in the first place: they've got 7 stupid suggestions to work around their pile of bugs as a response to bug reports:  bug tickets are getting stuck at the helpdesk, and not reaching developers.

[briancaldwell 202]

@meh! 

We can only investigate if you provide the ticket numbers of your submitted support requests.

The people on this thread have responded to try to help you, please refrain from personal attacks on those trying to help you fix your problems.

[meh! 5]

Not my problem  Your problem.

You should care more about your feeling than your company or it's products!!

Oh wait...

[BSR 208]

@meh:

This topic has been locked as there are existing topics on the issues you have raised.

Please respect the users on this forum. This is a community where our users come together to help each other and express opinions, however we will not tolerate abuse or degradation of our users.  Thank you.