PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: How to: Suggest/Vote for Ideas and Feature Requests!

[BSR 208]

Hi everyone!

So our development team can keep better track of your feature requests and suggestions for things you would like to see in the Evernote application, please do a quick search for an existing thread before creating a new topic in the Product Feedback section.

It's possible that someone may have already made the feature request or suggestion, and this will help us get a better idea of how many of you are interested in a particular feature request.

If you do find an existing thread for the same idea, you can vote for it by clicking the "up" arrow as shown in the screenshot below!

 

Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions!

 

[DebiB 29]

On July 24, 2016 at 8:35 PM, Analyst444 said:

In addition, please publish all outstanding feature requests and vote counts, say once a month. That would be even more value to the Evernote user community, but, I recognize, scary to Evernote leadership.

 

@Analyst444:  Great idea! I find it a very time consuming process to undertake submitting a feature suggestion, because it always seems to require a LOT of searching and reading to determine if anyone else has already posted the suggestion—people reference/call the same thing by different descriptions. Also, the threads are often long and sometimes have comments from Evernote personnel (so I feel obligated to read the comments, too), and there are still often multiple posts for the same feature suggestion (it would help if they were aggregated—without aggregation, it certainly can't be readily clear to Evernote personnel, as it isn't to the user community, how popular a feature suggestion really is. 

I think your idea would make the process of submitting feature suggestions not be such a daunting task. I've actually started my own personal list in Evernote waiting for a day when I can afford to give up a few hours to the process of submitting them. In contrast, the vendor for another app I use accepts direct e-mails with feature suggestions and I receive a response with any known related information and whether the suggestion has been passed on to the development team, etc.

I like seeing the suggestions of other users like we can with Evernote's process, but I submit more ideas to the other vendor and am more satisfied with their process, as it is much easier for me and only takes a few minutes. So no easy answer, but I hadn't thought of your idea until reading your post. It would also address the aggregation need I mentioned. 

I hope Evernote seriously considers making improvements to the feedback/feature suggestion submission process!

[DTLow 5,736]

23 hours ago, FortyTwo said:

Missing feature: automatic URL shortener.

Instead of tacking ontoman existing topic, start a new request discussion

[FortyTwo 0]

Missing feature: automatic URL shortener.

 

Instead of dragging:http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-one-piece-rip-claw-hammer-22oz-0-63kg-/7729H?kpid=7729H&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4pDlt9yl1QIVrrztCh2gowrEEAQYAyABEgJb7fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CP-928DcpdUCFWOpUQod4scE9A to a note: can I not place this somewhere and get a shortened URL put in the Note? That would make sharing information a lot easier ...

thanks

[Gina Bisaillon 1]

I had Evernote installed on my iMac, then the hard drive died and I had it replaced. The technician was able to retrieve all my files and documents except my Evernote notes.

How can I get my Evernote notes back?

[DebiB 29]

On 8/19/2016 at 6:06 PM, Analyst444 said:

On the other hand, you would need to use your development team productively and you would have to avoid being inundated with trivial requests that only 1-2 customers are interested in.

@Analyst444  Agreed, but my suggestion was not to employ the development team to handle trivial requests. My suggestion was about enabling users to e-mail feature suggestions and then Evernote staff (not developers) take care of clarifying submissions with the user (as needed), aggregating the submissions including tallying the number of votes based on number of submissions for the same/very similar feature, etc. Then, also manage an area on the Forum that holds a succinct summary list of the aggregated feature suggestions (possibly categorized, too) where users can easily view and vote, if they so choose.

Voting would also happen by users e-mailing a feature suggestion that already exists on the list — granted, they have to have the same/similar idea as someone else to *vote* in this manner.

Bottom line, this would enable more input from users — from those who want to submit suggestions, but do not have time for the current process and for those who would be willing to view/vote on a succinct list of feature suggestions managed by Evernote. Some will do both, of course.

The voting process would still be used to determine what features/functionality the development team spends their time on, so it shouldn't end up being anything that just one or two users have requested — unless it is a management decision to do so.

As it stands now, I keep my own list for feature suggestions, enhancement/expansion requests, modifications, corrections, issues with current design/function — everything that doesn't qualify as an individual user support request. Someday, I hope to have time to go through the required process to submit them.

I work with another company that utilizes part of the process I suggested — users can submit e-mail (This reminds me!! When I say e-mail, I do NOT mean submitting a Web form and communication comes back to you via e-mail) for suggestions, enhancements, problems, essentially anything regarding their app. They also manage a list(s) and add your vote, when applicable. They don't, however, publish that information for users to view/vote on all submissions, which I wish they did...and maybe they will someday.

On 8/19/2016 at 6:06 PM, Analyst444 said:

If I were the product manager, I think I would now be seeking upgrades that provide materially different functionality. --- The CEO is probably thinking longer term trying to figure out what is going to the company's next big software product.

Neither of these last two points causes the Evernote development team to pend a large portion of their time working on what might be considered "minor" enhancement for existing customers.

But, as you, I am just guessing (no sarcasm intended).

I will be disappointed if that is the case, so I hope you've guessed wrong on this one. While there are a lot of existing features/functionality, there are also what I consider to be issues with some of them, as well as room for enhancements or expansions to the existing. If I were to believe that the way they currently function is the way they are going to remain, I would be continually looking and testing competitors until I found one that had a different view of their existing customers.  =)

 

My! I didn't mean to be on my soap box so long!

 

[DTLow 5,736]

On 2016-08-19 at 4:06 PM, Analyst444 said:

Evernote is now what I would call a mature software product.

 

On 2016-08-20 at 3:11 AM, sasilk said:

Given the number of bugs that have been outstanding now for anything up to years I would have to disagree with this description.

 

19 minutes ago, DebiB said:

And the number of what I consider *basic* features/functionality that are still lacking or not working properly, I tend to agree with you.

This is off-topic from the discussion title "PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: How to: Suggest/Vote for Ideas and Feature Requests!

I consider Evernote a mature software product for its core function (digital filing cabinet; syncing)

Of course you may disagree on the "core function", 
and if Evernote introduces a new feature next week, the feature could hardly be considered mature

 

[DebiB 29]

On 8/20/2016 at 5:11 AM, sasilk said:

Given the number of bugs that have been outstanding now for anything up to years I would have to disagree with this description.

And the number of what I consider *basic* features/functionality that are still lacking or not working properly, I tend to agree with you.

[sasilk 12]

11 hours ago, Analyst444 said:

@DebiB  Evernote is now what I would call a mature software product.

Given the number of bugs that have been outstanding now for anything up to years I would have to disagree with this description.

[sasilk 12]

Why isn't there a feedback forum for ideas that apply to all versions - WIndows/Mac/iOS/Android/Web?

[Analyst444 182]

@DebiB - I acknowledge your passion, interest, and concern for an effective Evernote request process/system, but it just doesn't seem like it has materialized, yet.

It's a tough balance for any software product manager to achieve. On one hand, you would want to be responsive to your customers' needs and wishes. On the other hand, you would need to use your development team productively and you would have to avoid being inundated with trivial requests that only 1-2 customers are interested in.

Evernote is now what I would call a mature software product. It has been upgraded several to many times with significant functional additions. Other Evernote Corporation products, like the Clipper and Skitch, have been incorporated into it. If I were the product manager, I think I would now be seeking upgrades that provide materially different functionality. --- The CEO is probably thinking longer term trying to figure out what is going to the company's next big software product.

Neither of these last two points causes the Evernote development team to pend a large portion of their time working on what might be considered "minor" enhancement for existing customers.

But, as you, I am just guessing (no sarcasm intended).

[CalS 5,280]

35 minutes ago, DebiB said:

... but I'm guessing ...

Pretty much sums it up for all of us.  

[DebiB 29]

8 hours ago, Analyst444 said:

Given that there are millions and millions of Evernote users, It doesn't seem like there is much interest in this matter at all.

I'm sure there is plenty of interest in the addition of features or modification of features that are in need of improvement, but I'm guessing a number of users aren't even aware this Forum exists for the purpose of providing feedback/feature suggestions or what is even more likely is most people simply do not have time to invest in learning how to use the forum and then searching to see if their feedback/suggestion has already been submitted, or spend even more time just reading through all of the posts to see if there are any that mention things they would like to see implemented and voting on those.

On the other hand, if Evernote (I don't know how to reference them like we can other users with @) encouraged the user community to submit e-mails with their feedback/feature suggestions and were responsive to those messages, I'm guessing they would see considerably more involvement. If Evernote aggregated the input received, posted it in the Forum, and communicated such, there may be enough users who would be willing to visit the Forum and vote/comment to make the voting worthwhile—if it is an easy and quick process..

Since most people are using Evernote to help them do their real job/project/hobby/etc., they just want to use an app that works and if it doesn't work properly or it doesn't do something they want or the way they want, they are more likely to just complain about it to others and possibly even switch to a different app that their friend/colleague/acquaintance suggests than they are to take the time to provide feedback to the vendor. Human nature, I'm afraid. 

I sincerely hope Evernote implements an improved process for providing feedback/feature suggestions!  

[Analyst444 182]

I just went to the Windows Product Feedback section. I sorted the requests by number of votes. Despite the many pages of requests, there are still only a handful with more than 5 votes (as @jbenson2 previously pointed out above about 3 weeks ago).

Given that there are millions and millions of Evernote users, It doesn't seem like there is much interest in this matter at all.

[DebiB 29]

On July 25, 2016 at 9:03 AM, jbenson2 said:

...I doubt the majority of posters will do a search for the topic they want before posting a new topic in the Product Feedback section. Especially with the difficulty using the current search. Ferreting out a popular term - sync, table, edit, 2 devices, encryption, etc. results in hundreds of hits. And I'm not going to spend my time scrolling down the never ending list to look for the faded gray / green, difficult to read "posted an idea in iOS Product Feedback".

@jbenson2,

Before seeing your post, I submitted a fairly long post expressing essentially the same thing! As I ended that post, I hope Evernote seriously considers making improvements to the feedback/feature suggestion submission process!  As it currently stands, it is a very frustrating process that I find myself avoiding...which just makes me more frustrated! I work with another vendor and they accept direct e-mails, which is much appreciated and more user/customer friendly, IMHO.

Below is a link to my previous post in this thread, since I expect it will soon no longer be just above and will be off on another page as more replies are posted into this topic!

 

[BSR 208]

On 8/5/2016 at 11:49 AM, NewUser201509 said:

Thread topic is "How to: Suggest/Vote for Ideas and Feature Requests!", but I did not see explanation of "How to suggest" an idea if search of existing ideas did not find similar requests. Please add the "how to suggest" info or change the topic to only "how to vote...."

Hi @NewUser201509,

You can suggest a new idea by clicking the "Post an Idea" button outlined in the screenshot below.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

[NewUser201509 1]

Thread topic is "How to: Suggest/Vote for Ideas and Feature Requests!", but I did not see explanation of "How to suggest" an idea if search of existing ideas did not find similar requests. Please add the "how to suggest" info or change the topic to only "how to vote...."

[BSR 208]

27 minutes ago, Endemite said:

If I want to make the team aware of certain bugs with Evernote on macOS Sierra Public Beta, how do I do that? Precisely, I'm not able to select and copy text from attached text files in notes (pdf, doc). Support gave me this response:

 

Hi @Endemite,

I've created a thread where you can post any issues you are encountering with the macOS beta.  You can find it below:

 

[Endemite 2]

If I want to make the team aware of certain bugs with Evernote on macOS Sierra Public Beta, how do I do that? Precisely, I'm not able to select and copy text from attached text files in notes (pdf, doc). Support gave me this response:

Quote

 

I have imported into the Evernote app on my Mac running the public release of OSX 10.11.6 and am able to select the text without any issues. 

I believe this issue is occurring because you are currently on the macOS beta version. We are unable to support the Evernote application on macOS Sierra as it is still in beta. I would recommend reporting this issue to the Mac Product Feedback forum [here](https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/218-mac-product-feedback/) so our product team is aware of the issue and can potentially implement a fix before the general release of macOS Sierra.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

 

 

 

[BSR 208]

On 7/25/2016 at 10:44 AM, mikehaimes30@gmail.com said:

Evernote this is silly notion that new ideas need to go through these forums.  Most people don't use these, nor are they easy to follow.  Please add an option to password protect notes!  Until then I will be searching for other applications to replace evernote as I don't want all my notes viewable to everybody.

@mikehaimes30@gmail.com You can direct this feature request to the appropriate thread linked below:

To vote on an idea, click the "up" arrow icon referenced in the screenshot in my original post.

Thanks for your cooperation. 

[BSR 208]

Hi y'all,

Thanks for your posts. We are working on reducing the amount of duplicate threads and feature requests in the Product Feedback threads, so this is definitely a work in progress. I appreciate everyone's suggestions.

@jefito, I have followed up on this with @gbarry and we are looking into implementing a cross-platform feedback thread. Thanks again!

 

[mikehaimes30@gmail.com 2]

Evernote this is silly notion that new ideas need to go through these forums.  Most people don't use these, nor are they easy to follow.  Please add an option to password protect notes!  Until then I will be searching for other applications to replace evernote as I don't want all my notes viewable to everybody.

[jbenson2 2,147]

Call me naive, but I doubt the majority of posters will do a search for the topic they want before posting a new topic in the Product Feedback section. Especially with the difficulty using the current search. Ferreting out a popular term - sync, table, edit, 2 devices, encryption, etc. results in hundreds of hits. And I'm not going to spend my time scrolling down the never ending list to look for the faded gray / green, difficult to read "posted an idea in iOS Product Feedback".

 

The voting system has been in effect for a few months and actively encouraged by both Evernote users and Evernote employees.

The results so far look rather dismal - mostly in the single digit range.

The results are even more dismal when you consider the system only permits voting up the topic,  down voting is not allowed.

Other problems include requesting a vote for multiple topics in the same OP / or topics.that are vague, rambling or imprecise

[s2sailor 2,183]

The voting system will only allow one vote per userid.

[Analyst444 182]

BSR - The voting procedure you outlined is fine. --- Is there some way to prevent a person from voting for the same item many many times?

In addition, please publish all outstanding feature requests and vote counts, say once a month. That would be even more value to the Evernote user community, but, I recognize, scary to Evernote leadership.

Maybe what would would be more palatable to Evernote leadership would be a procedure that allowed a person to vote for and prioritize his/her top 3 enhancements. (I suspect there already are web sites that can do this.) Seeing such a list would probably show how split the Evernote user community is on what is important to them.

 

[jefito 5,589]

Fair enough (and gbarry may be aware of this already). It makes sense to combine cross-platform requests, of course, and now I know to point folks to their clients' product feedback forum, but it might make it easier for new users to discover if there's a separate place for general/cross-platform concerns. Thanks again.

[BSR 208]

Hi there @jefito, thanks for the feedback. I agree that would be something worth looking into, I'll pass this along to our Community lead.

For the time-being, account and subscription related questions can be directed here:

https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/298-plus-premium-questions/

With respect to feature requests such as the notebook hierarchy one, those can still be directed to the respective client Product Feedback threads. Our product team also monitor those threads for common feature requests, along with the feature requests that our Customer Support team submit. I've also cross posted this in our General Discussion Forum:

Thanks again for the suggestions! 

[jefito 5,589]

That's all great, but what I think is missing is a feedback forum that covers non-client Evernote features / policies. Cases in point: the two-device limit for Basic, desire for a lower priced tier than Plus, the perennial notebook hierarchy request, and so on, which would affect all clients. (note that I'm not necessarily an advocate of any of these features, but they do appear often, or are hot at the moment. Thanks.