Is anyone currently using Evernote; Mac, iPhone and iPad who could comment on the stability and usability of Evernote?
Ex-Evernote user. Don’t bother. EV has abandoned their home users long ago and is on a path to destruction.
If you can do without 2FA (for now) and OCR, Try UpNote. I moved all my Evernote stuff to UpNote and never, ever, EVER looked back!
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I cx my subscription a month ago, and today also the one from my wife!
We figured out, that we actually used Evernote the last time in August last year.
I moved everything into DT3, and I’m not missing any of the functions so far…
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After paying for EN premium since its inception (13 years or so), I am letting my subscription lapse for the first time. I have moved on for every function I previously used it for, however, I still believe that it is a good product. I will keep it for referencing the 13 years of data in there but I am no longer adding to it. My database is around 20GB. I have had zero reliability issues, particularly in the last 5 years or so and am pleased to see continued releases for iOS and Mac (V10).
Between apple notes and nested folders on iCloud I have a solution. However I still miss the due dates on notes with email reminders and grabbing a quick URL to a note. Evernote has some shortcut support, but it does not seem to be reliable or cross platform. If that had allowed me to transition from Applescript into V10 I might have stuck with it for certain tasks and kept paying for premium.
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Evernote is a superlative product if you clip webpage a lot (which is what I do). No other app (Devonthink, Notion, OneNote) comes close to Evernote in terms of web clipping. I clip articles and read with while highlighting. Evernote can handle everything, text, images, files etc. You can use it for bookmarking too.
However, I have to admit it is expensive. The new app is fine, although not that automation friendly as the previous mac version was, but I believe it will be in the next 1-2 years. When the new version (v10) came out, it was trash, but within the last 1 year, it has become very good TBH.
I also have UpNote ($20 lifetime) which is surprisingly good like @NiKoBeaR pointed out. Although it lacks web clipping. I got it, just in case they move to subscription.
For most day-day draft like notes, I use Apple Notes. For long term notes and archival I use Evernote
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+1 to UpNote, as I mentioned in other discussion threads, I do not understand why Upnote does not receive more recognition for the great work. It is a very cheap lifetime license for also the same functions as Evernote
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UpNote’s note clipping is subpar to my experience. Just copies basic text and images. Evernote’s copies the page as is, with formatting, which is what I need. It’s excellent
But UpNote is like $20 lifetime, what can you expect. Even with that quality clipper, it is way better deal. Coz evernote is 7.99/month or free if you can do 60mb/month and be limited to 2 devices
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Seems like a lot of people are starting to use UpNote. Nice!
I’m just concerned if that app can last long since they offer the service for dirt cheap prices. Not sure they are making much profit for sustainable development
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totally agreed, that is why I am helping to talk up the app on this forum and on other social media 
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But both of us forgot to mention, UpNote does have really solid export and backup options built into the app. It can take daily backups and export to HTML, markdown, PDF etc. It’s sync is also really fast. They use Firebase
Folks, I strongly recommend buying this app in case you don’t need fancy web clipping. $20 lifetime for such a feature rich app is unheard of TBH.
just want to add. UpNote uses Firebase for cross device / cross platform sync. It works perfectly for me on Mac, iPad, iPhone, Windows, Android, etc. It is quick and much reliable compares to those apps (native and 3rd parties) that rely on iCloud or CloudKit
Thanks all this is helpful.
I need a rich text environment for project notes, including pdf, Word, Excel. I need wiki linking, the ability to email to the app, web clipping and easy sharing of notes, docs/notebooks.
Also, Markdown is of little use in this context because of its limited formatting ability. I do need a well featured notes app for writing, editing and sharing notes. This is why I was thinking Evernote. It also need to work on mac and ipad.
Thanks for that. I don’t really want to work in a web browser. I really just need notes and files. I don’t use a digital calendar and have a good task management set up already that I don’t want to change.
It looks good though.
Still the same reason why I keep on paying for Evernote Premium. I have Bear and Craft but Evernote is still the best clipper for me.
I mighrt check out Upnote and compare.
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I exported a decade + worth of notes out of Evernote and into obsidian and am very happy with it… though I never used web clipping.
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I’ve been an Evernote user for years. While I couldn’t tell you my exact sign-up date (I’ve had a couple different accounts), I found a screenshot on my iPhone this morning from November 2013 and I’ll be darned if that big elephant isn’t there front and centre. It’s situated with a lot of apps I still use (Tweetbot, Pocket) and a few I don’t or aren’t with us anymore (Flickr, Mailbox).
I’ve gone back and forth a few times on Evernote. More than a few times actually. Depending on the time of year or my mood I’ll think it’s too costly or I’ll ask myself I really NEED it when I can save files to my Mac and jot notes in Apple Notes or Obsidian or Craft or - whatever. But I…
Keep.
Coming.
Back.
I won’t deny their transition to v10 was premature. They definitely decided one day that it was time to flip the switch and it wasn’t ready; not by a long shot. For me personally, the early issues in v10 were slow performance and the inability to drag notes to tags and/or notebooks. It was also quite obviously just displaying a webpage within a Mac/Windows pane which I didn’t love. I realize that’s basically what it is now, but they’ve improved the look and feel a lot. Anyway, v10 marks one of those times where I left the app.
In the time I was away from Evernote though, I just couldn’t get my workflow running as efficiently as I had once had it under the protection of the elephant. I’d be at work on my Windows PC and during a break I’d look up a place to stay on a summer vacation. Wanting to save it for later I’d think “I’ll just clip this to Evernote – oh yeah, I’m not using it right now, uhhh…save webpage to PDF? I guess. Email myself a link for later? Put it into Apple Notes on the web?”. None of the solutions were as quick or as elegant (in my opinion), and so I would begin the journey (or is it annual cycle?) of trying new apps.
I can hear everyone yelling right now - “Devonthink!”. “Joplin!”. “Craft!”. “Notion!”. “Obsidian!”.
I’ve tried all of those and they just don’t jive with my way of thinking, with the exception of maybe Obsidian for my personal thoughts. I just don’t find it to be as robust at storing screen shots, photos, quick sketches, – there’s no email in to Obsidian etc. I could write a compendium about this, but in the interest in staying on topic, I’ll just say nothing checked as many boxes (for me) as Evernote.
I then purchased an M1 Mac mini about 8 months ago, and when I saw Evernote had an M1 version of their app, I downloaded it. I told myself it wasn’t going to suck me in but I knew the moment I downloaded it, it was because a part of me wanted back in.
I was thoroughly impressed. Import folders are back, the app is fast, I actually really like their design and how you can save notes to both tags AND notebooks. It really impressed me. On top of that, the sync still worked flawlessly for me as it always had, even though I know some people report issues with this. I had far more issues with sync while on Apple Notes for a time.
I then saw a video by Tiago Forte about using a second brain and how he uses Evernote as his app of choice. When I saw his tour of how he has Evernote setup I began to think - this is how I see things, this is how I like my data set up. I subsequently discovered I’m a “Librarian” – a great fit for Evernote. In this journey of on/off throughout my tenure with Evernote and note taking apps in general, I’ve realized a few things:
- As I mentioned above, I’m a Librarian
- While I do use Obsidian for some idea generation, I personally don’t find “back linking” to be all that useful. I can feel your virtual tomatoes being hurled at me now.
- I’m going to use the app that works the best for me, not the one that all the cool kids on the playground have chosen as their cool app of the moment. Does Evernote deserve some of the criticism? Absolutely. But it’s become cool to hate on them, and when I silence all the voices out there and listen to my own voice, it’s Evernote for me.
So what makes it click the most for me?
It has to be its versatility in getting information ingested. If my wife emails me something and says “please don’t lose this”, I can simply forward it on to Evernote. In fact, we’ve got to the point where she’ll email me with the first line being simply - “please Evernote this”. If I’m online and I get an order confirmation number or I want to save a web page, I can do this easily with Evernote - whether I’m on my Mac, Windows, or my phone. I can take screen shots of just a section of the page, an entire page, or article view. And once I’ve piled things into Evernote from all manner of mediums out there, I can organize it with tags and notebooks in a way that my way of thinking jives with perfectly.
So if I were in your shoes OP, I’d try Evernote. Purchase an annual subscription and start using it full time. You’ll know quickly if it meets your criteria or not and if it doesn’t, they have a 60-day return policy (with annual sub). I know because I just used it a few months ago.
tldr; Evernote deserved some criticism on the transition to v10, but its working well now and I have no issues. With new apps like Obsidian and Craft becoming the new hot topic, Evernote has kind of been forgotten in the tech community. It seems like its even cool to hate on them, but for me, it’s still the king and you should give it a try.
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I’m using the two week trial version and must say I quite like it!
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Those of you using UpNote what makes you use that instead of Apple Notes?