For some time now, we have been hard at work on a huge revision to our Windows client. We aren’t ready to release it just yet, but the latest version of Evernote for Windows (3.1) lays some critical groundwork for things to come.
Server-side recognition
In this release, we removed client-side image recognition. This means that images will now be processed on the Evernote servers, and not locally on your Windows desktop. We have a number of reasons for doing this. Mainly, it’s to provide you with better quality recognition. Up to now, whenever we made tweaks and improvements to our recognition technology, we were forced to tie that change to a Windows release (and a lengthy QA cycle) in order to ensure consistent results. By moving all image processing into the cloud, we can be much more aggressive in improving our recognition technology, which benefits all Evernote users.
This change also decreases CPU and RAM usage, which allows Evernote for Windows to run faster and more reliably on a wider range of computers; and it’s a much smaller download –down from a hefty 56MB to a svelte 21MB.
This change does have one significant side-effect. There will no longer be image processing in local-only notebooks, but we feel that this is a good long-term tradeoff.
Improvements all around
We’ve made some nice enhancement to existing features, including:
- Merged notes will now maintain any associated attributes
- Better indexing of tags and PDFs
- Improved handing of Outlook file attachments
Promo Display
The lower left corner of the navigation now has a promo display. Look to that space for update information, tips on how to use Evernote, and (eventually) promotions. Premium subscribers have the option of hiding the display if they wish. Rest assured, none of your data in Evernote will ever be sent or shared with any external companies.
All this, in addition to numerous under-the-hood tweaks and big fixes. We hope you like it. Stay tuned, there are big (BIG) things in the works for Evernote for Windows.
