Briefly: our big update

Our update went live several hours ago and we’re buried in feedback. Most of it is very positive, which is extremely rewarding for us. Thanks everyone for your kind words.

We’ll be going through it all in the coming days. This will take some time as we work through the backlog.

If you unsuccessfully tried sending an email to support@simplenoteapp.com, please use support@simperium.com instead until our domain transfer is complete.

We’re already working on another update to address some of the problems people have found. We appreciate your help.

95 thoughts on “Briefly: our big update

  1. Really love the update. You kept the simplicity but made the app much more powerful. Already wrote a detailed review (5 Stars) for the german AppStore.

  2. Could you guys explain the benefits of going premium? I looked at the chart on the website but I don't really understand why there is a premium version. For example what does it mean to create a note by email? Also what is 3rd party app usage? And what is 30 backup versions of each note? Is that literally 30 different versions of the same note stored somewhere? I'm confused…I want to support you guys but I also want to understand what I'm spending $12 on.

  3. Tip to those who want dropbox sync: you can already do this using your computer. Just set Notational Velocity (or whatevs) to use a folder on Dropbox.

  4. Can anyone explain the functional difference between the "publish web page" and "share" options? It seems as if they are the same, but there must be some key differences that I'm not understanding.

  5. @Matt: Maybe "Share" allows for gDocs style collaboration?@Simperium:-how about an iPhone-friendly text input field on your blog comments?-in the new client, whenever I change prefs, I have to reenter my login info and redownload all my notes. This takes a while. 😦 And it never happened before…-it's nice that you went w. a tagging system but now I would like to be able to easily show all of my untagged notes at the same time. I think whenever a platform adds tagging, eventually it's going to need Smart Folders in order to be truly useful…-or — how about an option to hide the whole tagging structure, for folks who already have hacked an alphabetically based organization method? (I have al of my immediate to do lists preceded by "01"s in the title…)-it would be great if we could use a smaller font.

  6. How do I search for tags without my mouse? I can't get anything to show up when I search "tag:whatever"I really want to use my mouse as little as possible, please.

  7. Yeah, searching is pretty broken now. The search box should search tags without having to add an operator to the beginning of the search. That should at least be an option to turn on. I'm going to have to go back to adding my tags as #tags in the first line of my notes.If I have a note that's tagged #CAFE, I should be able to touch the search box and type #CAFE not tag:#CAFE. The thing that Simplenote had going for it was that it was a dead simple way to create, edit and search for plain-text notes. That has changed, and not in a good way.Russ

  8. Love Simplenote and the new features. The new theming is ok too, but the new application icon reminds me of the Pepsi icon.

  9. Noticing that when adding new tags to a document online (web app) it doesn't necessarily sync to iPhone app … even tho app says "synchronized" …

  10. I really think Simplenote has a lot of potential… it has an extremely refined interface. However, I just cant get over not having basic text controls (bold, strikethrough, indented lists) that help make long blocks of text more readable and scannable… especially on a mobile device. I think this really prevents Simplenote from being used as a true "knowledge management" tool…. really thats a shame, because Evernote's web interface is terrible, but its the only thing I have found to use between my Linux desktop and Android phone :-/

  11. I'm very disappointed.The point was to be simple. Now it's less so.And worst for me, some of the devices I access the site on now don't have enough power to run it without crashing.PLEASE make an alternate version available at a modified URL so that lighter devices can access it as they used to?

  12. I'm currently using an alternative application called Notespark but really like the look of the version of Simplenote. It does most things that Notespark does with the addition of pin notes and version history, which are great features. Additionally I prefer your web interface, especially not having to click edit/save to amend notes.There's only one area that would prevent me moving over to Simplenote and that's around note sharing. Firstly, it doesn't appear to be available via the web interface but maybe I'm missing something or it's yet to be implemented? Secondly and most important to me, is sharing via the iPhone app forces the note to be shared via email. In Notespark I can share directly with other Notespark users, simply by entering their username. I have a lot of notes to share and doing so through email, one by one, isn't going to happen.

  13. Thanks everyone. We'll be working to further clarify how sharing, premium subscriptions, and other things work. Also, there are some known issues with tags that we'll be fixing.@Martin: we launched a new general website as well, but it will take some time for the DNS to propagate around the internet before you'll see it.@G: There's an option in the web app's account dropdown to use the old interface. We left this for extra device compatibility (which is the problem you're having).

  14. @Ben and @Yakov:Thanks for the explanation of URL vs. sharing. Makes complete sense and now I see how it works.

  15. Also there is an issue with the "Notify me of follow-up comments via email". When you receive the email and try to unsubscribe from the follow-up comments it does not allow you and redirects to a 404 Not Found. Could you guys look into this as well. I keep getting e-mails, and would like them to stop :-/I've gotten the error from my phone and from the web:Not FoundThe requested URL /display/RemoveSubscription was not found on this server.Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at simplenoteapp.com Port 80

  16. A couple of other comments in case you don't have them already:1. Trash should be at the bottom (I think) on the iPhone app, not at the top2. When you add tags online, they don't show up as categories on the phone app3. The 'you don't need to sync' message feels very silly. if there's never any occasion for that, why have the button? is that a full sync from the server? if so, why not have it say "would you like to conduct a full sync from server"? etc.4. deleting a note online doesn't seem to be deleting it on the phone (?)Anyway, thanks, this is going to be a cool update!

  17. I second the request for the old icon. Loved it! The new one… not so much.Other than that, a great update!

  18. Hello,I'm a new convert to Simplenote. I downloaded ResophNotes and converted a bunch of text files to Simplenotes. Anyone know if there's a quick way to convert notes created in the iPhone's default "Notes" tool to Simplenotes, aside from individually e-mailing them? I've got over 300 I'd like to convert…

  19. To convert your iPhone notes into SimpleNote, one way is the following: synch your notes with Outlook, then in Outlook from the File pulldown select Import and Export and follow wizard to export your Notes to a CSV. Then Import that CSV direclty into ResophNotes or whatever desktop SimpleNote companion app you are using and synch with SimpleNote on your iPhone. Perhaps a little roundabout, but this approach worked for me.

  20. Love the new update, and the new look ( even the icon 🙂 ). Couple of things I've noticed:- New web app doesn't appear to render properly in IE7- After clicking Done in the tag dialog ( iPad ), the tags are comma separated. Select another note, and then click back to the original note. The commas have gone, giving the impression of a single tag. Click in the tag field again, then Done, commas return.Again, fab update…..

  21. It is an amazing release, I love it! I'd like to see some way to viewing all the notes that have no tags. Now that we have them, I want to go and add tags to all my notes, but I find I need to wade through them all one by one to find those I haven't yet tagged. Not really a Big Deal, but it would be nice for quickly going back to those remaining to be tagged. Anyway, excellent tool.

  22. The new icon is just A** UGLY! Seriously, just total crap. Like the Pepsi logo (as already pointed out by earlier comment), but smaller, out of proportion, and not really all that "S" like anyway. Was so happy to have the old icon as one of only 4 apps on my homescreen, but it's like an icepick to the eye each time I've looked today.Cool update otherwise!

  23. Nth-ing the request for the old icon – or at least a nicer-looking one. The new one's neither informative nor aesthetically appealing.

  24. Another vote to bring back the old notepad icon. If you want to use the new logo perhaps you could combine the two somehow?

  25. I think some ppl are overreacting but yes, the new icon does leave much to be desired. Perhaps a notepad icon with the blue Pepsi logo on it would work for everyone. One new feature that I think we can all love is the search function that attempts to highlight the sought-for text. Great idea. However on my iPhone 4 it doesn't work; the text appears highlighted in a spot in the note where it doesn't actually appear! (When I click to edit, the "ghost" text disappears.)

  26. Also, credit where credit's due: I love that autolinks are now compatible with "click here to type here" (instead of scrolling all the way to the bottom).

  27. @Yakov HadashActually, Dropbox sync via NV is unsatisfactory. First, I would like notes synced to Dropbox immediately, not just whenever I launch NV. I create notes in SimpleNote on the go, so it might be a while before they're synced to Dropbox via a third-party tool.Second, NV doesn't work well when more than one computer running NV is set to use Dropbox as a sync. In fact, it specifically warns you against doing this, and you can easily run into serious syncing problems if you try to use NV with Dropbox on more than one computer.I'd like SN to save directly to Dropbox, and then tell NV to just get its notes from there. More likely I'd just use a regular text editor.Until SN has true Dropbox support, I've reluctantly switched to Elements.

  28. I am already a premium user and would have no problem paying €9.99 to renew when my time is up.But please change the iPhone icon. I found it much easier to locate simplenote when it was like a little notpad. Maybe consider a cross between the new icon and the old.

  29. Ouch. I'm sad and disappointed. I loved the simplicity of the original. It had such a lightweight feel to it and absolutely nothing intimidating about it at all. Now, with the new features it feels bloated and all the extra buttons at the bottom are a distraction. Can I please go back?

  30. And just to add to my comments above:I'd have liked to see performance improvements. As it is, the app starts visibly slowing down on very long notes. You should have just polished the existing features to a mirror shine. Instead …

  31. I figured out why I had to log in every time I changed the settings — it's because of your ridiculous placement if the "log out" button where "back" usually lives. Log out should be a big red button at the bottom of the settings menu, not at the top left. More seriously — when I tried to load a very long note the app hung and wouldn't load even after a hard reboot of the phone. The only fix I could find was to download the app again. The old version did not have this problem.

  32. On iPhone app, when selecting the timeline to go back to a previous version, the ability to return to the list of all notes is lost. Not only can I not get back to the home state, I don't even see the history of the current note.As a new user, I like the app, despite it's fairly buggy implementation.

  33. When searching, the bottom bar becomes a way to navigate for the phrase in question within the note. Cool. But after canceling the search, the search bar remains on the bottom next time I check into a note. Not so cool.

  34. Loving Simplenote, especially in tandem with the iPhone app and ResophNotes (free, Windows). FYI, RN adds some fantastic features which would be great to see in the iPhone (and web) app:- Markdown display of annotated text- Simple wiki: optionally convert text between [brackets] to clockable links to other note titles!

  35. The addition of tags was a quantum leap forward, but there is (I think) an easier way to categorize notes by leveraging searches. Many folks already included pseudo-tags in their note titles before the actual tags existed, then searched on those "tags".How about "saved searches" (see MIT's "list.it" Firefox extension)?, with another dropdown next to the tag dropdown (web view at least) that presents a list of recent or saved search phrases? On the iPhone, these saved searches could be presented in the same list as the tags.This would remove one very repetitive step from the search process, and also the manual addition of tags in a different GUI field in the web view (not sure how to add tags to a note on the iPhone!) Anything I can type inline is far quicker and in line with the original Simplenote philosophy

  36. One more request among the dozens: user-sortable notes. iPhone UI has a great drag-and-drop list widget, would be great to use it (and even have the option to have D&D enabled all the time, e.g. like the Doris app)

  37. @Rob: I do this using BASIC-style line numbers and alpha sort. Not perfect but it works…

  38. How to use Simplenote as your "GTD homepage":Using URL schemes, you can have access to all the built-in and third-party URL launchers that iOS handles in most text fields. Simplenote will make clickable not just standard http: URLs, but also any other special URL or formatted text that iOS recognizes in mail and safari. You can essentially create a "Home" note and pin it to the top, to:- Call a phone number (e.g. a 10 digit text string)- Create an event in your calendar (date with optional time, e.g. 8/24/2010 8:34pm Get milk)- Kick off an SMS (no subject though)- Compose an email, with subject and initial body filled in- Open facebook (try fb://profile ) if you have it installedetc.A list of various URL schemes (both built-in and registered third-party apps):http://applookup.com/More detail (e.g. Facebook), but harder to read:http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes

  39. Thanks everyone for your bug reports, feature requests, and comments. We'll be releasing regular updates to fix the current issues, and processing everyone's feedback to decide next steps.Top priority is bug fixes right now.

  40. Loved it before. Love it even more now. This is the note pad app I've have been waiting for. Seamlessly sync'd without any of the Evernote bullshit. Keep up the great work.

  41. Now it's got tags I can finally move over from Evernote. Any idea when the PC/Mac apps will start supporting these new tags? I can't move over until this happens. How the heck do people manage without tagging their notes anyway?

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