Summary
Evernote has begun pushing out an update to their software for Apple Mac users. Unfortunately, the update process may create unnecessary confusion for some people. That is explained below.
Be aware that the newer version of Evernote will look dramatically different than previous versions, mostly due to the new “Home” feature that offers a dashboard interface.
In summary, if you get a message telling you that your Evernote version is no longer being updated, follow these steps to update:
- Close the pop-up Window.
- Go to the App Store and search for Evernote.
- When you find the program, you will probably notice there is not an “Open” button available, or a “Buy” button. Only a cloud icon with a downward pointing arrow. Normally you would see an update available, but in this case, the cloud icon button indicates that you’ve purchased the software but it’s not installed on your computer (even though it actually is installed).
- Click on the cloud icon to install Evernote again, this time with the latest version.
You should now have the latest version of Evernote.
For screenshots and more details continue reading.
Background and Details
The following is not necessary to read, but may be of interest to some people. I describe a few of the problems associated with the rollout of the latest Evernote update (10.8.6 for macOS).
If you have been using Evernote on a Windows computer for a while, you noticed an update to a new “Home” dashboard interface in January 2021 with the 10.6.9 version of Evernote for Windows.
You may have expected that same interface to show up on Apple computers at the same time. It didn’t.
I use Evernote daily on a variety of computers and devices. One of my main computers is an Apple Mac running macOS 11.2.2 Big Sur. I’ve been applying Evernote updates regularly as they become available through the App store.
This morning I noticed an odd pop-up message announcing that my Evernote version was no longer being updated and that a new version was available, as shown below.
I was suspicious that the notification might be fake, since a legitimate update notice would normally come through the App store as they have in the past. Also, the “Click here” request did not actually have hyperlinked text or any button to click on. The Evernote branding was missing from the message.
I noticed that scrolling down was an option, so I scrolled down which revealed an “Update Now” button as shown below.
You will notice in the image above that the lower area of the pop-up window is without any text or styling. I didn’t imagine that a company like Evernote would have created such a poorly designed notification.
There had been no notification by email or through the normal update process to indicate that a major version change would be taking place.
Because I’m a tech support consultant, part of my job is to follow through with situations like this one and determine if it’s legitimate or not. Then I notify people of my findings. So, I clicked the “Update Now” button, expecting to be sent to a malicious phishing website. There was no way to verify where the “Update Now” button would send me — unlike with email where you can hover your pointer over a link and see the link address.
The website I was sent to immediately tried to download a file to my computer. The built-in Apple security blocked the download attempt with an alert asking “Do you want to allow downloads on “evernote.com”?” as shown below.
Normally a person would be sent to a landing page with some information about an update and how to download and install it. In this case, the immediate download of a file was unexpected. In fact, usually an “Update Now” button would begin a software update that doesn’t require leaving the software.
I double-checked the website URL, but still being suspicious of the process, and having already purchased the software through the App store, I clicked the Cancel button and went to the App store to see if an update or newer version was available.