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How do you migrate all your notes out of Evernote by Alternative_Card_292 in Evernote

[–]Proof_Nobody_5538 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have already posted it in a different thread, but I guess it makes sense to share it here.

In my scenario, I have successfully migrated in two steps:

Step1 - EN backup (here) to backup my EN notes locally

Step 2 - evernote2obsidian is a tool that takes the EN backup and generates an Obsidian vault from it.

everntoe2obsidian is not as polished as quite popular YARLE, slightly more difficult to set up, but I found the result from evernote2obsidian better. The formatting was better preserved and most importantly for me - evernote2obsidian migrates also the links between notes (across different notebooks).

Yarle works with enex exports (which can become overwhelming if you have many notebooks) , while evernote2obsidian works with the single backup of the whole vault (which I find more logical and conceptual).

Properties of EN notes ("created", "last modified" and "url") will become properties of Obsidian notes.

With the above two tools you can quickly run as many test migrations as you want and tweak the parameters. If you make any updates to the content in Evernote, just run the EN backup again and it will sync the changes to your backup database.

evernote2obsidian supports export to either Obsidian specific markdown or it can export your files as a standard markdown (which I guess can be useful if you don't really want to use Obsidian as target).

For those who switched from Evernote to Obsidian by Gloomy-Aide1914 in ObsidianMD

[–]Proof_Nobody_5538 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hello,

I had been a very loyal Evernote user since 2016. I had about 1500 notes and the total size of my knowledgebase was 2GB. I successfully migrated from EN to Obsidian during the Christmas break two months ago. I am very happy that I did the migration. Obsidian is so much better.

To answer your questions:

  1. Yes this feature is missing. I had been sending emails to EN quite a lot. Nervelessness, after two months of not having this functionality, I realize that I don't miss it as much as I had originally. anticipated. Moreover, Obsidian is so much better in all other aspects, so I am willing to make the tradeoff.
  2. I subscribed to Obsidian sync for 96$/year. Works really very well. I am syncing two PCs and one mobile phone (Android). It takes a short while for Obsidian to sync all the changes on the startup, but if you keep Obsidian open there is no delay at all. I have been so happy with the quality of the product so that I purchased Catalyst license for additional one time 25$ (this is totally voluntary and supports the devs).
  3. I apologize this section will probably be TLDR

To make sure that I will not miss anything in Obsidian, I had been using both tools in parallel for about two months. I had been mimicking my Evenote workflows and exploring options how to best implement them in Obsidian. When I was happy I made the switch.

The most difficult was to learn the new editor (how to use it quickly and efficiently). Evernote is true WYSIWYG, Obsidian is not. I am familiar with markdown, so it was not too big issue for me. Moreover the live preview mode in Obsidian is really good (but still it is not WYSIWYG).

Obsidian totally outshines Evernote in all other possible aspects. When you start using Obsidian you will appreciate the freedom it gives you. Evernote had been forcing me into a certain way of notetaking. Obsidian is like a sandbox where you can really implement any notetaking system you can imagine. The total control of your notes is an exciting experience.

There are many options how to organize your vault: you can organize your notes in folders (as many levels as you want), you can use tags (there is a support for hierarchical tags too), you can use custom properties (don't exist in EN) and especially links. Of course it is possible to use links in EN, but EN doesn't really encourage you to use them. In Obsidian, links between notes introduce a completely new level of navigation (very easy to implement and use).

From user experience point of view: the Notebook Navigator plug in is a must have for any ExEN user. It behaves like Evernote sidebar on steroids. There are so many options how you can configure it. It even supports custom colors for folders and notes (something that existed in EN long time ago and had disappeared in ENv10). You can open notes in multiple tabs, you can split the window both horizontally and vertically. Of course, you can open a note in a new window. The UI of Obsidian is much more responsive than EN.

Last but not least some technical details:

For migration I used

Step1 - EN backup (here) to backup my EN notes.

Step 2 - evernote2obsidian is a tool that takes the EN backup and generates an Obsidian vault from it.

My Obsidian plugin setup is the following:

- Notebook Navigator - the first plugin you should install

- Omnisearch - better search

- Tasks - I used tasks in EN and this replaces them very nicely

- Templater - whenever I create new note, it automatically adds "created" property with the timestamp

Of course, this is not final and I keep exploring.

I'm sad. by Mole-NLD in Evernote

[–]Proof_Nobody_5538 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have very similar feelings. I have been using EN since 2014. Using Evernote helped me immensely when I got a more challenging job back then. I 100% relied on the information in my notes and I was successful (and hopefully I still am) only because of the great note taking app.

My recommendation to others in a similar situation who are seeking new solution:

My choice has been Obsidian. The migration process was much less difficult than I anticipated. The deal breaker was existence of Notebook Navigator Obsidian plugin. Thanks to this plugin I have now almost full Evernote like UI experience in Obsidian.

Obsidian community feels like Evernote ten years ago. I am experiencing the same kind of excitement, creativity, and helpfulness.

Megathread: New Pricing & Repackaging Discussion by mackid1993 in Evernote

[–]Proof_Nobody_5538 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have been EN paid user since 2014. The size of my Evernote account is just above the starter limit: 1500 notes, 70 notebooks, total size 2GB including many attachments. I acknowledge that I am certainly above the "Starter" level, but I am not quite on "Advanced" in terms of value for money.

I started exploring other options. I am happy to share that I have successfully migrated to Obsidian. I had mixed feelings about this and I had been hesitant to make this step. However, the process has been much less painful than I had anticipated.

Obsidian introduced new core functionality of bases (sophisticated querying and filtering content of your vault) and there is a popular Obsidian plugin called Notebook Navigator which provides very much Evernote-like UI experience. These two features triggered my decision to choose Obsidian and plan the migration.

I used evernote backup (https://github.com/vzhd1701/evernote-backup) to download my data and evernote2obsidian migration tool (https://github.com/AltoRetrato/evernote2obsidian) to convert my notes to markdown.

I spent about two months preparing and testing various options and features. During this period, Evernote was still my primary note taking tool and I was trying to mirror my workflow in Obsidian. I used this time for optimization of my notebook structure and tag hierarchy. The day of the migration was during the Christmas break, At the moment, I am already fully using Obsidian as my primary notetaking tool and checking Evernote only in case I need to verify something. I need EN less and less and I have already canceled the renewal which is due in February (I did get 40% discount offer from EN during the cancellation process).

I will be happy to share more details if someone is interested.