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(Archived) Where is the Evernote data on my PC?


LarryFr

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Hi all...I'm brand new to Evernote. Been tooling around with it for 2 days now. I'm not computer illiterate, but I cannot seem to figure out or find out the following:

- is my Everynote data (notes, clips, etc) stored exclusively in the cloud, or is there a copy on my PC?

- if it's on my PC, where is it? I've checked all the usual places (roaming, local, etc etc) and there's nothing there

I've done quite a few Google searches to try to get to the bottom of this. Most of the information does not seem to apply to the version I'm using. For instance, people talk about being able to set a particular notebook to local/offline. I see no commands or options anywhere in Evernote to do that.

It is quite important to me to know that my data is backed up not only in the cloud but on my own physical machine. So if anyone can shed light on where the data is, how you access it, and where the commands are to define one notebook as cloud and another as offline/private/local, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

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  • Level 5

Hi Griffith,

welcome to the forum.

All your data (stacks, notebooks, notes) is stored in one single database on your PC. The filename is: username.exb.

You can see the location of your .exb file by going to:

Tools >> Options >> General

When you create a new notebook you decide if it is synchronized (to the cloud) or local. Local notebooks don't get synchronized to the cloud.

Wern

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Hi Wern

Thanks for the reply. But... this is precisely the challenge I am having with Evernote. I searched my computer from the desktop down and it did not find a file called username.exb. And I have looked over every inch of the Evernote application and cannot find Tools -> Options -> General. Put simply, I cannot find "Tools" so I can't even begin that process.

The only tabs I see are "Trunk, Increase Upload Allowance, Gift" on the upper left, and "Settings, Help, Create Sponsored Group, Logout" in the upper right. I have to ask, where is the menu to do all the stuff, such as setting local vs cloud?

I've clicked on what I think is every link on the screen and none of them offers a way to define local vs. cloud.

Thanks,

Griffith

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  • Level 5

Griffith,

you are looking at the WEB VERSION of EN.

To follow the instructions above you need to download the EN client (for WIN or Mac) to your PC and install it.

You can download it here.

After you installed EN and log in with your password you will see your notes and the screen as described above.

Wern

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Awesome. Thanks, Wern. I thought I was going insane. Now it makes sense. Didn't know/realize Evernote was a client app. Thought it was just something you use in Chrome. Cool.

Griffith

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  • 7 months later...
  • Level 5*

If I install the EN client on my PC, can my notes/data remain in the cloud? I use a work laptop that I'd like to use the EN client on but I don't want to store my notes on this PC.

Nope. The Windows desktop version of Evernote syncs all notes from the cloud to your PC (some notes don't live in the cloud, i.e. if you have local notebooks, which are by definition not synced to the cloud).
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  • 2 months later...

I've got a related question. I just deleted the wrong notebook, didn't notice it until it was too late and it had propagated through all our machines but one iPad. So it's gone.

 

But I have an old backup drive for my PC at an out-of-state place where I am going this summer. I think this backup drive may include my username.exb file found through Tools >> Options >> General. One problem is, it will be about two years old, but better than nothing. Along with everyone else, I had to change my password for Evernote recently. Does the old username.exb file from my PC have password protection? Or can I open it with the current Evernote program by going offline, changing the location of the .exb file to that on the old backup, exporting the missing notebook as notebk.enex, then going back to the current files and importing notebk.enex? Is Evernote going to allow me to substitute .exb files back and forth?

 

If none of this works, does the iPad  offer any opportunities to salvage the files? As far as I can tell, there are only headers stored in the iPad itself. Obviously, I can't open Evernote on it without being off the web, or else everything will be blown out.

 

If anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful. Thanks!

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[snip]... Or can I open it with the current Evernote program by going offline, changing the location of the .exb file to that on the old backup, exporting the missing notebook as notebk.enex, then going back to the current files and importing notebk.enex? ... [snip]

 

Hi @johnisland, I think your proposed plan of attack (quoted above) will probably work.  I can't answer your query regarding whether the password is verified against the EN servers or when opening the exb, but I presume you remember both to try!  I would recommend doing a backup of your current exb prior to starting, in case things go horribly wrong, and conducting the whole process offline (turn off 'synchronize automatically' in Options/Sync) to preserve your online master database until you are happy the process was successful.

 

Good luck!

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  • 2 months later...

I gathered from this thread that the username.exb file is THE date file for your notes.  But it lives in a directory of files. In a calamity, if I wanted to restore the old database, would I only need the .exb file? I see another directory called attachments.  Would that be required for the Evernote note attachments that I have? Thanks.

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I gathered from this thread that the username.exb file is THE date file for your notes.  But it lives in a directory of files. In a calamity, if I wanted to restore the old database, would I only need the .exb file? I see another directory called attachments.  Would that be required for the Evernote note attachments that I have? Thanks.

The .exb file contains all of your note content, including attachments.

The Attachments directory contains files that have been opened for editing from within Evernote -- basically, when you open an attachment like that, Evernote copies the attachment data from the note into a file in the Attachments directory, and calls up the program that handles that attachment type, and points it at that file. Theoretically, when you save, it's to that file; Evernote should notice this, and reload the modified copy back into your note, bu ***** doesn't always work so smoothly. Sometimes a user will forget that they're editing an attachment, and close out Evernote before they are done editing, leaving behind an orphaned file. Or sometime the handover between the editing program and Evernote doesn't quite happen perfectly, and an attachment doesn't get deleted properly. In any case, you shouldn't need contents of the Attachments directory.

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I gathered from this thread that the username.exb file is THE date file for your notes.  But it lives in a directory of files. In a calamity, if I wanted to restore the old database, would I only need the .exb file? I see another directory called attachments.  Would that be required for the Evernote note attachments that I have? Thanks.

The .exb file contains all of your note content, including attachments.

The Attachments directory contains files that have been opened for editing from within Evernote -- basically, when you open an attachment like that, Evernote copies the attachment data from the note into a file in the Attachments directory, and calls up the program that handles that attachment type, and points it at that file. Theoretically, when you save, it's to that file; Evernote should notice this, and reload the modified copy back into your note, bu ***** doesn't always work so smoothly. Sometimes a user will forget that they're editing an attachment, and close out Evernote before they are done editing, leaving behind an orphaned file. Or sometime the handover between the editing program and Evernote doesn't quite happen perfectly, and an attachment doesn't get deleted properly. In any case, you shouldn't need contents of the Attachments directory.

 

 

...and the other files (username.activitylog, username.snippets, .accounts, .sessiondata etc.) will be regenerated automatically once you restore username.exb and run Evernote.

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