idoc 413 Posted January 6, 2018 Share Posted January 6, 2018 There are many threads here regarding the limitations of Evernote export data. The data is usually enex, exb or html files which is not how the rest of us want to see our data. I have discovered an alternative method which may be helpful to some people. This involves using a service called HQ Cloud which (for a fee) allows you to migrate your data from the Evernote Cloud into another cloud eg: Google Drive. The nice thing about doing this is that the data comes out on Google Drive in an alternative format than exporting directly from Evernote. For example, if you had a note in Evernote which included a text sentence eg: "here is a nice article", and then a pdf version of the article...Evernote html export would export it in a way in which if you clicked on the exported note it would open up an html browser which allow you to see the text and the pdf file. This could be OK but it doesn't allow much data aggregation, manipulation, searching etc. HQ Cloud, on the other hand, can migrate your entire set of files into whatever folders you specify in Google Drive. I combine this a google drive extension called "Search within folder" which allows you to search for key terms within an entire folder. Therefore, I can migrate thousands of files from Evernote folders into Google Drive folders and then conduct specific searches for key terms directly in the Google drive folder (thus bypassing Evernote entirely). I should mention that I rarely need to have this type of functionality but it's nice to know that there is an alternative if I ever need one. On the other hand, one can easily visualize that there may be other useful ways that one can export data from Evernote and then aggregate and search within Google Drive. Just food for thought. Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,749 Posted January 6, 2018 Level 5* Share Posted January 6, 2018 18 hours ago, idoc said: Evernote html export would export it in a way in which if you clicked on the exported note it would open up an html browser which allow you to see the text and the pdf file. I'm familiar with Evernote's html export; I use it for my backups Can you confirm how CloudHQ handles the exported note and attachments. I understand the note content is converted to a pdf file; clicking on the exported note will open a pdf reader which allows you to see the text. Will there be a link to the pdf file and other attachments? Will the exported notes include Tags assignment? I'm not willing to give up this organization method I understand CloudHQ has a Word option for the export format. This would allow the notes to remain editable >>it doesn't allow much data aggregation, manipulation, searching etc. Can you explain how this works better in pdf format, and exported from Evernote? Link to comment
idoc 413 Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 I have just started playing with this recently so I'm not really an authority; however, I have noticed some problems with the migration. For example, Cloud HQ does a very nice job of migrating the notes from EN to GDrive. It does this by making the note into a pdf file in which you can see all the text and images of the note. It also lists the tags and other identifying information in that pdf note that it creates. However, if the original note contained files (pdf, doc, excels) then Cloud HQ indicates on the original note that it has downloaded those files but they are contained in a seperate note of the same name. And yes, if you go to that second note you can click directly on any of those files and open them. Link to comment
Level 5* gazumped 12,147 Posted January 7, 2018 Level 5* Share Posted January 7, 2018 Hi. Not sure what kind of 'big data' analysis you're looking for here, but broadly Evernote isn't the tool you're looking for if your main wish is to collate data and then manipulate it outside the app. I guess it would be possible to design a template to capture information for specific purposes, but outputting 100 notes into PDF or any other format isn't going to be a productive way to analyse it. There are other alternatives to extract data, including to PDF - https://www.exportnote.com/ (currently catching up with Evernote's latest versions); to other formats - like maps: https://carto.com/ or https://www.moh.io/mohiomap/welcome/ - a 'heat map' of various activity and tags. There's also http://blog.trello.com/trello_evernote_integration/ and http://www.carddesk.net/ for sorting and sharing data, not to mention the recent Slack integration for collaboration. Worst case, you can view information in the database in the database in Windows - it's a standard SQL format. Use a copy of your database to play though, you really really REALLY don't want to mess with the active file. But structured data analysis requires that you have some general idea how you're going to process raw information, and collect it in such a way as to support your processing of it. If that means starting in Evernote based on its current features, then that's fine. If you need something more, or different, your due diligence task for the day is "find the best way to...." Link to comment
idoc 413 Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 I think my main reason for looking at alternative ways to store EN information is for reasons of safety. At this point, my entire personal and business life is on Evernote. I use scanners at both home and work and have literally scanned every possible piece of information into EN. Any problem with EN would be simply catastrophic. I have experimented with various methods of backing up EN above and beyond simply backing up the exb and other export formats and have not been entirely satisfied with any one of them. By the way, I also routinely back up all my attachments from the "Add to Evernote" folders on my various computers. In terms of data mining my needs are not that great. For example, my business generates thousands of pdf files a year which represent bills, invoices etc on various clients. These are stored in EN by month (every note represents the scanned pdf's for the month). There are many occasions when we need to find information on a client but are not sure what month (ie:which note) it would be in. In situations such as these I can copy all the pdf attachments to a seperate windows folder, concatenate them and then conduct a general search. For example, by combining all of the pdf's from Jan-Dec 2017 (using Acrobat) I can now search within the entire year. The Cloud HQ to GDrive software allows me to conduct searches such as this without as much preparation. So for fairly simple stuff such as I've indicated there may be some advantages to having one's evernote data in Gdrive. Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,749 Posted January 7, 2018 Level 5* Share Posted January 7, 2018 33 minutes ago, idoc said: I think my main reason for looking at alternative ways to store EN information is for reasons of safety. Having a backup is a good idea; and having a functional datastore is even better. I definitely see the benefits of using the cloudHQ service this is a backup for your Evernote data; current data is exported, and future changes are sync'd it runs in the cloud, in real time various format options are offered; html, pdf, word For my backups, I'm using Apple iCloud instead of Google Gdrive; I'm just using the Evernote Export/html feature I'm an Apple user and I have the storage space available I don't want to pay the cloudHQ fees I can do searches in my backups; but for the most part I use Evernote's search feature Link to comment
ruudhein 29 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 1 hour ago, idoc said: I think my main reason for looking at alternative ways to store EN information is for reasons of safety. I have a BAT file that does a copy of my Evernote database to Dropbox. I have the archiving subscription there so I can go back 1 year in files, if needed. Because it feels like an Evernote program and imports ENEX, I also regularly import ENEX into Nimbus Notes. The Windows version lacks behind the web version where it comes to features but it does the job in making me feel like, yes, I have my data 100% searchable, ready to go if anything would happen. I have CloudHQ running as well but I'm not a happy camper where it comes to search in Google Drive; for some reason it's still not possible to limit your search to a specific folder (and its subfolders). I tried ENEX to OneNote but.....that is not doable. The output...eh...not really my thing but I can work with it. But the time a reasonable batch of notes takes is beyond ridiculous. Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,749 Posted January 7, 2018 Level 5* Share Posted January 7, 2018 58 minutes ago, ruudhein said: I have a BAT file that does a copy of my Evernote database to Dropbox. I have the archiving subscription there so I can go back 1 year in files, if needed. I'm thinking it's a difficult process to recover data using your database backup For example, data lost in a note sometime in the last 6 months Can you outline how you would use your backup data for recovery. @idoc would display the note (pdf) on GDrive. I would display the note (html) on iCloud Link to comment
ruudhein 29 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 21 minutes ago, DTLow said: Can you outline how you would use your backup data for recovery. My database copy is my preferred backup as it will restore Evernote to how it was: notebooks, internal links, etc. Everything is as it was. I also export data but that has the drawback that an eventual import will lose some metadata I'd like to have: creation date, tags, internal links, etc. How recovery goes depends on what is damaged/missing how bad. If online something has gone terribly wrong for whatever reason and my account is swiped, I simply restore my most recent full copy of my database. But let's say I need one or more specific notes from the database: I grab one of my copies from my database. I can go back 1 year. Set Evernote to not sync or simply disconnect computer (airplane mode, toggle wifi, unplug cable, whatever) Close/Exit Evernote Move current database files to a temp location Move backed up database into the Evernote database location Open Evernote: it opens with the database I just put in place Find the note(s) I need Export Close/Exit Evernote Put original database back in place Import Described it's a longer process but it's all relatively fast and straightforward. My Nimbus backup (more of my "if ever anything would happen to evernote itself" exit option): Open Nimbus Search for note Export Import as HTML + file attachment into Evernote (or copy & paste) Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,749 Posted January 7, 2018 Level 5* Share Posted January 7, 2018 2 hours ago, ruudhein said: I also export data but that has the drawback that an eventual import will lose some metadata That's my experience as well (export/import will lose some metadata) I would not use import for a single note recovery. I copy/paste selected data from the backup note Link to comment
ruudhein 29 Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 By the way, just came across https://www.bitrecover.com/evernote/converter/ during an unrelated search (looking for something that converts email to enex) Looks interested. Adding it to my Brain Link to comment
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