Why do I have an Evernote exb file on my PC?

[PhilE 0]

I was looking to free up memory on my PC and found that there was a 3GB xxxx.exb file on my hard drive. I thought that all my Evernote account data would be just online & not local. Can I just delete it and rely on Evernote? Can I have this duplicate generated in my DropBox files?

My concern is that, as I put more and more into Evernote, this will become a serious local problem.

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, PhilE said:

 I thought that all my Evernote account data would be just online & not local. 

The master version of your data is stored in the cloud on the Evernote servers,
however the Windows/Mac platforms also maintain a copy of your data on the device.  
This is the xxx.exb file you're seeing.

>>Can I just delete it and rely on Evernote?  ... My concern is that, as I put more and more into Evernote, this will become a serious local problem.

 No, you can not delete the xxx.exb file
Evernote/Windows users can select a Demand sync option so a full copy is not maintained.

The mobile platforms (IOS/Android) have a Selective sync option; only selected notebooks are maintained on the device.

The web platform (www.evernote.com) is completely cloud storage; no data is stored on the device.

[s2sailor 2,180]

1 hour ago, PhilE said:

Can I just delete it and rely on Evernote?

To follow up on @DTLow's comment, you cannot delete it if you want to continue to use the Window's Evernote client.  If you are content in just using the web version, and don't need the functions available in the desktop client, and you have no local notebooks stored on your PC, then you can remove the client and the .exb file and just use the web version.

If you want to stay with the desktop client, then the on-demand sync, available on Windows, is a good option to minimize what gets stored locally and will reduce the size of your .exb file. 

[CalS 5,280]

FYI, On Demand Sync does shrink the footprint of the EXB file on your PC.  The trade offs are slower searches and not being able to create backups of your data.

[dconnet 529]

5 hours ago, PhilE said:

Can I have this duplicate generated in my DropBox files?

Do not move the exb file to DropBox (or any other syncing service). You will corrupt it. (Ok, maybe not. But Vegas wouldn't take betting odds on that.)

[EdH 1,670]

5 hours ago, PhilE said:

I was looking to free up memory on my PC and found that there was a 3GB xxxx.exb file on my hard drive. I thought that all my Evernote account data would be just online & not local. Can I just delete it and rely on Evernote? Can I have this duplicate generated in my DropBox files?

My concern is that, as I put more and more into Evernote, this will become a serious local problem.

Enable "Sync on Demand".

The way to really clean it up is:

1. Log off of Evernote.
2. Delete the .exb file. (be sure 100% of your content has sync'd and you have no local only notebooks, which it sounds like you don't)
3. Log into the client.
4. Enable Sync on Demand in the settings.

My 8-9GB of data in my Evernote account is only taking up about 200MB locally. That will grow as I select or add notes, but will eventually find a balance as old notes will be purged locally but remain available in my account, and will download again if I open them on my PC.

[jefito 5,589]

1 hour ago, dconnet said:

Do not move the exb file to DropBox (or any other syncing service). You will corrupt it. (Ok, maybe not. But Vegas wouldn't take betting odds on that.)

You'll certainly increase your internet usage:

1. Add a new note; it's saved to your local .exb database...
2. ...and also synced up to the Evernote service
3. But hey, now your .exb database is out of date with the Dropbox, so it needs to be updated on the Dropbox servers...
4. ...so Dropbox does its thing on a 3GB file. Now they claim to be smart about it (https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-uploads/upload-entire-file), but the changes to the .exb might occur in many different locations of the file. And how often does it need to sync? If you're making a lot of changes to your local database, that might really churn Dropbox's usage.

Then again, there's this: https://support.geneious.com/hc/en-us/articles/227532988-Can-I-use-a-program-like-DropBox-to-store-my-database-on-

Recommendation: try On-demand Sync if you are suffering from Evernote slowdown or severe lack of disk space (you didn't mention that either of these issues were present in your case). Otherwise, don't bother.