Need help recovering lost note using backup folder

[dom4567 1]

Hello!

I'm new to the forum and I have an unfortunate problem. One of my notes seems to have gone missing. 

I'm using the windows 10 application v10.1.7

I tried following these instructions to recover my old notes: https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/208313528-Back-up-and-restore-your-data-in-Evernote-for-Windows#:~:text=All of the data kept,Evernote's servers on the web.&text=Periodically export all of your,and store that someplace secure.

I have the C:\Users\[PC Name]\Evernote folder saved from the past 30 days. I tried replacing the C:\Users\[PC Name]\Evernote\Databases/ directory using one of my backups but it didn't seem to change anything, so I tried replacing the entire C:\Users\[PC Name]\Evernote folder, but when I opened the evernote application, all of my recent notes still seemed to appear, and my missing note wasn't there. 

I made sure to cut the internet connection before I tried this so that the notes didn't sync up to date so that can't be the problem. 

I'm thinking somehow the current notes are stored on my hard drive somewhere else. I even deleted the C:\Users\[PC Name]\Evernote folder and the notes were still there. 

This note that I lost is really important to me... Please help me figure out a way to access the file using my backed up folder. Thank you

 

Dominic

[PinkElephant 8,091]

@dominicpapa32@gmail.com  First remove your mail address from your forum user.

Bots are probably around, as in other public places in the internet, and search for mail addresses for spam and worse.

[DTLow 5,736]

4 hours ago, dominicpapa32@gmail.com said:

Please help me figure out a way to access the file using my backed up folder.

You need to restore your .exb file from the backups
Also, make sure you've disabled syncing or go offline 

edit: This is a pre version 10 solution, restoring pre v10 backups     
         You need to install the Evernote legacy app to use  the .exb file

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Concerning your data loss: It clearly says in the initial Paragraph of the help document that it describes the old, now „legacy“ client for Windows. You can NOT use it on a v10-client, like the one you are using.

The new EN client uses a doc-in-folder structure for its local data base. For each note there is a folder, inside of the folder is the notes text and any attachments as independent files. So locate the new data base, locate the note, and maybe you can extract something from it. It is NOT in the place described for the legacy version.

Can‘t look it up myself, currently on iPad, and the PC is down for the night.

Another possibility- this I would do first - is to check whether the note has synced to the EN server yet. To do this, use the EN web client and try to find the note there. If you can locate it, maybe the local data base got corrupted somehow.

[dom4567 1]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

The new EN client uses a doc-in-folder structure for its local data base. For each note there is a folder, inside of the folder is the notes text and any attachments as independent files. So locate the new data base, locate the note, and maybe you can extract something from it. It is NOT in the place described for the legacy version.

Are you sure this exists? 

This link says local notebooks are no longer supported as of evernote 10 and I couldn't seem to find any. https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360047889234

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Concerning your data loss: It clearly says in the initial Paragraph of the help document that it describes the old, now „legacy“ client for Windows. You can NOT use it on a v10-client, like the one you are using.

You're right   
The Legacy version would have to be installed before restoring the .exb file

[dom4567 1]

1 minute ago, DTLow said:

You're right   
The Legacy version would have to be installed before restoring the .exb file

Funny enough I actually just tried that, with no luck. I installed the legacy version and had to do an original sync to get it up and running. Then I disabled my internet connection and replaced the .exb file, no luck. The entire databases folder, no luck. The entire evernote folder, no luck. It the application still had all my notes up to date when opened even with syncing disabled for extra precaution. 

[dom4567 1]

I have my entire hard drive backed up from the past 30 days. What I'm afraid of is that after v10 only temporary files were stored from evernote making my backups useless. 

[PinkElephant 8,091]

Well, what was created using v10 did go to the local data base of v10. This exists, but does not contain local notebooks, because that feature is not supported any longer. The local data of v10 is entirely server synced, and is not the same as the data base maintained by the legacy client.

So either were your formerly local notebooks made non-local (= serversynced) without you knowing about it, or they simply do not exist with v10. A look into the web client can answer this - what you find there is what has reached the server.

When the backup goes back before you installed v10, there should be a copy of your former EN data in there. You should be able to open it by installing the legacy client and use it to access the copy in the backup (maybe after a restore of the backup, depends on the backup program).

Since I do not run a v10 on my desktops (PC and Mac) I can’t follow up on this. I would keep the backup, and try with support. Try to get to 2nd level, 1st level will probably not be able to help you through this. You will need some patience, the work down a queue.

[dom4567 1]

41 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

So either were your formerly local notebooks made non-local (= serversynced) without you knowing about it, or they simply do not exist with v10. A look into the web client can answer this - what you find there is what has reached the server.

When the backup goes back before you installed v10, there should be a copy of your former EN data in there. You should be able to open it by installing the legacy client and use it to access the copy in the backup (maybe after a restore of the backup, depends on the backup program).

The note is not on the web client. I also don't have a backup from before v10. I mainly used the web client and ios apps until this year. I don't even know if I had it installed on windows before v10. Is there any hope in this case? 

[gazumped 11,658]

Hi.  Check your local storage and backups for an *.exb file.  Windows saves all synced and non-synced notes in the same database.  If you were to reinstall the Legacy version it would download another exb file,  but this time containing only the synced files.  The others were never sent to Evernote storage. 

If you don't have an original exb file,  then I'm afraid your content is gone forever.

If you can find the exb file,  you can use the legacy app to extract your local notebook files.

[dom4567 1]

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

If you can find the exb file,  you can use the legacy app to extract your local notebook files.

I do have the .exb file from the directories folder backed up. I don’t have it from before v10 however. I tried installing legacy and replacing the .exb file that it created, with no luck. Is there another way to go about using the legacy application to extract my notes from my old .exb file?

[DTLow 5,736]

21 minutes ago, dom4567 said:

with no luck

Just confirming - you've disabled the sync process

This is not a luck thing if you really have a backup ..exb file with the note

[dom4567 1]

43 minutes ago, DTLow said:

Just confirming - you've disabled the sync process

yes, disabled sync and turned off internet connection to be extra cautious. 

notes still appeared up to date. to be clear the .exb file is in C:\Users\[PC Name]\Evernote\Databases folder

correct?

I’m thinking the reason for the lack of success is because of what PinkElephant said:

On 10/27/2020 at 8:15 PM, PinkElephant said:

Well, what was created using v10 did go to the local data base of v10. This exists, but does not contain local notebooks, because that feature is not supported any longer.

The entire history of the note on my windows computer existed in v10 I believe. 

[gazumped 11,658]

6 hours ago, dom4567 said:

The entire history of the note on my windows computer existed in v10 I believe.

You're correct in that before v10 the exb file contained all your notes.  After v10 when local notes are no longer supported however...  I don't know.  It is was possible to extract notes from an exb file a couple of years ago - see https://discussion.evernote.com/forums/topic/99531-importing-notes-from-exb/

You could (according to that in 2016) extract notes from exb into an enex file and -maybe- find your lost note there.

I'm a little confused - we now seem to be talking about a local note,  which would have to be stored in a local (unsynced) notebook.  Reading back over this thread it seems more like this should have been a synced note,  but has somehow gone missing from your database.  Either way you may get something from the exb file,  or you may not:  if not,  have you checked the account by signing in to Evernote.com?

Good luck,  and please let us know how you get on!

[dom4567 1]

7 hours ago, gazumped said:

I'm a little confused - we now seem to be talking about a local note,  which would have to be stored in a local (unsynced) notebook.  Reading back over this thread it seems more like this should have been a synced note,  but has somehow gone missing from your database.  Either way you may get something from the exb file,  or you may not:  if not,  have you checked the account by signing in to Evernote.com?

I'm sorry I worded that poorly. I meant to say the entire history of the note on my computer was accessed in v10. The application was v10. This WAS a synced note. In fact most of my editing of the note was done on the evernote web version. So yes I checked Evernote.com and it is no longer there. I figured my only hope was to see if it was stored locally since I have my hard-drive backups. If there has ever been a case where evernote has recovered lost notes from backups on their end I would definitely want to know. Or if there's any other way that isn't being thought of. 

I checked out that link and was able to use the instructions and extract notes from exb files from earlier in the month. What's strange is, the notes seemed to be up to date for the time of the backup, but the particular note I have lost still wasn't there. I could have sworn I had accessed it within the time frame of the backups that I have, but does this mean I must be mistaken? Or is there some other reason why my note would be in the exb file. 

Is there any other way for me to try to retrieve this note? is there any other place on the hard drive that notes are stored locally or ANYTHING I can do?

[gazumped 11,658]

40 minutes ago, dom4567 said:

Is there any other way for me to try to retrieve this note?

Sorry - I'm out of ideas.  It'll be a long wait,  but I'd suggest  referring this to Evernote Support to see if they can offer anything...

[dom4567 1]

will do, I’m in communication with them already about this. Thanks