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How to get lost note from old phone


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Hello, I have a free version of Evernote. Recently during update of the software on my laptop I encountered a bug where I lost one of the important notes during upgrade. (The content of the note was mysteriously erased. I didn't have any backups or exports of this note. I switched my phones about a year ago so a new phone doesn't have this note either (it was immediately synced with my laptop). I logged on to my old phone, started evernote and noticed that note that I lost was still there. The problem is that I see only the beginning of the note and I can't open it. It asks me to login to my account. The question is - will I loose this note on the old phone if I connect to my account or will it override the info on my new phone? Is there any other way to save and retreat this note from my old phone?

Thanks,

Yuri 

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Hello, I have a free version of Evernote. Recently during update of the software on my laptop I encountered a bug where I lost one of the important notes during upgrade. (The content of the note was mysteriously erased. I didn't have any backups or exports of this note. I switched my phones about a year ago so a new phone doesn't have this note either (it was immediately synced with my laptop). I logged on to my old phone, started evernote and noticed that note that I lost was still there. The problem is that I see only the beginning of the note and I can't open it. It asks me to login to my account. The question is - will I loose this note on the old phone if I connect to my account or will it override the info on my new phone? Is there any other way to save and retreat this note from my old phone?

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Hi.  Notes are not normally retained on a mobile device,  they are synced to the server and saved there.  Any new device connected to the account should be able to see all the notes stored there.  If your note was not synced to the server,  it exists solely on the original 'phone,  and if you still have access maybe you could email that note to your account.  I'm not aware of any process that would split a single note from the main account,  or erase its content permanently.  Deleted notes revert to the Trash notebook and note history (if you are a subscriber) will allow you to step content back in time if necessary.

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Hi,

Just to give you some more info. I was in edit mode for this note when I ran software update for evernote. For some reason all the text in the note disappeared, but the note itself was not deleted ( so it's not in a trash). I switched to a new phone a year ago, so when I checked my old phone I cold read the few sentences of this note, but I can't send it or export it (I guess because I used a free version).  I also can see the same on the phone that I used 3 years ago. Software asked me to sign it to my account, but wouldn't it then sync it with my newer account and erase the text of my note? Can I somehow read the full text of this note on my old phone? Where is it stored on the phone and is there any way to retrieve it?

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15 minutes ago, Yuri1357 said:

I was in edit mode for this note when I ran software update for evernote.

Hmmn.  That's probably not a good idea...

If you can still see your old note (or part of it) on another phone,  I'd say the only option would be to screenshot the content and save that image to your account.  I can't begin to guess where the information might be stored,  and I'm pretty certain that there won't be anything more left to retrieve.  You could try Evernote support via https://twitter.com/evernotehelps but it's a very long shot.

 

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Thanks for trying to help me. I can just retype these couple of sentences that I can see, but this will not help me much. I'm sure there is a local database (at least for the older versions) somewhere on the phone, otherwise why I would be able to see any notes when I'm not connected to Internet? It's a pity they don't have a live technical person to talk to. Any other suggestions?

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There are several layers to this problem.

To start with, being on a Free Account you can’t connect more than 2 devices at a time, and you can’t contact support. The first issue is more important.

Second you don’t tell which phone. There is Android, there is iOS. If the old phone is 3 years old, it is for sure not the new client. But which platform ?

EN only syncs part of the database on mobile devices. Many mobile devices are short of local memory - downloading several GB of data is often not intended. If always on Free this is for sure, the download of full notebooks is a subscription feature. This means that the initial part of a note is stored, but maybe the tail of it is missing.

Third you probably have revoked access to the old phone since long. Usually you are then logged out. You can try to go to flight mode (cutting all internet connections) and open the client. If it opens, you can try to open and extract the content of your note. Select and copy it to any other application, if it allows you to do so.

If not, things get difficult …

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The note I'm talking about is stored on Android phones. I have one phone from 3-4 years ago and one from a year ago. Both of them are not connected to Internet I can see several sentences in each note ( I can also see full PDF if I click on link). I could probably drop my Windows access and add old phone, but I think I'll loose the notes that I can see on my old phone when I connect to Internet, correct?

I just don't understand how I'm able to see some content if all the data is stored on evernote servers ...

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33 minutes ago, Yuri1357 said:

Is there any way to open it

An EXB file is a Legacy Evernote database.  Be careful if you open that with Evernote while connected to the internet.  The best way to locate the note you're looking for is probably to extract the notebooks contained in that database into ENEX files that can be imported into your account individually.  You'll need to install the Legacy app for Windows if you've not already done so and wait until your existing database has been rebuilt.  Extraction should be as follows (according to Support in 2016...)

To export each notebook into a separate .enex file using the pre-v10 apps and the full database EXB file,  use the steps below:

1. Rename your old Database file to "OLDDB.EXB" (to differentiate it)
2. Sign out of Evernote: File>Sign out
3. Select: Evernote>Options>Open Database folder
4. Drag and drop your OLDDB.exb file from your desktop into your database folder.
5. Exit out of the database folder window
6. Select: Ctrl+Shift+E while viewing the login screen.
7. Select "OLDDB"

This will create a new folder on your Desktop that contains a separate .enex file for each notebook within that account. Log in to your account, and open the notebook .enex files to import them into your account.  The .enex files will preserve the existing tags on notes.

This way you can avoid corrupting your existing database and simply import the ENEX file for one notebook,  which will allow you to check for the note(s) that you specifically wish to import permanently. 

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I'll try to do what you suggested. Couple of questions:

1. would it be better if I install this 6.25 version on a different windows laptop? (if not - should I uninstall current version from my main laptop?)

2. I assume I'll have to shut down my current phone (with evernote installed) as well, correct?

3. If I after #7 I'll login on this new laptop with my current account - will it override everything from the cloud with my latest data? 

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Hi again - there's no need for a different laptop.  All you're doing is temporarily extracting the notes from an old database while offline and then going back to your current database.  Your phone shut be shut down anyway if you're using the desktop version of the app.  When you log back into the app on the desktop you should have your existing account plus one or more 'new' notes that you have imported from the old account.

It does seem a lot of work to go to for the sake of one note - you might want to contact Support (I'm just another user here) to see whether they can suggest something different,  or maybe recover your note for you.

It is also a risk.  Your current notes could overwrite the data in the old EXB file and remove any chance of recovering any old data.

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Just a word of caution: We are talking here about swapping devices / clients. But this is a Free account, entitled to only 2 devices at any time, and there are only 2 unsyncs of devices/clients allowed per month. This is not really a lot.

In any case I would plot the strategy first before starting to try in the real world. Worst case is a lock out of all working devices.

It would be much easier to subscribe for a month, which will lift the device limit.

P.S. About how one can see content if the complete file is on the EN server: EN stores enough information on mobile devices to show the notes, and make them searchable. This is only a fraction of the whole database, just some metadata, small thumbnail pictures and enough text to show the notes overview. When a note is then opened, the content is loaded from the server.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for both of you !!!!!!!!!

I did exactly what you suggested. It worked perfectly - I was able to see the note I was looking for and now I saved it in the latest version of the software.

Who needs Evernote technical customer support when there are guys like you who help the rest of the community.

Great job!

 

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