import notes from old Evernote version 2

[Gleb1414 0]

I have a computer that is running Evernote version 2.2.1.386 for many years and I have about 40,000 records. The problem is that this evernote exports the notes in .enx format (which is different from .enex) and I need to convert it to .enex somehow. My actual intention is to import those notes to program called Joplin, but it only takes .enex. 

[gazumped 12,077]

Hi.  That version is 15+ years old and there's no conversion available that I'm aware of.  You may be able to find something via an online search for your OS and Evernote v2,  and you may be able to update through older versions - v2 to v5,  v5 to v6,  and then to v10 if you wish.  (v6 would output to ENEX though.)

I'd also suggest you look at what other export options you have - if you can save to HTML or PDF,  Joplin might be able to work with that.

Some sites have older versions of the software - see https://filehippo.com/download_evernote/history/ and scroll down (a lot).  If you search the internet you'll probably turn up previous hits from the forums here,  but most of the links in those posts no longer work because individuals left Evernote,  and the company recently changed hands.

[PinkElephant 8,841]

The rule of thumb is that any formats will be supported including the next version. So maybe you can handle the conversion if you find a release of version 3.

The other option is to export your ENX, and then pay a freelancer to write a converter to ENEX. I doubt it takes more than rearranging a few bits and bytes. There are platforms where you can place such a project.

In general you just have proved why it is a bad idea to stay behind with upgrading your software.

[Gleb1414 0]

Thank you for your answers. I found a way to convert evernote version 2 notes to .enex here:

@kvitekp THANK YOU!!!

[kvitekp 299]

Glad you found a solution!

Just for the record -- there are some useful Evernote 2 and 3 tools and releases saved here: https://www.kvitek.com/en/

As far as I remember, Evernote 3 could import Evernote 2 stuff directly, and also supported export to .enex

Best,

/Peter

[gazumped 12,077]

@kvitekp Thanks for the link Peter!  It's good to hear from you again.  I assume that your avatar here is a little out of date though - surely that "Evernote Employee" tag no longer  applies... I seem to remember you left the company a few years ago now!  

[kvitekp 299]

@gazumped Glad to see you too! That's correct, I departed Evernote back in 2017. Probably those early employees are now "forever guilty" and are marked as such

Anyway, I'm determined to do my best to ensure that all users who trusted Evernote their data back then will be able to retrieve it.

[becsdrm 0]

@kvitekp  Thanks for the program! I am having trouble running it, however. I downloaded and unzipped your file, and I was wanting to use only the ENExport.exe utility to convert my existing .exb database into .enex. (I can't export in the legacy 6.x app because it won't let me sign in to my account anymore.)

Anyway, the ENExport.exe program won't run on my computer. It flashes for a brief moment like it is trying to open, but then disappears. I have Windows 10 Pro. I also tried to run it as an administrator but the same thing happened. Any advice on how to run/open the program successfully?

Thanks so much!

[kvitekp 299]

2 hours ago, becsdrm said:

Anyway, the ENExport.exe program won't run on my computer. It flashes for a brief moment like it is trying to open, but then disappears. I have Windows 10 Pro. I also tried to run it as an administrator but the same thing happened. Any advice on how to run/open the program successfully?

Please try running it from a command prompt window and check what it says. ENExport needs a database file path specified as a command line parameter. Without that it will display short help and quit... this is probably what you're seeing when starting ENExport from Windows Explorer. 

Here's an example:
ENExport C:\Users\<your user name>\Evernote\Databases><en-user-name>.exb

Here are ENExport parameters:

[becsdrm 0]

12 hours ago, kvitekp said:

Here's an example:
ENExport C:\Users\<your user name>\Evernote\Databases><en-user-name>.exb

@kvitekp I'm not very familiar with how to use the command prompt window, but below is a screenshot of my attempt. I have the unzipped EN2Export folder directly in the C drive, so I did the cd command to change to that folder, and then put the database path and hit enter. I know there is something I'm not doing right or understanding correctly. Thanks so much for babysitting me through this.

[kvitekp 299]

1 hour ago, becsdrm said:

I know there is something I'm not doing right or understanding correctly.

In my example above the character '>' after \Databases should be replaced with a backslash! Sorry for the typo.

Your command line should look like this:
ENExport C:\Users\becsd\Evernote\Databases\becsdrm.exb

[becsdrm 0]

@kvitekp That worked! Thank you! The process took only about 3 minutes. The resulting file is called becsdrm.exb.enex. I am planning on importing that to another app, Joplin probably. Any tips on that?

(For context for anyone else that reads this thread, all I'm trying to do is retrieve my notes that were not sync'd after March 23rd since I was no longer able to sign in to my account on version 6.x. So I'm using Joplin for temporary access to copy a couple of month's worth of notes back into Evernote 10. Continuing to use the 6.x version after it stopped syncing and procrastinating using v.10 caused me to search for and find this gem of a program.)

[kvitekp 299]

2 hours ago, becsdrm said:

That worked! Thank you! The process took only about 3 minutes.

Happy to help!