How to export all notes out of Evernote?

[AdamDouglas 7]

Due to my continually decreasing trust in Evernote and its company, I'd like to keep my own copy of my EN data.

I have ~150 notebooks and it's unfeasible to export them one by one. Is there any way to export all notes from all notebooks at once?

[PinkElephant 8,819]

https://github.com/vzhd1701/evernote-backup

BTW you ALWAYS needed to export notebook by notebook for a sound backup, no matter which version.

[AdamDouglas 7]

12 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

https://github.com/vzhd1701/evernote-backup

BTW you ALWAYS needed to export notebook by notebook for a sound backup, no matter which version.

Thanks. I see that this is a 3rd-party application that isn't developed or authorized by EN and it asks for my username and password so I'm hesitant to use it.

Maybe Evernote should provide native support to export all notes so users can own their EN data without clicking a hundred times.

[mackid1993 1,284]

3 minutes ago, AdamDouglas said:

Thanks. I see that this is a 3rd-party application that isn't developed or authorized by EN and it asks for my username and password so I'm hesitant to use it.

Maybe Evernote should provide native support to export all notes so users can own their EN data without clicking a hundred times.

It's open source, go and read the source code.

[AdamDouglas 7]

4 minutes ago, mackid1993 said:

It's open source, go and read the source code.

That’s an idiotic reply. 

First, you assume the user can read the source code. 

Secondly, even if a particular user can read the source code, you assume he wants to spend hours if not days reading through that source code just to do perform a function that EN should natively support. 

[mackid1993 1,284]

1 minute ago, AdamDouglas said:

That’s an idiotic reply. 

First, you assume the user can read the source code. 

Secondly, even if a particular user can read the source code, you assume he wants to spend hours if not days reading through that source code just to do perform a function that EN should natively support. 

Your reply was quite idiotic as well. Evernote-Backup is used by many people and is open source (written in Python). It connects directly to Evernote's API. If you are concerned where your credentials are going, read the source code and educate yourself. Otherwise you were presented with a solution and choose to complain instead of thanking @PinkElephant for his suggestion. I would suggest you take his suggestion or get clicking on those notebooks!

[PinkElephant 8,819]

There is a request to have an „1 click export“ function. You can add your ideas here:

feedback@evernote.com

Until then, welcome to export by notebook (or use the GitHub source).

 

[mackid1993 1,284]

You can see here: https://github.com/vzhd1701/evernote-backup/blob/master/evernote_backup/evernote_client.py

line 21 - 26 the array where the backends are defined.

That might make it more clear that it is connecting to Evernote.

[AdamDouglas 7]

28 minutes ago, mackid1993 said:

Your reply was quite idiotic as well. Evernote-Backup is used by many people and is open source (written in Python). It connects directly to Evernote's API. If you are concerned where your credentials are going, read the source code and educate yourself. Otherwise you were presented with a solution and choose to complain instead of thanking @PinkElephant for his suggestion. I would suggest you take his suggestion or get clicking on those notebooks!

> Evernote-Backup is used by many people and is open source (written in Python).

Neither of these means it's safe.

I'm not going to continue arguing with someone who's incapable of logical thinking.

[PinkElephant 8,819]

Let`s take a look:

The EN backup project is on GitHub, it is open source and the code can be analyzed by everybody. You can check that it's exactly the same code that will be installed and executed on your computer. There is no way a black hacker could add malicious code, because all what is used to fetch your data are the official EN APIs.

This means you can install a proven code on your computer and run it. It uses your own account access credentials to access your own accounts content. Nor are the credentials passed anywhere else, nor can you access any other account if you only know you own credential. If this access would be corrupted, all accounts would be open - which can't be influenced by the GitHub project, because all they use is the official EN API access.

So all of this means it is safe - if you can probe the code.

The code is not obscured by any method. If you feel unable to check it - then it is obviously your own problem. Because you are not forced to use it, you don't need to. Your options are: (A) Don't use it, use the traditional method, (B) Use it, rely on others to check, which means trusting their expertise (C) learn enough to check it yourself.

That's just logical thinking, and it is what @mackid1993 told you.

Beside this there is another aspect:

Manually exporting by notebook means to export the full notebook, over and again.

The GitHub project does an incremental backup - after the initial backup it creates a backup only for the changes.

[AdamDouglas 7]

26 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Let`s take a look:

The EN backup project is on GitHub, it is open source and the code can be analyzed by everybody. You can check that it's exactly the same code that will be installed and executed on your computer. There is no way a black hacker could add malicious code, because all what is used to fetch your data are the official EN APIs.

This means you can install a proven code on your computer and run it. It uses your own account access credentials to access your own accounts content. Nor are the credentials passed anywhere else, nor can you access any other account if you only know you own credential. If this access would be corrupted, all accounts would be open - which can't be influenced by the GitHub project, because all they use is the official EN API access.

So all of this means it is safe - if you can probe the code.

The code is not obscured by any method. If you feel unable to check it - then it is obviously your own problem. Because you are not forced to use it, you don't need to. Your options are: (A) Don't use it, use the traditional method, (B) Use it, rely on others to check, which means trusting their expertise (C) learn enough to check it yourself.

That's just logical thinking, and it is what @mackid1993 told you.

Beside this there is another aspect:

Manually exporting by notebook means to export the full notebook, over and again.

The GitHub project does an incremental backup - after the initial backup it creates a backup only for the changes.

> There is no way a black hacker could add malicious code

Speaking as both a professional in the field of software, and someone who used to be in the field of network security, there are many ways to add malicious code to a github project like this.

Now, I did read through their source code, but that's not what I was arguing about. You can't expect a regular EN user to do that. Telling an EN user who simply wants to export notes to just "go read the source code" of some random third-party tool on GH is just condescending.

To go back on topic - I did try to use this `evernote-backup` too, and it can't even get past the login step, it just errored out. So it doesn't work for me after all.

 

[PinkElephant 8,819]

Maybe it's you and not the code ?

Just ran my weekly, and it perfectly executed, updating the backup by several hundred notes that were edited or added.

The authorization has been renewed once already, without any problem. So I actually can't help you much, because I just followed the documentation, and everything worked.

[AdamDouglas 7]

6 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Maybe it's you and not the code ?

Just ran my weekly, and it perfectly executed, updating the backup by several hundred notes that were edited or added.

The authorization has been renewed once already, without any problem. So I actually can't help you much, because I just followed the documentation, and everything worked.

> Maybe it's you and not the code ?

First of all, what do you mean that "it's you"? What's so specific about my situation that it ought not to work for me?

Secondly, did I say it was the code? I simply said it did not work for me.

There's no need to be underhandedly condescending to people like this.

[mackid1993 1,284]

33 minutes ago, AdamDouglas said:

Speaking as both a professional in the field of software, and someone who used to be in the field of network security, there are many ways to add malicious code to a github project like this

 

33 minutes ago, AdamDouglas said:

To go back on topic - I did try to use this `evernote-backup` too, and it can't even get past the login step, it just errored out. So it doesn't work for me after all.

Wow. You come in here being argumentative and just overall nasty while asking for help. Then you go ahead and flaunt your credentials around and then claim the software that works for so many people (I run it on a scheduled task nightly) doesn't work. I have no idea what you do for a living, nor do I care. However this is incredibly simple to use, I suggest your put your software engineer hat back on and read the documentation, or like I said earlier click export on 150 notebooks. We tried to help you but at this point I don't think anyone in their right mind is going to entertain you any longer. I have to give @PinkElephant props for his detailed response that really showed a lot of patience! I'm calling troll at this point....

[s2sailor 2,456]

2 hours ago, AdamDouglas said:

There's no need to be underhandedly condescending to people like this.

You might consider backing off on some of the negativity and overheated user comments.

The only backup solution that Evernote has is the notebook by notebook manual solution.  Many have asked for a one-button full backup.  I'm one of them.  Until then, the only other option we have is the Github code.  I use it as well and am comfortable using it, but that is a decision you need to make yourself.  I believe you said in another thread that you are a Mac user.  I found the Github code Mac instructions to be accurate and set up to be pretty straightforward. The backup code is still working as of today.

[mackid1993 1,284]

17 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

I found the Github code Mac instructions to be accurate and set up to be pretty straightforward. The backup code is still working as of today.

I run it on Windows, but installing with Homebrew is dead simple. Even easier than downloading the exe on Windows and then adding the AV exception because of so many false positives with it (likely because it's unsigned).

[PinkElephant 8,819]

Personally I ran Homebrew on the Mac to get it installed in first place. Didn’t check since, but back then it was the recommended method on a Mac

[mackid1993 1,284]

5 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

Personally I ran Homebrew on the Mac to get it installed in first place. Didn’t check since, but back then it was the recommended method on a Mac

You can also install python and the dependencies.

[PinkElephant 8,819]

The dependencies are taken care for by Handbrake. My preference is not to bother about it myself.

[mackid1993 1,284]

57 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

The dependencies are taken care for by Handbrake. My preference is not to bother about it myself.

Yeah Homebrew is a great package manager. Basically apt for Mac. We have winget on Windows works works well now too.

[mackid1993 1,284]

@PinkElephant I actually picked up an M1 Mac Mini secondhand to run headless (through Parsec) to primarily serve as a Bluebubbles iMessage server. It's a nice device, but I couldn't switch to macOS for everything, I am way to used to Windows and so much software I run is Windows only and moreover x86 only for now.

[PinkElephant 8,819]

It tooK me 30 minutes to switch over (which was the time for unboxing my MacBook Pro and setting it up, in 2019).

I was so fed up with Windows I didn’t care at all.

Then I checked some YT stuff when I found myself having a problem, or searched the web, and it was easy sailing. The time I saved alone on (not) being the admin of my 3 computers to keep them running was worth switching over.

[s2sailor 2,456]

I switched in 2016.  I struggled a little at first fighting Windows muscle memory and a new way of doing things, but I was already an iPhone and iPad user and switching over made sense, and I don’t miss being an admin to “any” computer any more.

[mackid1993 1,284]

I'm the opposite. I was a Mac user most of my childhood and switched to Windows when I was 21. I wanted a custom built PC and initially built a Hackintosh, then I dual booted Windows and macOS. Finally I started only using Windows. As I got older and my preferences shifted I started mainly working off a laptop and started running a Linux based home server with a Windows VM on it to access remotely and act as my headless desktop. When I was in college and finally decided on a career in IT I knew I had to learn how to build and troubleshoot PC hardware and I also knew I had to really know Windows to be able to work effectively in an enterprise environment. I really taught myself everything with Youtube videos at that age and the rest I learned while working.

[Caraway42 0]

On 9/28/2024 at 4:07 PM, AdamDouglas said:

Due to my continually decreasing trust in Evernote and its company, I'd like to keep my own copy of my EN data.

I have ~150 notebooks and it's unfeasible to export them one by one. Is there any way to export all notes from all notebooks at once?

150 notebooks would maybe take a few hours, even doing them one by one, even for my arthritic and in pain self. At one notebook a minute (and it takes significantly less time than that unless your notebooks are huge, or unless you're downloading as PDF--which DOES take forever) it would take 2.5 hours.

That said, I'd much prefer bulk export too, both for the sake of efficiency and because it would be nice if the software were more easily used by those of us with disabilities.  It's just that 150 is such a tiny number calling it unfeasible was just odd to me. Inconvenient and really physically painful (for me) yes, unfeasible, no.  

 

[tired and disappointed 669]

20 minutes ago, Caraway42 said:

[...] downloading as PDF--which DOES take forever) it would take 2.5 hours.

Be aware that a lot of information (note elements, formatting, spacing etc) is vanishing when exporting to pdf (or html)! Evernote (windows) pdf-export is not to be trusted!

[PinkElephant 8,819]

Export to PDF was never meant to be a format to export notes with all content. The PDF doesn’t allow for embedded files - attachments to notes get lost.

If you want to export including content, use ENEX. If you want a generally readable format that can be opened in a browser, use export to HTML.

Export to PDF is useful to export notes that hold text and pictures.