HOWTO: Import notes to Evernote from Springpad

[chrisramakers 1]

I've been using evernote and springpad both for over a few months now and have made my choice, evernote it is. But not i'm confronted with a rather large amount of data in springpad that i'd like to migrate to Evernote. Anyone has an idea how to do this? I'm able to export a backup of my whole springpad account but as far as i can tell there is only an option to import from Google Notes into evernote.

any help, tips, advice is greatly appreciated!

[heather 604]

It's actually pretty simple.

Go here:

http://blog.springpadit.com/2011/04/download-a-backup-of-your-springpad-data/

Save the backup to an empty folder.

Use the Evernote Desktop application to pull all the data in there into new notes. With mac, simply drag the folder onto the Application. With Windows, go to Tools->Folder Import.

Voila!

[chrisramakers 1]

Sorry but i can't get it to work, i've downloaded the backup (zipped file) and tried dragging that onto the Evernote app (i'm on a mac) and that didn't work out, it just created a new note with the zip as attached file.

When i unzipped the file and dragged the folder onto Evernote the same thing happened, evernote zips the folder and adds it as an attachment to the new note.

The export springpad offers is actually a zip with a HTML file and a subfolder with attachments, can you elaborate a little further on how to do this?

[heather 604]

Ok, Try the following, as your Mac is treating the .html archive a little oddly.

Install this:

http://veritrope.com/tech/evernote-desktop-folder/

Extract the .zip file, and drag the contents into that dropbox folder. Now you should be getting new notes in Evernote.

[chrisramakers 1]

Still not working, when i do it like you said it just creates one note from the html file with all it's content, not individual notes. Isn't there a possibility to import it from the web interface for example?

Could it be the export format in springpad changed?

[Pioter 1]

Having the same problem. It does import but just creates one big note with everything from springpad in it. Any suggestions from devs?

[heather 604]

If you file a support request, and are willing to provide a sample export from Springpad, our techs may be able to work with you to find a way to split up that .html. As it's not our format, however, you'd actually need to be asking Springpad for a more useful exporter. (Ours, for example, allows you to export notes individually, or all at once.)

[DBB 0]

If you guys are willing to provide me with a discount I'll provide you with my thoughs and personal stuff from springpad in order to find a way to import into evernote.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,320]

If you guys are willing to provide me with a discount I'll provide you with my thoughs and personal stuff from springpad in order to find a way to import into evernote.

your first post on the forum(where we all share our thoughts for free) is to withhold your thoughts until evernote gives you a discount on five dollars (one month of premium)? welcome to the community...

[Metrodon 2,188]

If you guys are willing to provide me with a discount I'll provide you with my thoughs and personal stuff from springpad in order to find a way to import into evernote.

My favourite post of the day.

[jefito 5,598]

Show me your 'thoughs' and I'll show you my thighs...

[Yosri 0]

Hi,

Has anyone successfully imported their Springpad notes into Evernote? Springpad exports its notes as one large HTML file, with attachments referenced from a separate folder. If anyone can share their experience, that would be great.

Thanks

[heather 604]

http://digg.com/newsbar/Technology/how_to_import_notes_from_springpad_to_evernote

[Yosri 0]

I will give it a try. Thanks.

http://digg.com/news...pad_to_evernote

[Yosri 0]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

Is there a question here? As mentioned in the error message, notes are limited to 50 mb for premium accounts. IIRC, 25 for free accounts.

[peterfmartin 221]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

Is there a question here? As mentioned in the error message, notes are limited to 50 mb for premium accounts. IIRC, 25 for free accounts.

Why are you talking this way to Yosri? Is anyone who has experience importing from Springpad (or who just know how it works) willing to help him/her figure out how to get his/her notes into Evernote successfully?

[axemanrio 0]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

Is there a question here? As mentioned in the error message, notes are limited to 50 mb for premium accounts. IIRC, 25 for free accounts.

So basically, power users cannot import their data? I ran into a different error that said I could not import more than 1000 notes.... I went from Delicious to Evernote to Springpad so of course I've collected over 1000 notes/bookmarks that is well over 100MB when exported from Springpad.

I've reduced it to a test sample of 999 now to see how it goes but nothing's happened in the last 30 minutes.

[peterfmartin 221]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

Is there a question here? As mentioned in the error message, notes are limited to 50 mb for premium accounts. IIRC, 25 for free accounts.

So basically, power users cannot import their data?

No, I imagine that's not true. Again, I don't have experience importing from these other programs, but I hope and think it's likely that there is a way to get your Springpad, Delicious, etc. notes into Evernote. Hopefully someone knowledgeable and helpful will come by soon with suggestions or answers. Good luck.

[axemanrio 0]

I hope so because I just received the same error after reducing my notes count to 999 to bypass the first error.

Error screenshot: http://www.dropmocks.com/mBiQ41

Upgrading to premium isn't going to solve my issue because I have 174MB of data.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

Is there a question here? As mentioned in the error message, notes are limited to 50 mb for premium accounts. IIRC, 25 for free accounts.

Why are you talking this way to Yosri? Is anyone who has experience importing from Springpad (or who just know how it works) willing to help him/her figure out how to get his/her notes into Evernote successfully?

Say what? The user received a clear error message & appeared to not understand it. I elaborated upon it, just in case the user was unclear about the message. I'm not familiar with Springpad. But it would seem apparent the user did something wrong or will need to do something different, since the Evernote note size is exceeded.

[Yosri 0]

It makes sense that I got this error message. Evernote sees one HTML file with many links inside it to all sorts of images and attachments, tries to import the HTML as one note, and so that results in the error. I have 500MB+ of image attachments from Springpad.

When I read the page posted by heather earlier on, it seemed to me like Evernote would actually separate the notes (they are <div> tags) inside of that HTML file, (though, how is Evernote tool supposed to know that this is my intention?) and make many notes of it, sort of mimicking what I have in Springpad. I suppose the instructions on that page work when you have a small amount of data to import.

I dislike the export format from Springpad as you cannot do much with it. I'm just hoping someone out there found a way to get their notes and attachments gracefully into Evernote. I was also contemplating writing my own tool to parse that HTML file into something that Evernote can import properly, e.g., break up the index.html into many html files (one per note), each referencing its attachments. This might work, but will obviously take time to develop.

[heather 604]

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

[Yosri 0]

Thanks heather.

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

[RichardW 0]

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

Thanks Heather - that worked a treat! Had to do a little bit of sorting out afterwards but close enough to not be too much of a chore.

[heather 604]

Yay for freeware!

Do you happen to remember what settings you used, so we can post specific instructions for future peeps?

[Yosri 0]

I used this tool just now too and it worked quite well. I used the default settings. There is work that has to be done when the notes are imported of course, but that's probably better than other alternatives, and may be as good as it gets. This might be a workable solution for a lot of Springpad users.

Thanks

[Yosri 0]

Once you import the notes, they're out of order because they all get the same created date. However, a way around this is to go inside the notes and change the created date to the actual one. I think it's cool that you can do that.

[Hazyshd 0]

I followed the instructions and the process failed with the error message "The operation cannot be completed because the note size limit of 50MB has been exceeded."

Is there a question here? As mentioned in the error message, notes are limited to 50 mb for premium accounts. IIRC, 25 for free accounts.

Lol wow, I just joined evernote and was trying to find out the same information, but if this is the attitude (because that's what you have) then I'm not sure if this is a software that I want to use.

Perhaps I could understand if you were truly confused. However, you turned right around and answered his/her implied question about the error.

I'm sure your wisdom relating to Evernote is greatly appreciated by those you help, but I'm sure the community would be better served if you plan to continue to dish out your wisdom with sourness, you just said nothing at all.

[Calion 26]

I think it would really behoove the Evernote developers to enable Springpad import; it would make switching much more attractive and certainly draw more customers. And it really shouldn't take too long. Put whoever developed the ".enex" file format on it and they should have it done in an afternoon.

[Calion 26]

Yeah, I ran across that myself earlier That chops up the one big file into many smaller files--still with the metadata just sitting there in the entry after import, including the title. I am currently going through (on my Mac, after using that utility on my girlfriend's PC and DropBoxing myself the results) my 100+ imported entries and adding the title, tags, notebooks, and creation date, and deleting all the metadata, from each entry. This is a long and laborious process (hours) that should take about 30 seconds.

[heather 604]

Our API is available for just this type of thing - indeed, there are many importers that have been written on it from other programs, however, none yet from Springpad. Until an expert in Springpad writes an importer, this is the best there is.

[emmanuel 0]

http://digg.com/news...pad_to_evernote

Dear Heather,

This looks great but...the end a step says "Click on Tools -> Import Folders"...pb: I do not see the Tools menu in my Evernote Desktop app...

Could you tell me where to find Tools -> Import Folders?

Thanks a lot

[JGab 0]

Has anyone successfully imported their Springpad notes into Evernote? Springpad exports its notes as one large HTML file, with attachments referenced from a separate folder. If anyone can share their experience, that would be great.

Just open the backup html file with your browser, select all, and copy & paste the content to a new note in Evernote. It works fine with Firefox and Chrome...

I hope this helps...

[GadgetGuru72 2]

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

This link appears to be dead. Anybody have the name of this program or a valid link? I have over 500 notes in Springpad, and I am desperately looking for an automated way to transfer all my stuff over to Evernote.

Thanks in advance.

[Yosri 0]

Is your browser blocking the link? The link still works for me and it downloads an exe file. I'm using Chrome.

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

This link appears to be dead. Anybody have the name of this program or a valid link? I have over 500 notes in Springpad, and I am desperately looking for an automated way to transfer all my stuff over to Evernote.

Thanks in advance.

[GadgetGuru72 2]

Is your browser blocking the link? The link still works for me and it downloads an exe file. I'm using Chrome.

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

This link appears to be dead. Anybody have the name of this program or a valid link? I have over 500 notes in Springpad, and I am desperately looking for an automated way to transfer all my stuff over to Evernote.

Thanks in advance.

I am also using Chrome, and I don't think it's blocking anything. But, when I click the link I get the following:

"Server error

The website encountered an error while retrieving https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly."

What's the name of the EXE you downloaded? Maybe I can just Google it and find it elsewhere.

[Yosri 0]

If you want I can e-mail you the file; just sent me your e-mail as a private message.

Is your browser blocking the link? The link still works for me and it downloads an exe file. I'm using Chrome.

Well, this program basically takes .html files and parses them out into smaller files. I've never seen a Springpad file, so this is a blind suggestion:

https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd

I've had really good success in using this program to split up Evernote 2.x .html files into individual files for manual import.

Note: this program is not made by Evernote, and we have absolutely no affiliation with the makers of it.

This link appears to be dead. Anybody have the name of this program or a valid link? I have over 500 notes in Springpad, and I am desperately looking for an automated way to transfer all my stuff over to Evernote.

Thanks in advance.

I am also using Chrome, and I don't think it's blocking anything. But, when I click the link I get the following:

"Server error

The website encountered an error while retrieving https://support.ever...261b1593743b5bd. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly."

What's the name of the EXE you downloaded? Maybe I can just Google it and find it elsewhere.

[zztalker 0]

There is a small python script to split SpringPad One Big HTML to single notes. May be usefull for someone.

 

f = open('index.html','r')header = ""headerComplite = Falsefooter = """</div></body></html>"""noteStart = Falsenote = ""i = 0for line in f:	if '<div class="instance' in line:		if not headerComplite:			headerComplite = True			#Finosh header		if noteStart:			#Finish note			nf = open('note-'+str(i)+'.htm','w')			nf.write(header)			nf.write(note)			nf.write(footer)			nf.close()		i += 1		noteStart = True		note = line	else:		if not headerComplite:			header += line		elif noteStart:			note += lineif noteStart:	#Finish last note	nf = open('note-'+str(i)+'.htm','w')	nf.write(header)	nf.write(note)	nf.write(footer)	nf.close()		

 

 

 

[Glen Coakley 0]

I updated zztalker's script to pull the Header2 (H2) tag out, replace unusable strings and characters and use that as the subject of the Evernote note.  It also doesn't write out the Springpad logo to every note. 

 

#!/bin/pythonimport redef writeNote(noteSubjectParam):  origParam = noteSubjectParam    for ch in ':;/\\`<>|' :    noteSubjectParam = noteSubjectParam.replace("&", "&")    noteSubjectParam = noteSubjectParam.replace("–", "-")    noteSubjectParam = noteSubjectParam.replace(ch, '-')    print "Processing: ", origParam, "\n         -> ", noteSubjectParam    nf = open(noteSubjectParam + '.htm', 'w')  nf.write(note)  nf.write(footer)  nf.close()f = open('index.html','r')header = ""headerComplite = Falsefooter = """</div></body></html>"""noteStart = FalsenoteSubject = ""note = ""h2re = re.compile('<h2 class="fn">(.*)</h2>', re.IGNORECASE)invalidFSChars = re.compilei = 0for line in f:  if '<div class="instance' in line:    if not headerComplite:      headerComplite = True      #Finosh header    if noteStart:      #Finish note      writeNote(noteSubject)    i += 1    noteStart = True    note = line  elif '<h2 ' in line:    m = h2re.match(line)    noteSubject = m.group(1)  else:    if not headerComplite:      header += line    elif noteStart:      note += lineif noteStart:  #Finish last note  writeNote(noteSubject)

[mgiammarco 0]

 

There is a small python script to split SpringPad One Big HTML to single notes. May be usefull for someone.

How can I use it?

[henrym 0]

Some of my Springpad notes are saved in two notebooks. How would they transfer? Would they be placed in one notebook, or would two copies be made with one in each notebook? I do not see an option in Evernote to save one copy of a note in two notebooks.

[petermarshall 0]

bump to see if there have been any updates on this

[ahunor 0]

Bump as well. Thus far the links posted here are dead, and a ticket has been created regarding the issue .

I would not have imagined that there wouldn't exist an importer for this. After Catch being dead and the OneNote competitors, Springpad is the biggest. They have to be acknowledged. (Their catch importer was the reason deciding in their favor).

Worst case, let's see the api doc.

[sollared 0]

Bump since Springpad is closing. Evernote team: this is a great opportunity to capitalize on. Get on it.

[thegriff 4]

I updated the python script a bit to handle cases where 'H2' might be embedded in the note, such as h264.  I also have it reading the Springpad notebook field and putting the notes into a subdirectory for easier importing into Evernote.  Notes that are in two or more Springpad notebooks will look a bit odd as there will be a subdirectory created that references each of the notebooks (e.g. "Places I've Been or Want to Go, Date Night Ideas"). 

 

The directory creation uses the slash key as I'm on a Mac, you may need to change it to a backslash.  You may also need to change the location of python in the first line.

 

Once the notes are split into their individual directories/files you can then import them into the Evernote notebooks of your choice and use tags as you wish.  Were I not about to embark on my honeymoon tomorrow I'd have added more logic to make the meta-data information a bit more friendly. 

 

Big thanks to the original poster of the script.  Once I'm back I'll probably add more logic to make my own import nicer, if so I'll post an update. 

#!/usr/bin/pythonimport reimport osdef writeNote(noteSubjectParam,noteBookParam):  origParam = noteSubjectParam  if noteBookParam == "":    directory = "Unfiled" + "/"  else:    directory = noteBookParam + "/"  if not os.path.exists(directory):    os.makedirs(directory)  for ch in ':;/\\`<>|' :    noteSubjectParam = noteSubjectParam.replace("&", "&")    noteSubjectParam = noteSubjectParam.replace("–", "-")    noteSubjectParam = noteSubjectParam.replace(ch, '-')  print "Processing: ", origParam, "\n         -> ", noteSubjectParam  nf = open(directory+noteSubjectParam + '.htm', 'w')  nf.write(note)  nf.write(footer)  nf.close()f = open('index.html','r')header = ""headerComplete = Falsefooter = """</div></body></html>"""noteStart = FalsenoteSubject = ""noteBook = ""note = ""h2re = re.compile('<h2 class="fn">(.*)</h2>', re.IGNORECASE)ntbk = re.compile('<div class="\[\]"><span actual-name="workbooks" class="label">Notebook</span><span class="content ">(.*)</span>', re.IGNORECASE)invalidFSChars = re.compilei = 0for line in f:  if '<div class="instance' in line:    if not headerComplete:      headerComplete = True      #Finish header    if noteStart:      #Finish note      writeNote(noteSubject,noteBook)    i += 1    noteStart = True    note = line  elif '<h2 class' in line:    m = h2re.match(line)    noteSubject = m.group(1)  elif '<span actual-name="workbooks"' in line:    m = ntbk.match(line)    noteBook = m.group(1)  else:    if not headerComplete:      header += line    elif noteStart:      note += lineif noteStart:  #Finish last note  writeNote(noteSubject,noteBook)

[Josh Lloyd 0]

FYI Springpad is shutting down June 25th. They're currently working on an export tool so people can save all their data. They haven't given details on formats or anything other than that.

[jefito 5,598]

I updated the python script a bit to handle cases where 'H2' might be embedded in the note, such as h264.  I also have it reading the Springpad notebook field and putting the notes into a subdirectory for easier importing into Evernote.  Notes that are in two or more Springpad notebooks will look a bit odd as there will be a subdirectory created that references each of the notebooks (e.g. "Places I've Been or Want to Go, Date Night Ideas").

<snip>

I'll suppress the shudder at using regex to parse XML/HTML, but thanks for the script I hope that the SpringPadérs find it useful.

[terylim 0]

Hi there,

 

I was only informed that Evernote was shutting down 2 weeks before 25th June, and June has been a rather busy month for me! However, I only remembered today (last day of June I know!) that Evernote was shutting down!

 

I seem to still have my Springpad notes and media in the app on my iphone, and am an existing user of Evernote. Would anyone be able to advise me on how I can transfer my stuff over into Evernote? -- if you asked me, 2 weeks let alone 1 mth before they closed isn't a lot of timefor people to take stock and make all the necessary changes! 

 

Please help!

 

 

Kind Regards,

Tery