Export my notes & files (Linux)

[SPE310 0]

Hi everyone,

I am a digital hoarder and I am looking for a way to take my notes out of Evernote...Basically, I find myself using Evernote more and more and I am getting worried that 1 of 2 scenarios will eventually play out: 1) Evernote goes belly up some day taking my notes and files with it <or> 2) I grow tired of Evernote a year or two but my files will effectively be held hostage in Evernote's cloud....with that said

I have read a few different things on the ability to export your notes but I can't find the option anywhere on the web interface. What am I missing?

I am currently using Evernote through Chrome on a Linux machine (Mint right now but I'm a disto hopper). Could my problem be that I need to use the Mac or Windows client? If so is there a work around as I have neither?

Everpad (Linux client) doesn't give me an option to export and simply lets me add, edit, and delete notes.

Any suggestions?

[roschler 158]

@SPE310,

I don't know about the Linux client, but if you are in actuality running the Mac or Windows desktop client in a VM on Linux then you do have a ready copy of your notes. Evernote uses SQLite 3 for it's notes database engine, an open source database. You can simply back up or copy that database, which has an EXB extension. There are also several open source tools to browse and manage SQLite3 databases.

-- roschler

[DigitalScribe 9]

There's a program called NixNote (previously NeverNote) that is essentially a non-official Evernote Desktop Clone, it should allow for what you're looking to do.

[SPE310 0]

Thanks for the replies...

1) Nixnote lets me do a full database backup into .nnex format. Is there anyway to access that outside of the Evernote world? It does not let me export to .html files.

2) Everpad works fine to create and view notes but currently does not have any export function (that I can find at least).

3) I ran the Windows client in WINE and it installed without a hitch. Gave me full export function. I haven't tried the other functions yet though so their may be problems there as is common with any WINE install.

The export function works but a question....When I had it export to multple .html files it created a folder for each note based on it's name and inserted all media content (pics, audio, etc) into that folder. It also made a .html file separately (but not in the created folder). Is there a way to make the export sort these by notebook (IE all notes in notebook "X" would then get exported in newly created folder "X").

I really want to take the paperless plunge but I just want to make sure what I am in for when and if I leave Evernote somewhere down the road...

Thanks again for the replies.

[jefito 5,589]

Not sure whether ".nnex format" is a typo for Evernote's ".enex format", or if it's a special NixNote format. Probably better to ask baumgarr, a member here and the NixNote author. He's on SourceForge: http://baumgarr.users.sourceforge.net/. I'd try an export, and then examine the results also.

[martyscholes 23]

I have a similar plight as a new Evernote convert. I run a Solaris server which has strong storage and incremental backup already functioning. To help calm my fears, I provisioned a VirtualBox Windows 7 virtual machine specifically to run Evernote and nothing else. The thinking was that whatever I did on the web or phone or tablet would automagically sync to the Windows client and then to the server.

However...

I noted that sometimes the manual export did nothing. Other times it only exported the selected note. I kind of hope that when I type Ctrl-A then exported, it exported all of the notes. I hope.

As I am not a Windows guy, I have had some struggles. I have been all over these forums for the past hour or three looking for answers. I found the database in Windows and wanted to move it to the server storage, currently mapped as E:\, but it seems Evernote won't let me. When I go to Tools -> Options -> General, I can see where it puts the database, but the field with the path is read-only. When I click "Change..." it only shows the locally attached drive, not the network drive. Why?

To be clear, the network drive and local drive both reside on the local Solaris server, it's just that VirtualBox makes the host storage available by pretending that the host storage is a network drive. Why doesn't the Windows 7 Evernote client let me choose to store the database on a "network drive" (which is neither network nor drive)?

Thanks from the new new guy,

Marty

[roschler 158]

@Marty,

Is it possible your copy of Windows running in a virtual box has permissions set on network drives that Evernote is not privileged too (full trust)?:

http://www.sellsbrothers.com/Posts/Details/1519

-- roschler

[martyscholes 23]

@Marty,

Is it possible your copy of Windows running in a virtual box has permissions set on network drives that Evernote is not privileged too (full trust)?:

http://www.sellsbrot...ts/Details/1519

-- roschler

Thanks for the fast response. Anything is possible. On the other hand, the network drive takes no credentials and VirtualBox (running as me) accesses the folder in my home directory. Since I have full access to my folder, VirtualBox has full access, which means anything running on that Windows 7 machine has full access.

Oddly, I cannot get Windows Backup to use the location either since it DEMANDS credentials to talk to a network drive then has an error when the credentials do not work.

Or so I think, but I cannot be too sure.

Thanks again,

Marty

[roschler 158]

@Marty,

I don't know if it will work in a VM, but as a last ditch effort could try running SysInternals ProcMon:

http://technet.micro...ernals/bb896645

Add the program you are having trouble with (E.g. - Evernote) to ProcMon's filters and then see what call is failing and what return code it is getting. That's what I do when I'm in your situation.

Note, after running the program the trick is to turn off event capture in ProcMon until just before you try the operation then fails. Then turn it on and do the operation. Turn event capture off immediately after that and what you have left is a snapshot of the events that occurred during the failed operation. You may have to sift through a bunch of other O/S calls to get there, but you may find the exact operation and the error code at the O/S level for what is going wrong.

-- roschler

[martyscholes 23]

Roshcler,

Thanks for the link -- I had never heard of that. When my courage to tinker rises, I will try it. When asking the question, I was kind of hoping for a response along the lines of, "Oh yeah, just go into this menu here and click on that item there."

Probably I have hit a rather obscure limitation.

Thanks again,

Marty

[martyscholes 23]

So that the next poor soul googling for an answer to this can find something mostly-useful, I found a workable solution.

http://evernoteexporter.codeplex.com/

The above Windows app claims to export the entire contents of Evernote on a regular schedule. I have not verified that it works correctly, works correctly when Evernote is running, etc.

From what I can tell, the app does not have the ability to version or timestamp the exports.

One last downside is that I find it a shame that I feel the need to need to run yet-another-dedicated-windows-virtual-machine so that I can use a product.

<soapbox>

Folks, we are in the post-PC era. The idea that everyone can be expected to use any software or service from only a PC is ludicrous and will become ever more ludicrous as time marches on. Several people in these forums have asked for the ability to export or backup from the web app, not using a Mac or Windows PC. That is a perfectly valid question for any service which runs on so many platforms.

Remember, it wasn't that long ago that almost every web site assumed that you ran Internet Explorer, many failing to load if they did not detect the correct version of IE. With the current array of PC operating systems, phones and tablets, such web site behavior would be seen as stupid today.

The computing world is changing (again). Quit assuming everyone has (or even desires) a Mac or Windows machine at their fingertips.

</soapbox>

[timoc 11]

Can i suggest geeknote? http://www.geeknote.me/

 

It is a python script (so should run on windows and mac?) has a sync tool that allows you to export your evernotes to markdown text files. You can cron it to keep an export of your evernote repository. It might solve some of your issues.