Vance 38 Posted September 12, 2013 Posted September 12, 2013 I am trying to figure out the easiest way to get all of my existing Evernote Notes into Google Drive. I can see how to export, but it seems that just saves either html files or an .enex backup file, not all the individual notes separately and readable by Drive. I can right-click any note and save the attachment to the Drive folder on my computer, but that is very tedious, gives it a generic name, and doesn't work for all types of notes. I don't see any download option to get all of my notes down onto my computer, from where I could copy and paste them into the Drive folder. I am sure there is a simple way to do this, but I am not seeing it. Thanks for any help!
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted September 12, 2013 Posted September 12, 2013 I am trying to figure out the easiest way to get all of my existing Evernote Notes into Google Drive. I can see how to export, but it seems that just saves either html files or an .enex backup file, not all the individual notes separately and readable by Drive.I can right-click any note and save the attachment to the Drive folder on my computer, but that is very tedious, gives it a generic name, and doesn't work for all types of notes.I don't see any download option to get all of my notes down onto my computer, from where I could copy and paste them into the Drive folder.I am sure there is a simple way to do this, but I am not seeing it. Thanks for any help!If you're using the Windows desktop client, the notes are in an exb file on your computer. The only way to batch export is to HTML, which is the most generic/portable way to export notes that may contain various types of file attachments. I've not used Google drive, but I would be amazed if Google drive couldn't "read" HTML.
Vance 38 Posted September 12, 2013 Author Posted September 12, 2013 I am trying to figure out the easiest way to get all of my existing Evernote Notes into Google Drive. I can see how to export, but it seems that just saves either html files or an .enex backup file, not all the individual notes separately and readable by Drive.I can right-click any note and save the attachment to the Drive folder on my computer, but that is very tedious, gives it a generic name, and doesn't work for all types of notes.I don't see any download option to get all of my notes down onto my computer, from where I could copy and paste them into the Drive folder.I am sure there is a simple way to do this, but I am not seeing it. Thanks for any help!If you're using the Windows desktop client, the notes are in an exb file on your computer. The only way to batch export is to HTML, which is the most generic/portable way to export notes that may contain various types of file attachments. I've not used Google drive, but I would be amazed if Google drive couldn't "read" HTML. Yes, it can read HTML, but they don't come out as neat pdf's, jpg's, text files, etc. From my desktop Drive file it pulls up in a browser OK, but from the browser app, and from the mobile apps, they usually come out as a bunch of HTML code. That is not a very good solution. What I really want is simply a way to download all of my individual notes to my desktop. The text as text files, the pictures and pdf's, etc, in their native format. It sounds like once you invest the time to get all of your stuff into Evernote, it is not very easy to ever switch to another platform and migrate all of your stuff.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted September 12, 2013 Posted September 12, 2013 It sounds like once you invest the time to get all of your stuff into Evernote, it is not very easy to ever switch to another platform and migrate all of your stuff. It's very easy. Since you seem to have missed it... If you're using the Windows desktop client, the notes are in an exb file on your computer. The only way to batch export is to HTML, which is the most generic/portable way to export notes that may contain various types of file attachments.
Vance 38 Posted September 12, 2013 Author Posted September 12, 2013 I suppose I have missed it. Here is what I want to be able to do. I want to take all of my existing Evernote files/notes and migrate them to Drive in such a way that I can view them as I did in Evernote. Thus a text file note would just be a text file. A pdf would just be a pdf, a jpg would just be a jpg, an email would be a text file of some sort. If it is, indeed, easy, then I would greatly appreciate a quick walkthrough of how I end up with separate individual files in Drive that I can access without any issues. Going forward I can easily save each new note item to both platforms (need to have both platforms now) but I just need to get the existing stuff equally available and accessible on Drive. Edit: I do know that I can right-click a note and copy the attachment in its native format (with a changed name), and that would be perfect, if it could be done for whole notebooks or all of my notes in bulk. Otherwise, having to do that for all of the hundreds of notes would be incredibly tedious.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted September 12, 2013 Posted September 12, 2013 I suppose I have missed it. Here is what I want to be able to do. I want to take all of my existing Evernote files/notes and migrate them to Drive in such a way that I can view them as I did in Evernote. Thus a text file note would just be a text file. A pdf would just be a pdf, a jpg would just be a jpg, an email would be a text file of some sort. If it is, indeed, easy, then I would greatly appreciate a quick walkthrough of how I end up with separate individual files in Drive that I can access without any issues. Going forward I can easily save each new note item to both platforms (need to have both platforms now) but I just need to get the existing stuff equally available and accessible on Drive.Export to HTML. Open the HTML file with a browser or another app that "reads" HTML.
Vance 38 Posted September 12, 2013 Author Posted September 12, 2013 I suppose I have missed it. Here is what I want to be able to do. I want to take all of my existing Evernote files/notes and migrate them to Drive in such a way that I can view them as I did in Evernote. Thus a text file note would just be a text file. A pdf would just be a pdf, a jpg would just be a jpg, an email would be a text file of some sort. If it is, indeed, easy, then I would greatly appreciate a quick walkthrough of how I end up with separate individual files in Drive that I can access without any issues. Going forward I can easily save each new note item to both platforms (need to have both platforms now) but I just need to get the existing stuff equally available and accessible on Drive.Export to HTML. Open the HTML file with a browser or another app that "reads" HTML. OK, then I did "get it" since I knew I could do that, but it just isn't what I want to do. :0) Then, to confirm, there is no easy way for me to get the stuff I put in back out in its original format (ie, not HTML). That is disappointing. And that is one of the benefits I am seeing to Drive, it keeps all of my stuff in its original format, acting just like a standard drive on my computer, except with the Evernote-like features of app accessibility on all my devices, searching, text recognition, a superior camera scanning feature. What it doesn't have is Evernote's tagging, which is a big help.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted September 12, 2013 Posted September 12, 2013 but it just isn't what I want to do. :0) You said... Here is what I want to be able to do. I want to take all of my existing Evernote files/notes and migrate them to Drive in such a way that I can view them as I did in Evernote. Exporting to HTML does exactly that. Evernote is not a "hard drive" type app like Dropbox. If you want the associated jpg, wav, mp4, mp3, pdf files, they are also exported when you export to html. (They would *have* to be to be viewed in the html.) You can pluck them out, if you want. I don't think they will have the same file names they had when you put them into EN. there is no easy way for me to get the stuff I put in back out in its original format (ie, not HTML). Of course EN keeps files in their original format. EN does not change or modify your file attachments in any way. If you add an MP4, that file attachment remains an MP4. An MP3, wav or pdf file remains an MP3, wav or PDF file. I don't know what you think EN would convert it to.
Vance 38 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Posted September 13, 2013 You don't seem to be getting what I am saying. The format of the file will have changed because the way I have to view them has changed. Viewing a file in HTML is dramatically different than viewing them the way I would natively, in whatever app I choose to read jpg's, pdf's, etc. When I click on an HTML file, the experience is VERY different than when I viewed them in Evernote, which is almost identical to viewing them in a dedicated app for that type of file (Adobe for pdf, a photoviewer for jpg's, Word or Docs for text documents, etc). Viewing in HTML is a significantly degraded experience. Here is an example of the difference: I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Drive or Dropbox. Then I decide to stop using that service and switch to another service. I grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and nothing at all has changed, those files are exactly as they were before and I can drop them into a different service. With Evernote, I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Evernote. Then I decide to stop using Evernote and want to switch to another service. I can't just grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and have them be exactly the same as they were before, ready to drop them into another service. Or, I scan a document into Drive using the camera scanning function. It creates a pdf file in the folder I choose. That pdf is able to be copied and pasted into any other service at any time. I scan a file into Evernote, and the result is very different.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted September 13, 2013 Posted September 13, 2013 You don't seem to be getting what I am saying. The format of the file will have changed because the way I have to view them has changed. Viewing a file in HTML is dramatically different than viewing them the way I would natively, in whatever app I choose to read jpg's, pdf's, etc. When I click on an HTML file, the experience is VERY different than when I viewed them in Evernote, which is almost identical to viewing them in a dedicated app for that type of file (Adobe for pdf, a photoviewer for jpg's, Word or Docs for text documents, etc). Viewing in HTML is a significantly degraded experience. Here is an example of the difference: I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Drive or Dropbox. Then I decide to stop using that service and switch to another service. I grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and nothing at all has changed, those files are exactly as they were before and I can drop them into a different service. With Evernote, I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Evernote. Then I decide to stop using Evernote and want to switch to another service. I can't just grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and have them be exactly the same as they were before, ready to drop them into another service. Or, I scan a document into Drive using the camera scanning function. It creates a pdf file in the folder I choose. That pdf is able to be copied and pasted into any other service at any time. I scan a file into Evernote, and the result is very different. Actually, it seems you are not understanding. It appears at the very least you don't understand the difference between putting a file into Evernote vs putting a file in Dropbox & trying to compare the two is like comparing apples to oranges. Dropbox is exactly like using a hard drive because...you're using a hard drive. Evernote creates notes in a MySQL (or SQL lite) database file & can have file attachments. These are very different approaches and unlike a hard drive experience, Evernote allows you to add other information to the note. And you don't seem to understand html. Again, mp3, mp4, wav, pdf files are NOT altered when you export to html. HTML is a "wrapper" for text & files. If the note you're exporting has an mp3 file attachment, that attached file will be exported as an mp3 file. Clicking on the html displays the note pretty much exactly as you view it in Evernote. There really is not a more generic way to get information out of Evernote than exporting to html, since html can accommodate most file types. I don't know how to make it any clearer to you. Perhaps someone else can.
shimra 14 Posted September 13, 2013 Posted September 13, 2013 YWith Evernote, I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Evernote. Then I decide to stop using Evernote and want to switch to another service. I can't just grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and have them be exactly the same as they were before, ready to drop them into another service. Yes... that's a disadvantage of Evernote. It doen't work the same way dropbox does, which is both good and bad. At any rate, if you wanted to pull all of the PDF's out of Evernote in native format, for example, you could do an html export of all notes and then do a windows desktop search in the exported folder for *.pdf and then cut and paste the results, which should be all your PDFs, into a folder on your computer. I think there's also a way to right click a note and "save attachments" in Evernote but I don't know if it works with more than one note selected off hand.
Vance 38 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Posted September 13, 2013 You don't seem to be getting what I am saying. The format of the file will have changed because the way I have to view them has changed. Viewing a file in HTML is dramatically different than viewing them the way I would natively, in whatever app I choose to read jpg's, pdf's, etc. When I click on an HTML file, the experience is VERY different than when I viewed them in Evernote, which is almost identical to viewing them in a dedicated app for that type of file (Adobe for pdf, a photoviewer for jpg's, Word or Docs for text documents, etc). Viewing in HTML is a significantly degraded experience. Here is an example of the difference: I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Drive or Dropbox. Then I decide to stop using that service and switch to another service. I grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and nothing at all has changed, those files are exactly as they were before and I can drop them into a different service. With Evernote, I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Evernote. Then I decide to stop using Evernote and want to switch to another service. I can't just grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and have them be exactly the same as they were before, ready to drop them into another service. Or, I scan a document into Drive using the camera scanning function. It creates a pdf file in the folder I choose. That pdf is able to be copied and pasted into any other service at any time. I scan a file into Evernote, and the result is very different.Actually, it seems you are not understanding. It appears at the very least you don't understand the difference between putting a file into Evernote vs putting a file in Dropbox & trying to compare the two is like comparing apples to oranges. Dropbox is exactly like using a hard drive because...you're using a hard drive. Evernote creates notes in a MySQL (or SQL lite) database file & can have file attachments. These are very different approaches and unlike a hard drive experience, Evernote allows you to add other information to the note.And you don't seem to understand html. Again, mp3, mp4, wav, pdf files are NOT altered when you export to html. HTML is a "wrapper" for text & files. If the note you're exporting has an mp3 file attachment, that attached file will be exported as an mp3 file. Clicking on the html displays the note pretty much exactly as you view it in Evernote.There really is not a more generic way to get information out of Evernote than exporting to html, since html can accommodate most file types.I don't know how to make it any clearer to you. Perhaps someone else can. Oh, I definitely know NOW how Evernote stores its notes, my question was whether I can get the note contents out easily *without* having them packaged in HTML. That has been my question all along, and it seems that the very unfortunate answer to that question is "no". The bottom line is that if you want to migrate your notes to another service, it is definitely NOT easy, as you stated. In fact, it is basically impossible since it puts them into HTML, which is not the same experience at all. Now I understand WHY it is impossible, but the confusion was in the statement that it was not only possible, it was "easy". What qualifies as "easy" is migrating the files to a new system and they show up in that system in exactly the same format they would if I had stored them in that system from the beginning. ie, not HTML. I do get why this is not possible, but the answer to my original question was "no, that is not possible". And, yes, of course the actual pdf or jpg is not altered, I can usually go into the HTML and find it and remove it just as it was, that is not what I am talking about (which I suspect you know). What I have described very clearly is that they since they are packaged in an HTML file upon export, they are *not* easily available to me in that native format. I have to go in and fetch each one individually, which is a hassle. And HTML is a pain to work with.
Vance 38 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Posted September 13, 2013 YWith Evernote, I have a bunch of files on my computer and I transfer them into Evernote. Then I decide to stop using Evernote and want to switch to another service. I can't just grab those files in bulk and put them back into a folder in my computer and have them be exactly the same as they were before, ready to drop them into another service. Yes... that's a disadvantage of Evernote. It doen't work the same way dropbox does, which is both good and bad. At any rate, if you wanted to pull all of the PDF's out of Evernote in native format, for example, you could do an html export of all notes and then do a windows desktop search in the exported folder for *.pdf and then cut and paste the results, which should be all your PDFs, into a folder on your computer. I think there's also a way to right click a note and "save attachments" in Evernote but I don't know if it works with more than one note selected off hand. Now that is a clever idea! Thanks!
Vance 38 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Posted September 13, 2013 Wow, I found a service called CloudHQ which can sync Evernote and Drive, and it is seeming to do it seamlessly! The notes are all coming over as either pdf or jpg files or non-editable doc files (which is fine!), no HTML in sight! There is a 14-day free trial, so I can do my entire one-time dump of notes into Drive and then cancel if I want, since my plan is to go ahead and enter all new documents into each separate platform at the same time (doesn't take much to create a scan and then save it to both, for example). But, I might just stick with it (although $9 a month is a bit steep for the amount of convenience I would get going forward). Edit: actually the doc's are editable in Word! All of my Evernote notes are now on my computer in a regular folder (my Google Drive folder, which syncs to the cloud service) and in the cloud at the same time. Edit 2: AND, they are coming over in separate subfolders for each Notebook, which is very, very useful compared to just a bit bucket of files! Edit 3: even more wow: the file (whether jpg, pdf, doc, etc) has the name of the Evernote Note as it's file name, not some generic name as when you export!
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted September 13, 2013 Posted September 13, 2013 Now that is a clever idea! Thanks! Which is what I was telling you... Exporting to HTML does exactly that. Evernote is not a "hard drive" type app like Dropbox. If you want the associated jpg, wav, mp4, mp3, pdf files, they are also exported when you export to html. (They would *have* to be to be viewed in the html.) You can pluck them out, if you want. I don't think they will have the same file names they had when you put them into EN. Glad you found some way to do whatever it is you are wanting to do.
Vance 38 Posted September 13, 2013 Author Posted September 13, 2013 Now that is a clever idea! Thanks!Which is what I was telling you... Exporting to HTML does exactly that. Evernote is not a "hard drive" type app like Dropbox. If you want the associated jpg, wav, mp4, mp3, pdf files, they are also exported when you export to html. (They would *have* to be to be viewed in the html.) You can pluck them out, if you want. I don't think they will have the same file names they had when you put them into EN.Glad you found some way to do whatever it is you are wanting to do. Ah, but the clever idea was to be able to quickly sift through the entire pile of HTML files and get to the actual "meat" of the note, the attachment itself. If I had not found this other solution, then that would have been the best way to go. But being able to get all of my files out of Evernote without having to dig into HTML files at all is even better. What I wanted was very, very simple: to have access to all of my Evernote notes outside of Evernote in useful formats such as doc, jpg, pdf, etc, without having to mess with the very inconvenient HTML. CloudHQ is giving me exactly that.
Kilili 2 Posted September 20, 2013 Posted September 20, 2013 Wow, I found a service called CloudHQ which can sync Evernote and Drive, and it is seeming to do it seamlessly! The notes are all coming over as either pdf or jpg files or non-editable doc files (which is fine!), no HTML in sight! There is a 14-day free trial, so I can do my entire one-time dump of notes into Drive and then cancel if I want, since my plan is to go ahead and enter all new documents into each separate platform at the same time (doesn't take much to create a scan and then save it to both, for example). But, I might just stick with it (although $9 a month is a bit steep for the amount of convenience I would get going forward). Edit: actually the doc's are editable in Word! All of my Evernote notes are now on my computer in a regular folder (my Google Drive folder, which syncs to the cloud service) and in the cloud at the same time. Edit 2: AND, they are coming over in separate subfolders for each Notebook, which is very, very useful compared to just a bit bucket of files! Edit 3: even more wow: the file (whether jpg, pdf, doc, etc) has the name of the Evernote Note as it's file name, not some generic name as when you export!Cool, I'll remember that. I wonder how it handles a note containing a composite of text, docs, pdfs, and jpgs. I've a number of notes like that. I've done some operations where I would do the export, then parse the html content to extract the info I wanted. It's messy, though.
Vance 38 Posted September 20, 2013 Author Posted September 20, 2013 Wow, I found a service called CloudHQ which can sync Evernote and Drive, and it is seeming to do it seamlessly! The notes are all coming over as either pdf or jpg files or non-editable doc files (which is fine!), no HTML in sight! There is a 14-day free trial, so I can do my entire one-time dump of notes into Drive and then cancel if I want, since my plan is to go ahead and enter all new documents into each separate platform at the same time (doesn't take much to create a scan and then save it to both, for example). But, I might just stick with it (although $9 a month is a bit steep for the amount of convenience I would get going forward). Edit: actually the doc's are editable in Word! All of my Evernote notes are now on my computer in a regular folder (my Google Drive folder, which syncs to the cloud service) and in the cloud at the same time. Edit 2: AND, they are coming over in separate subfolders for each Notebook, which is very, very useful compared to just a bit bucket of files! Edit 3: even more wow: the file (whether jpg, pdf, doc, etc) has the name of the Evernote Note as it's file name, not some generic name as when you export!Cool, I'll remember that. I wonder how it handles a note containing a composite of text, docs, pdfs, and jpgs. I've a number of notes like that. I've done some operations where I would do the export, then parse the html content to extract the info I wanted. It's messy, though. I am not sure how it would handle that, I should do an experiment. But I have been very happy with the service and now that I have my full Evernote collection copied over to Drive while using the free trial, I will likely just manually copy each new note/document to each platform. Not much extra work, really. I just save it to Drive, then later on my computer I go to my Drive folder and use "send to" on each note to drop them into Evernote. So far, it is a breeze, and I have all of my stuff in two parallel systems which comes in handy.
d-metcalfe 15 Posted November 12, 2013 Posted November 12, 2013 @BurgerNFries I am an evernote user who wanted to get some information and saw that my question had already been asked here. I immediately understood what Vance was getting at, even if he did not perhaps word his question precisely with the correct technical knowledge to back it up, it was obvious what his problem was. All you did was pick at the fact that file formats weren't changed just because they were in a HTML file which wasn't helpful at all. Vance clearly isn't hugely technical and didn't fully grasp this distinction, what you did was equivalent to if a foreigner approached me in the street, not fluent in english, asking for directions, and rather than telling them, all I did was pick apart their grammar and ignore their actual question despite it being clearly understood. This is some helpful advice, if you really are an Evernote Evangelist then you should want to help people understand the product and get the most of it. But your answers were intentionally pedantic, unhelpful and disingenuous. You can be more helpful in future, not only to the person asking the question, but to people who make their way here from search engines to get quick helpful answers from the evernote forums, by simply answering the question, taking into account how technical the the person asking is, and offering guidance and clarification on things they may have expressed incorrectly in their question. Remember, Evernote is a tool for everyone, technical or not, so in being a helpful member of the forums, you need to accommodate all users, even if they don't necessarily speak the same 'language' as you. This thread could've been 3 posts long, a pleasant, efficient exchange, but it wasn't. It was just awkward and unnecessary.
Purzo 6 Posted December 21, 2013 Posted December 21, 2013 Thanks for the above information guys I was also looking for the same thing. And congratulations to Vance for keeping calm and remaining patient throughout this thread.
confused 5 Posted January 1, 2014 Posted January 1, 2014 I have the same problem and found the thread conversation unbelievably unhelpful. I am looking for a way to export my files from Evernote that is NOT HTML or EVERNOTE'S PROPRIETARY FORMAT i imported them as docs, pdfs, jpgs, etc. I want to get them back OUT OF EVERNOTE in the same form: docs, jpgs, pdfs - the same form in which I entered them I do not want to have to use yet another program like cloud HQ that I have to pay for to get my content out of evernote - my content, not in HTML or evernote's own format. I have quite a few files i want to get out of Evernote so I would rather not "print" to a pdf which is the only thing I could come up with at this point. I read the above conversation where the person answering totally did not get the question and kept going in circles without a solution, the only solution ultimately offered was a third party app like cloudHQ. I don't want yet another program, I think Evernote should offer this option and don't understand why it doesn't. IT's a huge drawback and one that would prevent me from recommending Evernote to anyone... Can anyone help? Thank you.
confused 5 Posted January 1, 2014 Posted January 1, 2014 · Hidden by megsaint, January 1, 2014 - duplicate Hidden by megsaint, January 1, 2014 - duplicate I have the same problem and found the thread conversation unbelievably unhelpful. I am looking for a way to export my files from Evernote that is NOT HTML or EVERNOTE'S PROPRIETARY FORMAT i imported them as docs, pdfs, jpgs, etc. I want to get them back OUT OF EVERNOTE in the same form: docs, jpgs, pdfs - the same form in which I entered them I do not want to have to use yet another program like cloud HQ that I have to pay for to get my content out of evernote - my content, not in HTML or evernote's own format. I have quite a few files i want to get out of Evernote so I would rather not "print" to a pdf which is the only thing I could come up with at this point. I read the above conversation where the person answering totally did not get the question and kept going in circles without a solution, the only solution ultimately offered was a third party app like cloudHQ. I don't want yet another program, I think Evernote should offer this option and don't understand why it doesn't. IT's a huge drawback and one that would prevent me from recommending Evernote to anyone... Can anyone help? Thank you.
Vance 38 Posted January 1, 2014 Author Posted January 1, 2014 The best advice I can give would be to use the free trial of Cloud HQ to extract your existing notes out to Google Drive or Dropbox then decide from there. It will keep them synced during the trial and when it is done you can let it go and then just get in the habit of saving to both places if you want parallel systems (as I do). I have not found a better way to do that one time large extraction.
megsaint 441 Posted January 1, 2014 Posted January 1, 2014 Most of the information in this thread is about exporting notes, not attachments which is what you seem to be asking about. Doc, jpegs, pdfs, anything you uploaded to Evernote are still in whatever format they were in when you uploaded them. For example, I just looked at a note that has an Excel spreadsheet I uploaded. On my Mac, the attachment has an icon I can click on to save the image to my local computer. I could easily make the destination my Dropbox folder or GoogleDrive folder. I would guess it works in a similar manner in Windows but I don't have a way to test that. There's no need to use a separate program, there are no proprietary Evernote formats.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted January 1, 2014 Posted January 1, 2014 I have the same problem and found the thread conversation unbelievably unhelpful. I am looking for a way to export my files from Evernote that is NOT HTML or EVERNOTE'S PROPRIETARY FORMAT i imported them as docs, pdfs, jpgs, etc. I want to get them back OUT OF EVERNOTE in the same form: docs, jpgs, pdfs - the same form in which I entered them I do not want to have to use yet another program like cloud HQ that I have to pay for to get my content out of evernote - my content, not in HTML or evernote's own format. I have quite a few files i want to get out of Evernote so I would rather not "print" to a pdf which is the only thing I could come up with at this point. I read the above conversation where the person answering totally did not get the question and kept going in circles without a solution, the only solution ultimately offered was a third party app like cloudHQ. I don't want yet another program, I think Evernote should offer this option and don't understand why it doesn't. IT's a huge drawback and one that would prevent me from recommending Evernote to anyone... Can anyone help? Thank you. This is answered in the thread. Specifically posts 8 & 10. I suggest you re-read them. As megsaint said, if you put a jpeg/mp3/whatever file into Evernote, it remains in that format type. Also, as megsaint said, if you don't have a lot of files to get out, you can call them up individually from within Evernote & do a "save as" to anywhere. Otherwise, if you have a lot of files, you're going to need to export to html & pluck out the various file attachments you need.
Vance 38 Posted January 1, 2014 Author Posted January 1, 2014 Yes, on a note by note basis it is not an issue. The problem is when you want to export the notes and their attachments in bulk that Evernote does not provide a practical solution but these third parties do.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted January 1, 2014 Posted January 1, 2014 Yes, on a note by note basis it is not an issue. The problem is when you want to export the notes and their attachments in bulk that Evernote does not provide a practical solution but these third parties do. It (exporting to html) does indeed work & provides a way to get your files out of Evernote. You may feel your solution is better & that's fine.
megsaint 441 Posted January 2, 2014 Posted January 2, 2014 Yes, on a note by note basis it is not an issue. The problem is when you want to export the notes and their attachments in bulk that Evernote does not provide a practical solution but these third parties do. "confused" specifically said she didn't want to use iCloud HQ.
confused 5 Posted January 2, 2014 Posted January 2, 2014 Thank you Vance (you are a patient person) and Megsaint (cute cat) for the comments and for paying attention to my question. I really appreciate the helpful support from you.As for the commenter who can't seem to follow the conversation, but is compelled to contribute uselessly, best of luck to you
bigbobbyboogie 3 Posted February 13, 2014 Posted February 13, 2014 Wow! I came to this thread for the same reasons as the OP. Just had to chime in, thanks for the helpful information Vance. confused, "the only solution ultimately offered was a third party app like cloudHQ. I don't want yet another program, I think Evernote should offer this option and don't understand why it doesn't" I think the answer to this is simply, why would Evernote provide an easy way for someone to use another service? Which may be why BurgersNFries seems to have ignored the OP by providing a half-measure solution. Yes BurgersNFries' solution would work, but very clearly not what the OP was looking for. My clear impression reading through all of the posts was that BurgerNFries did not want to provide an easy solution to allow someone using another service. Sad really. They should have just said "Evernote does not have the ability to do what you are asking as you would like it to, however, there may be third party methods available elsewhere, but that is not my expertise. My expertise is keeping things in Evernote." Live and learn.
Vance 38 Posted February 13, 2014 Author Posted February 13, 2014 I just wanted to report back after using Cloud HQ to move my bulk notes to Google Drive, and then continuing with regular syncing for the free period. It worked like a charm. It was very easy to configure and start it running and, a few hours later, all of my Evernote notes were existing, complete with folders, in Google Drive. After that, every time I added a picture, note, etc, to Evernote it added it to the appropriate folder in Google Drive. My free time is about to expire, and I will not be going forward with the paid service. Not because it doesn't work well, but simply because the main usefulness was to handle that bulk transfer. Going forward I think it will be fine just uploading an item to both places (most of my notes are uploads from my phone or computer, not actual writing notes), so it is just a few minutes extra to repeat the upload to the other service. The peace of mind and convenience of having all of my stuff in two places is worth that effort.
Turbo133 4 Posted February 22, 2014 Posted February 22, 2014 Thank you to Vance for this informative thread. I understood your question immediately, and the circular answers frustrated me. You certainly kept your cool. Much appreciated. I was hoping to discover some hidden feature for getting some of my notes out of Evernote. I love the service, but after three years of using Evernote, I'm starting to feel that my information is trapped there. This thread answered all of my questions (eventually). For those who posted comments related directly to the question, you have my thanks.
tinkicker 0 Posted May 23, 2014 Posted May 23, 2014 I just wanted to report back after using Cloud HQ to move my bulk notes to Google Drive, and then continuing with regular syncing for the free period. It worked like a charm. It was very easy to configure and start it running and, a few hours later, all of my Evernote notes were existing, complete with folders, in Google Drive. After that, every time I added a picture, note, etc, to Evernote it added it to the appropriate folder in Google Drive. My free time is about to expire, and I will not be going forward with the paid service. Not because it doesn't work well, but simply because the main usefulness was to handle that bulk transfer. Going forward I think it will be fine just uploading an item to both places (most of my notes are uploads from my phone or computer, not actual writing notes), so it is just a few minutes extra to repeat the upload to the other service. The peace of mind and convenience of having all of my stuff in two places is worth that effort.Bushwhacker, you might check into IFTTT for a little help on that double uploading. You can configure it to notice when you post to Evernote or Drive, and it will automatically post to the other service for you. Save you a step (and the few minutes extra). I use it for several similar functions in other apps and it works like a charm...for free.I've got several gripes about arbitrary limits in Evernote's structure myself...moving everything to Drive.
SebR 146 Posted May 23, 2014 Posted May 23, 2014 That can be done with IFTTT but only if it is public notes. There is just one trigger available. New shared note linkThis Trigger fires every time you share a new public note link. An alternative can be to create notes with gMail and have a IFFT recipe who send them to drive.
TX281 4 Posted May 24, 2014 Posted May 24, 2014 Seems to be a lot of questions on how to export documents out of EN. So the assumption is that the original documents imported into EN were deleted. Maybe I'm just lazy, but have never deleted my originals, they are all stored in one of my EN import folders, which reside on cloud drives. Going forward, to maintain a copy of all documents, just make a Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. folder an Evernote Import folder and use this folder for bringing all files into Evernote. This will maintain a copy of every file that goes into EN. Very simple process. This works with OneDrive and Google Drive for sure.
tinkicker 0 Posted May 24, 2014 Posted May 24, 2014 In my case that assumption is wrong. I'm trying to get my information out of Evernote so that I can stop using it and use something else.The vast majority of my original documents were webpages, so as I've already guessed, I'll just have to go to each one and re-save the page into my new app.My important documents are on my home server, where I have control of the security.The main thrust of the questions here concerned automating a tedious task.
EvernoteSYNCIs 0 Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 @BurgerNFries I am an evernote user who wanted to get some information and saw that my question had already been asked here. I immediately understood what Vance was getting at, even if he did not perhaps word his question precisely with the correct technical knowledge to back it up, it was obvious what his problem was. All you did was pick at the fact that file formats weren't changed just because they were in a HTML file which wasn't helpful at all. Vance clearly isn't hugely technical and didn't fully grasp this distinction, what you did was equivalent to if a foreigner approached me in the street, not fluent in english, asking for directions, and rather than telling them, all I did was pick apart their grammar and ignore their actual question despite it being clearly understood. This is some helpful advice, if you really are an Evernote Evangelist then you should want to help people understand the product and get the most of it. But your answers were intentionally pedantic, unhelpful and disingenuous. You can be more helpful in future, not only to the person asking the question, but to people who make their way here from search engines to get quick helpful answers from the evernote forums, by simply answering the question, taking into account how technical the the person asking is, and offering guidance and clarification on things they may have expressed incorrectly in their question. Remember, Evernote is a tool for everyone, technical or not, so in being a helpful member of the forums, you need to accommodate all users, even if they don't necessarily speak the same 'language' as you. This thread could've been 3 posts long, a pleasant, efficient exchange, but it wasn't. It was just awkward and unnecessary. d-metcafe, you are so right on this!! Evernote seems to have more and more issues and troubles and they keep denying it and have no fix other than those that risk you losing data. its terrible. it started out as a great idea, but it clearly seems that people are so frustrated with the service that is paid for and are leaving for something more reliable. Evernote is really a big let down.
EvernoteSYNCIs 0 Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Thank you Vance (you are a patient person) and Megsaint (cute cat) for the comments and for paying attention to my question. I really appreciate the helpful support from you.As for the commenter who can't seem to follow the conversation, but is compelled to contribute uselessly, best of luck to youPerhaps its outsourced customer support in india? you know like how you see in the shows? It sure would explain the amount of frustration everyone is having!
confused 5 Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 it's pretty obvious no one there cares. Customer service is not part of the "new" business model. Those irritating consumers just slow ya down ...
Sam123 6 Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 I found my way here by Googling how to transfer notes/files out of Evernote (Unbelievable they don't offer any such ability) and had absolutely no intention of commenting, in fact, I rarely if ever participate in forum discussions - BUT -the Evernote representative, BurgersnFries, was so appallingly rude, unhelpful and condescending to the OP I felt the need to make the effort to create an account just so I could congratulate Vance (OP) on being a million times better, more patient person than I could ever be.Vance, you handled her ignorance and demeaning manner like a champ. You'd be great in the special needs field, working with challenged individuals who lack basic social interaction skills. BurgersnFries, you single-handedly ruined my perception of Evernote. I was willing to concede to having to use yet another service to be able to perform the simple function of transferring notes, but after meeting you? The Evernote Evangelist? Not so much. Not only am I changing my search query from 'how to transfer notes out of evernote' to 'evernote alternative' but I'm now going to make a point to reference this thread in any future Evernote discussions I see across the web. You went the extra mile to make an Evernote users request not only as difficult as humanly possible, but you made the special effort to patronize them and publicly infer they were of lesser intelligence, if not downright stupid for not being able to understand your roundabout BS answer that didn't even serve the purpose. You get what you give. And you gave sh*t.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 I found my way here by Googling how to transfer notes/files out of Evernote (Unbelievable they don't offer any such ability) and had absolutely no intention of commenting, in fact, I rarely if ever participate in forum discussions - BUT -the Evernote representative, BurgersnFries, was so appallingly rude, unhelpful and condescending to the OP I felt the need to make the effort to create an account just so I could congratulate Vance (OP) on being a million times better, more patient person than I could ever be.Vance, you handled her ignorance and demeaning manner like a champ. You'd be great in the special needs field, working with challenged individuals who lack basic social interaction skills. BurgersnFries, you single-handedly ruined my perception of Evernote. I was willing to concede to having to use yet another service to be able to perform the simple function of transferring notes, but after meeting you? The Evernote Evangelist? Not so much. Not only am I changing my search query from 'how to transfer notes out of evernote' to 'evernote alternative' but I'm now going to make a point to reference this thread in any future Evernote discussions I see across the web. You went the extra mile to make an Evernote users request not only as difficult as humanly possible, but you made the special effort to patronize them and publicly infer they were of lesser intelligence, if not downright stupid for not being able to understand your roundabout BS answer that didn't even serve the purpose. You get what you give. And you gave sh*t.I hope you feel better now that you've got that off your chest.
chronistin 188 Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 I found my way here by Googling how to transfer notes/files out of Evernote (Unbelievable they don't offer any such ability) It seems there is still a problem with understanding the html export here. If you export the notes from EN to .html, all your typed content (and txt or web pages) is output as html, but all attached and imported files are there in their original form with their original filenames. They are located in subfolders named after the note, but if you choose the above folder in Windows explorer and search for a filetype, you will get all files of that type listed. You can then copy/move them or treat them however you want to. I am sure there is a similar way to do this on a mac. There is a good reason Evernote uses html as the export format. In EN, you can have all sorts of content within one note - A bit of text, an audio file, a few images, some more text and then maybe a doc. The only way to display all this as it was in the note is html.
Sam123 6 Posted August 4, 2014 Posted August 4, 2014 I found my way here by Googling how to transfer notes/files out of Evernote (Unbelievable they don't offer any such ability) It seems there is still a problem with understanding the html export here. If you export the notes from EN to .html, all your typed content (and txt or web pages) is output as html, but all attached and imported files are there in their original form with their original filenames. They are located in subfolders named after the note, but if you choose the above folder in Windows explorer and search for a filetype, you will get all files of that type listed. You can then copy/move them or treat them however you want to. I am sure there is a similar way to do this on a mac. There is a good reason Evernote uses html as the export format. In EN, you can have all sorts of content within one note - A bit of text, an audio file, a few images, some more text and then maybe a doc. The only way to display all this as it was in the note is html. Thanks for your 0.2c, but I understand it just fine. To quickly transfer everything out of Evernote while keeping the same title & folder layout, I used Cloud HQ and it was done in an instant..
Bruce.0 3 Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 WOW! Vance is a Saint! Being a premium Evernote user since almost the beginning. I distinctly remember the founder stating that Evernote was designed for easy migration of data so users didn't feel trapped like they did wiith prior notes/database sytems. That if they became unhappy with the service they could easily migrate their data. I still love Evernote but as it becomes more and more bloated and slow and often unintuitive I decided to search and see what migration options there were. Thanks Vance for saving us all the time of researching and testing. The moderator should be BOOTED. Just this thread alone motivates me to migrate and save my subscription dollars...
Vance 38 Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 Yes, I think those of us who were not sure how it worked and why it was not easy to migrate really do understand now, and I can even say that I understand why Evernote does it that way. But that doesn't mean that doing such a migration or syncing is simple, and it is definitely not intuitive. Even as someone generally tech savvy, the idea of working with HTML is not within my comfort zone. Honestly, I am not sure how Evernote could do what it does in a way that makes it easy to migrate and sync, so I am not blaming Evernote for that. But I need flexibility. So, here is what I did: I used CloudHQ during its free trial to sync all my notes over to Google Drive as a one-time dump. It did a GREAT job converting all the files to usable and familiar formats and even kept all of the folders in place. Then I let CloudHQ lapse since it was just too pricey to keep it going as a monthly service. Now, I save most things in both places and keep a dual system going. For single documents I will scan them in using Drive on my phone since its scan feature is better than Evernote's. That syncs to my desktop Drive folder, where I simply right-click the pdf file and "Send to Evernote". This works well. I could also use TX281's excellent suggestion of having my Drive folder be an Evernote watch folder, but I actually put some stuff in Drive that I don't need in Evernote. Otherwise that would be even one step easier.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 WOW! Vance is a Saint! Being a premium Evernote user since almost the beginning. I distinctly remember the founder stating that Evernote was designed for easy migration of data so users didn't feel trapped like they did wiith prior notes/database sytems. That if they became unhappy with the service they could easily migrate their data. I still love Evernote but as it becomes more and more bloated and slow and often unintuitive I decided to search and see what migration options there were. Thanks Vance for saving us all the time of researching and testing. The moderator should be BOOTED. Just this thread alone motivates me to migrate and save my subscription dollars... Yes, I think those of us who were not sure how it worked and why it was not easy to migrate really do understand now, and I can even say that I understand why Evernote does it that way. But that doesn't mean that doing such a migration or syncing is simple, and it is definitely not intuitive. Even as someone generally tech savvy, the idea of working with HTML is not within my comfort zone. Honestly, I am not sure how Evernote could do what it does in a way that makes it easy to migrate and sync, so I am not blaming Evernote for that. But I need flexibility. So, here is what I did: I used CloudHQ during its free trial to sync all my notes over to Google Drive as a one-time dump. It did a GREAT job converting all the files to usable and familiar formats and even kept all of the folders in place. Then I let CloudHQ lapse since it was just too pricey to keep it going as a monthly service. Now, I save most things in both places and keep a dual system going. For single documents I will scan them in using Drive on my phone since its scan feature is better than Evernote's. That syncs to my desktop Drive folder, where I simply right-click the pdf file and "Send to Evernote". This works well. I could also use TX281's excellent suggestion of having my Drive folder be an Evernote watch folder, but I actually put some stuff in Drive that I don't need in Evernote. Otherwise that would be even one step easier. Evernote has provided a generic way to export your notes & all contents INCLUDING all the various file types. The fact that you may not feel comfortable with html (which is pretty clear from your postings) is not Evernote's problem and others (myself included) have provided the info on how to get your files out. Sorry if that's too "tech" for some of you. But hey, I'm glad that those of you who are uncomfortable with html & Evernote's export process have FINALLY found a way that you do feel comfortable with. Hallelujah!!! Praise God!
Vance 38 Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 Evernote has provided a generic way to export your notes & all contents INCLUDING all the various file types. The fact that you may not feel comfortable with html (which is pretty clear from your postings) is not Evernote's problem and others (myself included) have provided the info on how to get your files out. Sorry if that's too "tech" for some of you. But hey, I'm glad that those of you who are uncomfortable with html & Evernote's export process have FINALLY found a way that you do feel comfortable with. Hallelujah!!! Praise God! Well, yes, it is Evernote's problem if we, as the paying customers, are frustrated and unhappy with how it works. The fact that this thread keeps getting resurrected by people trying to solve the same problem, and running into the same frustration, speaks volumes. Maybe Evernote will someday include a CloudHQ-like option for migrating/syncing to other services. A lot of people feel more comfortable nowadays having multiple cloud services, especially with storage so cheap.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 Well, yes, it is Evernote's problem if we, as the paying customers, are frustrated and unhappy with how it works. The fact that this thread keeps getting resurrected by people trying to solve the same problem, and running into the same frustration, speaks volumes. Maybe Evernote will someday include a CloudHQ-like option for migrating/syncing to other services. A lot of people feel more comfortable nowadays having multiple cloud services, especially with storage so cheap.There are always going to be customers who are frustrated & unhappy with something. The fact that this thread keeps getting resurrected doesn't really speak volumes. Instead, it indicates there are a few (out of 100+ million users) who don't understand how to get their files out, using a very common format today, html. I'm sure those who have posted in the linux client thread or those who have posted in the various "need sub notebooks" or "need password protected notebooks" threads also think their thread "speaks volumes". Like I said, I'm glad you found something that works for you. But that doesn't mean it's a flaw in Evernote simply b/c you needed a third party app to do what you wanted to do in a way you could understand. From the beginning, Evernote has welcomed third party apps to do specific tasks that EN the company has chosen not to do.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 6, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 6, 2014 Evernote has provided a generic way to export your notes & all contents INCLUDING all the various file types. The fact that you may not feel comfortable with html (which is pretty clear from your postings) is not Evernote's problem and others (myself included) have provided the info on how to get your files out. Sorry if that's too "tech" for some of you. But hey, I'm glad that those of you who are uncomfortable with html & Evernote's export process have FINALLY found a way that you do feel comfortable with. Hallelujah!!! Praise God! Well, yes, it is Evernote's problem if we, as the paying customers, are frustrated and unhappy with how it works. The fact that this thread keeps getting resurrected by people trying to solve the same problem, and running into the same frustration, speaks volumes. Maybe Evernote will someday include a CloudHQ-like option for migrating/syncing to other services. A lot of people feel more comfortable nowadays having multiple cloud services, especially with storage so cheap.There are certainly some forum-goers who want to solve the same problem, and for whom CloudHQ, the solution you've found (and kudos for that!), will hopefully work. Since there's an existing -- and evidently viable -- solution available, coupled with the fact that Evernote provides exports to 1: HTML, a known, standardized format, and 2: their own documented ENML, that would seem to cover the use case pretty well though, and would lower the need for Evernote-provided solutions to work with all other services. As it is, some (but not all) of the folks who've resurrected the topic seem to actually have the agenda of editorializing about BurgersNFries, without realizing that she has helped hundreds, if not thousands of fellow Evernote users here in the forums. I have rather less sympathy for their situations. In fact, that type of post is pretty much off-topic here. If folks want to discuss solutions to the original problem, including CloudHQ, possible approaches/changes to Evernote, and so forth, that's welcome. If folks prefer to discuss the behavior of other users, then they should familiarize themselves with the Forum Code of Conduct, and if they then feel that someone has broken those rules, they should go ahead and report the offending post(s). As it is, I haven't seen anything here that even comes close to a violation of those rules, but we (the non-Evernote moderators) always leave any final judgment up to actual Evernote staff. To make the point clearer for everyone: please try to stay on topic. If the thread can't stay topical (and this one's wandered about as I far as I care to see), then we can lock it, and have what is otherwise a worthwhile discussion interrupted until someone else starts up a new topic on the subject.
Vance 38 Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 Well, I would disagree entirely, jefito. Almost every post here has been discussing solutions to this problem, expressing their agreement that it IS an issue and also expressing their relief for having found this thread. The few times BurgersNFries has been mentioned has been in passing as part of making those other comments. While I can understand your desire to both back her up as a devoted and very loyal power user and also to shuttle this thread right out of the line-up, there is one very important reason it needs to remain: People are obviously coming to the forum and searching for this issue in order to find out how to solve this problem, and this thread has helped them. It has helped them realize they are not missing something built in that does what they really want to do (ie, they are not doing anything wrong) and it has helped provide some alternative solutions to accomplishing their goal.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 6, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 6, 2014 Well, I would disagree entirely, jefito. Almost every post here has been discussing solutions to this problem, expressing their agreement that it IS an issue and also expressing their relief for having found this thread. The few times BurgersNFries has been mentioned has been in passing as part of making those other comments. While I can understand your desire to both back her up as a devoted and very loyal power user and also to shuttle this thread right out of the line-up, there is one very important reason it needs to remain: People are obviously coming to the forum and searching for this issue in order to find out how to solve this problem, and this thread has helped them. It has helped them realize they are not missing something built in that does what they really want to do (ie, they are not doing anything wrong) and it has helped provide some alternative solutions to accomplishing their goal. I have no idea what you're disagreeing with. If you think that a post violates forum rules, then you have recourse: report it. Everyone has that option. Something may come of it, though I'd doubt it in this case. Nobody is saying that the CloudHQ information is not helpful. And facts about Evernote's export facilities are also useful and topical. On the other hand, discussion about other members is by-and-large not useful, and not topical. The warning here is that if the conversation strays much further off topic, then it could be locked. Locking a topic doesn't mean that it will disappear, it just means that further discussion in this thread is closed, but there's certainly nothing wrong with opening up a new one for the same issue. In addition, sometimes locked topics occasionally get unlocked, once people have a chance to cool off and think about things.
JohnDM 122 Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 Lets see if I can understand what is happening here. First the fact ===============The Facts=============== 1) Evernote has been experiencing some lag issues, thsi has a lot of people concerned. Even BurgersNFries has reported, on another thread, that her windows client is lagging and she has tens of thousands of notes. 2) People are starting to get concerned. Will the Evernote Team get this fixed? Just how portable IS Evernote and how easy is it to get your files out? That's a legitimate question and one I am asking myself as I am just as concerned as the next person 3) Along comes Vance who wants to get his files out exported "in their original format" A ) If the evernote note is a text file he wants the note exported in txt,B ) If the note contains pictures, he wants that picture exported as a JPG or a PNG whatever it originally file typec) If the note had a PDF file in it he wants it exported as a PDF So in other words, apparently each of Vance's notes are either Text, Image, or PDF -- there ins't a lot of multiple formats in each note 4) BurgersNFries trys to explain, it's misunderstood, other join in -- concern grows -- Can you or can you not get your files out?? !!! =============I tested it myself============= I went and exported a bunch of my notes and it worked even better than I thought it would. Internal links from one note to another note are honored and I can move around inside my exported notes. WHAT A RELIEF I can even see the embedded files be it photos, PDF and see the spreadsheets that are embeded JUST like they look in Evernote. The original embedded files be it Jpg PDF are unchanged and everything I took a deep breath. ===============Why the confusion?=============== People, apparently don't understand what Evernote is -- Evernote is a data base. It's not a folder system. What is a Database -- A Data Base is a glorified spreadsheet that can do complex searches with links to things -- Links to JPGs, links to a PDFs links to a text documents But Evernote is so much more than a Database because it displays all these linked things right there in the note view and you can work with them in amazing complex ways. If all you are doing is just using it as a file system where each note is purely a Jpg, purely a PFD, purely a text file, Evernote is not the best application for what you are doing. There have been threads which have talked about how storing all your images in everynote is clunky and not efficient, other applications are better at that etc etc Seriously, if a person doesn't like the envelope idea of a HTML file that is fully and almost universally understood format which will let you put *context*, *meaning* to what is contained inside the note -- then clearly you didn't want to be using Evernote to begin with. What if a note has Text, and PDF and a Jpg and a Recorded note all in the same note? How did you expect Evernote to export that? A) Evernote could just guess which is the most important based on size and export it that way B ) Evernote could export the same note multiple times for each file type Both of those options, I personally find inferior to its current approach. Currently you STILL get the original embedded files in their original condition and format and there is only one note instead of many =========================so . . .what am I to make of this========================== Vance has more posts than I have on the forum so he is pretty active .. I guess, Confused is pretty new, bigbobbyboogie is new, a lot of the people worried seem to be pretty new. What is the chance that they havn't reached a level of understanding what Evernote can do and can't do yet? -- maybe kind of high Is their concerns about the sluggishness and portability Valid? yeah . . .. very valid Speaking to readers not yet posted -- Why not just try to export yourself to a temp file and see what it does for yourself. it wasn't hard 1) do a complex search 2) Select all those files 3) File -> Export -> Export as multiple Web Pages 4) then go look yourself. If what you see scares you, then your not using evernote the way it was intended and there are clearly better ways, such as Drop Box or Google cloud drive BurgersNFries can be abrupt but her advice is always spot on -- and the help she has given to people, me including, has been phenomenal with insight I have gotten from no one else
Vance 38 Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 JohnDM: Yes, most of us NOW already understand everything you just explained, the point is that it was not what we expected it to be (which may make us ignorant in your eyes) and we were disappointed when we found out how it really worked and were looking for a way for it to work more like what we expected. That is all. I tried the HTML export, I tried the EN proprietary format and neither were pleasant experiences. Yes, we were hoping it would work much more like a folder system so that it could sync and migrate TO a folder system as a back up and parallel system. Again, maybe you find that silly, that is fine. But I use Drive, Evernote and Dropbox very much the same way and I can migrate stuff between Drive and Dropbox very easily. I was simply hoping and expecting I could do the same with Evernote. Now we all know that it doesn't work that way without a third party client. All that happened here is that one helper got very defensive that we were frustrated with the options Evernote offered and, much as you, insisted that we were silly for expecting anything different, that the Evernote method was perfectly fine and if we didn't like it, the problem was with us, not the product. Not very helpful. But enough of us were in the same boat, with the same desires and frustrations, that we found alternative ways to get to where we wanted. That really is all that has happened.
JohnDM 122 Posted August 6, 2014 Posted August 6, 2014 JohnDM: . . . one helper got very defensive . . . That's your perception. It wasn't mine. I love what I have learned from the "one helper" JohnDM: . . . .we were hoping it would work much more like a folder system . . . ok, yeah . . . . I can see how that would be extremely frustrating especially since you have been using Evernote since , , , at least 22 Jul 2010 -- I mean that sincerely Edit -- I have been using evernote about the same length of time and I had never actually tried to export a sample either. So it was my first time too. I'm just not as upset with the output as you are. I don't dismiss that you might be extremely disappointed. It would suck to be that disappointed in your expectations. JohnDM: . . . and, much as you, insisted that we were silly for expecting anything different . . . .. No . . . I don't think you are silly. I think your frustrated . . . . and that is understandable. I apologize if you took it wrong . . . .and I mean that. I don't think you are silly. But I was really talking to the people reading this . .. . Seriously, (you other people) export a sample and look at it. if the format is not what you want or scares you, learn from this and plan for other options.
Vance 38 Posted August 6, 2014 Author Posted August 6, 2014 Yes, I have been using Evernote since it was the size of a moderate city (to use the podcast measuring technique), and have been a huge advocate to all who will listen (and many who won't). And I absolutely did have a complete misunderstanding of how it worked under the hood since I was thinking of it like any other cloud storage service, just with more functionality, not realizing that the aspects that gave it that greater functionality were what also made it unlike a traditional cloud storage service. Thus, our frustration when all we wanted to do was migrate our notes out to another cloud storage service or, even better, keep them synced with such other services. Or, alternatively, just migrate them out to a folder on our computer in bulk (ie, not just one at a time) in a way that clicking on the file opened up the content in a familiar and useful application. I know there would an issue with multiple format notes, but speaking only for myself, my notes are either pdf, or text, or photos, or web pages, almost never are they some combination of those. But, definitely, I would tell anyone that was comfortable with HTML as a format to try out that method of extracting their files and see. My primary problem with HTML as the export result are: 1. HTML readers, basically browsers, are just not great for viewing stuff like this.2. The note attachments, such as a pdf, are much better viewed in a pdf reader, jpegs in a photo viewer, etc, so that these would have to be meticulously removed from the HTML.3. When the idea is to take the note contents and migrate them to another cloud service, you have to jump through some hoops to get the content out of HTML and into more traditional formats for the best viewing experience in those other services. So, while exporting to HTML will definitely get your data out of Evernote and onto your hard drive, and you don't lose anything, if you don't want to view them every time in a web browser or some other HTML reader, you have a hard road ahead to get them into another format (without using a third party service). Edit to add a thank you for understanding where we are coming from, JohnDM
DavidPierson 15 Posted August 7, 2014 Posted August 7, 2014 Hi Vance,A genuine question - for your text notes, which likely include various formatting - in what file format were you expecting them to be exported? The only other format than HTML that I can think of, would be Word Doc. But I am not sure I see any advantage in that. If I have Word, I can just as easily edit the HTML files using Word. They look exactly as they did in Evernote. And if I don't have Word (and I can't imagine that but plenty don't have it), then HTML is the better option. I'm genuinely puzzled. Hope you can shed some light :-) DaveP.S. Thanks JohnDM for bridging the gap here between the parties.
Bruce.0 3 Posted August 7, 2014 Posted August 7, 2014 I just don't understand why you guys don't get it. Of course Html export with links to the native files is fine and useful. It's just not easily/directly portable to another service, which creates user friction when somebody loses confidence in the service and would like to transfer or use another similar service and realizes it may take them many hours just to figure out the location of files and transfer them into proper folders, tags or whatever. Fortunately cloud hq has done the conversion scripting for us. Crazy thing is cloud HQ is significantly more expensive for just facilitating this transfer than evernote itself. IF cloud HD has a significant number of users it demonstrates that evernote is failing in another area. The founder was so confident in evernote's value he said users will always be able to easily take your information elsewhere. It's not proprietary, which is great, but it's not as portable to other services as it could/should be. I still love Evernote, but it has disappointed me over the years with its speed, clunkiness, bugginess and I really did not like the fact that it took them years to even respond to the fact that evernote was very insecure and would not even allow basic passwords or pin to be used for accessing their mobile apps.
Vance 38 Posted August 7, 2014 Author Posted August 7, 2014 Hi Vance,A genuine question - for your text notes, which likely include various formatting - in what file format were you expecting them to be exported? The only other format than HTML that I can think of, would be Word Doc. But I am not sure I see any advantage in that. If I have Word, I can just as easily edit the HTML files using Word. They look exactly as they did in Evernote. And if I don't have Word (and I can't imagine that but plenty don't have it), then HTML is the better option. I'm genuinely puzzled. Hope you can shed some light :-) DaveP.S. Thanks JohnDM for bridging the gap here between the parties. Dave, any of the cross-platform formats that will open in each other's apps ready for reading or editing. Whether it is a txt, doc, wpd, Open Office file, etc, all of these will readily open in any of the other apps, whichever is set by default as the app for that format, or it will ask me. Any of them are also automatically readable, and editable, in Google Docs. The files are perfectly readable in a browser, but they are not editable there and I am just not comfortable with a browser opening up just to read a text file, I prefer any of the regular text editors, even Notepad! :0) What Cloud HQ did was interesting, for every text note in Evernote it created a pdf, a doc and the HTML. If there was a photo or other graphics attached, it saved them as well in the same folder (In a subfolder with the name of the note). But at least half of what I do in Evernote is scanned pdf's, which are very clearly better viewed in a pdf reader. Edit to add: what is interesting is that Drive (Google Docs) also creates the document in its own proprietary format which is meant to be read "online" in their app, so when you want to export it, it asks whether you want to save it as a doc or txt file.
Level 5* chirmer 567 Posted August 7, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 7, 2014 I do agree that it's unfortunate you're stuck with HTML files once you export your Evernote notes, as HTML files aren't very manageable. At all. But it's not at the fault of Evernote. As BurgersNFries said, it's a very common export format and easily readable -- as well as capable of keeping your note structure and metadata in tact. Notes that had text, images, audio files, etc. stay that way in HTML, versus being split up into individual files based on the type of content. This is great. Where we fall short is these other products having ways to import such content into their service. Evernote's leaving the door wide open to them to create a tool to import that data, as Evernote's HTML export exports all of your note's content and info, which is fantastic. But oddly enough, Google hasn't made an Evernote import tool for Drive/Keep yet. It's usually on the 3rd party software to help people migrate to their specific product -- migrating from EN to Drive is going to be fundamentally different than exporting to OneNote (for which Microsoft has made an import tool to get your Evernote content to OneNote). Evernote can't possibly cover all the bases when it comes to exporting to various products. So, they give you the most versatile and widely-accepted file type for export, and then it's really the 3rd party's job to get that content into their product for you. If they want your business, it's generally on them to have that importer made. Hopefully Google will someday create an importer, as while I love Evernote and use it multiple times a day, I did initially use it to save files I wish I hadn't, and now don't have the world's easiest way to pull them out. But it's not truly Evernote's fault this doesn't exist -- the fact they have a method in place to let you export every scrap of information from your EN notes, including metadata and enriched content, is actually very impressive. Should a good import tool come along, you will get sooooo much more saved from Evernote due to how great their export is.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 8, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 8, 2014 It's usually on the 3rd party software to help people migrate to their specific product -- migrating from EN to Drive is going to be fundamentally different than exporting to OneNote (for which Microsoft has made an import tool to get your Evernote content to OneNote). Evernote can't possibly cover all the bases when it comes to exporting to various products. So, they give you the most versatile and widely-accepted file type for export, and then it's really the 3rd party's job to get that content into their product for you. If they want your business, it's generally on them to have that importer made.This. Just this. I'm curious to know what other format would be better, more generally supported, and appropriate than HTML? Particularly since Evernote essentially expresses its notes as an HTML subset.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted August 8, 2014 Posted August 8, 2014 People, apparently don't understand what Evernote is -- Evernote is a data base. It's not a folder system. What is a Database -- A Data Base is a glorified spreadsheet that can do complex searches with links to things -- Links to JPGs, links to a PDFs links to a text documents But Evernote is so much more than a Database because it displays all these linked things right there in the note view and you can work with them in amazing complex ways. If all you are doing is just using it as a file system where each note is purely a Jpg, purely a PFD, purely a text file, Evernote is not the best application for what you are doing. There have been threads which have talked about how storing all your images in everynote is clunky and not efficient, other applications are better at that etc etc Seriously, if a person doesn't like the envelope idea of a HTML file that is fully and almost universally understood format which will let you put *context*, *meaning* to what is contained inside the note -- then clearly you didn't want to be using Evernote to begin with.Yup. What he said. Dave, any of the cross-platform formats that will open in each other's apps ready for reading or editing. Whether it is a txt, doc, wpd, Open Office file, etc, all of these will readily open in any of the other apps, whichever is set by default as the app for that format, or it will ask me.Or... um... HTML! Because everyone, every platform has access to free browsers. I do agree that it's unfortunate you're stuck with HTML files once you export your Evernote notes, as HTML files aren't very manageable. At all. But it's not at the fault of Evernote. As BurgersNFries said, it's a very common export format and easily readable -- as well as capable of keeping your note structure and metadata in tact. Notes that had text, images, audio files, etc. stay that way in HTML, versus being split up into individual files based on the type of content. This is great. Where we fall short is these other products having ways to import such content into their service. Evernote's leaving the door wide open to them to create a tool to import that data, as Evernote's HTML export exports all of your note's content and info, which is fantastic. But oddly enough, Google hasn't made an Evernote import tool for Drive/Keep yet. It's usually on the 3rd party software to help people migrate to their specific product -- migrating from EN to Drive is going to be fundamentally different than exporting to OneNote (for which Microsoft has made an import tool to get your Evernote content to OneNote). Evernote can't possibly cover all the bases when it comes to exporting to various products. So, they give you the most versatile and widely-accepted file type for export, and then it's really the 3rd party's job to get that content into their product for you. If they want your business, it's generally on them to have that importer made. Hopefully Google will someday create an importer, as while I love Evernote and use it multiple times a day, I did initially use it to save files I wish I hadn't, and now don't have the world's easiest way to pull them out. But it's not truly Evernote's fault this doesn't exist -- the fact they have a method in place to let you export every scrap of information from your EN notes, including metadata and enriched content, is actually very impressive. Should a good import tool come along, you will get sooooo much more saved from Evernote due to how great their export is.Yup - what Chirmer said. I'm curious to know what other format would be better, more generally supported, and appropriate than HTML? Particularly since Evernote essentially expresses its notes as an HTML subset.Say what? Would you repeat that? Particularly since Evernote essentially expresses its notes as an HTML subset. Once more. This time with feeling!(emphasis mine) Particularly since Evernote essentially expresses its notes as an HTML subset.Because... Evernote uses ENML to display their notes. And guess what? ENML is a version of... HTML! So...to recap... (emphasis mine) People, apparently don't understand what Evernote is -- Evernote is a data base. It's not a folder system.(snip)Seriously, if a person doesn't like the envelope idea of a HTML file that is fully and almost universally understood format which will let you put *context*, *meaning* to what is contained inside the note -- then clearly you didn't want to be using Evernote to begin with.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 8, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 8, 2014 I'm curious to know what other format would be better, more generally supported, and appropriate than HTML? Particularly since Evernote essentially expresses its notes as an HTML subset. Say what? Would you repeat that?More precisely, I'm curious to know which format other people think would be a better choice than HTML.
Vance 38 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Posted August 8, 2014 No, we now DO understand what Evernote is, and why it does what it does, that has not been the issue since it was explained early on. So, lets clear this up: 1. We know how Evernote does it (database, not folder system)2. We know why Evernote does it that way (able to maintain notes with varying file types in consistent format) Do not confuse our continued frustration with lack of understanding. We GET it, we just don't LIKE it. 1. We have gotten used to services like Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive which allow us to move files back and forth between them, or to a folder on a computer, with simply copy and paste. This makes moving our "stuff" around, and having redundant storage systems very convenient. 2. For a lot of us, Evernote is first and foremost a digital file cabinet, a cloud storage system, where we store scanned documents or pictures or typewritten notes or web-pages. Very rarely (speaking for myself) do I ever have a "note" which has multiple types of files. So, for me, the HTML benefit of keeping multiple file types consistently formatted is wasted. Its either a pdf or its a type-written note, not both. In short, we use Evernote the way we would Dropbox, but with the added benefit of a nice text note taker and search/filter functions. 3. No, HTML is not the consumption vehicle of choice for most people. People do not use browsers to write and read text as a general rule. When people have scanned documents stored on their computer, they are in pdf format and folks do not use browsers to open them up. When people want to look through some photos, they do not opt for HTML as their means of checking them out. So, there are preferred vehicles for viewing each of these formats and, other than stored web pages, HTML is not it. 4. So, when I have a scanned document stored in Evernote (JUST a scanned document), and I want to transfer that document to a folder on my computer, it is much more convenient to have it transferred as a pdf alone rather than embedded in an HTML file. Similarly, when I have photo that I stored in Evernote (JUST the photo, nothing else), it is much better to have that photo transfer back out as a jpg by itself rather than have the extra step of pulling it out of an HTML file. If I have a bit of written text stored in Evernote, it is much more convenient to have that transferred as a txt file, or a doc file, than as an HTML file. Now, if I have a web page stored, then obviously the best format when exported is, indeed, HTML. Now, I get it, Evernote is not transferring just a pdf, or a jpg, it is exporting a "Note" and to get that "note-ness", it needs a wrapper to put it in to make sure you get all the other stuff that you have included in that "note" along with your original thing. And HTML is that wrapper that can collect all the stuff. But, for me (and for most people, I am guessing), there ISN'T any other stuff, it is just the thing itself that is being stored. That is all. Thus, the original lack of understanding why Evernote was not giving us back what we put in (I put a pdf in, I get an HTML back, with that pdf inside), and the frustration. For us, Evernote is another cloud storage device, a souped-up Dropbox, it is OneDrive on steroids. Better than the rest, but basically the same thing. We now know that is not the case. But here is the primary point: just because we now understand why this is happening, that doesn't mean we have to LIKE that it is happening. The fact that our expectations were misplaced doesn't make the end result any less frustrating. And, please do not pretend that the option that Evernote has is optimal for most users. I will say that it is very reasonable given how Evernote is set up and for those who use Evernote to take complex, multi-format Notes, then sure, HTML may be the best (I don't know any better). But for the rest of us, the type of export options provided by CloudHQ is what is optimal. I don't expect Evernote to provide such a service, and I am not complaining about that or saying they SHOULD provide it. I am just objecting to this idea that HTML is somehow as useful and convenient as an end product for individual pdf's, jpgs and text notes. It is just not.
JohnDM 122 Posted August 9, 2014 Posted August 9, 2014 . . ..Do not confuse our continued frustration with lack of understanding. We GET it, we just don't LIKE it. . Vance . . . . seriously . . . .this is just . . . . bizarre. You are venting your frustration. . . . . ok . .. . I get that. That's your point. That's your real point. You're venting. . . . this is sort of how it comes across to me . . . . .you say, . .. "I get it. I get it. It does wonderful things, but all I want to do is drive it to the corner store to pick up milk and bread, like probably most everyone else that uses their NASA Delta III liquid hydrogen second stage Rocket. . . we now understand that its purpose is for deep space exploration and expanding the outer limits of human knowledge, that doesn't mean we have to LIKE it. I'm not saying NASA should supply reverse lights on it for when we back out of the parking spot after buying our lotto tickets, I am just objecting to this idea that somehow Interplanetary Space Travel is somehow as useful and convenient as an end product for individual convenience store shoppers" Vance . . . .We agree with you. . . . . the use you are using it for is not useful and convenient for your use -- a folder system We agree Now if you will excuse me, I need to get some cat food and I am at T-Minus 47 and counting.
Vance 38 Posted August 9, 2014 Author Posted August 9, 2014 Well, yes, I am definitely not using Evernote to its fullest extent. Like most people using any technology, other than the extreme power user, I leave most features unused. A more apt analogy would be my wife who simply doesn't take advantage of most of the cool features of her Android phone. But she would still get frustrated when one of the few things she does use it for doesn't behave as expected. I might tell her that the reason it doesn't do that thing is because it does a bunch of other cool things, but I would acknowledge that what she is experiencing IS frustrating, Evernote is basically two things, in equal measure: a note taker and a cloud storage service. EN encourages its users to both take notes AND store their scanned documents, their photos, etc, into its storage system for safekeeping and access. They even sponsor a scanner to automatically store those pdf documents to its cloud storage. So, this pedestrian, non-rocket-science use is one of the major things they are promoting to users. And, as purely a cloud storage service, it does have advantages over other such services. The searching, tagging, etc. But in the significant feature of import/export and syncing with a desktop or another cloud service, it is simply not as useful. It is OK to acknowledge that.
Level 5* Metrodon 2,188 Posted August 9, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 9, 2014 So you do realise if you just want to get a PDF or an image out of Evernote you can just drag it out to your desktop or a folder and it will give you your original document/image. By the way, the mac client doesn't use a database - all the data is stored in a directory structure that isn't particularly human readable. Like others on here I'm not sure what you are really asking for? What alternative are you suggesting? That it should work like Dropbox, well obviously it doesn't. That it should export to word or some other proprietary format? Well that's not going to work either - what about your attachments? And what about the people who don't have Word? Seems to me that Evernote have provided an export format that gives you all your documents back as you put them in and that allows you to open your notes with a (free) browser. Maybe your complaint should be with other cloud services that don't support HTML?
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 Metrodon, if you look back over the posts in this thread, all of your questions will be answered. We are talking about bulk exports, whether directly to a desktop or into another storage service. When you do a bulk export, it doesn't always give you back your stuff as you put it in. If I put in a pdf, I get back a pdf inside of an HTML file. That just creates extra work. As for what we would like instead, the thread already discusses that as well. We found a product called CloudHQ which does pretty much what we want. The reason this thread is ongoing is two-fold:1. People keep coming to the forum with the same frustration I had, looking for a solution. They discover this thread, are amazed that some are so dismissive and condescending, but then happy to find that a third party solution has been found. 2. Others come on either confused as to why we are frustrated, a bit offended that we are frustrated, or wanting to explain why our being frustrated is silly.The first reason is the real value of this thread, and why it will keep getting resurrected every few months as new, frustrated users come looking for answers to this question.
Sam123 6 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 Could you imagine the time it would save if the Evernote Groupies would take a second and actually read things through, stepping out from underneath their bias for a second and make an honest effort to take anothers perspective before banging out some condescending retort that only caters to their ignorance? Why didn't I think of just moving everything, hundreds of items, one by one by one, out of evernote? I mean, *duh*. Vance, what were we all thinking.. That's like, so easy..
chronistin 188 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 But you don't need to move them one by one. See here.
Level 5* Metrodon 2,188 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 But you don't need to move them one by one. See here.Yeah, I think the biggest issue here is that people don't really understand what is available to them and so they are getting confused.
Level 5* CalS 5,311 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 Vance, Not knowing all of the capabilities of Drive, DropBox, or One Drive, a question: Once the notes have been transferred to one of these services what are the tools that one would use to search and find specific notes or a particular specific piece of information embedded in a note? Just wondering, no ugliness in the question.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 Not knowing all of the capabilities of Drive, DropBox, or One Drive, a question: Once the notes have been transferred to one of these services what are the tools that one would use to search and find specific notes or a particular specific piece of information embedded in a note? Just wondering, no ugliness in the question.Essentially, all of these services present a file system to the end user. File systems are subject to the usual search capabilities of the platform that you're accessing with. Service-specific capabilities may give you more. I'm at the start of testing out CloudHQ with Google Drive, so that I can get some perspective on this service, but right now I have it set up to export notes as Google Docs format, HTML and PDF. The first is billed in CloudHQ as read/write, the latter 2 are billed as read-only. HTML export, as we know already, is already provided by Evernote's Mac and Windows desktop clients, and lo and behold, it's similar to what Evernote provides: the HTML file holds marked up text and links to the attachments which are maintained as separate files.
Level 5* CalS 5,311 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 Not knowing all of the capabilities of Drive, DropBox, or One Drive, a question: Once the notes have been transferred to one of these services what are the tools that one would use to search and find specific notes or a particular specific piece of information embedded in a note? Just wondering, no ugliness in the question.Essentially, all of these services present a file system to the end user. File systems are subject to the usual search capabilities of the platform that you're accessing with. Service-specific capabilities may give you more. I'm at the start of testing out CloudHQ with Google Drive, so that I can get some perspective on this service, but right now I have it set up to export notes as Google Docs format, HTML and PDF. The first is billed in CloudHQ as read/write, the latter 2 are billed as read-only. HTML export, as we know already, is already provided by Evernote's Mac and Windows desktop clients, and lo and behold, it's similar to what Evernote provides: the HTML file holds marked up text and links to the attachments which are maintained as separate files. Jeff, Thanks, I am familiar with the basic capabilities of the services. I use DropBox for pictures, seems to be an easy way to share with family. My question to Vance was more around what capabilities exist for a detailed search on those platforms. I think I know the answer, just trying to learn. From what I know at the moment, I'm not sure I would want to dump 25k notes to DropBox or wherever and then look for that one piece of data embedded in one of those notes.
John Zeman 29 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 Thanks, I am familiar with the basic capabilities of the services. I use DropBox for pictures, seems to be an easy way to share with family. My question to Vance was more around what capabilities exist for a detailed search on those platforms. I think I know the answer, just trying to learn. From what I know at the moment, I'm not sure I would want to dump 25k notes to DropBox or wherever and then look for that one piece of data embedded in one of those notes. FWIW I use Directory Opus, (http://www.gpsoft.com.au/) which in my opinion is the absolute ultimate GUI file manager available. It can search for specific text within the files in one or more folders, it can also compare two folders and highlight the files that are different or missing. And that's just a fraction of what Opus can do.
JohnDM 122 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 . . . .My question to Vance was more around what capabilities exist for a detailed search on those platforms. I think I know the answer, just trying to learn. From what I know at the moment, I'm not sure I would want to dump 25k notes to DropBox or wherever and then look for that one piece of data embedded in one of those notes. FWIW I use Directory Opus, (http://www.gpsoft.com.au/) which in my opinion is the absolute ultimate GUI file manager available. It can search for specific text within the files in one or more folders, it can also compare two folders and highlight the files that are different or missing. And that's just a fraction of what Opus can do. Have you guys looked at TagSpaces? http://www.tagspaces.org/It is basically a non-synched local only evernote system with tags and searches. I had seriously considered using this for my financial papers I want to keep private on local computer only, but for now. I prefer the I-Can-Search-All-My-Notes-At-Once approach thru evernote and just use private notebooks. I haven't tested it but TagSpaces seems awesome and for some of this people that are using evernote as a file manager only this might be something to consider, you could certainly have it set up in your dropbox folder online or Google folder -- that would back it up
Bruce.0 3 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 I did the cloudhq transfer to drive. When I do a keyword search on both I get basically the same results. Results show documents pdf or images with text that contain the keyword. Evernote does highlight the keyword where it appears in the images where drive does not but niether highlight the keyword or tell you what page which sucks because imaages are usually 1 page whereas pdfs are often many pages. So I hace to pyll them up in acrobat and do a find.
Bruce.0 3 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 I did the cloudhq transfer to drive. When I do a keyword search on both I get basically the same results. Results show documents pdf or images with text that contain the keyword. Evernote does highlight the keyword where it appears in the images where drive does not but niether highlight the keyword or tell you what page which sucks because imaages are usually 1 page whereas pdfs are often many pages. So I have to pulll them up in acrobat and do a find.
Level 5* CalS 5,311 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 Have you guys looked at TagSpaces? http://www.tagspaces.org/It is basically a non-synched local only evernote system with tags and searches. I had seriously considered using this for my financial papers I want to keep private on local computer only, but for now. I prefer the I-Can-Search-All-My-Notes-At-Once approach thru evernote and just use private notebooks. I haven't tested it but TagSpaces seems awesome and for some of this people that are using evernote as a file manager only this might be something to consider, you could certainly have it set up in your dropbox folder online or Google folder -- that would back it up JohnDM, I'm not actually looking. I am interested to learn if there is equivalent functionality to Evernote in one of these other services. Evernote for me is an access tool, not a storage tool. What confuses me in this thread is that it appears folks want the same stuff in more than one place for access. Which means you have the same stuff moving in multiple directions, which may not be redundant after a while. IMHO, you want redundant storage, back up your EXB or ENEX files to DropBox or whatever, or get more USB drives. You have one level of backup with the EN servers. The point of this thread makes more sense to me if one wants to move away from EN, but then maybe I'm just not getting it. I prefer one version of the truth to access, with backups. And EN has some of the stronger search capabilities that I have seen. Just me. Doesn't mean I can't learn something here. BTW, I keep all of my financial stuff in local folders as well. I did the cloudhq transfer to drive. When I do a keyword search on both I get basically the same results. Results show documents pdf or images with text that contain the keyword. Evernote does highlight the keyword where it appears in the images where drive does not but niether highlight the keyword or tell you what page which sucks because imaages are usually 1 page whereas pdfs are often many pages. So I hace to pyll them up in acrobat and do a find. Bruce,O, Out of interest, why do you want them in both places? Sounds like the search results for you are the same?
JohnDM 122 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 . . . testing out CloudHQ with Google Drive, so that I can get some perspective on this service, but right now I have it set up to export notes as Google Docs format, HTML and PDF. The first is billed in CloudHQ as read/write, the latter 2 are billed as read-only. HTML export, as we know already, is already provided by Evernote's Mac and Windows desktop clients, and lo and behold, it's similar to what Evernote provides: the HTML file holds marked up text and links to the attachments which are maintained as separate files. hmmmmmmm ok . . . . so it's one-to-one and you can move it right in to CloudHQ if Evernote goes bad. but as Bruce.0 has pointed out there is a VERY steep charge to do so on CloudHQ (per their price page), but you can already download exported HTML files for free that jefito just explained . . . . .. hmmmmmmmmm Why would you do that Bruce.0, Why did you pay the fee at this time if, you said yourself the price was much steeper than Evernote? Not that it matters too much, other than it helps me understand motivations and how his motivation may or may not reflect my own, but Bruce.0 says he has been a member of Evernote since day one (that's impressive ok I am going to listen to this guy) but this is the first thread he has ever added to . . . . . .O.o . . . . .. (so maybe this is an Alt account and he wants to keep his main account private .. . . maybe . . . maybe he is CloudHQ employee . . .. shrugs) . . ..Evernote for me is an access tool, not a storage tool. What confuses me in this thread is that it appears folks want the same stuff in more than one place for access. Which means you have the same stuff moving in multiple directions, which may not be redundant after a while. IMHO, you want redundant storage, back up your EXB or ENEX files to DropBox or whatever, or get more USB drives. You have one level of backup with the EN servers. The point of this thread makes more sense to me if one wants to move away from EN, but then maybe I'm just not getting it. I prefer one version of the truth to access, with backups. And EN has some of the stronger search capabilities that I have seen. Just me. Doesn't mean I can't learn something here. BTW, I keep all of my financial stuff in local folders as well. . BINGO! So we are really back to the question of -- What is wrong with the way Evernote exports its notes? All the original documents are all right there in the same folder. There is no one-at-a-time extracting JPGs and PDFs files, clearly these forum posters refuse to try a sample export OR they have alternative reasons not to -- Edit -- OR they are just stumbling around and have no idea what Evernote can or can't do -- now *THAT* would fit my MO. I understand clueless very well hmmmmmmmmmm
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, when you do a bulk export, the pdf or photo I stored in Evernote is now inside an HTML file. I do not want my pdf or jpg's in an HTML file when they are sitting in a folder on my hard drive. I want to be able to see the pdf sitting there AS as pdf and when I click on it I want it to open in my chosen pdf reader. If I have a bit of text I wrote in Evernote, and I export it I want it to be sitting there in a desktop folder in a format that will pull up in a text editor, not HTML. If I stored a photo in Evernote, it is much more convenient when it is exported as a jpg sitting on my hard drive than a jpg inside of an HTML file. Remember, I don't create complex notes in EN, I store individual items or write bits of text. In all of these cases, HTML is not the optimal vehicle for viewing or managing those things.OK, imagine this hypothetical: I have stored 1000 individual pdf documents (each as a separate note, without anything else in the note) and 1000 photos (again, each as a separate note). Now, I do a bulk export of those items to my computer hard drive. Would it be more useful to have 1000 pdf files and 1000 jpg files on my hard drive, or 2000 HTML files on my hard drive, each with either a jpg or a pdf embedded inside?
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 Vance,Not knowing all of the capabilities of Drive, DropBox, or One Drive, a question: Once the notes have been transferred to one of these services what are the tools that one would use to search and find specific notes or a particular specific piece of information embedded in a note? Just wondering, no ugliness in the question.I am not really sure of the full search capabilities for those services or for EN, really. But my desire to export is not to have my stuff in a better system, it is to have it also on my desktop in a folder and also to have redundant copies in other cloud services. Evernote is still my primary service (and has been for 5 years), but I want the convenience and security of having my stuff in multiple places.
JohnDM 122 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, when you do a bulk export, the pdf or photo I stored in Evernote is now inside an HTML file. I do not want my pdf or jpg's in an HTML file when they are sitting in a folder on my hard drive Vance, No . . . . . No it's not. The pdf or photo is *referenced* inside the HTML and you can see it there but the pdf or photo is OUTSIDE and separate of the HTML document in it's original state JohnDM,If I have a bit of text I wrote in Evernote, and I export it I want it to be sitting there in a desktop folder in a format that will pull up in a text editor, not HTML. There are all kinds of free HTML text editor programs -- Look at Sea Monkey, there are hundreds -- I don't see the problem JohnDM,If I stored a photo in Evernote, it is much more convenient when it is exported as a jpg sitting on my hard drive than a jpg inside of an HTML file. It does that -- it exports the original photo in its native format -- JPG, PNG, whatever -- I don't see the problem
chronistin 188 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, when you do a bulk export, the pdf or photo I stored in Evernote is now inside an HTML file. No, it's not! There are no files "inside" an html file. html is just plain text and nothing else. If it looks as if there is a file "inside" an html file, it is a link or an embed link. The original file needs to be available for this link to display. If you export to html from EN, your original file is in a folder. The name of the folder is the title of the note. You can (double)click this file to open it in the default program for the file type. There is also an html file in the export-folder which shows the file as a link within an html file, but you do not need to use that. You can use the original file, directly, from the folder it has been exported to.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, when you do a bulk export, the pdf or photo I stored in Evernote is now inside an HTML file.As has been pointed out MANY times in this thread, no it's not.And even Word can edit HTML.
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, you are right, my mistake, it has been many months since I did that bulk export and got so frustrated. Yes, the frustration was two-fold. First that all my text notes were in HTML and all my pdfs and jpg's were in separate folders so I had to open each folder on my hard drive just to see that single thing. So, again imagine 1000 individual pdf notes and 1000 jpg notes and they export as 2000 separate folders. I have to open each folder one at a time to see my stuff. What is dramatically more convenient is to have each pdf file and jpg exported into one folder, the folder I created for them in Evernote. Example: I have an Evernote folder called Vehicles where I store all my pdf documents for service, receipts, insurance, etc. When I export, I would want to have all those pdf documents combined into a folder called Vehicles on my hard drive. Instead I get dozens of separate folders each with one pdf inside. No fun at all. As for the HTML, I just really don't like it at all. There is a reason everybody uses text editors rather than HTML for writing text.
Level 5* CalS 5,311 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 I am not really sure of the full search capabilities for those services or for EN, really. But my desire to export is not to have my stuff in a better system, it is to have it also on my desktop in a folder and also to have redundant copies in other cloud services. Evernote is still my primary service (and has been for 5 years), but I want the convenience and security of having my stuff in multiple places. Okay thanks. It sounds like your process works for you. Just an FYI, not trying to convert anyone. When I started using EN I scanned all of my statements into the app and also kept them in a folder on my PC. After about three months I asked myself why exactly I was doing that and did not have what I thought was a particularly good answer since I knew all of the statements were safe and sound in EN and my backup regimen. That and all my searches were done in EN as well. So I deleted the storage folder on my PC and haven't looked back. Different use case I suppose, but again, I only like have information in one place, other than backups, which are just that, backups for restoring.
BurgersNFries 2,407 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, you are right, my mistake, it has been many months since I did that bulk export and got so frustrated. Yes, the frustration was two-fold. First that all my text notes were in HTML and all my pdfs and jpg's were in separate folders so I had to open each folder on my hard drive just to see that single thing. So, again imagine 1000 individual pdf notes and 1000 jpg notes and they export as 2000 separate folders. I have to open each folder one at a time to see my stuff. What is dramatically more convenient is to have each pdf file and jpg combined into one folder, the folder I created for them in Evernote. As for the HTML, I just really don't like it at all. There is a reason everybody uses text editors rather than HTML for writing text.It's very easy to use something like locate32 (free) or Everything to search a drive or folder for particular file types, copy & paste to a target folder. You (and the others in your situation) may not like the situation you put yourselves in due to your not doing due diligence and not understanding how HTML works or the various utilities that are at your disposal. But condemning Evernote & the posters in this thread (who were actually trying to HELP you understand) is totally inappropriate.
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 I am not really sure of the full search capabilities for those services or for EN, really. But my desire to export is not to have my stuff in a better system, it is to have it also on my desktop in a folder and also to have redundant copies in other cloud services. Evernote is still my primary service (and has been for 5 years), but I want the convenience and security of having my stuff in multiple places.Okay thanks. It sounds like your process works for you.Just an FYI, not trying to convert anyone. When I started using EN I scanned all of my statements into the app and also kept them in a folder on my PC. After about three months I asked myself why exactly I was doing that and did not have what I thought was a particularly good answer since I knew all of the statements were safe and sound in EN and my backup regimen. That and all my searches were done in EN as well. So I deleted the storage folder on my PC and haven't looked back. Different use case I suppose, but again, I only like have information in one place, other than backups, which are just that, backups for restoring.There are a couple of reasons I want redundant systems. First, no service is guaranteed so having all that essential stuff in one place makes me nervous. Second, having everything on a desktop folder is convenient in a number of ways. Lastly, when I started using Drive more and more, it seemed to make sense to create a duplicate system there.
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 B&N, it is not just about searching, it is about browsing through a folder visually (which is what I do most of the time for photos and pdfs). And, absolutely, our surprise was due to our lack of understanding in advance, but our frustration would still be the same at the fact that it doesn't work the way we would prefer (the way CloudHQ does it). This is not bashing Evernote, they are doing it the way that makes sense for them. This thread was originally trying to figure out why it was doing so differently than other services, and you explained that. Unfortunately, you did that in a very defensive, dismissive and condescending manner. But that is fine, we found out the answer to our concerns and found a third party solution.
JohnDM 122 Posted August 10, 2014 Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, you are right, my mistake, it has been many months since I did that bulk export and got so frustrated. Yes . . . . . . Ha ha ha . . . . okay, NOW we are getting somewhere. I get that your frustrated. I really do. And I get the Clueless as well. CLUELESS is my middle name and Clueless is my native state. Take a deep breath and just reflect a little bit here. We are 89 posts into this thread and BurgersNFries answered your question in Post number 2. If it were me . .. . . and I am just say-en, if it were me I would run to her and give her a big fat kiss on the cheek, a big thank you, and a big fat PLEASE forgive my cluelessness -- but that's just me . .. . . because I'm always clueless BurgersNFries is on here everyday . . . . she is not paid (that I know of -- she sure as hell should be) and she has answered people's cluless cries for help 12,857 times . .. . she didn't have to . . . . Ever one of your questions have been answered. Every one . . . . and Vance . . . . ..if you can stop seeing red for just a minute . . . . BurgersNFries is STILL reaching out to you STILL trying to help you solve the fragmented image folder problem -- this is tips and tricks you won't get from me (why? because I'm clueless but she knows it) she is telling you EXACTLY how to take all those fragmented images in all the folders and move them into one . . . OMG, Vance . .. . . .. she is STILL trying to help you BurgersNFries deserves the Evernote equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honour !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anyway . . . . . I do understand the frustrations, but please . .. please understand who is trying to help you. Good luck with CloudHQ and wish you the best/
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, we were clueless in only the first couple of posts, as you say before we had it explained to us (although I did forget in all these months the exact nature of the frustration). The point was that the explanation was simply explaining why Evernote would not do what we wanted. We said that was disappointing and tried to figure out how to solve the problem. And we found a solution. After the first handful of posts, it was no longer about a lack of understanding but attempting to explain why we wanted things differently and a few folks getting very defensive and a bit rude about why we didn't just accept how Evernote did it and be happy with it. As I have made clear, I am not upset about this in the least. Evernote has the right to do it however they want, and we have found a better way with a third party. But this seems to bother some who think that any dissatisfaction with one aspect of Evernote must mean we simply don't understand how awesome it is. As for the approach of any particular participants in this thread, I will let the entire thread speak for itself.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 JohnDM, when you do a bulk export, the pdf or photo I stored in Evernote is now inside an HTML file. No, it's not! There are no files "inside" an html file. html is just plain text and nothing else. If it looks as if there is a file "inside" an html file, it is a link or an embed link. The original file needs to be available for this link to display. If you export to html from EN, your original file is in a folder. The name of the folder is the title of the note. You can (double)click this file to open it in the default program for the file type. There is also an html file in the export-folder which shows the file as a link within an html file, but you do not need to use that. You can use the original file, directly, from the folder it has been exported to. Relative to this, I'm starting to find some things that I don't care for with CloudHQ, with respect to attachments. The options I'm testing under: save to Google Drive, export GDocs as the read/write format, export HTML and PDFs as the read-only format. I use attachments a lot in my software developer shoes: I attach relevant documentation (in whatever format it comes in), screen caps, links (both to web URLs and Evernote note links) and whatever else I need to do the implementation of whatever feature I'm working on. This makes it easy to use one note as the main locus of relevant information, and I can splay out from there. So in my test, I included a relevant sample of these types of notes. In general, fidelity of the note reproductions (i.e., the marked up text content) was pretty good, a couple of typeface mismatches, and I like it that editing embedded tables in GDocs and PDFs are a better implemented than the way it's done in Evernote (e.g. arrow up goes up in the current column, rather than going to the previous column in the row). With respect to attachments, it appears that they do get saved to disk, in a directory underneath the GDocs, PDF and HTML files produced by HTML; however (and this is a biggie), what's lost is the linkage between the containing note and the attachments. If I'm not missing something obvious (either an export setting, or something else), this makes it pretty useless for my use case, and I'd guess a few other peoples' as well. Just as a point of comparison, an Evernote generated HTML file does contain a link for each attachment, at least in the tests I've run using the Windows client. The other thing that looks problematic is that useful things like notebooks and tags seem to go by the wayside. Again, I may be missing something. There are some other funky things I'm seeing, like GDocs notes named like "copy_<blahblahblah>.gdoc" that appear to be duplicates of other names with the expected names. I don't know what that's about, but it doesn't give me good felings about this service so far. I'll keep spelunking.
Vance 38 Posted August 10, 2014 Author Posted August 10, 2014 Jefito, I think it is almost guaranteed that the type of notes you create will be better served the way Evernote does it. It is those like me, who store single, individual "things" without extra attachments, links, etc, who do better with a CloudHQ system.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 10, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 10, 2014 As for the HTML, I just really don't like it at all. There is a reason everybody uses text editors rather than HTML for writing text.You use text editors to edit text files. HTML is a text format, not a tool for writing text files. Many word processors and rich text editors (including Evernote) use HTML (or HTML-like constructs) to represent content that contains text, images and other rich content, and can read and write HTML files as well. As far as I can tell, HTML is the single-most commonly used format for consumption of this type of content. You're using it to read this post. Jefito, I think it is almost guaranteed that the type of notes you create will be better served the way Evernote does it. It is those like me, who store single, individual "things" without extra attachments, links, etc, who do better with a CloudHQ system.The point here is to figure out what CloudHQ is good for, and what it's not good for, relative to what Evernote's export formats are good for and what they're not good for, and relative to using Google Drive as a replacement for Evernote. That's because not everyone who visits these forums has either your use case or mine. So far, that has not been made clear with respect to CloudHQ. Necessarily, my initial investigations are focused on my own use case (and I'm not done yet), which I think is not uncommon in the general Evernote user base.
Vance 38 Posted August 11, 2014 Author Posted August 11, 2014 Jeff, the bottom-line for my preferred export format for text notes is the format I would choose to save any document in if given a choice. My first choice would either be txt or doc, and I think most would feel the same way. I don't think very many people would choose HTML among a list of options. That is not to say it is unusable, it is just not preferable if given the choice.
Level 5* CalS 5,311 Posted August 11, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 11, 2014 There are a couple of reasons I want redundant systems. First, no service is guaranteed so having all that essential stuff in one place makes me nervous. Second, having everything on a desktop folder is convenient in a number of ways. Lastly, when I started using Drive more and more, it seemed to make sense to create a duplicate system there. Cool. I guess I'm just not as concerned re EN going paws up since I do the vast majority of my "work" on the PC app which would continue to function at least for some bridge time. Would lose the access on my iDevices at that point, but I'm willing to run the risk. And I do tend to more blended notes. Appreciate the insights. Thanks.
cloudhq 4 Posted August 11, 2014 Posted August 11, 2014 Hi everyone. I'm Naomi, CMO of cloudHQ. Here's our take: Different apps have amazing qualities, and we sync them together in an organized way so that you can harvest the best features of all of them. For example, maybe storing your Evernote notes in Google Drive (via a Gmail label, or via a doc in Gdocs) is an easier task for you when you want to access something on your desktop/laptop. However, Evernote might be easier to work with when you're mobile. If you do a 2-way sync to say, a file in Gdocs from a notebook in Evernote, all your data will be replicated in either cloud service. The difference between cloudHQ and others? We sync, not just replicate... so, you can keep changing your notes in Evernote, and those changes will still show up in your Gdoc, and vice-versa.I read some concern over how your pics would show up in Gdocs: Your pics from Evernote into Google Drive can show up in jpeg, pdf, or whatever format you choose when you set up the cloudhq sync. Lastly, this hasn't been addressed, but with lots of our Evernote clients, they're big collaborators with others. You can sync your Evernote notebook not only to *your* Google Drive folder, but you can also sync it to a team collaborator's Google Drive folder. This way, they'll have real-time access to your notes in a gdoc, and you'll have real-time access to their notes in Evernote. Complete your projects together! <-- see what we did there? Try it now with a free trial: http://cloudhq.net
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 12, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 12, 2014 Here's our take: Different apps have amazing qualities, and we sync them together in an organized way so that you can harvest the best features of all of them. For example, maybe storing your Evernote notes in Google Drive (via a Gmail label, or via a doc in Gdocs) is an easier task for you when you want to access something on your desktop/laptop. However, Evernote might be easier to work with when you're mobile. If you do a 2-way sync to say, a file in Gdocs from a notebook in Evernote, all your data will be replicated in either cloud service. The difference between cloudHQ and others? We sync, not just replicate... so, you can keep changing your notes in Evernote, and those changes will still show up in your Gdoc, and vice-versa. I read some concern over how your pics would show up in Gdocs: Your pics from Evernote into Google Drive can show up in jpeg, pdf, or whatever format you choose when you set up the cloudhq sync. Lastly, this hasn't been addressed, but with lots of our Evernote clients, they're big collaborators with others. You can sync your Evernote notebook not only to *your* Google Drive folder, but you can also sync it to a team collaborator's Google Drive folder. This way, they'll have real-time access to your notes in a gdoc, and you'll have real-time access to their notes in Evernote. Complete your projects together! <-- see what we did there? Try it now with a free trial: http://cloudhq.net Hi Naomi, Thanks for checking in. CloudHQ does look like it offers a nice set of services, in my limited testing (one batch of notes from Evernote --> GDocs, PDF and HTML). So hats off for that. The major concern that I see for my use case is related to attachments (aside from image files, which seem to appear as images in the notes as expected). A simple example: I have a note that has some text and an Excel spreadsheet attachment in Evernote. In Evernote, I can see the attachment inside the note, and can double-click on it to open the spreadsheet up (or right-click, open with). No problem. When I synced to CloudHQ, the notes replicated fine, but in none of them was there any indication that there were any associated attachments that I could see, despite the fact that in the subfolder associated with the note, the attached spreadsheet was indeed to be found (synced as a GSheet document). So sure, it's really there, but a would-be collaborator might not know that it was, as there's no indication of its presence in the note. Bit of a show-stopper for me, but not for everyone, I understand. A couple of other anomalies cropped up. A note containing an attached C++ file (blah.cpp) was turned into: an empty PDF file named "blah.cpp.pdf", a copy of the file "blah.cpp", but no GDoc or HTML file. Related, I think: a note containing only a PDF attachment was turned into that PDF file, but again, no HTML or GDoc file. There were also some suspiciously named GDoc files ("copy_" followed by a bunch of numbers, with extension ".html.gdoc") created that were dupes of other GDoc files that were created in the same sync. Couldn't figure out what happened there. As I wrote earlier, I haven't tested much more than this, but I'm also concerned about notebook and tag information replication, as those serve as organizing tools for me in Evernote. If I have to go back to using a file system to organize, then that's a net loss for me; Evernote lets me escape all that. One further comment: I had trouble finding much of anything that described exactly what I should expect from the CloudHQ / Evernote sync, or really much substantive documentation on your web site. I do find this on a lot of cloud service web sites (Evernote is not immune either), so that's a bit of a niggle, but still, it would help to manage expectations, I think, as I tend to look before I leap. Anyways, sorry to come off as somewhat negative; I understand that software often gets better over time, and nothing that I saw seemed like fatal flaws overall, even though the service probably wouldn't work for me at this time. thanks again for posting in.
Vance 38 Posted August 12, 2014 Author Posted August 12, 2014 Jeff, A bit off-topic for this particular discussion, but that is so interesting about your desire to be rid of a file system since I actually invest time getting file systems back wherever I am missing them. On Android, one of the first things I do is install a file explorer and I prefer Notebooks and subnotebooks to just searching in Evernote. I think the difference comes down to search v. browse. I suspect I am a bit older than you and grew up at a time when search was weak, so we found stuff by visually browsing through folders. So, the more organized and granular the folder system you had, the easier it was to find things. Old habits die hard, I guess, because I still prefer to open up a folder or subfolder and scroll through my notes/files to find what I need. I still use tagging extensively, but even then I will often just pull up a tag and scroll through the tagged items. Another reason, possibly, that I do this with Evernote is that I have had numerous occasions where I have done a search and my item didn't show up, even though it had that word is in the title of the note and in various places in the note. I found that it is just more effective to open the collection (tag or notebook) that I know has that item. I would bet that the younger generation is much more search oriented.
Level 5* jefito 5,598 Posted August 12, 2014 Level 5* Posted August 12, 2014 Simple. I've been developing software since before DOS had directories, and have trawled through more directory trees than a pulp fiction detective has been through low-rent dives. Traipsing up and down directory trees to find that one file is boring, but it can be a lot easier if I can narrow the search space somehow. In terms of Evernote, most of the time I don't care all that much which notebook something is stored in, and in fact, I keep my notebook collection down to a minimum as much as possible (exceptions are made mostly for purposes of sharing and offline availability in mobile Evernote clients, for which cases you must use notebooks). I'll do some simple tagging up front, and let Evernote do the heavy lifting up front. If I can't find what I'm looking for right away, and am pretty sure that it's in there somewhere, then yes, a more in-depth examination wold be necessary, but why would I go to the trouble of building up and maintaining an elaborate folder / tag structure when most of the time I don't need it? I have no idea what relevance my age would have to do with anything.
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