(Archived) what-if some day I want to stop using Evernote. Are the export capabilities decent?

[sam170 0]

Hi all,

 

I have considered using Evernote given its capabilities. What I worry about is what-if some day I want to stop using Evernote for some reason? BEtter alternative, Evernote prices their product too high or something else.

I am sure others have thought about it too.

 

So what I wonder is whether one can export the notes and the various attachments in a manner that it can be easily accessed. Perhaps by notebook, with tags, and with embedded or linked attachments.

 

If the above is not possible, then I wonder if I should rather not tag documents in Mac, or file using Mac file system. And that is what I have been doing so far, but would rather use Evernote if leaving Evernote is not an impossibility...

 

Thanks!

[gazumped 11,652]

So have you had a look at the Export options?  Is there something missing you'd like to see? - search the forums for other discussion on this theme and Evernote's pledge that "your data will always belong to you..."

[sam170 0]

So have you had a look at the Export options?  Is there something missing you'd like to see? - search the forums for other discussion on this theme and Evernote's pledge that "your data will always belong to you..."

I should have done some more research. Thanks for the nudge.

 

I had expoerted earlier in HTML format. I did that again today. Then read after searching that most tags and meta data is in the header part of the HTML. Except, the notebook that the note belongs to.

Also I noticed that some of the notes could not be displayed very well - they display fine in Evernote but in the browser - neither Firefox nor Safari. But that might be a quirk of the HTML coded on that page.

 

So, overall, it appears that if a time comes that I want to abandon Evernote, there will perhaps be other as well. And at that time, there should be solutions that exist which can read the HTML metadata.

 

Thanks!!

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

So have you had a look at the Export options? Is there something missing you'd like to see? - search the forums for other discussion on this theme and Evernote's pledge that "your data will always belong to you..."

I should have done some more research. Thanks for the nudge.

I had expoerted earlier in HTML format. I did that again today. Then read after searching that most tags and meta data is in the header part of the HTML. Except, the notebook that the note belongs to.

Also I noticed that some of the notes could not be displayed very well - they display fine in Evernote but in the browser - neither Firefox nor Safari. But that might be a quirk of the HTML coded on that page.

So, overall, it appears that if a time comes that I want to abandon Evernote, there will perhaps be other as well. And at that time, there should be solutions that exist which can read the HTML metadata.

Thanks!!

Personally, I prefer to have my data in a format that is as portable as possible. This means that I don't take as much advantage of Evernote's capabilities as I could (relatively little use of tags and notebooks), but the result is a system that is fairly future proof.

For example, in the previous version of Evernote for iOS I had some kind of strange problem that would cause the app to freeze and require a reinstall, sometimes several times a week (reported and the developers generously spent way too much time looking into it for me -- no solution found, but the new iOS app works perfectly). My solution was to "mirror" my account in another app (export as .html and import into a plain text app on a regular basis -- a fifteen or twenty minute process). Fortunately, we have some fabulous apps available out there for note-taking, though admittedly none of them has the kind of cross-platform robust support as Evernote (I use both Android and iOS, and I don't know of any solution that will work in plain text across those, unless you trust your data to Simplenote, which I wouldn't recommend).

Concretely speaking, I rely on a particular information rich title format to navigate my notes, locator codes (a few random strings of characters) in notes, and the separation of plain text from other file types. You can read a bit about how this works on my site. Is it worth it? Probably not for most people. However, if you are concerned about the portability of your data and want to make the process as painless as possible, then it might give you some ideas.

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=839

I should say that one of the great things about Evernote, and one of the main reasons I have stuck with it for all of these years is the fact that you don't have to stick with it -- they provide plenty of options for export and make sure that you have complete control over your data. This support and respect for users is important to me.

[sam170 0]

Thanks @GrumpyMonkey for your note. I think I am in that cautious camp. Still sticking to the OS.

I tried searching for the link that you refer to - your usage approach. Could not find it...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Thanks @GrumpyMonkey for your note. I think I am in that cautious camp. Still sticking to the OS.

I tried searching for the link that you refer to - your usage approach. Could not find it...

Glad I could help. Besides the link I posted above, I also have some information here:

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=367

I've been meaning to post more, but as usual, I get busy doing other stuff! Hopefully, what's up there will give you some ideas about keeping Evernote as portable as possible.

[sam170 0]

 

Glad I could help. Besides the link I posted above, I also have some information here:

http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=367

I've been meaning to post more, but as usual, I get busy doing other stuff! Hopefully, what's up there will give you some ideas about keeping Evernote as portable as possible.

 

This most recent link is quite interesting. Will review and see what I can adopt. NEed to do something that has longevity and I am inclined to stay as close to the OS as possible for files.

 

One problem with OS based filing - I do like the native text recognition of Evernote, and do not like how PDF file size bloats if text recognition is carried out. And the hand writing recognition is really just a bonus, I do not expect it, so I do not want to rely on it.

[lesli.a 0]

Very interesting. My EN has a life-threatening illness and I'm having a hard time finding a doctor for it. So, it's crises like this that make one stop to think, "the data I save here is critical to me and the system I am using to store it on is broken." So I've got to start thinking options. I don't even know of any options, it's just been EN for all these years. And reading your comments scares me even more, bc I'm a lowly "wish-I-were-a-proper-techie" because I couldn't even begin to perform the operations you two have been discussing. So I feel very technically vulnerable; stuck between a rock and a hard spot, and maybe Dropbox. To have to start uploading everything to Dropbox going forward, and btw @GrumpyMonkey I read your story about keeping everything in one place – and that solution would not adhere to the dictum you propose. Very interesting stuff, @GrumpyMonkey. I shall have to take this (hopefully) temporary technical shut-down as an opportunity to ponder organization some more.

Thank you for the opportunity to interrupt you ;-)

lesli.a

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Very interesting. My EN has a life-threatening illness and I'm having a hard time finding a doctor for it. So, it's crises like this that make one stop to think, "the data I save here is critical to me and the system I am using to store it on is broken." So I've got to start thinking options. I don't even know of any options, it's just been EN for all these years. And reading your comments scares me even more, bc I'm a lowly "wish-I-were-a-proper-techie" because I couldn't even begin to perform the operations you two have been discussing. So I feel very technically vulnerable; stuck between a rock and a hard spot, and maybe Dropbox. To have to start uploading everything to Dropbox going forward, and btw @GrumpyMonkey I read your story about keeping everything in one place – and that solution would not adhere to the dictum you propose. Very interesting stuff, @GrumpyMonkey. I shall have to take this (hopefully) temporary technical shut-down as an opportunity to ponder organization some more.

Thank you for the opportunity to interrupt you ;-)

lesli.a

Hi. No need to worry. Here is the simple version of that blog post I promised to write one day. If you follow this guideline then you'll be able to easily move in and out of Evernote. I should stress that it is VERY easy to get your stuff out of Evernote and into another app if you need to do that. The step I suggest just makes it easier.

1. Use unique and descriptive titles for everything including your attachments (images, Word documents, etc.)

That's it. Ignore my recommendation for plain text in the other thread. Just do this and you will have no trouble at all if (for whatever reason) you need to move into another app. For a suggestion on titling, see this blog post: http://www.christopher-mayo.com/?p=367