Transfer *.exb file

[jcenterj 0]

I have searched these forums for a quick answer to a simple question, and can't find it.  I hope someone can help.  I had used a lot of local folders on my old PC.  With a new PC, I moved my username.exb file to the new machine, installed Evernote on THAT machine, and moved the *.exb file to my Evernote folder - but can't find it,  I made a mess of trying to 'sync'.  Is there an easy way to get a new version of Evernote to identify an existing *.exb file so I can continue using my current folders?  Thanks very much for the help.

[jbenson2 2,147]

1. First off, it is not a simple question. There are some specific steps needed to avoid syncing from the web data (which does not contain the local notes)
2. Don't throw away the old .exb file - I would make a copy of it just to be on the safe side.
3. You should be able to recover the local notes from the .exb file, but I would contact Evernote Support first to be sure I follow the correct and most current recovery procedure.

They work Monday through Friday California time.

Premium users get priority service.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I have searched these forums for a quick answer to a simple question, and can't find it. I hope someone can help. I had used a lot of local folders on my old PC. With a new PC, I moved my username.exb file to the new machine, installed Evernote on THAT machine, and moved the *.exb file to my Evernote folder - but can't find it, I made a mess of trying to 'sync'. Is there an easy way to get a new version of Evernote to identify an existing *.exb file so I can continue using my current folders? Thanks very much for the help.

The exb file on the new computer was probably hidden - be sure Explorer is set up to show hidden files.

http://discussion.evernote.com/topic/51590-missing-local-notebook/?p=254012

Please search the board on 'restore' & 'exb' for specific instructions on how to restore from a backup, which is what you're essentially doing.

What do you mean when you say "I made a mess of trying to 'sync'."?

[jbenson2 2,147]

I moved my username.exb file to the new machine, installed Evernote on THAT machine, and moved the *.exb file to my Evernote folder - but can't find it

 

The file you want is the original one you moved. It is named "jcenterj.exb" or your Evernote-user-name.exb

If you are using Evernote Windows, there is a good chance it is located in:

C:\Users\your username\AppData\Local\Evernote\Evernote

That is the file I mentioned in step #2. I hope you kept a copy of it.

 

But it sounds like you might have over-written it by syncing with your cloud stored version of Evernote.

The cloud version of your data does not contain your local non-synchronized notes.

 

If you maintain a regular set of daily backups, you could obtain the old .exb with the local notes.

If not, you probably will not be able recover your local notes.

 

Again, I recommend you contact Evernote Support for a confirmation of these issues.

This occurs frequently and they have experience in getting to the bottom of the problem.

[jcenterj 0]

Thanks all for the suggestions so far - I can't believe such a 'simple' task can be so incredibly complex.  I should have said that I copied the .exb file from where I stored it to the new evernote directory (so the original file is still intact).  I can see it in the evernote folder of my File Explorer view, but can't seem to access it, or 'import' it from within the new Evernote.  All I want to do is open my existing notebooks (almost all are private, not synced with the 'cloud') in my new Evernote.  How do I do that?

 

Another posting elsewhere suggested that if my old Evernote was in Win7, and my new computer is Win8, the .exb file may not be compatible.  Am I just SOL then?

[jbenson2 2,147]

That is great that you still have the original .exb file. Make sure it has a date and time prior to the installation of the new Evernote. Guard it with you life. Make a copy just to be extra safe.

 

If all your notes were synchronized (not unsync'd local notes), yes, it would be a piece of cake.

 

But as I said, when you have local un-synchronized notes, it is not a simple task (as you have found out).

It sounds like you have already sync'd with the Evernote cloud database that does not have access to your local notes.

 

I believe your question should be: All I want to do is open my existing synchronized notebooks [and my local non-synchronized notebooks] in my new Evernote.

 

My suggestion still stands - contact Evernote Support for the recovery walk-through procedure.

The sooner the better.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Thanks all for the suggestions so far - I can't believe such a 'simple' task can be so incredibly complex. I should have said that I copied the .exb file from where I stored it to the new evernote directory (so the original file is still intact). I can see it in the evernote folder of my File Explorer view, but can't seem to access it, or 'import' it from within the new Evernote. All I want to do is open my existing notebooks (almost all are private, not synced with the 'cloud') in my new Evernote. How do I do that?

Another posting elsewhere suggested that if my old Evernote was in Win7, and my new computer is Win8, the .exb file may not be compatible. Am I just SOL then?

If the exb files are not compatible (and I don't know if they are or not), you would need to export your local notes to enex format & import them on the new installation. (The synced notes will be dowńloaded from the EN servers when you sync). Please search the board on this topic. It's very easy to do, but there are some nuances you should be aware of when doing this.

[jcenterj 0]

Thanks to all for your help.  I've gotten customer support involved; incredibly enough it's been escalated to a higher level of technical support after my first tech found himself stumped.

 

It seems to me that this is a significant opportunity for the Evernote developers.  This has become a bit of a nightmare, and after being a major fan of Evernote for years, I find myself losing my enthusiasm because Evernote has made what seems like a common-sense process so complex that it stumps even their techs.  I had rather assumed that Evernote worked like Excel or Lotus Notes - install your new version, copy the backed-up data to an appropriate directory, open the new application and point to the directory where the data is stored - and it's all there.  Easy-squeezy. 

 

Surely I'm not the only one who:

   * Prefers local (fully private) notebooks to those stored on the "cloud"

   * Backs up locally religiously, including my *.exb file

   * Had a catastrophic computer crash, wasting my old computer and forcing me to buy a new one

   * Installed a new instance of Evernote on my new computer, only to find that it absolutely won't read/find my carefully-saved *.exb file (I even copied it to the Evernote directory)

 

So now I have Evernote, and an *.exb file consisting almost exclusively of about twenty local notebooks, some of which go back years, that don't simply don't exist for each other.  It's rather unthinkable to me that the process (if there is one) for putting the two together is so unbelievably complex. The very nice customer support tech sent me a 17-step process(!!) for getting my notebooks into my new Evernote, but it depended on my having access to my old (now trashed) computer which had the Evernote that was 'attached' to those notebooks. 

 

I'm a little frustrated, but this posting has two positive purposes (so I'm not just venting) - encourage the developers to find a solution to this issue (it just seems like common sense to me), and to warn other users of the very real dangers of using local notebooks, even if they're fully backed-up.

 

I'll report back after I hear from second-level support.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

Thanks to all for your help. I've gotten customer support involved; incredibly enough it's been escalated to a higher level of technical support after my first tech found himself stumped.

It seems to me that this is a significant opportunity for the Evernote developers. This has become a bit of a nightmare, and after being a major fan of Evernote for years, I find myself losing my enthusiasm because Evernote has made what seems like a common-sense process so complex that it stumps even their techs. I had rather assumed that Evernote worked like Excel or Lotus Notes - install your new version, copy the backed-up data to an appropriate directory, open the new application and point to the directory where the data is stored - and it's all there. Easy-squeezy.

Surely I'm not the only one who:

* Prefers local (fully private) notebooks to those stored on the "cloud"

* Backs up locally religiously, including my *.exb file

* Had a catastrophic computer crash, wasting my old computer and forcing me to buy a new one

* Installed a new instance of Evernote on my new computer, only to find that it absolutely won't read/find my carefully-saved *.exb file (I even copied it to the Evernote directory)

So now I have Evernote, and an *.exb file consisting almost exclusively of about twenty local notebooks, some of which go back years, that don't simply don't exist for each other. It's rather unthinkable to me that the process (if there is one) for putting the two together is so unbelievably complex. The very nice customer support tech sent me a 17-step process(!!) for getting my notebooks into my new Evernote, but it depended on my having access to my old (now trashed) computer which had the Evernote that was 'attached' to those notebooks.

I'm a little frustrated, but this posting has two positive purposes (so I'm not just venting) - encourage the developers to find a solution to this issue (it just seems like common sense to me), and to warn other users of the very real dangers of using local notebooks, even if they're fully backed-up.

I'll report back after I hear from second-level support.

I have moved my exb file from one computer to another successfully many, many times. The key difference here is "only to find that it absolutely won't read/find my carefully-saved *.exb file". There's a BIG difference between *finding* the file vs being able to *read* the file. It could well be that your catastrophic computer crash may have damaged your exb file. If you have another, older exb file that you backed up to a cloud or another drive, you could use that one. Having your only copy (or copies) of your exb file on one computer is almost like not having a backup at all. If that is the case (the exb file is corrupt), then it's unreasonable to expect Evernote to be able to salvage it for you.

[jefito 5,589]

A few points here:

 

* Not sure if the .exb fie is corrupt or not, but since you said "it absolutely won't read/find my carefully-saved *.exb" that's not out of the question, unless I misunderstood what you meant. 

 

* Religiously doing backups is a great first step, but the second step to bring full circle is to ensure that they work by trying a restore operation from the backups, every once in awhile.

 

* If at all possible (and in these days of Dropbox and CD/DVD writers et al., it's easy), you should store your backups off of your main computer.

 

* You can rely on .exb compatibility if you like, but another option is to backup in Evernote format. There are some caveats: notebook and stack information is not retained in Evernote format, nor is any tag hierarchy you may have built up. Even so, backing up to Evernote format on a notebook by notebook basis is feasible, and you can automate using the ENScript executable, if you're handy with .bat files (or even PowerShell). Probably should do both backup types as a further fail-safe. 

 

* .exb files are binary (SQLlite database, I believe) and Evernote format files are text, and neither is safe (meaning private) from someone who gets hold of them. If you store them in the cloud, and you're not absolutely certain that they're secure out there, then consider storing them encrypted.

 

* Local notebooks are useful for some cases, but the definition of local notebooks in Evernote is "unsynced", meaning that the Evernote servers never see any of that content. That really puts extra onus on the local notebook user to back up scrupulously (including verifying). It's unlikely that Evernote can do much, unless the .exb is corrupt and they have a utility that can perform some salvage. Tough lesson to learn, and I'm sorry to hear it. Hope that you can recover your notes.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

The other option is if EN 5 can't read an EN4 exb file.  (I don't know if they are compatible or not.)  If that's the problem, then I'm sure EN will be able to fix you up either by converting your exb file or sending you an export of the local notes in enex format.  But I'd think this would be something EN support desk would be aware of & would have mentioned.  So if they didn't say that, then it may be the exb file is corrupt. 

 

Again, there is a difference between FINDING a file (IE make sure hidden files are shown) vs READING the file.  But if the file is corrupt, due to the catastrophic crash and you don't have any other backups not on that computer, the notes are probably gone for good. 

[jcenterj 0]

I would doubt that there is corruption of my backed-up *.exb file - it wasn't on my destroyed computer, it was on a separate external hard drive (of course) which has remained intact (and from which I've retrieved all my other data with new instances of the relevant applications).  And when I speak of 'finding' a file, I mean being 'found', or recognized, by Evernote.  I understand that there is a difference between being 'found' and being 'read'.

 

If you've moved your *.exb file to another computer "many, many times", I would suspect that your notebooks are synced to the cloud, which is a whole different animal from the almost-exclusively local notebooks in my *.exb.

 

I guess I'm not making myself very clear; it just seems so perfectly simple to me.  On the one hand, I have a brand-new installation of Evernote; on the other hand, I have a pre-existing *.exb (data) file with almost nothing but local (private) notebooks in it.  All I want to do is put the two together.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I would doubt that there is corruption of my backed-up *.exb file - it wasn't on my destroyed computer, it was on a separate external hard drive (of course) which has remained intact (and from which I've retrieved all my other data with new instances of the relevant applications). And when I speak of 'finding' a file, I mean being 'found', or recognized, by Evernote. I understand that there is a difference between being 'found' and being 'read'.

If you've moved your *.exb file to another computer "many, many times", I would suspect that your notebooks are synced to the cloud, which is a whole different animal from the almost-exclusively local notebooks in my *.exb.

I guess I'm not making myself very clear; it just seems so perfectly simple to me. On the one hand, I have a brand-new installation of Evernote; on the other hand, I have a pre-existing *.exb (data) file with almost nothing but local (private) notebooks in it. All I want to do is put the two together.

When I have moved my exb file from one computer to another, it definitely included local/non-synced notebooks. And I do understand the difference between local & synced notebooks. So I know the method works. I suggested in a post above that you search the board on restore, since that's essentially what you're doing. As long as you are using the same major version of EN, restoring is done by installing EN, invoking EN, signing in. Then when it starts to sync, fully close EN, then replace newly created exb file with the backup exb file. This works just fine & restores any local notebooks that are in the exb file. As I said above, the wrinkle is that I don't know if a V4 exb file is compatible with V5 software. It's either that or your exb file is corrupt (for whatever reason).

The only way to combine notes from two exb files is to open one (restore method described above), export all the notes to enex. Fully exit EN, open the other exb file & import the enex file.

Good luck.