jwhiite518 2 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 I made some unknown mouse movement which caused a large segment of my notes to become mis-filed into the wrong notebooks. This new organization has now synced to the cloud and all my other devices. How can I restore my entire database from yesterday, so I can have everything organized properly? Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 9, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 9, 2016 1 hour ago, jwhiite518 said: How can I restore my entire database from yesterday Sorry, can't be done. Evernote does NOT offer a restore to any version of your account other than the current version. If you restored your local Evernote database to your PC, it would be overwritten as soon as you do a sync. Link to comment
jwhiite518 2 Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 I just realized I have a Time Machine backup on one of my systems. If I turn off sync on all systems, then restore the Time Machine version, then turn on sync on that system only, would it overwrite the cloud copy? Link to comment
Level 5* DTLow 5,736 Posted March 9, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 9, 2016 44 minutes ago, jwhiite518 said: would it overwrite the cloud copy. That sounds like a mess. I'd guess the latest changes would sync. You'd want to make sure your restored notes are recognized as the latest changes. Link to comment
dconnet 529 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 55 minutes ago, jwhiite518 said: I just realized I have a Time Machine backup on one of my systems. If I turn off sync on all systems, then restore the Time Machine version, then turn on sync on that system only, would it overwrite the cloud copy? No, because the cloud copy is still newer. And modifying all the notes won't work - because then they'll all be conflicts. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 Ugly, but you could restore your backup while offline (so as to not sync) and then create ENEX export files from the backup. Then delete the synced notebooks from your account and sync. Verify the web is empty as well at that point. Then import the ENEX backups on your desktop and you will be current to whenever the backup was taken. Buyer beware and be careful. Take backups of your current data before you start any of this. Otherwise manually move the notes to avoid any risk. Link to comment
Level 5* gazumped 11,666 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 Lots of caveats to that - export to ENEX doesn't default to include notebook data. Export notebook by notebook to different files so you keep them separate, or tag all files in each notebook with the name of the notebook to export all and restore the notebooks later. And. This will lose your note history, previous created and updated dates (the default will be the new import date), and break any note links from the old notebook structure. And the restores will go to one new offline notebook per ENEX file. All notes would have to be moved and re-synced, which is going to blow a large hole in any monthly upload limit you may have... Other than that... Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 1 hour ago, csihilling said: Ugly, but you could restore your backup while offline (so as to not sync) and then create ENEX export files from the backup. Then delete the synced notebooks from your account and sync. Verify the web is empty as well at that point. Then import the ENEX backups on your desktop and you will be current to whenever the backup was taken IMO, that would be far more work (and subject to more errors) than just moving the existing Notes back to the correct Notebook. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 @gazumped correct on ENEX by notebook, I was in shorthand mode, my bad The rest is risk/reward. ? @JMichaelTX I never said it was pretty. OP asked a question and I gave an answer specific to the question. For the OP to decide the merits based upon their needs, number of notes moved, number of notebooks, memory of what was where, etc. Something I cannot for sure assess based upon the data available, how big is large segment? Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 10 minutes ago, csihilling said: The rest is risk/reward. I don't get this. Using your approach will definitely cause loss of data due to the ENEX export/import process (as @gazumped stated). 13 minutes ago, csihilling said: I never said it was pretty. OP asked a question and I gave an answer specific to the question. I didn't say anything about how "pretty" it was. My comment on your suggestion is that it would be a lot more work, which the OP should also be advised of. But the main deal-breaker, IMO, for using your approach is the tremendous amount of data that would be lost, which you did not mention. The other downside is that it would be a hit to the OP's monthly upload allowance, and if it exceeded the monthly allowance, then he/she would be without access to his/her data on the web and other devices. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 If I accidentally moved a thousand of my notes it would be easier for me to use the ENEX method as opposed to manual. Not even a question. I would lose history and it would take two months to move all notes to synced notebooks. Fine by me in that instance. What is the "tremendous" amount of data loss? Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 28 minutes ago, csihilling said: If I accidentally moved a thousand of my notes it would be easier for me to use the ENEX method as opposed to manual. Not even a question. It would be easy for me to move the 1000 notes back to the correct NB. Using search on Title keywords and Tags, it would be quite straightforward. I actually know this for a fact, because I recently did it as part of my restructuring to use pseudo notebooks. And even if a few notes ended up in the wrong notebook, it would be only a very minor issue. 28 minutes ago, csihilling said: What is the "tremendous" amount of data loss? Tremendous data lost for every note, as @gazumped already posted: 6 hours ago, gazumped said: This will lose your note history, previous created and updated dates (the default will be the new import date), and break any note links from the old notebook structure. Losing the Created Date would be catastrophic for me, because in many, many cases the Created Date is the date of the event, info, or document. It would be a huge amount of work to correct that. I also make extensive use of Note Links, both within Evernote and externally. Again, a huge amount of work to correct that. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 Good for you. As I stated in my use case easier to do the ENEX restore and I would deal with the links as needed. All my links are the note titles. The other data loss would not be enough of an impact on me to make me want to move notes. If anything I might say what the hey, forget the recovery, and slam everything into one notebook and be done with it. OP no doubt will think it through for themselves. Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 28 minutes ago, csihilling said: As I stated in my use case easier to do the ENEX restore and I would deal with the links as needed. All my links are the note titles. The other data loss would not be enough of an impact on me to make me want to move notes. Perhaps so, but the "other data loss" is highly significant, and probably important to many users. At the minimum such data loss needs to be fully disclosed when making a suggestion. It seems to be that data like Created Date would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 I must be special, but in my version of EN for Windows, created and updated dates are preserved when I import a previously exported ENEX file. I can see why it would be a problem if created date had to be recovered. But since I don't, no problem and no tremendous data loss, other than the previously mentioned links and history which starts the rebuild process again. History of an oft modified note would be the fly in the ointment, but I use history so infrequently I would be willing to forgo it. Hence, once again, with massive accidental note moves I would opt for ENEX restore. And it would not work for all.. You might want to check to see if the options below exist in your Export panel. Link to comment
Level 5* gazumped 11,666 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 @csihilling - my bad. I did do a restore a while back and found the created/ updated dates had been reset to the restore date. Must have been due to my exporting the notes without those attributes checked. I had not reviewed the full options again when I last posted. I still don't like ENEX restores - too much chance of things going wrong (as with my experience) and lots of work to do even if you don't make any mistakes.. but if it's the only game in town... Edit: but I do think you're special too... Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 6 hours ago, csihilling said: in my version of EN for Windows, created and updated dates are preserved when I import a previously exported ENEX file. That's great news. That was not always the case. They must have changed it at some point and didn't publish the change. In fact, this Evernote KB Article still says that the Created Date is lost: How to export (backup) notes and notebooks Quote Notes: The "Created" and "Modified" dates of each note are not preserved. Instead, these dates reflect the date and time when the note was imported. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 10, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 10, 2016 Don't know when/if it changed, but I've done multiple DB rebuilds across the years and have imported local notebooks via ENEX files. The dates have always been preserved for me. Surely doesn't help that the KB is wrong. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 11, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 11, 2016 3 hours ago, gazumped said: @csihilling - my bad. I did do a restore a while back and found the created/ updated dates had been reset to the restore date. Must have been due to my exporting the notes without those attributes checked. I had not reviewed the full options again when I last posted. I still don't like ENEX restores - too much chance of things going wrong (as with my experience) and lots of work to do even if you don't make any mistakes.. but if it's the only game in town... Edit: but I do think you're special too... Well thanks Gaz! Again, not a preference of mine either. But, to the OP, if you absolutely want to be sure you get all the notes back in the right notebooks the above method will work. Using the appropriate care and diligence. Caveat emptor. Relative to liking ENEX restores, they are the way for to preserve local notebooks if you do a data base rebuild. Fairly simple process in this instance (provided you don't have 100 local notebooks). Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 11, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 11, 2016 On 3/10/2016 at 6:50 PM, csihilling said: Then delete the synced notebooks from your account and sync. Verify the web is empty as well at that point. Then import the ENEX backups on your desktop Sorry Cal, but I still think your suggestion is ill advised, especially deleting AND syncing the existing notes BEFORE you even know that you can get the notes from the ENEX files back into your account. This puts the OP at risk of losing notes if something happens that prevents the import of the ENEX files. To the OP, @jwhiite518, I still think the best process is to try to identify the Notebooks the notes belong in by using search on tags and Title keywords. Do the searches, and move the obvious Notes back. Then, maybe you will only need to manually inspect a few notes. If, as @csihilling suggests, that "if you absolutely want to be sure you get all the notes back in the right notebooks", then you could leave the existing notes in place, and import the ENEX files in separate Local Notebooks. You could then get Notebook counts and compare with what you have moved already. If you come down to just a few notes left that still need to be moved, it should be fairly easy to compare with the notes in the Local Notebooks. This way, you are never at risk of losing any notes, and you minimize the impact on your monthly upload allowance. 8 hours ago, gazumped said: I still don't like ENEX restores - too much chance of things going wrong (as with my experience) and lots of work to do even if you don't make any mistakes.. but if it's the only game in town.. I'm with @gazumped, I would use the ENEX approach only as a last resort. Link to comment
Level 5* CalS 5,280 Posted March 11, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 11, 2016 To be clear the first step defined above was to take a backup before doing anything. Anyway, at this point hopefully readers have enough information to make their own call. More hopefully they never find the need. Link to comment
Level 5* JMichaelTX 4,117 Posted March 11, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 11, 2016 13 minutes ago, csihilling said: Anyway, at this point hopefully readers have enough information to make their own call. Yeah, if they can weave their way through all the brush and side trails. Link to comment
Level 5* FactMan 196 Posted March 13, 2016 Level 5* Share Posted March 13, 2016 My take-away from this, then, is to be very careful to avoid moving large numbers of notes. On the other hand, I have done it in the past so I know it can happen. If a user is really paranoid about this they could tag everything in a notebook with "NB_notebook name", then moving the notes back by searching on that tag. The only PITA with this approach is if you really want to move notes to a different notebook. Means going through each notebook from time to time and making sure that only notes with the correct NB tag are in there - moving or retagging the incorrect ones. Link to comment
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