Importing Notes from EXB

[MartianMambo 1]

A few months ago my windows notes stopped syncing. It was a weird ssl glitch that I eventually worked out, but in the meantime I had a month of unsynced local notes. I was also using evernote web and android to created new synced notes on my account. When I eventually got my computer syncing again, it downloaded the synced notes but deleted all the unsynced local notes. 

Now, I have a backup of my local evernote database from before notes were deleted. A whole folder with exb files. I thought this would allow me to recover the lost notes, but I tried importing the exb and evernote didn't let me. Is there anyway I can access the contents of the exb in order to extract my lost notes and put them back onto my account? I'm running Evernote 6.2.4

Thanks!

[Austin G 527]

Hi @MartianMambo. You can export each notebook as a separate .enex from the old .exb using these steps: 

1. Rename your old Database (.exb) file to "OLDDB.exb" (to differentiate it) 
2. Sign out of Evernote: File > Sign out
3. Select: Evernote > Options>  Open Database folder
4. Drag and drop the  OLDDB.exb file into the database folder.
5. Close database folder window
6. Select: Ctrl+Shift+E while viewing the login screen.
7. Select "OLDDB"

This will create a new folder on your Desktop that contains a separate .enex file for each notebook (that has notes) within the account.

After you log in you have two import options: 

• Double click the .enex. This will import the notes into your account's default notebook.
•  Select: File > Import > Evernote Export Files,  and select the .enex file. The notes will import into a new notebook.

 

[gazumped 11,652]

Hey @Austin G - that's a sweet fix.  Will the export preserve tags on the original notes?  In Evernote Windows Desktop there's a selectable export option to preserve tags,  though it defaults to 'off' for some reason. 

Looks like this gives me an easy option to backup my Databases folder on a regular basis - if I do have problems I can use this process to retrieve the notebook(s) I need without the risk that the newer,  corrupted version on the server would overwrite the correct-but-older version from my backup.

(Sorry for detouring the thread,  but it's a related question... )

[MartianMambo 1]

@Austin G- That's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

@gazumped - I can confirm that it does preserve tags. All of mine showed up on the import.

[Austin G 527]

@gazumped I'm happy to help.  The tags are preserved using the steps above. 

@MartianMambo Thanks for the confirmation! 

[ansufoe 0]

On ‎09‎.‎09‎.‎2016 at 9:42 PM, Austin G said:

Hi @MartianMambo. You can use the old exb to export each notebook into a separate .enex using the steps below. 

1. Rename your old Database file to "OLDDB.EXB" (to differentiate it) 
2. Sign out of Evernote: File>Sign out
3. Select: Evernote>Options>Open Database folder
4. Drag and drop your OLDDB.exb file from your desktop into your database folder.
5. Exit out of the database folder window
6. Select: Ctrl+Shift+E while viewing the login screen.
7. Select "OLDDB"

This will create a new folder on your Desktop that contains a separate .enex file for each notebook within that account. Log in to your account, and open the notebook .enex files to import them into your account. 

 

 

Thanks, thanks, thanks, that was exactly what I needed. I could restore my local notebook in this way. You are my heroe today ;-)

[MPJS 0]

Thank you Austin!

I somehow managed to update a note (unintentionally!) and lost some crucial data I had originally stored there.

Your fix worked perfectly and has brought me enormous relief.

Thank you!

[RBerner 0]

What if I have a database folder with .EXB file and wanna open it with the new version of Evernote?
 

[CalS 5,280]

No EXB in Version 10.  Not going to happen.  Have to open with the 6.25 version. 

[gazumped 11,652]

2 minutes ago, RBerner said:

What if I have a database folder with .EXB file and wanna open it with the new version of Evernote?
 

You could extract an ENEX file as above,  and then import to v10,  but 'opening' an EXB file is only possible in v6.x

[gazumped 11,652]

Just now, CalS said:

No EXB in Version 10.  Not going to happen.  Have to open with the 6.25 version. 

Snap!

[RBerner 0]

5 minutes ago, CalS said:

No EXB in Version 10.  Not going to happen.  Have to open with the 6.25 version. 

Ive tried that, but program wont open, when it tries to connect to server!

 

Well i just exported it to an enex file, but now the new program wont open it...

[gazumped 11,652]

How are you 'opening' the file?  Importing?  Any error messages?

[RBerner 0]

It just makes a note that contains the file on 47 MB

[RBerner 0]

This is how it looks both in 6.25 and 10.x

[gazumped 11,652]

Question still stands - do you go to File > Import and select an ENEX file created from the EXB using the process described above?

[gazumped 11,652]

OK,  I see not.  Try the process Austin G explained,  and import the file,  don't just attach or drag and drop.

[CalS 5,280]

44 minutes ago, RBerner said:

This is how it looks both in 6.25 and 10.x

Evertthing @gazumpedsaid.

[veerlevandenbrulle 1]

I have the same problem.
My exb-file is +/- 1.200.000 kB large. I can not copy it into the ebex-file. Drag and drop it into the ebex-file does not work either.

[veerlevandenbrulle 1]

Trying to import the exb-file in Evernote results in "Your note has reached teh 25 MB siz limit. Upgrade to attack 200 MB to reach note." 
Is the only solution an upgrade to a subscription? 
I only use one single pc. Syncronise the notes to another pc, laptop or smartphone is something I don't need.

[gazumped 11,652]

It should be possible to EXPORT FROM the EXB file to separate ENEX files,  as explained in the second post in this thread.  You can then import from the ENEX files to create new notes.

[veerlevandenbrulle 1]

Message: 
"Your note has reached the 25MB size limit.
Your file could nog be attached because it put your note over the size limit. Upgrade to attach up to 200 MB to each note."
It seems to be the only way to upgrade to a subscription. Is that right? 

 

[PinkElephant 8,072]

There are 2 main limitations to upload sizes in the Free plan:

For individual notes it’s 25MB - for subscriptions it’s 200MB (Plus: 50 MB). This means that changes will not sync, and if you import, and go beyond the 25MB, the new note can’t be created.

There is a second limit of 60MB per 30 days - yes, that’s only two + something maxed out notes, for a full 30 day period. If you have exceeded this limit, the whole account will be read-only, until the limit sets itself back. If your import file has 1.200MB, you would need 20 months to import ist - if it would be possible to get it into the a count, which it is not.

On Personal the upload limit per 30 days is 10GB (10.000MB). 

You can subscribe for a month, run the import and then go back to Free again. Just be aware that you will have the 25MB issue with all larger notes, and you will have the 60MB limit per 30 days - editing and syncing larger notes will be a permanent challenge.

Talking about how much volume this means: If a single page has 80x50 characters (4.000), and a book has 500 pages, 60MB is the equivalent of uploading 30 books per month. So as long as you stick to text only notes, I doubt you will type enough content to ever see the upload limit.

Add a few pictures or a short video, and you see the limit melt like snow in the summer sun.

[veerlevandenbrulle 1]

Thanks a lot for the advice Gazumped and PinkElephant!

I almost allways add pictures (printscreens from DWG or PDF) to my notes. That will be the problem.
But I need them...

[gazumped 11,652]

Printscreens should be OK,  subject to the note size and upload limits that apply to your account...

[RKTMPSC 1]

On 11/3/2020 at 4:05 AM, gazumped said:

Snap!

Thanks for helping. I could retrieve my notes in older version 

[Rufine 1]

Howdy,

I sort of have a similar issue.  I upgraded from V6 to V10, but some of my notes didn't import completely. 2+ months of daily notes are missing from notebooks. I know because I posted daily to these notebooks.

I followed your procedure of 

1. Rename your old Database file to "OLDDB.EXB" (to differentiate it) 
2. Sign out of Evernote: File>Sign out
3. Select: Evernote>Options>Open Database folder
4. Drag and drop your OLDDB.exb file from your desktop into your database folder.
5. Exit out of the database folder window
6. Select: Ctrl+Shift+E while viewing the login screen.
7. Select "OLDDB"

I guess this is for V6 not version 10 so it didn't work.

After I did the upgrade to V10, it deleted V6 so I no longer have access to it. And yes, I have 3 copies of an .exb file on my hard drive in different folders. Same file at about 5G dated 2/23/2024 when I was forced to do the upgrade. I have no idea of how to extract the old files and then import them to V10??

Is there any way to import certain notes that were Not imported correctly??  I tried contacting Evernote through chat, phone, generating a ticket with no response. 

I've been using this app since 2013 and have the Professional version.

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

[gazumped 11,652]

Hi.  Depending on how soon after installation you checked for your missing notes,  they might still be in a pipeline somewhere.  Try signing into Evernote.com to see if they exist on the server.  If not,  these notes were presumably in a Local (unsynced) Notebook and would need to be exported from your database in Legacy to an ENEX file and imported into your v10 database.  

Evernote may have already done the export for you,  so check your system for ENEX files.

If necessary you'll be able to download and install Legacy from here - https://cdn1.evernote.com/win6/public/Evernote_6.25.3.9348.exe - just bear in mind that the servers will shut down in around 5 days,  so you don't have long.

We're actually mainly other users here - Evernote Support is at https://help.evernote.com/hc/requests/new if you need them.

[Rufine 1]

8 hours ago, gazumped said:

Hi.  Depending on how soon after installation you checked for your missing notes,  they might still be in a pipeline somewhere.  Try signing into Evernote.com to see if they exist on the server.  If not,  these notes were presumably in a Local (unsynced) Notebook and would need to be exported from your database in Legacy to an ENEX file and imported into your v10 database.  

Evernote may have already done the export for you,  so check your system for ENEX files.

I can't even log online. See message below.  I did check online immediately after I upgraded but the data was missing there as well. 

So you recommend I install legacy then export the enex files from the old .exb file and then import them into V10?? 

 

I don't want to import the whole database as I've added new data since 2/23. Will this overwrite all my new data? Is there a way to avoid this and select certain notes to refresh while ignoring the rest??

Thanks

[PinkElephant 8,072]

If EN web tells your computer doesn’t have sufficient space to run it, your drive must be filled to the last sector. The web client only requires a little free space for some caching.

Have you checked your system drive ? How much free space is available ?

You don’t need to phantasize about installing a client and your data if you have nothing where to install. The installed clients need a lot more space than the web client. I don’t know how large your EN database may be, but you should have approximately 100GB available. This includes room for the system to breathe (swapping for example), system updates, the EN client and your database.

[Rufine 1]

This doesn't make any sense. Both my desktop and Laptop give me the same message.

I have more than enough space on the desktop. 

OK, 1+ hours later the glitch in the matrix has fixed itself on both machines.  LOL!

PinkElephant/gazumped 

What say you about importing from my old database. Is there a way not to overwrite my current data?

Thanks!

 

 

 

[PinkElephant 8,072]

If your computer was out of storage, and now it is not, then it is not (at least now).

If your notes are synced with the EN cloud server, they are on the server. The moment you have v10 installed, open and log into your account, the v10 client will start to download them. There is no need to mess with EXB files or whatever you try to do.

If you are still on a very old legacy version (everything before 6.25.3) and it stopped syncing months ago (which was the starting point of this thread), the ways to recover these notes could be these:

Option 1: Export the notes to ENEX files, that can be imported into later versions of EN

Option 2: Install an EN client version that can still handle your 6.2.4 local database (make a copy of it and store it under a different name first, to have a fallback option). I assume (without positively knowing) that all version 6 clients have this ability. This means you could install 6.25.3 from filehippo.com, and have it grab and convert your existing local notebooks. After that sync everything with the EN server, to have them available when installing v10.

You have only 7 days left for all this - on the 23rd of March the last legacy clients will stop syncing as well.

[Rufine 1]

7 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Option 1: Export the notes to ENEX files, that can be imported into later versions of EN

1. Reinstall V6 and import old database.  Then export notes from my old database to ENEX files?? Then import them into V10??

or 

2. Install V6 and import old database. Then sync with online version 10. This will sync the old note files with the new files??

[PinkElephant 8,072]

Once notes are synced to the EN server from any syncing (!) legacy client, they are on the server.

From there on it just takes v10 to be installed and logged into the account. Once the account is open, it will download the notes from the server, and convert them to the v10 data structure. In this case no export/import is needed.

But if you can't sync with the server, because your client is even older, you first must bring your notes on the server.

Option 1 means you create ENEX files - they can be read by all versions, even if you use an older client to create them.

Option 2 means you manage to get an in between legacy client, get your notes synced through it and then install v10. Since your notes are then already on the server, it will simply sync them with v10, and be done.

[Rufine 1]

1 hour ago, PinkElephant said:

Once notes are synced to the EN server from any syncing (!) legacy client, they are on the server.

I'll try it!!  You seem confident it will work.  Didn't realize it was this complex or maybe not. LOL!!  This is why I didn't want to upgrade as everyth9ing I needed was working fine.

Thanks so much! 

Will let you know in a few days.

 

 

[Rufine 1]

Good news!

I got the .enex files. Will import into V6 and see if I can resync them!! 

The good news is 99.9% got exported to .enex but for a few notes. I'll try to deal with those later...

The bad news...

Once I imported them all the notes were deposited into one stink'in notebook.  I guess this makes sense to a computer but it's a nightmare for me. How do I place all 27k notes back into their respective folders?? Is there metadata associated with these notes to tell them how to resync to the proper folders?? Or is there a proper way to import these .enex folder into their proper folders??

Luckily, I imported them offline into V6.25 so resyncing with the mother ship would have been a disaster in the making.

Any ideas??

Is there a way to import "each" .enex files into their proper subfolders automatically?? When I imported an .enex file it put it into the "Notes" folder not the proper folder. I had to manually drag it to the proper subfolder and it become the latest file.

I know this is a manual process with 235 folders so it's going to be painful. And if I can import, will it overwrite or duplicate itself?? I think it will duplicate.

I don't want to ***** up my notes on the server as that will set me back even further!

Thanks!

 

 

 

[CalS 5,280]

Export by notebook to import by notebook.  235 files in your case. 

[PinkElephant 8,072]

First import by notebook.

Second I would try it with a single notebook first. The full process, including the server sync. When it all goes well, you know what to expect.

Third I would do it fast. There will be no server sync of a legacy client in 2 days, as far as we know. If you want them in a legacy client, that is. ENEX can be imported into v10 as well, without a limit.

Then look at your ENEX files, and your monthly upload limit. These 10/20 GB is all you can import within 30 days. More will clog your server connection. Make a sequence how important it is to get stuff synced.

[Rufine 1]

In V6 it lumps all the notes together into one notebook. Arghhh!

In V10, when you import the .enex files it creates a subfolder with the same name!!! Yay!!

The bad news in V10 it automatically generates a notebook with a Prefix of "(imported)"X.enex of said name.  

So I have to manually move the notes from the imported Notebook to the original notebook.  At least I don't have to separate out 27k notes!!

I tested this out with the notebook that was missing data and now it's complete after the import!!

I can live with this solution to sync the rest of my data!

Thanks alot....

Will let you know by Sunday night if I have any other issues!! 

 

 

[agsteele 2,942]

In Legacy, open a Notebook, in the notebook menu select export and you get just that notebook in the ENEX file. Save as notebook_name.enex

For speed use the evernote-backup project from GitHub.

Or install v10, slow your notebooks to download then you can export from each notebook at your leisure. Remember, of course, that local notebooks in Legacy will not transfer to v10.

[Rufine 1]

agsteele,

8 hours ago, agsteele said:

slow your notebooks to download then you can export from each notebook at your leisure.

In V10, the only option I see is to Import from under File/Import... This will import the enex files into their respective folders. Then I have to move them.

Can you explain what you recommend??

Also, my software seems really slow, When I delete a note or a notebook it takes 2-4 minutes to process. Is this normal??

[PinkElephant 8,072]

Speed depends on the number of notes. And in your special case it depends on the state of the general syncing of that notebook.

v10 will try to sync all changes immediately. If you add a notebook, it will start syncing it with the server master copy. Now you erase it practically right away. But it will still be syncing first, and then start deleting. This to keep integrity - it can't delete something that is yet not synced. So yes, if you make mass changes to your database, with contradicting actions, speed will suffer.

What I sometimes do is to go offline when I know I will modify a lot of notes. This keeps the changes local, and the syncing happens when I am back online, in the background.

[Rufine 1]

PinkElephant,

Good idea!!

The top pic is Legacy and bottom is the new edition.

1. I want the same look and feel as the Legacy app. Is there a way to set the font size for the title?? If there is a long title it gets truncated by the column width.

2. How do I expand the date with time code as in the Created column??

3. I don't see a Sync button. Does it automatically sync??

4. Does V10 save any notes locally? If I disconnect, I can't view any Notes! All errors!! I want a backup!!

Thanks

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,938]

On 3/26/2024 at 1:52 AM, Rufine said:

1. I want the same look and feel as the Legacy app. Is there a way to set the font size for the title?? If there is a long title it gets truncated by the column width.

2. How do I expand the date with time code as in the Created column??

3. I don't see a Sync button. Does it automatically sync??

4. Does V10 save any notes locally? If I disconnect, I can't view any Notes! All errors!! I want a backup!!

1. TBH I see truncated titles all over your Legacy sample. As with Legacy, the fonts in the list views are fixed. It is possible to slide the almost-invisible column divider right to allow more space for titles.
2. That doesn't seem to be available. Don't know if you're sorting by created date, but that would at least have notes created on the same day in order by time.
3. Absolutely it automatically syncs. A fun test is to open a note on 2 devices at once (laptop and phone, for example) and edit on one while you watch the edits appear almost simultaneously on the other. If you have an itchy sync finger, Ctrl+R will refresh the whole app, including a sync.
4. There was a problem with one version recently in which notes could not be displayed while offline. This has been fixed in v. 10.82. If your app hasn't gotten it rolled out yet, you can download directly from evernote.com/download.

[Rufine 1]

1. I can't slide the column width any more which is why I wanted to change the font size. This is why I refused to upgrade as Evernote made this feature worst. Not only that, but the title is not fixed at the top. As you scroll down your note the title disappears as well. This is 100% unacceptable.  Evernote took away features and made the app less user friendly.

4. I'll check the latest version.

[PinkElephant 8,072]

Aha, the note title disappears when scrolling ...

Maybe take off these sunglasses, and you will be enlightened:

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,938]

37 minutes ago, Rufine said:

1. I can't slide the column width any more which is why I wanted to change the font size. This is why I refused to upgrade as Evernote made this feature worst. Not only that, but the title is not fixed at the top. As you scroll down your note the title disappears as well. This is 100% unacceptable.  Evernote took away features and made the app less user friendly.

?? As I pointed out, your Legacy screenshot had a ton of truncated titles. FWIW, Evernote probably added more features so far than they took away. Are you saying it was possible in Legacy to change the font size of titles in Notes List views?

[Rufine 1]

29 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Aha, the note title disappears when scrolling ...

The title line is in two places. One is at the top of the note and the other is in the Note where you type it. As you scroll, the title in the note disappears. But the problem is the title is based on the contents of my note.  So I scroll down the note and then fill in the title. In Legacy, you could edit the title at the top as you scrolled through the note. Again, in this version they changed the way the app works and you can no longer change the title at the top as you scroll. 

[Rufine 1]

11 minutes ago, Dave-in-Decatur said:

Are you saying it was possible in Legacy to change the font size of titles in Notes List views?

No, but the font style was legible and I could slide the column with all the way to the right hand side! 

Font easier to read!! Also the date had a time stamp. Why Evernote took this away blows the mind.

You never want to take away features...

side.

[PinkElephant 8,072]

THIS is not a clone. NO clone.

Is it so difficult to understand ?

It is a new app (at least for you) - and it doesn't need to mimic the crappy, overloaded interface of the legacy apps (again: Which interface, there were 5 of them ...). v10 has it's own way of doing things. It never had the intention to work down a list of legacy features, setting checkmarks. It was intentionally developed with its own feature set. It has more features, and it reduced others.

Going further down that road, you will just end up where you are: Frustrated that things are not the same any more.

Instead you could wake some interest and find out why it does things unique and better than before. If you can't manage this, do yourself (and us) a favor: Leave for another app - now. Because you will never get that clone you are seeking.

[Rufine 1]

5 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Is it so difficult to understand ?

You seem to be missing my point.

I love technology as a software developer. I embrace change/technology, but changing something without making it better is stupid.

I use Evernote to basically cut and paste. That's it!! I'm sure there are a lot of great features I'm paying for and missing out.  But why did they have to mess with something that didn't need fixing. That's all I'm pointing out. If you bought a product and they took away features for no apparent reason, you'd be upset too.

Change for change sake is Not serving your customers.

On the grand scale of things, this is a minor nuisance. Just another nuisance I didn't have to deal with before. I just want to know what their reasoning was in changing these features. If they had a legitimate reason then I'll accept it.

I do appreciate you helping me out. My beef isn't with you or anyone else.

I'm just looking for solutions!  Thanks! 

 

[PinkElephant 8,072]

v10 was developed from scratch. They started with a white sheet of paper, and first developed the editor. Then they build the app around it.

What is not there is not there because somebody took it away. It is not there because it was not coded. Nobody messed with anything, it was not on the backlog, no dev got to work on what's missing. This is why things missing from legacy were not changed or taken away. They were not added.

Stuff that was not added was not added for a reason. Some reasons we understand, others were not explained (like why there is no scripting - then you find out that there is no Electron app that supports scripting, at least I found none). The team building the app had an idea what they wanted to make, and I think they more or less succeeded. We now have a new team running the show, so maybe there will be some rethinking of some feature settings.

You can ask for adding features using the feedback mailbox:

feedback@evernote.com

[Rufine 1]

13 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

They started with a white sheet of paper, and first developed the editor. Then they build the app around it.

Ok now. That explains everything.

If you give them your stamp of approval then I'll spend some time reading up on the New features.