OldManGeorge
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OldManGeorge last won the day on March 24 2020
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I do not think it could easily be done for multiple users. First and most important issue: how would you collect and manage the credentials for more than one user? Even assuming that users are "corporate accounts"... the security implications are quite serious... Also, the verification and manipulation of .enex files is really a manual process. Automating that process for multiple notebooks for multiple users... it's a software projects that could demand weeks of time... ! That's all I can contribute on the matter. Incidentally, I can confirm that I have adapted my workflow and I am leaving in peace with OneNote. I easily juggle the two different apps (the original desktop version and the Windows 10 version). I found that I can leave without a ridiculous number or tags (and if I really need "tags"... I just insert a simple section with "keywords" that can be found by the OneNote full text search). I find that search most often appears to be much faster and - most important - more accurate.
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DTLow: The answer is - as expected - "it depends".. In many cases I do not even need to follow up with presentation. Take, for example, notes for my own consumption that one day, somehow, maybe they will see some sort of publication... In most cases, I do not need to follow up because I deliver the plain text Markdown to colleagues... which will transform into HTML via preferred libraries and present / publish using corporate CSS or ad-hoc CSS In rare cases, if I need to quickly share something with a third party... I copy and paste into Visual Studio Code, render using the built-in renderer, and export to PDF. This is the case where Markdown Support and a built-in renderer would be nice to have in Evernote (but then again... is the implementation effort worth it...?) Incidentally, I like Typora (for Windows, as you can guess). I have tested it and found it quite attractive and powerful. On the other hand, for my business & personal use... I fall back onto Visual Studio Code - which I use all day every day...
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OldManGeorge started following Move from Evernote to OneNote and Native Markdown Support
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Markdown syntax in Evernote or Windows Notepad or any other editor...well... it does not make a difference ! When I need to write using Markdown, this is how I normally compose text in Evernote for Windows... (I just use a different font here, for clarity)... # This is Heading 1 ## This is Heading 2 ### This is Heading 3 * This is a bullet - This is also a bullet + This is *another bullet in bold type* etc. What makes a difference is how Markdown is then rendered (translated into HTML and formatted via style sheets - CSS). The whole point is the separation between content and presentation. I (and many developers / authors) write using Markdown syntax because we write content with basic formatting instructions (the task of rendering that content may or may not be my responsibility). For example, the simple characters "# " have a specific meaning which is... "render the following words using the style defined for Heading 1". So the editor cannot and must not assume the responsibility of "translating" and formatting the text into a very specific typeface... If we interpret Markdown as an actual formatting instruction (refer to my original post)... then... what is the point? Might as well support shortcut keys for basic formatting - just as in Microsoft Word you'd use CTRL+ALT+1 to apply the Heading 1 format (which is defined as a Style). Wouldn't that be much easier and more user friendly? That is why I am monumentally confused by the idea of (and initial implementation of) Markdown support in Evernote...
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Yesterday I was using my wife's computer and I happened to start using the Evernote Web Editor to jot down a couple of things. For a number of reasons, I have grown accustomed to write my notes using Markdown syntax... and I do that quite consistently in Evernote for Windows and a number of other writing tools. As soon as I started writing, I had to stop and start testing. Because it seems to me that Evernote developers, QA team, and possibly users that have been clamoring for Markdown support have completely misunderstood the purpose and the usefulness of Markdown syntax. Note the emphasis on Markdown syntax. Markdown is, first and foremost, a plain text formatting syntax. Refer to John Gruber's notes in his introduction to Markdown. Writing using Markdown syntax is NOT (and SHOULD NOT be) writing using a WYSIWYG editor. Imagine my surprise when I used the symbol / syntax for Heading 1 (#) and saw the immediate transformation into a formatted "Large Header" (Evernote Web Editor terminology). Fine, I said to myself, I just have to "undo" twice to restore my Heading 1 (#) symbol and continue (bit of a nuisance, if you ask me). See here https://i.imgur.com/jzaRij1.gif. And then, imagine my dismay when I realized that Markdown syntax instructions and/or actual RTF / HTML formatting are completely lost if I simply copy and paste into other text editing applications. See here https://i.imgur.com/rJJBYrS.gif I won't elaborate further - other than to mention I notice how the actual Markdown implementation and/or support is partial, minimal... and incorrect in many cases... The whole point of my post is: this Markdown implementation defeats the entire purpose of the markup language -- portability and platform independence come to mind. I submit that the Editor (which I believe will be replicated into the desktop / mobile apps) should at least provide users with an option to enable / disable this supposed Markdown support. And please, let's refrain from the usual chorus... using another editor to write using Markdown syntax and then store that document in Evernote... again defeats the whole idea of Markdown and - quite frankly - sounds a bit silly. Ideas? Observations? Comments?
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I am not here to discuss why or why not one should move from Evernote to another application or service. That is such a personal decision, and I am sure everyone has personally valid motives. Myself, after careful consideration, I decided to move to OneNote. And moving from Evernote to OneNote should be straightforward enough - after all, Microsoft offers a tool (OneNote Importer) just for this purpose. On the other hand, many users (including yours truly) have encountered a number of problems: notes without a title or (oh the horror) notes without actual body. Oh, and keep in mind that I am not overly concerned with a bit of formatting issues. In any case, a glitch here and there is probably to be expected. If you have a relatively small number of notebooks and notes it is not particularly onerous to manually adjust (copy & paste) even a couple of dozen notes. But if you happen to have an Evernote database with several thousand notes… or few tens of thousand notes… the percentage of import errors increases exponentially. To the point where you may be tempted to give up, or where manual intervention is simply unfeasible. I know I was in that situation. Then, because I am a (rather aging ) software developer by trade, I figured I should try and understand the problem (or problems). It turns out I was too fast in blaming the Microsoft product for the poor import. So here is a simple recipe to insure that conversion problems are kept at the very minimum. I just finished porting over 31,000 notes and, at my last count, I have 41 notes that I have to manually fix. And I can live with that. Preparation Before you install and run the OneNote importer, export your Evernote database to ENEX files. Do NOT export the entire database in one pass. Export each and every single notebook. This may be a pain - especially if you have a large number of notebooks. Still. If you do not have a good text editor capable of handling large files (I assume some of your notebooks may produce large export files) get one and install it - there are several excellent freeware and/or opensource offerings (I happened to have become accustomed to Visual Studio Code) If you do not have a super-simple XML editor, get one and install it. Believe it not, my tool of choice is the ancient workhorse Microsoft XML Notepad (1998 - yes 1998). I am not sure you'll be able to find it for download… but you will definitely find XML Notepad 2007 (still available on Microsoft site) . Editing Session Using XML Notepad, open (or attempt to open) the ENEX file(s) you created when exporting your notebook(s) Many files will open without problem. But that does not necessarily mean that they will import without problems. Some files will report errors and you will not be able to open them. See Figure 1. In this particular case, the XML generated by Evernote breaks the entire file because of a non-breaking space in the title of the note. Who knows, I may have copied that title from a web page or from an email signature. Interestingly enough, the OneNote importer is often able to CORRECT the error and import the note correctly. In few cases, for rather mysterious reasons, the note will not import at all. Or it will import without a title. I could not detect a pattern. I will spare you the gruesome details of the investigation, and come to the important point: it turns out that the structure of the XML data in the ENEX files does not always and/or necessarily abide to the "declarations" found in the "document type definition" specified in the file's header. If you have no idea of what I am talking about, it does not matter. Just use the following nuclear option: The solution is surprisingly simple: open the ENEX file in your text editor Look at the second line - you should see the following: <!DOCTYPE en-export SYSTEM "http://xml.evernote.com/pub/evernote-export2.dtd"> See Figure 2. DELETE this line. Don't even ask. Save the file Importing Fire up OneNote Importer When you get to the page "Select Evernote Content", click on the link "Import a file instead" - See Figure 3 Select one of your datafiles, click Next and let the OneNote Importer do its job. No, it is NOT a fast import operation. In closing: if you are moving to OneNote, for any reason, experiment with one notebook - before embarking in the full conversion. See the difference between a straightforward import with OneNote importer and one done after the editing I attempted to describe. I hope this helps a bit... Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3