Offline & Local use of Evernote

[KelliJaeBaeli 1]

I'm trying Evernote as a replacement for OneNote. I have imported some of my OneNote notebooks (a feature i love! Hard to find other programs that will import Onenote files).

I would be using Evernote offline and locally. i am an author/publisher/artist and i deal with many thousands of files in every form. I need to keep track of all my data, but i have no need or desire to have anything in the cloud. I understand that's LOCAL files, then. I'm not sure yet if i need any online features. Anyway, i can't seem to find where i make sure my files get backed up, if not using the cloud. i have a folder set up on my external hard drive for Evernote, and i want to back up any changes there.

I also don't want to keep getting the message that I've reached my limit--are the onenote files being imported local, or are they considered online? Still confused about this aspect.

[gazumped 11,652]

Hi.  If you're using Evernote mainly offline,  you won't have any usage limits to worry about,  but you also don't have any backup for your data,  other than services you arrange for yourself.  Evernote files are stored on the hard drive of your device - if they're corrupted or the disk fails,  you lose your data,  so most of us experienced users have a backup schedule even though for 'online' users there's also the Note History feature and the Server copy of your database.  You won't have access to your data anywhere else other than on that device.

NB Evernote doesn't like removable (i.e. external) disk storage for the database folder - if it's not connected to the device when you boot up,  you may have problems.

Make sure you are using local notebooks,  but you'll need to keep a couple of notes in the cloud - just so Evernote knows your account is alive,  and can allow you to log in and out.

[DTLow 5,736]

On 7/20/2019 at 10:26 AM, KelliJaeBaeli said:

i can't seem to find where i make sure my files get backed up, if not using the cloud. 

Evernote is a cloud service, and backs up data at the server.
We can chose to use Local Notebooks, but it is our responsibility to backup the data

>> i have a folder set up on my external hard drive for Evernote, and i want to back up any changes there.

You can backup your database file (aaaaaaaa.exb),
or you can use Evernote's export feature to backup selected notes

I have scheduled incremental backups (changed notes) and full backups using the export feature

[KelliJaeBaeli 1]

Thank you both...sorry i've been having some health issues and couldn't get back to this until now.
Yes, Gazumped, i am familiar with crashes--more than i care to think about. That's why i've got all my created files on the external drive, and also back those up to CD....i hope to get a second external drive too...

the only cloud service i use really is LiveDrive, but only because there's so much on it, i don't have time to go through and make sure nothing will be lost if i cancel it. (Yes, i really do have a problem with the cloud. it makes me nervous.)
So...to avoid any glitches with external drives, what if i used only the local storage features, and backed files up to my C drive, and then had a second backup on my external drive, and livedrive?

And if i did it that way, is there some automated way I can do these backups to ensure i won't forget something or lose something? Is that the scheduled incremental backups export feature you suggest, DTLow? I guess i will go ahead and try to set up the livedrive sync to the evernote folder. Maybe that's all i need as automated backup, after all is said and done. (?) Thoughts?

ADDENDUM: by the way, are those evernote file formats something i will always be able to access easily? (Unlike the proprietary onenote files, which is one reason i need to divorce onenote. I want to be able to control my own data no matter what a company decides to do).

Edited August 15, 2019 by KelliJaeBaeli
afterthought

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, KelliJaeBaeli said:

is there some automated way I can do these backups to ensure i won't forget something or lose something?

My backups are automated via applescript on my Mac

A third party solution is Backupery 

>>are those evernote file formats something i will always be able to access easily?

I use HTML export format; readable by any browser app
To use Evernote's import feature, ENEX format is required; not easily readable

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,938]

@KelliJaeBaeli, I'd like to suggest that before you get too deeply invested in Evernote you consider some other options. Evernote is designed to be a service that allows you to take and organize notes on multiple devices (computer, phone, tablet) using multiple operating systems (Windows, Android iOS, a Web interface, etc.) and keep them updated on each device by syncing them through Evernote's servers (i.e., "the cloud"). Local, non-synced notebooks are kind of a secondary feature in the Evernote world. Since Evernote's notes are stored locally in a proprietary version of HTML, there is some issue about being able to access them outside of Evernote--you have to go through an export process.

I have no experience with OneNote, so I don't know what its advantages and disadvantages are. But I wonder whether you've looked into Scrivener, which is designed for writers as a tool for gathering and organizing notes and other materials, and creating drafts which can then be exported to a word processor for final formatting, or published in various ePub formats. In Scrivener, the primary organization and storage is local, and cloud backup and sync to other devices is secondary and optional. Scrivener creates and stores its documents in .RTF format, so they are easily exportable and accessible (although Scrivener names the notes in its own system and organizes them using a kind of master XML index). Other formats, such as images, PDFs, and HTML, can be imported into Scrivener projects. The current version of Scrivener for Windows is not great at handling HTML, frankly; but a vastly improved and updated version is in advanced beta and due out within the next month or so.

Apologies if you've already checked out Scrivener; but even so the information may be useful for others. (I may also cite it if I am ever put on trial for being an Evernote fanboy who won't admit to any shortcomings in the product. )

[CalS 5,280]

On 8/14/2019 at 10:46 PM, KelliJaeBaeli said:

And if i did it that way, is there some automated way I can do these backups to ensure i won't forget something or lose something?

You can roll you own automation, solution here.  I use a tool called Backupery.  You can schedule your backup as you like.  Once a week I use 7-zip to compress and encrypt the backup files and put them on a cloud drive for backup.  YMMV.

[PinkElephant 8,073]

Hi, just another opinion:

I understand your cloud-aversion. However, as stated above, EN is mainly meant to run with a master copy of all notes on an EN server. It is designed to work like this, although it can be operated locally, as you intend to do.

If you think again about using the cloud: It is no public cloud, but reserved by and for EN. Your data is encrypted, EN holds a copy of the key to do the OCR (optical character recognition). This is done by a machine that does not „read“ anything in the literal sense, it just makes sure that your search is working fine by automatically adding new notes to the search index.

If you have thousands of notes, you should really rethink your position: The full text search for every bit and piece of text and information is why I am enthusiastic about using EN. It will find it, in a blink of a moment, even among thousands of notes, some with pdf-attachments containing hundreds of pages of content. You will need a Premium a count to use it.

...

[CalS 5,280]

2 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

some with pdf-attachments containing hundreds of pages of content. You will need a Premium a count to use it.

If you OCR your PDFs yourself they will be searchable in EN independent of subscription level. 

Office documents for sure and I think images require a Premium subscription.

[PinkElephant 8,073]

...

In any case, local or not, your main (working) EN database MUST be installed on drive C:, which is the main drive of your Windows PC. EN will not work from a database installed on any other drive, especially not on any external drive.

For performance this C:-drive should be an SSD, not a classical HDD with a spinning disk. Most performance issues here in the forum can be related to running a large EN installation on a HDD.

Then because all you have is local, you need to do backups. I personally run my backups from my Windows PC unsing a program called Acronis True Image. It is easy to set up, runs completely stable and the recovery works (I’ve tried it).

Follow the 3-2-1 rule when doing backups:

- Hold 3 copies of your data

- 2 of them on another media (not another drive in the same machine)

- 1 of them in another place (friends, relatives, bank vault)

Maybe check Wikipedia about backup strategies. But do not think too much about it - run the first one right now, then start optimizing.

[PinkElephant 8,073]

... and again: If you run EN as it is designed, with a master copy on the EN cloud server, you have

one copy in an absolutely safe place 

and it is remote, which means you have solved at least half of your backup problem as well.

[dcon 166]

19 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

In any case, local or not, your main (working) EN database MUST be installed on drive C:,

That's not true. You can move the database to whatever harddrive you want. Note, it must be an installed drive - not a network or removable one (mainly because of how the Sqlite database works with transactions and locks)

[jefito 5,589]

5 minutes ago, dcon said:

That's not true. You can move the database to whatever harddrive you want.

Specifically: Tools / Options... --> "General" tab / "Evernote local files" section: "Change"