How To Restore Local Notes From Database - Mac

[jmpreston 1]

Questions:

 

1) Which EN file on a Mac stores my local non-synced notes?  I'm using EN v6.

 

2) How do I get the notes out of it and into a new one?

 

3) After trying to make a hack work how do I get even synced notes back into the desktop app?

 

 

The Story:

 

 

Apple had me erase / format my SSD storage drive and reinstall everything from scratch to fix a display problem, it wouldn't wake from sleep.  While that worked I've had more than a few challenges getting my apps fully operational again.

 

One problem is that the reinstalled Evernote didn't have my local non-synced notes.  I'm using both CrashPlan and Time Machine but TM is a mess and wipes out my sparse file about once a week and starts over.  My EN data on TM is lost.  However, I have older backups in CP.

 

I found this file buried a bunch of folders deep in the user library,  LocalNoteStore.sqlite, and restored it to the desktop.  The backup date is just before I cleaned my SSD drive.  (No hard drive on a Retina version MBP.)  My guess is that my local notes live in that database.

 

I thought I was being cleaver and quit Evernote, renamed the existing db that was from the recent install, and dragged the restored version to that folder.  Booted Evernote and nothing is there, not even the synced notes.  Yes, I'm logged in.

 

So I reversed that procedure and booted Evernote and still nothing although it is using the db I just renamed and then changed the name back to the original. 

 

It appears EN didn't like that hack.  It refuses to download my synced notes.  I can see them in the Web app though.

 

Any ideas what to try next?  I found nothing relevant online. 

 

Jim

Santa Clara, CA

[gazumped 11,656]

The only way I know of to get your unsynced local notes out of a database is to have that database up and running and export the local notebook(s) to an ENEX file which can then be re-imported into another database.  The only place these notes are stored is on your hard drive,  and if your backups are unusable,  then you may have lost the notes.  It may be possible to browse a SQL version but it won't be possible to convert that data back to Evernote format and integrate it into your account.  I'd strongly recommend making a(nother) backup of your HD to preserve whatever you have now,  and if you're a premium subscriber,  now would be the time to raise a support ticket and use Chat to see what options you have left.  If you're not yet premium and the data is precious,  you might want to consider becoming a premium user at least while you investigate further.

 

I'm not a Mac user,  so can't advice in more detail - maybe some of our more Maccentric forum members can come up with more...

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Questions:

 

1) Which EN file on a Mac stores my local non-synced notes?  I'm using EN v6.

 

2) How do I get the notes out of it and into a new one?

 

3) After trying to make a hack work how do I get even synced notes back into the desktop app?

 

The below procedure will allow you to restore selected Notes, including those in Local Notebooks, from a Mac backup.  Please review carefully, and ask questions about any concerns or anything you don't understand before you proceed.

 

If you choose to use the procedure, please let us know how it goes, along with any suggestions you might have for improvement.

 

To restore from a Time Machine (or other) Backup:

1. Sync EN Mac
2. Confirm all Notes properly sync’d using EN Web
3. Open Finder to Evernote folder
   • Goto Evernote Mac > About Evernote
   • Hold down the OPTION key to reveal the “Open Database Folder” link
   • Click on this link to open the Mac Finder to this folder
   • The Finder is showing the EN data folder for the current EN account that you are logged in to on your Mac
   • In the Finder, move back to the “Evernote” folder for EN Mac versions PRIOR to Ver 6.
   • This needs to be revised for Ver 6+
4. Quit EN Mac (app and Helper in menu)
5. Do a full backup of your Mac Evernote folder (from Step #3)
6. Rename this “Evernote” folder to “Original Evernote”
7. Disconnect your Mac from the Internet

   (Turn off wi-fi or disconnect Ethernet cable)

8. Restore the backup of “Evernote” folder you want
   • You should now see two folders:
     • Evernote
     • Original Evernote
9. Start Evernote
   • This will open Evernote using the Evernote folder/database from your backup
10. Export to ENEX all notes that you want to restore to your primary (original) Evernote account.
    • Export Notes for each Notebook into a separate ENEX file
      • The ENEX file does NOT retain the Notebook name
      • Name the ENEX file the same as the Notebook so you will know the NB when you later do an import
      • Be sure to check the “Include Tags” checkbox
    • If you want ALL Notes in a NB, just right-click on the NB and select “Export Notes”
    • If you want selected Notes in a NB, select the Notes, goto File > Export Notes …
11. Quit Evernote (app and Helper menu)
12. Rename your “Evernote” folder to “Evernote from Backup”
13. Rename your “Original Evernote” folder to “Evernote”
14. Start Evernote
    • You are now back to using your original, primary Evernote account
15. Import the ENEX files created in Step #10
    • Goto File > Import Notes
    • Check the “Include Tags” box
    • Select a ENEX file
    • Provide the requested Local Notebook name based on the ENEX name (which is the name of your original NB)
      • If the NB was originally a sync’d NB, then you will need to add “_L” (for Local) to the NB name
      • After import is complete, then you can move these Notes into the original sync’d NB
    • Repeat above for each ENEX file
16. Connect your Mac to the Internet
17. Do a sync to ensure that any changes are uploaded to the Evernote Cloud Service

EDIT:  Add changes/comments for EN Mac Ver 6.

[jmpreston 1]

Thanks JMichael!   I understand this although it is something like heart surgery :-)  What a horrible user experience!

 

The About page option sends me to www.evernote,com folder.  Am I supposed to restore everything in that folder or as far back up the file hierarchy to com.evernote.evernote?  Previously I only restored the sqlite file.

 

Also, syncing isn't working, my 3rd question.  The only notes in my desktop EN are ones that I modified in the Web app.  It won't download the rest.  Any ideas?  Start over and reinstall?  I don't have the old local notes now anyway.

 

My hack with the sqlite file apparently corrupted EN.  All I did was rename it to see if replacing it with the backup sqlite file would work.  It didn't so I renamed the original back to the original name.  EN seems to hate that.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

The About page option sends me to www.evernote,com folder.  Am I supposed to restore everything in that folder or as far back up the file hierarchy to com.evernote.evernote?  Previously I only restored the sqlite file.

 

Thanks for pointing this out.  The procedure was designed PRIOR to Ver 6.  Version 6 changed the location and structure of EN Mac.  I will need to update the procedure for Ver 6.

So, a restore from previous versions presents a problem, and frankly, I'm not sure how to best deal with that issue right now.

 

In concept, you would need to restore BOTH the database and app of the previous version, export the Notes to ENEX, and then reinstall the current version, then import the ENEX files.  Perhaps you could do the restore on a different Mac, or in a different Mac User account.  That might be the simplest.

 

Because of the complexity of restoring from a previous version, I highly recommend that you obtain help from Evernote Support.  You need to be a Premium account owner, and if you are not, it may be worth $5 to become one for one month in order to properly resolve your issue.

 

To obtain EN Support, see Submit an EN Support Ticket.

[jmpreston 1]

I'm not restoring from a previous version that I know of.  I have v6 and I think I've had v6 for a while unless my app was quietly updated after 12/16.  I have the Mac App Store version if that makes a difference.

 

I can't believe EN has created a better restore experience. This one is a train wreck.  After a crash or whatever I just need to restore my local files, the ones I don't want downloaded to my iPad and iPhone.  This shouldn't be rocket engineering.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

I'm not restoring from a previous version that I know of.  I have v6 and I think I've had v6 for a while unless my app was quietly updated after 12/16.  I have the Mac App Store version if that makes a difference.

 

I can't believe EN has created a better restore experience. This one is a train wreck.  After a crash or whatever I just need to restore my local files, the ones I don't want downloaded to my iPad and iPhone.  This shouldn't be rocket engineering.

 

If your backup is the same version as your current version, then you should be able to use the above procedure by renaming and restoring the Evernote folder for that version.  I think for Ver 6, that should be the "www.evernote.com" folder revealed by the About Evernote window.

 

Yep, I agree, the "restore" process is a mess, and in fact, it is not really a true restore, it is really an import of exported Notes.

There is a lot of discussion in these forums about backup, but very little in the details of restore.

[jmpreston 1]

OK, thanks.  The problem I have is that the CrashPlan backup is only files by date, not folders by date.  So in the restore mode I can see individual files by backup date all in the same folder, for each folder in that stack.  I need to select only the specific files inside the folders.  I can't restore the whole www.evernote.com folder, just the relevant files by date in it.

 

I suspect I'll have to hack the sqlite file.  I haven't worked with database flat files before but I can learn.  Hopefully not encrypted and hopefully that is the file with my local notes.  Nothing else in those folders make sense for note storage.

 

I let my pro membership expire because I wasn't using the features and storage.  May have to activate again.  EN gave pro to me because I located one of their stolen campus bikes and alerted them.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

OK, thanks.  The problem I have is that the CrashPlan backup is only files by date, not folders by date.  So in the restore mode I can see individual files by backup date all in the same folder, for each folder in that stack.  I need to select only the specific files inside the folders.  I can't restore the whole www.evernote.com folder, just the relevant files by date in it.

 

That could be a big challenge.  EN Mac stores all of the Note content in folders/files, NOT in an actual database.  The sqlite DB is mostly the Note header info like Notebook, tags, etc (I'm guessing).  But I do know the Note content and attachments are in files -- this is what makes a Spotlight search possible.

 

So, with your clean install (per the Mac support), you will need to restore ALL folders and files from a time when all of your Local Notebooks existed.  I don't know of a way to just restore the Local Notebook files, so I think you will need to restore all folders/files in the Evernote folder.

 

Are you sure that you can't restore by folder from CrashPlan?  I hear they have excellent support, so you might try that if needed.

[jmpreston 1]

I found the location of the notes but not their headers, yet.  They are in hxml form and a pain to read.  I've restored them from CrashPlan Central to my computer.  I'll contact EN support about how to get them back into EN for Mac - App Store version 6.

 

The notes are living in:

 

user/ Library/ Containers/ com.evernote.Evernote/ Data/ Library/ Application Support/ com.evernote.Evernote/ accounts/ www.evernote.com/   some numbers/ content/

 

What strange minds thought of this file hierarchy.  I hope there is a reason besides too many nights on caffeine. 

 

In the content file are a lot of folder names that are long numbers.  Inside each of those is the note.xhtml file which contains the note data.  Every note is in the same named file.  There is also a quickLook.png file and snippet.txt.  Both of those give you a clue about the note's contents.  However, there is no note headers in the note.xhtml file which makes recovering these a long ugly process unless tech support has a method that works.  I'll post the method I end up using.

[jmpreston 1]

After weeks of struggling with Evernote customer "service" I gave up on them and recovered the notes with my own solution.  Various methods for restoring the old local notes with both the download and Mac versions, including the discussion above, did not recognize the local notes.   The local notes were brought into the active database with each try but remained outside of the app UI.

 

In each folder inside the /content/ folder I looked at that note's contents in quickLook.png.  If I wanted to save it for the future I had to open the note.xhtml file in Dreamweaver and selected the Live tab to view a rendered preview of the note.  I then used Command A to select all of the content and pasted it into a new note. This saved the formatting, usually.

 

I lost about two weeks worth of time on this problem.  For a Silicon Valley Internet entrepreneur with projects to build solving this problem is very expensive.  My feelings toward EN for not coding an elegant and user friendly solution are very negative.  

 

At first I didn't realize the the rendered version of note.xhtml would preserve the formatting so I spent days recovering unformatted notes.  When I was almost done I found that copying a rendered note is much better and I had to go through hundreds of notes again.  The notes won't render in a browser.  I tried Safari, Firefox, and Chrome.  They present only the document tree in xml format.  To save your notes you need an integrated development environment for building Websites and use the preview mode.

 

It seems that EN customer support is off-shored and the agent I was stuck with has poor judgement.  Nothing unusual about that, heh?  It took EN support about 2 weeks to respond to my request for help and I'm a premium customer.

 

So all the notes I really wanted to keep are saved and synced with the EN cloud.  My memory of the notes I've kept is now refreshed and current, a small but nice benefit of this torture.  Also, I think my notes are a little better organized but that is difficult to know because EN doesn't retain notebook info with the notes.  However, the reason I had local notes is because I didn't want them downloaded to my iPhone and iPad.  EN has no solution for that.  We'll see what OneNote does when it is released for the Mac.

 

I hope I bump into their CEO at a tech conference soon.  I have a few things to say.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

The CrashPlan docs claim to be able to do a complete restore of the Evernote Mac database.  I have submitted a ticket asking how to do this in light of your experience.

 

BTW, you may want to checkout Revert.io

It's a cloud-based service that can restore single Notes, a NB, or the entire account.

Of course, it doesn't backup Local NB.

[jmpreston 1]

CrashPlan isn't the issue.  It was easy to find and download my local notes files.  The issue is that restored local notes can't be read by either the download or Mac versions of EN.  It is easy to get them into the active database and I can see them living alongside the synced and new notes but EN won't add them to the UI.  That is a coding problem.  I asked the CSR if there are any dependencies on other files such as a registry of notes that I need to know about but she never would answer me on anything technical.

 

I offered to drive up to Redwood City to show a programmer or her the problem but no response.  In the 80's I used to fly all over the U.S. to show programmers what needed to be done to make their applications useful.

 

While I appreciate JMichael's support it is rather stupid on the part of EN app dev that users have to go through his suggested hacks to recover their local notes, and those hacks don't seem to work sometimes or most of the time anyway.  JMichael's time is precious also.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

When you do a full restore, you will need to restore BOTH the Evernote data folder and the corresponding Evernote.app.

[jmpreston 1]

Thanks JMichael but CrashPlan doesn't want users backing up the apps.  Also, the data and letter / number files in the database look exactly like the new ones.  As a mediocre coder myself I would have no problem writing a loop to include all of those files in the UI object.  I probably should have coded my recovery solution but I thought I could do it manually faster.  Probably a mistake.

 

 

My apps were backed up with Time Machine to Time Capsule but like many users experience with TM is freaks at times and corrupts the backup.  Bad timing but it did that just before I realized I needed the EN data.  Apple hasn't fixed this problem with TM yet.

 

I'm trying a program called Data Backup as my 2nd local backup method.  It seems to be working very well.  I also stopped backing anything up to a rather new Time Capsule and instead backing up to a Seagate 4TB Expansion drive attached to Time Capsule.  So far this seems more reliable.  CrashPlan is working great to their cloud but they recommend not backing up to Time Capsule with their app.  They only backup to drives directly attached to computers or other computers.

 

For me this mess is over with.  I've manually recovered all my local notes and wasted a week and a half full time.  Of course I'm really pissed.

 

By the way, I partied with the original EN team (in Russian) and helped EN recover a stolen campus bike.  No more goodwill with me though.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

Thanks JMichael but CrashPlan doesn't want users backing up the apps.

 

May I ask what gives you that impression?  I've seen nothing that says you can't backup apps with CrashPlan.

 

While I have not done this, according to CrashPlan support it is possible to select a folder and have CrashPlan restore that folder and all of its contents from a backup as of a specified date.

 

Here's the response I got from CrashPlan:

 

 

Daniel R (CODE42 Support)

Feb 27, 4:54 PM

Hello,

It does restore all folders underneath it. The way it works is by default, a standard restore will restore a folder and its contents, which will include the most recent version the contents. If you want a particular version of a file, you would need to browse to each file, expand it the way you would a folder, and you would see the various dates/versions of the file that is available. This only works for files, though, not folders.

 

That being said, let's say you wanted to get back a folder whose contents were changed by accident. This is when you would use the date function. If you open the restore tab of the application, look at the bottom of the window for a sentence that reads "Restore the most recent ... " with several links in it. These are actually changeable options. Click the Most Recent link, and you will be prompted with a calendar. You can choose a date from there, then CrashPlan will show you your archive as it was backed up at that exact date and time. So, you could effectively go back to a certain date and get the folder with the prior contents that way as well. So, it isn't really versions in the same manner we speak of when referring to files, but it is a way to get previous versions of folders including its contents. Hopefully that helps, but let me know if you still have questions. Thanks!

 

Regards,

Daniel

[jmpreston 1]

JMichael, EN customer support directly told me a couple of weeks ago that they don't want apps backed up and I remember it from the original terms of service that I accepted and that is why I have never backed up the apps.  I try to follow the TOS of any software but I find it really hard to keep up with the contracts that Apple developers have to sign.  They are overwhelming.

 

As I've mentioned before, getting the data from CrashPlan was accomplished.  I downloaded the EN db for the appropriate date, 12/23/14, to my desktop.  I removed all the EN files from my MacBook Pro Retina and installed both the download and the Mac versions, although not at the same time of course.  Both versions found the data on my desktop and integrated it into the new database in /content/.  However, with that procedure and others recommended by EN support those local files never displayed in the UI.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

JMichael, EN customer support directly told me a couple of weeks ago that they don't want apps backed up

 

Sorry, but that is shocking and flat wrong.  Courts have ruled long ago that the license to use any software that is installed on your computer also includes the right to make backups.  

[MusicWiz 14]

If I export all my notes to enex files and lose my notes importing enex its not enough? Oh boy. Can I restore all the notes without the data folder on Mac?

Also according to JmIchael I need to back up each note book? Can't I just back up all the note books at once?

When I click option about I have 2 folders 31823570 and 3466217 with identical content one is older, plus props, why?

 

Thanks!

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

If I export all my notes to enex files and lose my notes importing enex its not enough? Oh boy. Can I restore all the notes without the data folder on Mac?

Also according to JmIchael I need to back up each note book? Can't I just back up all the note books at once?

When I click option about I have 2 folders 31823570 and 3466217 with identical content one is older, plus props, why?

 

Thanks!

 

The reason you need to backup each Notebook to a different ENEX file is that the ENEX files do NOT contain any info about Notebooks.  So by backing up each NB separately to an ENEX file named for that NB,  you will know which NB to restore it to.

 

To "restore" from ENEX files, you have to already have Evernote app installed, which creates the Evernote data folder.

Just go to EN Mac menu File > Import Notes > ENEX.

 

One issue with ENEX export/import that everyone should be aware of is that you will lose information in this process:

1. All Note Links to any of the Notes in the ENEX are broken, lost, and will have to be recreated.
2. The ENEX files do not contain any Notebook data.
3. When you Import the ENEX file, the Note Created Date is lost, and set to the current date/time.
4. To preserve Tags in the ENEX files, you must check the checkbox to include Tags during both the export and import process
5. Tag hierarchy is not preserved.  If you had one, it will need to be recreated after the import process
6. If the ENEX files came from Sync'd Notebooks,
   1. the Sync'd NB will have to be recreated, and the import of the ENEX Notes moved into the appropriate NB.
   2. Moving these Notes into Sync'd NBs will go against your monthly upload allowance

 

REF:  How to back up (export) and restore (import) notes and notebooks

[MusicWiz 14]

Thanks JMIchael,

 

I hope Evernote team will correct the all the issues you described . I am surprised that it was not done yet in version 6.

[jmpreston 1]

I gave up on this long ago and hacked a solution to recover most of the notes.  I looked in each with with a text editor and then copied out the content to a new one.  I think it took me a week!  Evernote developers were off building marginal to worthless products instead of paying attention to their flagship product.  The CEO was more into selling day packs and *****.  Hopefully the new management knows where to go with product.

[MusicWiz 14]

I have Microsoft OneNote as well, but I prefer evernote. I have 5 dozen of notebooks and thousands of notes, from tutorials to receipts. If I would use jmpreston's system it would take me not one week, but one month or more. I am a premium user, and I wish the evernote IT team would fix their backup and restore system.

[ek12 14]

I'm battling a similar problem to jmpreston on my Mac for the past few weeks.

after spending the last 2 years going paperless and scanning my digital life into Evernote, I'm just now discovering through threads like this -- and I find them shocking -- this simple realization:

>>  Evernote does not have ANY practical, usable, reliable Restore capability for a local notebook

and given this, I'm pretty sure I will leave Evernote altogether, starting today.  

How can you possibly accept the risk to "go paperless" into an electronic solution that can not be backed up and restored? 

It is simply mind boggling to me that this is an issue.  and shame on me for not doing better research before I started digitizing into Evernote in the first place.

 

 

 

[gazumped 11,656]

Local Notebooks are not synced to the internet,  so never touch Evernote's servers.  They have no way to provide you with a backup service.  The whole point being that they're useful for personal information you don't want showing up in anyone else's hands.  That's just the same as all the other data you store in files that aren't saved to a note - external pictures / spreadsheets / sound files etc.  Why blame Evernote for not backing that up in some manner?  They provide all sorts of redundancy for the non-Local notes;  if you want the same coverage,  don't use local notebooks.

Regardless of security I take a regular backup of my databases folder,  and will continue to do so against the possibility that I may need it at some point.  In exactly the same way I backup the rest of my computer.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

46 minutes ago, ek12 said:

How can you possibly accept the risk to "go paperless" into an electronic solution that can not be backed up and restored?

How do you backup all the other files on your Mac from other apps?  AFAIK, no app provides a built-in automatic backup of its files.

So, as surely your know, Time Machine (TM) is the backup tool of choice for the Mac.  If you use TM, then the Evernote data folder will be automatically included in your backups, unless you have excluded Evernote, or its parent folder.  Thus, all of your EN Local Notebooks will be backed up by TM.

[ek12 14]

 

1 minute ago, JMichaelTX said:

How do you backup all the other files on your Mac from other apps?  AFAIK, no app provides a built-in automatic backup of its files.

So, as surely your know, Time Machine (TM) is the backup tool of choice for the Mac.  If you use TM, then the Evernote data folder will be automatically included in your backups, unless you have excluded Evernote, or its parent folder.  Thus, all of your EN Local Notebooks will be backed up by TM.

 

Thanks JMichaelTX, I appreciate your post here and on my other thread about this topic.  

Yes, Time Machine (TM) is the Mac backup tool of choice, and it's what I've used for years.  It works great.  And it correctly backs up and restores all Mac OS files and folders, including the local Evernote database folder and contents.  I've assumed for years that since I knew the Mac files and folders were safe, that an Evernote restore on top of these files would be simple.

I was wrong.

Time Machine can and will gracefully and easily restore the folder and files. HOWEVER the Evernote client application will NOT know that the files have been restored, will not re-index them, and will never display them.  In other words, you can restore the files (thanks to Time Machine), but you can never again see them in the Evernote App.  jmpreston confirms this in this thread.

Instead, if you ever wanted to actually see a restored note within the Evernote client, you'd have to do what jmpreston did, which is to visit Every Individual Note using Mac Finder, open each note in another app, and Manually Copy and Paste each note into a new note in Evernote.

IMHO this is a fatal choice by Evernote. it guarantees that anything that is important enough to me to want to keep, is too important for me to try to keep in Evernote.

it's very disappointing.

 

 

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, ek12 said:

Evernote does not have ANY practical, usable, reliable Restore capability for a local notebookand given this, I'm pretty sure I will leave Evernote altogether, starting today.  How can you possibly accept the risk to "go paperless" into an electronic solution that can not be backed up and restored? 

I'm not sure what the problem is.

• I have my backup process; time machine on the Mac. This is both local and non-local notebooks.
• I do an HTML export of all my notes.
• I do an ENEX export of my local notebooks
• Evernote is keeping a copy In the cloud of all my non-local notebooks.
• I have a copy of my non-local notebooks on my iPad.

I think I'm well covered for backups.  If I wanted to address anything, it would be offsite backup for my local notebooks.

 

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

9 minutes ago, ek12 said:

Time Machine can and will gracefully and easily restore the folder and files. HOWEVER the Evernote client application will NOT know that the files have been restored, will not re-index them, and will never display them.

Sorry, but this doesn't make sense.  The way the Evernote app knows what data you have is from the Evernote data folder.  If that folder was properly backed up, and properly restored, then Evernote.app will find the data.

At this point you may have a very confused mix of old and new Evernote files, which could lead to issues.  You may want to do a complete removal of Evernote using an app uninstaller like AppDelete, making sure of course that the TM backup of EN is not removed.  Then, restart your Mac, restore the Evernote data folder, and the Evernote app from TM.

[ek12 14]

17 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I'm not sure what the problem is.

• ...
• I do an ENEX export of my local notebooks
• ...

I think I'm well covered for backups. 

 

how often do you do this?  or have you found a way to automate a regular ENEX export of your local notebooks -- if so that might work.

 

[ek12 14]

11 minutes ago, JMichaelTX said:

At this point you may have a very confused mix of old and new Evernote files, which could lead to issues.  You may want to do a complete removal of Evernote using an app uninstaller like AppDelete, making sure of course that the TM backup of EN is not removed.  Then, restart your Mac, restore the Evernote data folder, and the Evernote app from TM.

thanks but It's not a mix of versions, all of this is happening with one Mac, and one version of the app (6.2.1 AppStore).

Per our discussion on the other thread, I've also tried, on the same mac:

1- creating a new mac-user account on the machine

2- running the locally installed Evernote app (sync'd to the same evernote account) while logged in as the new mac-user account

3- copying the ~Evernote database folder from the original mac-user account into the new man-user's ~Evernote database folder

when i then launch the Evernote app as the new mac-user, it does not display any of the Local notebooks.  With this I'm pretty certain that your core assertion that:

>> Sorry, but this doesn't make sense.  The way the Evernote app knows what data you have is from the Evernote data folder. 

is incorrect.  I thought it was just me and I was doing something wrong, until I read through jmpreston's entire experience in this thread -- which appears to me to confirm that you can't just copy over the data folder.  

and i agree btw it doesn't make sense.  there should be a simple, user-friendly process to move and/or restore an Evernote configuration including local notebooks, between machines (e.g. when you get a new Mac), between user accounts (as in my example above), or to restore from a backup (jmpreston).  after spending days on this, i haven't found it, and I'm near convinced it does not exist.

 

 

 

 

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

4 minutes ago, ek12 said:

3- copying the ~Evernote database folder from the original mac-user account into the new man-user's ~Evernote database folder

when i then launch the Evernote app as the new mac-user, it does not display any of the Local notebooks

I believe this suggests that either you didn't copy everything correctly, or the source did not have Local notebooks.
Make sure you are copying everything from the top-level Evernote data folder down.  When you paste into the new-user account, it should NOT go into the Evernote folder -- it should replace it.  The top-level folder is located in ~/Library/Application Support/ folder for Direct D/L.
AFAIK, there is no data within the Evernote app concerning your notes, sync'd or local.  

Also, after the copy/paste, you probably need to reinstall the Evernote app.

[DTLow 5,736]

1 hour ago, ek12 said:

how often do you do this?  or have you found a way to automate a regular ENEX export of your local notebooks

I do it once a week, Sunday evening.  At this stage it's a manual process, and I don't find it too difficult.  I might try to script it someday.

[MusicWiz 14]

If so many people have issues with the back up system, how come no one would come up with a simple restore solution yet.  I don't mind to do manual back ups once per week, but in case a system crash or data erase, the restore app should be able to bring the data back to Evernote with one click of a button.

 

[ek12 14]

MusicWiz -- +1 to your comment, there should be a simple "restore local notebooks from backup" option, and isn't.

JMichaelTX -- thank you again for your patience and follow-up.  I am glad to report that I have SUCCESSFULLY restored my local notebooks from my Mac TimeMachine backup.  Your advice was correct, but I needed to restore two full folders, not one.  For documentation, the Steps that worked for me:

1. go to ~User/Library/Containers and rename/backup the current versions of two subfolders

1a) ~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote -- e.g. i renamed it to "com.evernote.Evernote (pre-restore)"

1b) ~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

2. Restore the TimeMachine backed-up versions of both folders, to replace the originals (pre-step 1)

3. Launch Evernote

this is on Evernote Mac v6.2.1 AppStore.

NOTE: I had previously been attempting to do this with only the 1a) subfolder, and when I attempted this, the Mac EN client would not show any local notebooks. When I copied over both subfolders, the local notebooks appeared, along i with all the sync'd notebooks.

I will do some more testing to verify, but net I believe my sustainable, automated backup/restore solution is:

a- Use TimeMachine with default settings to backup al folders including ~User/Library and its subfolders

b- In the future if I need to restore, use TimeMachine to restore THOSE TWO SUBFOLDERS to the correct time/date , then re-launch Evernote

jmpreston, note this may address your issue as well.

It seems from this and related threads that EN occasionally changes its folder/file structure, so this may break in the future.  But for now with this version, I am reasonably confident in my ability to restore, which is a big win.

 

[MusicWiz 14]

Actually I did find a solution how to restore each note in case of losing all the data. I am using OneNote, Microsoft, desktop and iPhone. (Which doesn't support a back up for mac)

Whenever I create a new note I post it on OneNote. It takes me a few seconds more to post it, its a habit now. If I lose all the data on EN and in case of non accurate restore from the time machine, I have the back up on OneNote. I sleep better now, :0)

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

1 hour ago, ek12 said:

1. go to ~User/Library/Containers and rename/backup the current versions of two subfolders

1a) ~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote -- e.g. i renamed it to "com.evernote.Evernote (pre-restore)"

1b) ~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

@ek12, thanks for reporting this.  This is a key difference between the Evernote Direct Download version, and the App Store version.
So, to make sure I understand, the top-level Evernote folder for App Store version is ~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote, correct?

I'm very glad you were able to recover your Local Notebooks.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

1 hour ago, MusicWiz said:

Whenever I create a new note I post it on OneNote. It takes me a few seconds more to post it, its a habit now.

I'm glad that works for you, and gives you peace.

For those that don't use OneNote, a simple export to either ENEX or HTML will achieve the same goal.

Of course, you can use the automatic, hourly backup using Time Machine to keep you completely covered, and then export to ENEX only for those important notes, or on a less frequent basis (like once a week).

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, ek12 said:

I have SUCCESSFULLY restored my local notebooks from my Mac TimeMachine backup.  Your advice was correct, but I needed to restore two full folders, not one.  For documentation, the Steps that worked for me:

Happy it worked out for you.  Thank you for showing the recovery steps.

[ek12 14]

3 hours ago, JMichaelTX said:

@ek12, thanks for reporting this.  This is a key difference between the Evernote Direct Download version, and the App Store version.
So, to make sure I understand, the top-level Evernote folder for App Store version is ~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote, correct?

not correct.

from my experience, there is not one, but TWO top-level notebooks, and restoring one without the other did not work.  those TWO are:

~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote

~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

when, and only when, I replaced BOTH of these did the restore work.

 

Note to Evernote: users shouldn't have to figure this stuff out.  it's way too fragile. You really need to publish and maintain a one-page document on how to restore Local Notebooks from backup.  especially when you are encouraging people to go paperless and all-in on your solution.  Backup/Restore documentation is a basic requirement.  please be professional and publish this for your product.  For now, despite my 2 years' investment in this product, when anyone asks me whether they should move to Evernote to go paperless, I will tell them to avoid it at all costs until this gap is closed.

 

 

[MusicWiz 14]

@ek12,  My Data files are not in the container, they are in Application Support/com.evernote.Evernote/accounts/www.evernote.com/318XXXXX   I can understand your frustration about the EN not being perfect for restore, but is there a better application out there? I tried them all, and that's why I am still using EN, in my opinion because they are one of the best.

[ek12 14]

@MusicWiz again yikes that your folders are somewhere else, meaning if you ever lost anything you'd need to figure out your own restore process.   There really needs to be a documented and simple way, e.g. "Go to File > Restore From Folder".

for me, I'll now scan my important docs to Mac Folders rather than Evernote.  By doing this I will lose for example tagging, indexing, and the ability to easily comment on these documents -- all features of Evernote that I greatly value.  But, I'll know for certain that these documents are permanently available, backed up, and restorable, which is for me table stakes.

I agree, EN is a great app, other than this fundamental failing.  I believe that if the majority of users knew that there is no way to Restore from Backup, many more would exit as I now need to.  This has been a disappointing discovery.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

45 minutes ago, ek12 said:

yikes that your folders are somewhere else, meaning if you ever lost anything you'd need to figure out your own restore process.   There really needs to be a documented and simple way, e.g. "Go to File > Restore From Folder".

I totally agree that there needs to be better documentation, and a "Restore from folder" would be a great help.

In the meantime, AFAIK, there are only two locations for your Evernote data folder:

1. One for the Direct Download version
2. One for the App Store version

Each user can find this location by going to Evernote > About, and hold down the OPTION key.
See Location of Evernote Data Folder for EN Mac. 

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

17 hours ago, ek12 said:

from my experience, there is not one, but TWO top-level notebooks, and restoring one without the other did not work.  those TWO are:

~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.Evernote

~User/Library/Containers/com.evernote.EvernoteHelper

when, and only when, I replaced BOTH of these did the restore work.

Thanks for sharing this.  It is very surprising that the folder for the EvernoteHelper would need restoring, but it certainly does not hurt anything to do so.

@ek12: would you mind posting a screenshot of the contents of your com.evernote.EvernoteHelper folder?

Here's mine, and I don't see anything but a log file:

[MusicWiz 14]

@ek12 In your case, I would probably scan and upload to EN and back up export as HTML, which contains your scan documents. But, that's me. I am using EN mainly for storing Tips for many applications, Photo and Video plus some written tutorials, that save me so much time and frustration to look for it on my Mac and online again. EN has a great search, it even finds the keywords in PDF documents. I just can not live without it.

[DTLow 5,736]

2 hours ago, MusicWiz said:

@ek12 In your case, I would probably scan and upload to EN and back up export as HTML, which contains your scan documents.

You might want to do both an HTML export,
and an ENEX backup of your local notebooks.

I do both as part of my weekly backup process.
The HTML export is great for going in and retrieving a note, but it doesn't have attributes like tags, dates etc.
The ENEX export doesn't store the notebook, so you should do one for notebook (I only have one offline notebook)

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

27 minutes ago, DTLow said:

You might want to do both an HTML export,
and an ENEX backup of your local notebooks.

I don't see the need of doing an HTML export, unless you want to import those notes into another app.

It is easy enough to import the ENEX into a Local Notebook (which it does by default), and then search/find that Local NB for the Note(s) of interest.  If it is a prior version of a Note you want to replace the current version, then you can copy/paste the contents.

[MusicWiz 14]

11 minutes ago, JMichaelTX said:

I don't see the need of doing an HTML export, unless you want to import those notes into another app.

@JMIchaelTX Your advice is great if people wish to go back to the same application and restore. What would happened if EN will no longer support the new OS in a few years like Mount Kilimanjaro, for example (:0). Then ENEX files will no longer be readable, as it can be used only with EN. The HTML and the attachments can be opened without any 3rd party applications.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

29 minutes ago, MusicWiz said:

What would happened if EN will no longer support the new OS in a few years like Mount Kilimanjaro, for example (:0). Then ENEX files will no longer be readable, as it can be used only with EN

This concern has been addressed in detail elsewhere, but in essence you can always export your Notes to HTML using your EN Mac desktop app, even if Evernote is no longer in business.  It is always wise to not update to a new OS until you are sure your critical apps will run on it.  As an example, I have NOT upgraded to El Capitan yet, because at least two of my critical apps, including Evernote, are still having issues running on it.

[ek12 14]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

You might want to do both an HTML export,
and an ENEX backup of your local notebooks.

I do both as part of my weekly backup process.
The HTML export is great for going in and retrieving a note, but it doesn't have attributes like tags, dates etc.
The ENEX export doesn't store the notebook, so you should do one for notebook (I only have one offline notebook)

@DTLow: Thanks.  I get why that would bring peace of mind in your scenario.  For me, if I have to remember to do it manually, odds are too high that it won't happen.  Also, I have probably 2 dozen local notebooks, so even if I did remember, it would be too cumbersome to do it manually.

I guess a middle of the road option is, I could collapse my local notebooks into a smaller number, and use Tags to delineate rather than separate notebooks, and then periodically manually export when I remembered to, so that the exports could be included in my Time Machine backup.  I can see how that could work, and thanks for the brainstorming.

but I fall back to my previous note to Evernote: those of us in the user community shouldn't have to kludge solutions like this.  If

1- Evernote seriously wants people to upload data that's important, AND

2- They realize that some of this data is too sensitive for users to trust to the cloud (which apparently they realize, else why have local notebooks at all)

they need to offer a simple backup/restore.  It shouldn't be hard to code.  And it needs to be easy to use, and bulletproof reliable.

I'll keep watching to see if new management starts taking this core product more seriously.  and until then, I'll be reluctant to move more of my digital life into Evernote.  and based on this thread, I've sadly begun moving my important files OUT of Evernote.

[DTLow 5,736]

48 minutes ago, ek12 said:

 I have probably 2 dozen local notebooks, so even if I did remember, it would be too cumbersome to do it manually.

I can see why a manual process wouldn't be good for you.  Even though I only have one local notebook I'm thinking of automating the process.  It shouldn't be too difficult.