ENEX File Size

[DoorsNCorners 0]

I've noticed that my Evernote backup files, in ENEX format, are incredibly small, despite the fact that I have a huge number of notes. They range from 2 - 8 KB. Strangely, I have one ENEX file that failed to fulled export, and it is about 80 MB. Similarly, I also exported my notes to HTML and that file is ~80 MB.

Do those small ENEX files actually contain all my backed up notes in a highly efficient format? I wouldn't think XML would be that much more efficient. 

If not, any idea how I get it to back up my files appropriately? 

Thanks for the help. 

[DTLow 5,736]

20 hours ago, DoorsNCorners said:

I've noticed that my Evernote backup files, in ENEX format, are incredibly small, despite the fact that I have a huge number of notes. They range from 2 - 8 KB. Strangely, I have one ENEX file that failed to fulled export, and it is about 80 MB. Similarly, I also exported my notes to HTML and that file is ~80 MB.

Do those small ENEX files actually contain all my backed up notes in a highly efficient format? I wouldn't think XML would be that much more efficient. 

If not, any idea how I get it to back up my files appropriately? 

Thanks for the help. 

I expect similar data sizes with my enex/html exports
Neither of these formats use data compression.

My 6800 note export is 3GB but the size is dependent on attachments.
The different note sizes can be viewed in the toplist column view as per the screenshot below.

As part of my backup procedures, I export changes from the previous days so I can actually view file sizes for a small number of notes like 1.2MB tor 16 notes and 500KB for 5 notes.

[CalS 5,280]

If Windows, compare the size of your ENEX files to the size of your data base, the EXB file.  Whatever notes you select are included in the ENEX file, so if you export the notebook all notes in the notebook will be in the ENEX file.

For example my EXB file is 12.9GB and the comparable ENEX files (one per notebook) are 14.8GB.  So the ENEX backups would be bigger if this applies to all.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

15 hours ago, DoorsNCorners said:

I've noticed that my Evernote backup files, in ENEX format, are incredibly small, despite the fact that I have a huge number of notes. They range from 2 - 8 KB. Strangely, I have one ENEX file that failed to fulled export, and it is about 80 MB. Similarly, I also exported my notes to HTML and that file is ~80 MB

This sounds very strange.  What versions of OS and Evernote are you running?

I highly recommend that you do a test restore of the ENEX files.  They will go into Local Notebooks, so no impact on your monthly upload, and you can easily delete the test restore later.

The ENEX file is a text file, but it includes special text encoding to include not only the text of your note, but also images and attachments.  I just ran a test in EN Mac 6.6, and a Note (with images and PDF) with a size of 2.9 MB (as reported in the Note Info panel) resulted in an ENEX file of 4.1 MB.

Of course, if you wanted to save a lot of space on your PC/Mac drive, you could zip the ENEX.  That reduced the 4.1 MB down to an 2.6 MB for the zip file.

Bottom line, export to ENEX is generally a very solid, reliable method to backup your Notes.  As with any new backup system, make sure you test both backup and restore before you commit to it.

For more info, see this EN Knowledgebase article:

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

[HorseStapler 0]

I had this same problem, when I tried to Export from the File menu, but it worked when I right-clicked on a notebook stack and used the Export Notes in the context menu.

[DTLow 5,736]

58 minutes ago, HorseStapler said:

I had this same problem, when I tried to Export from the File menu, but it worked when I right-clicked on a notebook stack and used the Export Notes in the context menu.

You have to select the notes before you do the export.  
By default, File > Export will export one note.
Try selecting notes or select all.