How to migrate from Evernote to OneNote
The following guide walks you through the process of migrating all of your Evernote notebooks to Microsoft's OneNote service.
Evernote's recent announcement that it would limit basic users to syncing two devices, and increase pricing of the service for all paying customers, will certainly lead to users leaving the service behind.
One Evernote alternative is Microsoft's OneNote service. OneNote supports many features of Evernote, and tops the service in others. It features unlimited monthly uploads for instance, is free, and enables you to write anywhere on a page.
Migrate from Evernote to OneNote
As far as migration from Evernote to OneNote is concerned, the easiest option is to use Microsoft's Evernote to OneNote importer. The program is only available for Windows 7 and later only however.
Good news is that it supports two ways of migrating your data from Evernote to OneNote. The easier one of the two picks up the data from the local Evernote program for Windows, the other manually exported Evernote data files with the .enex extension.
The easy method
- Make sure Evernote for Windows is installed, and that you signed in recently so that all data including recent additions is available on the local computer.
- Install Microsoft's Evernote to OneNote Importer program on the same device.
- Accept the license agreement when you start the importer, and click on the get started button.
- The importer scans the device for Evernote notebooks, and displays all it finds in its interface.
- Select one, some or all Evernote notebooks for the migration and click on the next button.
- You need to sign in to a Microsoft Account, or a work or school account now. Select the appropriate option from the selection menu. If you don't have a Microsoft account, there is also an option to sign up for one.
- If you are using Windows 10, your Microsoft account may be picked up automatically. If not, you need to enter the username and password manually to complete the step.
- OneNote creates new notebooks for every Evernote notebook automatically during the migration. You may check the "use Evernote tags to organize content in OneNote" option to use the tagging system on OneNote as well.
- Click on the import button to complete the process.
The import may take a while depending on the content that is stored on Evernote.
The manual way
You may use Microsoft's OneNote Importer to import Evernote .enex files instead. You may use the Evernote for Windows or Mac application to save notebooks as .enex files.
Instructions on how to do so are provided on the Evernote help website.
The process is nearly identical from that point on. The only change is that you need to select database files manually, and that you can import only one notebook at a time using the method.
Considering that the importer will pick up all notebooks by default if the Evernote application is installed on the same computer, it is without doubt easier to use it instead of the manual method.
If you are using a Mac or Linux, you may want to consider using a virtual machine installation of Windows for the importing if you want to switch to OneNote.
Now You: Which note taking service are you using, if any?
After using Evernote for 2 years I switched to OneNote last year, and have not looked back. I recognise Evernote is better in some ways, but on balance 1N is far superior for my use case, which I published elsewhere.
I started my migration last night and left my pc running. With over 15000 notes, I would imagine it took all night.
Such a shame that Evernote made this decision – the increase wasn’t a few dollars, it was close to 40% !
Is the onenote webclipper still just a screenshot tool?
Partially it is.
I use Evernote via their web interface.
My OS: Linux Ubuntu 12.04 32bits.
(EN never bothered to make a Linux client prog…).
Is there an alternative, easy way
to transfer all my EN Notes to MS-OneNote –
without installing Windows in a Virtual Machine?
(I don’t even have Windows…).
Martin? Anybody?
Thanks for any guidance…
Does their web interface allow creating an export file? If so, it sounds like you could use that.
I checked and could not find an option.
@TONY & @MARTIN:
Sadly no.
No possibility to export Notes
from the EN Web Interface…
Again, EN has no client app for Linux.
You can only use the EN Web Interface…
so, that’s what I’ve been using for years.
– Ubuntu Linux 12.04 (32-bit)
– Pale Moon 26.3.0 and FF 46.0.1
If you want to export to OneNote from Linux, you are better of downloading one of the official Microsoft test virtual machines (from the Modern.IE Project website) and use the Windows tool.
What platform do you run 1N on?
I recommend turtl. It’s open source, free (unless you need more space) multiplataform and safer because encrypts your passwords
If I migrate to One Note from Evernote, what happens to the data that I currently have on Evernote?
Migrating is just copying, so all your data on EN remains intact.
Tnx. I think I will try it, at least for a while.
You can actually use a VPN service that supports Mexico and buy the account in Mexican Pesos. It costs the equivalent of 22$ for a year of Premium and 11$ for a year of Plus.
I got a Premium account and it works well. I can provide a tutorial if someone is interested.
Interesting. Did not know the pricing was that different.
Yes, it shocked me as well. If you don’t mind, can I link my tutorial here? It also includes a table comparing prices in different countries.
On an unrelated note, you made “Pinterest without registration” one of my most famous user scripts ever. Thank you. :D
Sure feel free to do so.
Great! Here’s my tutorial (including a comparison table):
http://lazza.dk/2016/07/01/how-to-get-evernote-premium-for-20-eur-22-usd-a-year/
I haven’t tested Evernote due to a weird mobile device situation but I’m definitely trying to find something other than OneNote. The program constantly drives me crazy.
1. Image addendum (draw) tools are junk. Just press enter above any image and watch all your edits slide away.
2. Interoperability – Sucks at pasting anything but plain text into non-Microsoft programs, which I think is the whole reason Microsoft gives this away for free.
3. Interface – The ability to type just anywhere on the page is remarkably wonky and strange. Sometimes it pulls to a central window, sometimes it starts writing off in la-la land.
I’ve tried CherryTree, Cintanotes, and other programs that Martin has discussed here but the search continues.
Microsoft will remove this program in September 2022. I tried using it yet it seems my notes did not import properly. Looks like a game of cut and paste. Luckily not too many notes to transfer.
I discovered the Legacy Evernote which this OneNote Importer was able to see however it still is not importing the notes any better the the exported ENEX files did. I consider this a dead end option. I have not found any alternatives outside of copy and paste.