This is how you export your notes, folders and attachments from Evernote and import them into OttaNote. At the bottom you can see what does and doesn't come across.
.enex file; the web version and the mobile apps can't. Don't have the app yet? Download it from evernote.com/download. OttaNote itself runs in your browser.For a small account it takes about five minutes.
Each notebook becomes one file, and OttaNote turns each file into one folder. This keeps your structure intact.
You still get one file per notebook. Evernote often names them Notebook (1).enex and Notebook (2).enex; in OttaNote you name the folders before the import starts.
You can export individual notes about 100 at a time at most. So it is better to export a large notebook as a whole.
.enex files at once.In the selection screen you see what is in the files on the left, and on the right a preview of the note you click.
OttaNote recognises notes you already have by their title and content. For such a duplicate the app asks what to do: skip, add anyway, add with a number or move the existing note to the import folder. With one tick, the other duplicates are handled the same way. You can also stop halfway; whatever has already come in stays where it is. This lets you switch in stages.
A damaged file or an unreadable note doesn't hold up the rest. That one is skipped, and at the end you see what didn't work and why. An attachment that is too large or couldn't be uploaded is skipped as well; the note itself still comes in.
On Free you get 50 notes and 50 MB, with at most 25 MB per attachment. Plus gives you unlimited notes and 10 GB, with at most 100 MB per attachment. The selection screen warns you before the import starts if your selection doesn't fit. Large videos are better kept somewhere else.
Everything in this table is in an Evernote export. On the right is what ends up in OttaNote.
| Item | In OttaNote |
|---|---|
| Note title | yes |
| Created and modified dates | yes, the dates are kept |
| Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough | yes |
| Text colour and highlighting | yes |
| Font size and font family | yes |
| Superscript and subscript | yes |
| Headings | yes (h4 and deeper become level 4) |
| Alignment | yes |
| Bulleted and numbered lists, including nesting | yes |
| Checkboxes, including nesting and ticked state | yes |
| Evernote tasks (with due date) | yes, as a checkbox with the due date after it in italics |
| Quote blocks | yes |
| Code blocks | yes |
| Mermaid diagrams | yes, as a Mermaid block: you can view the diagram, have it redrawn and download it as SVG |
| Formulas (LaTeX) | yes, as a formula block: shown formatted and still editable |
| Tags | yes, in lowercase, so Work and work are merged |
| Horizontal rules | yes |
| Tables | yes, including merged cells |
| Images inside the note | yes 1 |
| Attachments (PDF, audio, any file) | yes, as an attachment to the note 1 |
| Handwriting / ink notes | yes, as an image (that is how it is in the export too), not as editable pen strokes |
| Folder structure (notebooks) | yes, each notebook (one .enex file) becomes a folder |
| Collapsible sections | partly: the content comes across, the collapsing and expanding does not |
| Internal note links | no, those links point to Evernote and become plain text |
| Source URL of web clips | no |
| Reminders | no |
| Encrypted text (en-crypt) | no, it is unreadable in the export; in its place you get a box with the hint from Evernote. Decrypt the text in Evernote first |
1 Up to 25 MB per file with Free and up to 100 MB with Plus. A larger file is skipped.
So no app can carry these over:
Links between notes
In OttaNote you link to another note with [[. With Plus you can see which notes link to a note. You recreate links from Evernote the same way.
Tags
After the import your tags are in the sidebar, with the number of notes per tag. You can search on part of a name: #certif also finds the tag certificates, and #work #2024 finds notes that have both tags. Tag groups are not included in the Evernote export.
Yes. Exporting doesn't change anything in your account; you are only making a copy. Keep Evernote until you are sure everything came across properly.
Not the export, because that only works in the Evernote desktop app. After that, you can import into OttaNote on any device with a browser.
It is stored once and linked to every note it appears in. That saves space.