Personal Data Preservation Plan: Migrating from Evernote to Joplin

Foreword

While recently exploring various modern note-taking tools, I happened to try out Joplin. Although its interface isn't the most attractive, it's open-source, supports Markdown, has comprehensive features, and offers multiple import methods (in fact, many open-source note apps do).

Among its import functions, there was an option for Evernote (印象笔记), which reminded me of my long-forgotten Evernote account.

I haven't actually used Evernote for many years—my last time was probably back in university a long time ago. I had a paid membership for several years back then and used it to save web pages and WeChat public account articles, which was quite handy.

Unfortunately, Evernote (印象笔记) started a few years ago to completely cut off its China-specific version from the international edition, engaging in increasingly questionable business practices. It also changed its export format to a proprietary one, becoming more and more closed off. This isn't a good sign—I'm most wary of being locked into a specific platform or ecosystem.

Moreover, keeping data in your own hands is always the safest option. So, I began the process of migrating my notes, as described in this article.

Troubleshooting Process

evernote-backup

https://github.com/vzhd1701/evernote-backup

Initially, I used evernote-backup, but it kept throwing errors.

evernote.edam.error.ttypes.EDAMUserException: EDAMUserException(errorCode=8, parameter='consumerKey')

I suspect it's because the Chinese version of Evernote (印象笔记) has changed its token mechanism.

Many blog posts online show that this tool can export notes normally, but these articles were written 2-3 years ago.

There are also issues mentioning this problem. For reference: https://github.com/vzhd1701/evernote-backup/issues/113

evernote2

https://github.com/JackonYang/evernote2

Later, I found in the issues that a fellow user had forked the evernote-sdk and created a new version, with a fairly recent update.

I attempted to try it out, but it still threw an error. However, this error did not seem to be related to the interface. I resolved it by modifying the code of this tool.

For details, see the issue I submitted here: https://github.com/JackonYang/evernote2/issues/8

However, even after exporting using this method, Joplin still could not import the files. Upon examining the exported files, although they also had the .enex extension, they were actually in XML format and came with a resources directory. This seems to be different from the format Joplin expects.

Back to evernote-backup

The next day, I continued using the evernote-backup project, reading the code to try to solve this problem. However, I couldn't find the issue in the code (and some of the Python code was really hard to read 😂).

So, I had to keep looking through the issues, and sure enough, someone mentioned this problem. The solution for the error was to use a token directly, instead of logging in with a username and password.

First, go to the official website of the Chinese version of Evernote (印象笔记) to create a token: https://app.yinxiang.com/api/DeveloperToken.action

Then, use the following command to create a backup:

evernote-backup init-db --backend china -t token

The tool was quite fast—it downloaded several thousand notes in no time.

The exported files are in the format of one ENEX file per notebook.

Importing to Joplin

At this point, you can proceed to import into Joplin.

In Joplin, select the import option and choose the "enex directory" format. Since I primarily saved webpages and WeChat Official Account articles (公众号文章) in Evernote (印象笔记), I chose the HTML format here to better preserve the original styling. However, this also sacrifices editability (webpage editing support within Joplin is limited).

If you prefer to edit the content, you can choose Markdown, but the formatting might appear somewhat odd. You'll need to weigh the trade-offs yourself...

The import process will display progress, and the overall experience is quite good.

Each enex file automatically creates a corresponding notebook, and tags are also correctly recognized.

Summary

And just like that, you've successfully said goodbye to Evernote...

If you plan to use Joplin as a replacement for Evernote, you'll also need to configure the sync feature. I don't have that need at the moment, so I'll set up the sync feature later.

Recently, I've also tried out note-taking tools like Zettlr and Trilium (I've previously used Obsidian and Notion). I'll write a comparison when I have time.