Effortlessly Migrate from Evernote to OneNote: A Comprehensive Guide

Are you considering switching from Evernote to OneNote? You’re not alone. While Evernote has been a popular note-taking app for years, OneNote offers a compelling alternative, particularly for users already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. OneNote’s strengths include its free tier (offering significant storage), seamless integration with other Microsoft Office applications, and flexible organization options. This guide will walk you through a smooth migration process, ensuring you don’t lose any important notes along the way.

Why Migrate from Evernote to OneNote?

Before diving into the how-to, let’s briefly explore why you might want to make the switch:

* **Cost:** OneNote’s free version offers ample storage and features for most users. Evernote’s free plan is more restrictive.
* **Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem:** If you heavily rely on Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, OneNote provides seamless integration for enhanced productivity.
* **Organization:** OneNote allows for a more flexible organization structure with notebooks, sections, and pages, offering more granular control over your notes.
* **Offline Access:** OneNote provides excellent offline access to your notes, which can be crucial when you’re without an internet connection.
* **Collaboration:** OneNote shines in collaborative environments, allowing multiple users to edit and contribute to notebooks simultaneously.

Preparing for the Migration

Before initiating the migration, it’s essential to prepare your Evernote data and your OneNote environment. This will ensure a smoother and more successful transition.

1. Clean Up Your Evernote Notes

* **Delete Unnecessary Notes:** Take some time to review your Evernote notebooks and delete any notes that are outdated, irrelevant, or no longer needed. This will reduce the overall size of your export file and make the migration process faster.
* **Organize Your Notes:** Ensure your notes are properly organized within Evernote notebooks and tags. This will help maintain a similar structure in OneNote after the migration.
* **Merge Duplicate Notes:** Identify and merge any duplicate notes to avoid redundancy in OneNote.
* **Address Formatting Issues:** While the migration tools strive to preserve formatting, complex or unusual formatting can sometimes be lost or altered. Review your notes for any potential formatting issues and consider simplifying them if necessary.

2. Install OneNote

If you haven’t already, download and install OneNote on your computer. You can download it from the Microsoft website. OneNote is available as a desktop application (part of Microsoft Office or as a standalone download) and as a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app (from the Microsoft Store). The desktop application is generally recommended for migration due to its broader compatibility with the migration tools.

3. Sign In to OneNote

Launch OneNote and sign in with your Microsoft account. If you don’t have a Microsoft account, you’ll need to create one. This account will be used to store your notes in OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service.

4. Create a Backup of Your Evernote Data (Highly Recommended)

Before making any significant changes to your Evernote data, it’s crucial to create a backup. This will provide a safety net in case anything goes wrong during the migration process. To create a backup:

* In Evernote, select the notebook(s) you want to back up, or select all notebooks if you want to back up everything.
* Go to **File > Export Notebook…**
* Choose the **Evernote XML Format (.enex)** as the export format.
* Select a location to save the export file.
* Click **Save**.

Repeat this process for each notebook you want to back up. Keep these .enex files in a safe place.

Migration Methods: Choosing the Right Approach

Several methods can be used to migrate from Evernote to OneNote. The best method for you will depend on your needs and technical skills. Here are the most common options:

Method 1: Using Microsoft’s Evernote to OneNote Importer (Recommended for Most Users)

Microsoft provides a dedicated tool for importing Evernote notes into OneNote. This tool is the easiest and most reliable option for most users.

**Steps:**

1. **Download the OneNote Importer Tool:** You can typically find it by searching on Google, DuckDuckGo or another search engine for “OneNote Importer Tool” or “Evernote to OneNote Migration Tool” on Microsoft’s website. Make sure you download from a trusted source (preferably Microsoft directly).
2. **Run the Importer Tool:** Once downloaded, run the executable file. You may need to grant the tool administrative privileges.
3. **Agree to the Terms:** Accept the terms of the license agreement.
4. **Evernote Installation Check:** The tool will check if Evernote is installed on your computer. You may need to have Evernote installed, even if you plan to import from an .enex file.
5. **Select Evernote Notes:** The tool will allow you to select either an existing Evernote installation or an Evernote export file (.enex). If you choose the .enex file option, browse to the location where you saved your Evernote backup.
6. **Choose OneNote Notebook:** The tool will prompt you to choose a OneNote notebook where you want to import your notes. You can select an existing notebook or create a new one.
7. **Start the Import:** Click the **Import** button to begin the migration process.
8. **Wait for the Import to Complete:** The import process may take some time, depending on the size of your Evernote data. The tool will display a progress bar to track the progress. Be patient and do not interrupt the process.
9. **Review Your Notes in OneNote:** Once the import is complete, open OneNote and review your imported notes. Check for any formatting issues or missing content.

**Pros:**

* Easy to use
* Direct import from Evernote or .enex files
* Preserves formatting and structure (to a reasonable extent)

**Cons:**

* May not handle very complex Evernote notes perfectly
* Requires a compatible version of Evernote to be installed (in some cases)
* Can be slow for large Evernote databases

Method 2: Using IFTTT (If This Then That)

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a web-based service that allows you to automate tasks between different apps and services. You can use IFTTT to create an applet that automatically saves new Evernote notes to OneNote.

**Steps:**

1. **Create an IFTTT Account:** If you don’t already have an IFTTT account, create one at ifttt.com.
2. **Connect Evernote and OneNote to IFTTT:**
* Log in to your IFTTT account.
* Search for **Evernote** and connect your Evernote account to IFTTT. You’ll need to authorize IFTTT to access your Evernote data.
* Search for **OneNote** and connect your OneNote account to IFTTT. You’ll need to authorize IFTTT to access your OneNote data.
3. **Create an IFTTT Applet:**
* Click on **Create**.
* Click on **If This**, search for **Evernote**, and choose the **Any new note** trigger.
* Click on **Then That**, search for **OneNote**, and choose the **Create a note** action.
* Customize the action fields, such as the notebook and title of the new OneNote note. You can use IFTTT ingredients to dynamically insert information from the Evernote note into the OneNote note.
* Click on **Create Action**.
* Review your applet and click **Finish**.
4. **Test the Applet:** Create a new note in Evernote and check if it’s automatically created in OneNote.

**Pros:**

* Automates the migration process for new notes
* Can be customized to suit specific needs

**Cons:**

* Only works for new notes created after the applet is activated
* Doesn’t migrate existing Evernote notes
* Requires an IFTTT account
* Can be unreliable if IFTTT experiences downtime

Method 3: Copying and Pasting (Manual Method)

This is the most basic method and is suitable for migrating a small number of notes. It involves manually copying the content of each Evernote note and pasting it into a new OneNote note.

**Steps:**

1. **Open Evernote and OneNote:** Launch both applications.
2. **Open the Evernote Note:** Open the Evernote note you want to migrate.
3. **Copy the Content:** Select all the content of the Evernote note and copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C).
4. **Create a New OneNote Note:** In OneNote, create a new note in the desired notebook and section.
5. **Paste the Content:** Paste the content from the clipboard into the new OneNote note (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V).
6. **Repeat for Each Note:** Repeat steps 2-5 for each Evernote note you want to migrate.

**Pros:**

* Simple and straightforward
* Doesn’t require any additional tools

**Cons:**

* Time-consuming and tedious for large numbers of notes
* May lose formatting during the copy-paste process
* Not suitable for migrating entire notebooks

Method 4: Exporting and Importing (ENEX to Third-Party Converter to OneNote)

This involves exporting the Evernote notes as ENEX files, converting them to a format more easily imported by OneNote (sometimes an intermediary format is needed like HTML or Markdown), and then importing the converted files into OneNote. This is the most complex method and often requires specialized software or scripting knowledge. The success rate heavily relies on the reliability of the converters.

**Steps:**

1. **Export from Evernote:** Export your notes from Evernote into ENEX files, as described in the backup section.
2. **Find a Suitable Converter:** Search online for a converter that can convert ENEX files (or HTML/Markdown that you might have to convert to first) to a OneNote-compatible format. Some options include command line tools, web services, and desktop applications. Beware of the security risks when using online converters. Research the tool thoroughly before uploading your ENEX files.
3. **Convert the ENEX files:** Use the chosen converter to convert your ENEX files to the desired format. Follow the instructions provided by the converter.
4. **Import into OneNote (if possible):** Some converters might directly import to OneNote; others may create files that you need to manually copy and paste into OneNote. This last step is highly dependent on what the converter does.
5. **Review and Adjust:** Review the imported notes in OneNote. Adjust the formatting and organization as needed.

**Pros:**

* Potentially useful for complex notes or if other methods fail

**Cons:**

* Complex and technical
* Requires finding and using a reliable converter.
* Formatting may still be lost or altered during conversion. This conversion is very often imperfect.
* Security risks if using untrusted online converters.

Post-Migration Tasks

Once you’ve migrated your notes to OneNote, there are a few tasks you should perform to ensure everything is working as expected.

1. Review Your Notes

Carefully review your imported notes to ensure that all content has been migrated correctly and that the formatting is as expected. Pay attention to any images, attachments, or tables that may not have been migrated perfectly.

2. Reorganize Your Notes

OneNote uses a different organization structure than Evernote, so you may need to reorganize your notes to better fit OneNote’s notebook, section, and page structure. Consider creating new notebooks and sections to group your notes logically.

3. Adjust Formatting

Depending on the migration method you used, you may need to adjust the formatting of your notes to improve their appearance in OneNote. This may involve changing fonts, sizes, colors, or adding headings and lists.

4. Test Functionality

Test the functionality of your notes, such as links, attachments, and embedded objects, to ensure they are working correctly in OneNote. You may need to update or repair these elements if they were not migrated properly.

5. Remove Evernote

Once you’re satisfied that all your notes have been successfully migrated to OneNote, you can safely remove Evernote from your computer. However, it’s a good idea to keep your Evernote backup files in a safe place for a while, just in case you need to refer to them in the future.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Here are some common issues you may encounter during the migration process and how to resolve them:

* **Missing Notes:** If some of your notes are missing after the migration, check the import logs (if available) for any errors or warnings. You may need to re-import those notes using a different method.
* **Formatting Issues:** Formatting issues are common during migration. Try adjusting the formatting manually in OneNote. In some cases, you may need to reformat the content entirely.
* **Attachment Problems:** Attachments may not be migrated correctly. Try downloading the attachments from Evernote and adding them manually to the corresponding notes in OneNote.
* **Slow Import:** The import process can be slow for large Evernote databases. Close any unnecessary applications and ensure your computer has sufficient resources. Consider breaking up the import into smaller batches.
* **Importer Tool Errors:** If the OneNote Importer Tool encounters errors, try restarting your computer and running the tool again. You may also need to update the tool to the latest version.

Tips for a Smooth Migration

Here are some additional tips to help ensure a smooth migration from Evernote to OneNote:

* **Plan Ahead:** Before starting the migration, plan your organization structure in OneNote. This will help you decide how to organize your imported notes.
* **Test with a Small Batch:** Before migrating your entire Evernote database, test the migration process with a small batch of notes to ensure that everything is working as expected.
* **Be Patient:** The migration process can take some time, especially for large Evernote databases. Be patient and don’t interrupt the process.
* **Check for Updates:** Ensure that you are using the latest versions of Evernote and OneNote, as well as the latest version of the OneNote Importer Tool.
* **Consult Documentation:** Refer to the documentation for Evernote, OneNote, and the OneNote Importer Tool for detailed instructions and troubleshooting tips.

Conclusion

Migrating from Evernote to OneNote can be a rewarding experience, allowing you to take advantage of OneNote’s powerful features and seamless integration with the Microsoft ecosystem. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can ensure a smooth and successful transition, preserving your valuable notes and data. Remember to plan ahead, back up your data, and test the migration process before migrating your entire Evernote database. Good luck!