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From Evernote to OttaNote

Your notes, folders and attachments move across in a few steps — without losing anything. This guide shows how to export everything from Evernote and then import it into OttaNote, and exactly what does and doesn't come along.

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In short

Export your notebooks to .enex files in the Evernote desktop app.
Import them into OttaNote — you can select them all at once; every notebook becomes its own folder automatically.
Check your notes and tidy up any loose ends.

Allow about five minutes for a small account, longer if you have hundreds of notes or large attachments.

Before you start

You need the Evernote desktop app — only for exporting. Creating a .enex file is possible in Evernote for Windows or Mac only; the web version and the Evernote mobile apps can't do it. Don't have the Evernote desktop app? Download it from evernote.com/download. For OttaNote itself you don't have to install anything: importing happens right in your browser.
Importing and exporting are part of the free plan. Your data is yours. So you don't have to pay to get in — and just as little to get out again: OttaNote exports your notes to Markdown, HTML or a complete backup whenever you like.
Sync first. Make sure Evernote has finished syncing, so all your notes and attachments are available locally. Large video or file attachments can go wrong otherwise.
Give large notebooks time. Exporting a big notebook can take a few minutes. Let it finish.
You don't have to do it all at once. OttaNote recognises notes you've imported before, so you can move across in stages or redo an export later. See Importing a second time below.

Step 1 — Exporting from Evernote

Method A — Per notebook (recommended, keeps your folders)

This is the best method if you want to keep your folder structure. Each notebook becomes one file, and OttaNote turns that into one folder.

Click Notebooks on the left.
Click the three dots (•••) next to the notebook — or right-click it — and choose Export Notebook….
Choose ENEX (.enex) as the file format.
Pick a location (your desktop is fine) and click Export.
Repeat for every notebook. You'll get one .enex file per notebook.

This is what keeps your structure intact: notebook = file = one folder in OttaNote.

Method B — All at once

If you have a lot of notebooks and don't want to click through them one by one:

Click Notebooks on the left.
Select all notebooks with Ctrl + A (Windows) or Cmd + A (Mac).
Right-click and choose Export Notebooks….
Choose ENEX, pick a location and click Export.

You'll still get one .enex per notebook — just in a single action.

Evernote often names those files Notebook (1).enex, Notebook (2).enex. No problem: in OttaNote you adjust the folder name before the import starts.

Method C — Individual notes

If you only want to bring a few notes across:

Select the note(s) in the list (hold Ctrl/Cmd for several).
Right-click → Export….
Choose ENEX and save.

Exporting individual notes has a limit of roughly 100 notes at a time. For a really large notebook, export per notebook (Method A) or in batches.

Two things to sort out first

Decrypt encrypted text. Did you encrypt text in Evernote (en-crypt)? Decrypt it in Evernote first. Encrypted blocks are unreadable in the export file.
Check your attachments. Make sure large files are fully synced before you export, otherwise Evernote exports an empty reference.

Step 2 — Importing into OttaNote

Sign in to OttaNote (app.ottanote.com).
Click the menu at the top right and choose Import → Evernote (.enex).
**Select all your .enex files at once.** You don't have to do them one by one — OttaNote reads the whole batch in one go.
You'll get a selection screen: on the left a list of what's in the files, on the right a preview of the note you click. - Files with several notes are recognised as notebooks and each get their own folder. The folder name is filled in already and you can change it here. - Files with one note end up together as individual notes. - Untick anything you don't want to bring across. Sorting by file, title or modification date helps when working through a large batch.
Choose the destination folder and start the import. You'll see a progress bar; with lots of attachments it takes a little longer.

Besides .enex, OttaNote also reads text, Markdown and HTML (.txt, .md, .html) — handy if you're coming from another app or have loose files lying around. And for a single note you don't need a file at all: paste formatted text or Markdown straight into a note and OttaNote will ask whether to turn it into headings, lists and checkboxes.

Importing a second time

OttaNote recognises a note you already have by the combination of title and content. When it finds a duplicate, the app asks what should happen: skip, add anyway, add with a number (Title (2)), or move the existing note to the import folder. One tick and the remaining duplicates are handled the same way. You can also stop halfway; whatever has been created stays.

That's why an import is never all-or-nothing. You can move across in stages, or redo an export because you've lost track of what was already in it.

If something goes wrong

A damaged file or an unreadable note doesn't stop the rest: that one is skipped and at the end you get an overview of what didn't work and why. The same goes for an attachment that couldn't be uploaded — the note itself comes through fine.

Space and file size

The free plan holds 50 notes and 50 MB of storage, with 25 MB per attachment. Plus removes the note limit and takes it to 10 GB with 100 MB per attachment. Coming from a well-stocked Evernote account, you'll need Plus fairly soon — but the import itself costs you nothing, and the selection screen warns you before the import if your selection doesn't fit, so you can untick some or upgrade first.

If a single attachment is too large, only that attachment is skipped, with a message; the note itself comes through fine. So you never lose a note over one oversized attachment. Large videos are best kept separately, with a link from your note if you want one.

What comes across

The table shows what's in the .enex file and what OttaNote does with it.

Item	In `.enex`	In OttaNote
Note title	✅	✅
Created and modified dates	✅	✅ preserved, so your archive keeps its timeline
Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough	✅	✅
Text colour and highlighting	✅	✅
Font size and font family	✅	✅
Superscript and subscript	✅	✅
Headings	✅	✅ (h4 and deeper become level 4)
Alignment	✅	✅
Bulleted and numbered lists, including nesting	✅	✅
Checkboxes, including nesting and ticked state	✅	✅
Evernote tasks (with due date)	✅	✅ become checkboxes; the due date follows in italics
Quote blocks	✅	✅
Code blocks	✅	✅
Mermaid diagrams	✅	✅ as a real Mermaid block: you can view the diagram, have it redrawn and download it as SVG
Formulas (LaTeX)	✅	✅ as a real formula block — displayed properly and still editable
Tags	✅	✅ come across (in lower case, so `Work` and `work` merge)
Horizontal rules	✅	✅
Tables	✅	✅ including merged cells
Images inside the note	✅	✅ ¹
Attachments (PDF, audio, any file)	✅	✅ as an attachment on the note ¹
Handwriting / ink notes	✅ as an image	✅ as an image, not as editable strokes
Folder structure (notebooks)	one `.enex` per notebook	✅ every notebook becomes a folder
Collapsible sections	✅	the content comes across, the collapsing doesn't
Internal note links	✅ as an `evernote:` reference	❌ those references point back to Evernote and become plain text
Source URL of web clips	✅	❌
Reminders	✅	❌
Encrypted text (en-crypt)	✅ but unreadable	you get a callout in its place, with Evernote's own hint — decrypt it in Evernote first

¹ There is a limit per file: 25 MB on the free plan, 100 MB with Plus. An attachment above that is skipped, with a message — the note itself comes through fine. See Space and file size above.

What isn't in the export file at all

And so can't be carried over by any app:

Notebook stacks (the folder-above-folder structure) — your notebooks arrive as separate folders
Saved searches
Calendar integration
Sharing/collaboration status and Work Chat

About those internal links

OttaNote has its own way of connecting notes: type [[ in a note and pick where you want to go. On the target note you'll then see which notes point to it. If you had a lot of cross-links in Evernote, this is the best moment to lay them again — often fewer turn out to be necessary than you thought.

About those tags

Your tags come across and then appear in the sidebar, with the number of notes per tag. You can search on part of the name: type #certifi in the search field and you'll get everything tagged certificates, for example. Several in a row means "both": #work #2024. Evernote tags are flat in the export — a tag hierarchy isn't included, so no app can carry it over.

After the import — a quick check

Does the number of notes per folder roughly match Evernote?
Are images and attachments visible?
Do your checkboxes and tables look right?
Are the dates on your oldest notes correct?
Did you have encrypted notes? Go through those separately.

Frequently asked questions

Does my Evernote account stay?

Yes. Exporting changes nothing about your Evernote account; you're only making a copy. Leave Evernote in place until you're sure everything came across properly.

Can I do it on my phone?

The export has to go through the Evernote desktop app for Windows or Mac. Importing into OttaNote can then be done in the browser, on any device.

Do I have to pay to move across?

No. Importing and exporting are part of the free plan. The free space is limited though (50 notes, 50 MB) — with a large Evernote library you'll need Plus to fit everything.

My notebook is huge — what now?

Export per notebook (Method A). One large file is no problem for the import; it just takes a bit longer.

Will I lose my folder structure?

No. One notebook → one .enex → one folder in OttaNote, with the name you choose yourself.

What if I accidentally import twice?

OttaNote recognises the duplicates and asks per note what should happen. So you won't end up with your library twice.

What happens to the same attachment in several notes?

It's stored once and linked to all the notes involved — which saves you storage space.

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