How to export Evernote notes as ENEX, back them up and import them

The Evernote desktop app for Windows or Mac. Evernote says exporting "is only available using the Evernote desktop app" and is not possible on Evernote Web (Evernote Help). The phone apps can't export either.

• Install the desktop app and sign in, then let it finish syncing, so the export includes your latest notes.
• You do not need a paid plan. Evernote says free users can export too.
• Make a folder for the export files, so they do not end up scattered across your desktop.

The steps are the same on both, per Evernote Help:

1. Open the Evernote desktop app.
2. Select the notebook you want to export.
3. Right-click it and choose Export....
4. Pick ENEX as the format. ENEX is the format other apps can import, and it includes your tags and attachments. The two HTML options make web pages that Evernote cannot import back.
5. Choose which attributes to include, such as tags and created date, then click Export.
6. Repeat for each notebook.

Name each file after its notebook. Most apps that import ENEX, Koru included, use the file name for the notebook they create.

There is no single button for your whole account. Evernote's help page says it "currently supports exporting up to 100 notes at a time, or entire notebooks" (Evernote Help). So selecting notes caps you at 100 per export, while exporting a notebook takes every note in it.

The way to export everything is notebook by notebook: one export per notebook, one .enex file each. With dozens of notebooks it takes an evening, but nothing is left behind. Each ENEX file can be 300 MB to 2 GB, which you choose when exporting.

The notebook exports above are your backup: keep the .enex files somewhere safe, ideally in two places. ENEX is what Evernote itself imports, so they also work as a way back in.

If you'd rather not export notebook by notebook, evernote-backup is an open-source command-line tool (MIT license) that signs in to your account, syncs every note into a local database and exports them all as .enex files, as notebooks or single notes. It's a third-party tool, not made by Evernote or by us.

An ENEX file is XML. Evernote's own description of the format lists what's inside: a note element per note, with its title, its content, its created and updated dates and its tags, and each attachment embedded as base64 data with its file type.

Any text editor will open an .enex file, but you will see raw XML, with attachments as long blocks of encoded text. To read your notes, import the file into an app: Evernote itself, or another notes app that imports ENEX, such as Koru, Joplin or Obsidian with its importer.

Koru imports ENEX offline, on Windows, on Macs with Apple silicon running macOS 12 or later, and on Linux. Nothing is fetched from Evernote and you do not sign in to anything:

1. Export each notebook from Evernote as ENEX, as above.
2. In Koru, click the + beside the tabs, choose Import..., then Evernote, and pick the files. You can also drop them into the Koru window.
3. Each file becomes its own container, named after the file, with its notes inside. Anything that could not be converted is listed on a page named FAILED.

What comes across: notes with their headings, lists, quotes, code and formatting, checklists, simple tables, links, tags, and images, PDFs and other attachments. Links between notes you import together become Koru links. More on what the Evernote import keeps, and on how Koru compares as an Evernote alternative.

Most of a note does. These are the gaps in Koru's importer, from its code and user guide:

• Encrypted text is not decrypted. The rest of the note imports, with an Imported encrypted content placeholder where the encrypted text was. Decrypt it in Evernote before you export if you need it.
• Evernote Tasks keep their text, but not their due dates, reminders, completion status or assignees. Ordinary note reminders do not become due dates either.
• Merged table cells are flattened. Their text is kept.
• Importing the same file twice creates a second copy, named with (2), rather than merging with the first.

Two ways:

• Through Koru. Import the .enex files, select the notes you want, right-click and choose Export, then Markdown for one .md file per note, or TextBundle to keep images in an assets folder beside the Markdown.
• With a converter. Yarle is an open-source tool (MIT license) that converts .enex files straight to Markdown, with options for how attachments and links are written.

Before you delete anything or cancel a subscription:

• Count the notes in each notebook in Evernote and compare with the notes in the matching container in Koru.
• Open the FAILED page, if Koru made one, and read what it lists.
• Spot-check a few notes with attachments, tables and checklists.
• Keep the .enex files anyway. They are your backup either way.

Yes, once you've checked your exports. Where you cancel depends on who bills you: Evernote's Billing page, Google Play or the App Store. The steps for each, and what changes in December, are in Evernote's 2026 price increase.