Migrate Evernote to Apple Notes 2016
Evernote recently changed their price plans, free accounts can only sync across 2 devices.
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The change itself is okay, you can’t blame the company trying to make some money and make better products for their core users, but after using it for 7 years, and all the “improvements” the company has made during the time, I realized it’s not the right tool for me. I don’t need presentation mode, nor chat, or any other collaboration/business features; I just want to take notes. I did upgrade to Pro user before but I found I was never using any of those features heh. This change of prices gives me a perfect chance to look for alternatives.
Apple Notes, on the other hand, is getting better and better. Some of the benefits are:
- Free: No more Evernote “Upgrade” noise, nor limitation of sync devices. Yes it’s limited to Apple devices, but if you’re an Apple user then this is not a problem, plus you can access icloud.com for the web version too.
- Clean UI and minimum features: In its core it’s just a simple notes taking app, with right enough features to make it powerful. You can create folders to organize your notes, and even nesting them. There is no tag system but I can always find my notes with search.
- Better integration with Apple products: probably just a personal preference, but when I browse websites or reading on iPad, I really love the split view to open Apple Notes, lightening fast and easy to use, and after dropping the notes I can easily get back.
Import Notes from Evernote to Apple Notes
Cmd + A to select the notes you want to export to Apple Notes, click “File -> Export Notes…” and save as a
.enexfile.
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Open Apple Notes, click “File -> Import Notes…” and choose the previous
.enexfile
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Notes will be imported into a folder called “Imported Notes”
Further reading
Organize Your Apple Notes with Folders - Nesting and Ordering
Fun reading
Recently I tweeted about another article about this change.
“We shouldn’t panic over this Evernote shift. But should we worry a little bit more about what it represents?” https://t.co/PSZ8Ir1zEy
— kinopyo (@fantasyday) July 6, 2016
This isn’t really about Evernote in particular. It’s about how we all use services today without really owning anything. Downloading an app and paying a subscription fee doesn’t entitle you to much, ultimately. Evernote, like so many apps we love, is really just granting you a license to use its service when you sign up for an account.
It raises a reasonable concern. The web and tech industry is changing rapidly, 10 years later which service can still be there, and what happens when it hit and end, or an action-required kind of change, what options do we have then? What do we really own?
