Time To Jump Ship From Evernote? Maybe or Not?

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Time to Jump Ship from Evernote?

 

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

 

Like most things in life, it depends on whom you ask.

 

Evernote has undergone several changes in features, security, company management, pricing, and stability all of which causes angst for users.

 

Bottom line – if it still works for you, then stay. You’ll likely see price changes to stay where you are but maybe modify what plan you have and choosing the free version may work if you are cost conscious. You could perhaps add another app to fill in something you lost if you downgrade or just decide to move on to new app(s).

 

Bending Spoons (https://bendingspoons.com/) is the new, Italian owner of Evernote. The company is heavy into AI and Video editing, collaboration but seems to not mention Evernote on its website. Makes one wonder but don’t dismay, there are lots of Evernote users out there with years of data stored on EN servers and who have loyalty. Perhaps you don’t need some of its features like: Calendar, Templates, Task Management, and so on. May BS is more oriented toward corporate users? We’ll see.  Evernote does have many solid features that are important to users like Scannable, OCR, Webclipper, Tagging, Stacking of Note books and Sharing notes. Cross platform syncing and IOS/Android and Mac/PC editions are important too.

 

As you know if you have tried to export a file, Evernote’s export feature creates a proprietary format (.enex) and this limits how it can be opened or read by other apps. More on that later. There is also the cost/time to switch. If you have thousands of notes then the task is more formidable but not impossible.

 

Some possible alternatives (some are limited to Apple ecosystem only):

 

 

 

There may be others worth considering, but the apps mentioned have been in use long enough to see that they are surviving.

 

Things to consider before embarking on life with a new app:

  • Development momentum for the new app. Is it being updated and improved? How long has it existed? How big is the base of users?
  • What is the real reason you use Evernote? Note taking, research, project management, task management, publishing platform, ease of use, collaboration with others, popularity, community support, inertia – just don’t want to change…?
  • Is the new app scalable, will it hold all your notes?
  • How important is security?
  • Are your files local or on an app’s server or elsewhere?
  • Will your notes be in a format that are easily exportable/readable, just in case?
  • Do you need cross platform capability? Desktop, tablet, phone?
  • The ecosystem – Mac or PC or Google worlds?
  • Adaptability – can you work with what it offers?
  • Community of users/forums and company support? Evernote Made Easy on Facebook. Some power users have their own websites and share information/knowledge like Stacey Harmon, Francesco D-Allessio* and others on YouTube
  • Market confusion? Where to go?
  • Loss of features?
  • Learning curve?
  • Export/import of your data?
  • Loss of data/files?
  • General uncertainty?
  • Future price increases?
  • Uptime – is it ready 24/7?

 

No app can do it all. You’ll need more than one app to serve you for all your needs. When an app has too many features, then it is probably not good on some functions. Some apps have a steeper learning curve and you have to be willing to devote time to learn how to best use it. YouTube has many talented people who produce videos on a variety of these apps to teach you how to use them.

 

There is also the topic of AI (artificial intelligence) that is beginning to appear in some apps including Evernote. I believe that this will grow and make the apps even more useful as they begin to learn what we need!

 

*Francesco has a website worth look at https://toolfinder.co/alternatives/evernote

 

Here are some links to help you be more familiar exporting Evernote files and improving to a new app. You can start by choosing one of the apps discussed above and then import 100 notes to see if you like the new look, what might be missing (certain attachments may not transfer) tags may not work as expected and so on.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205793

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-do-i-import-evernote-notes/4508c48c-d284-42b1-8cc2-ae30e171094d

 

https://www.popsci.com/diy/evernote-alternative-export/

 

https://facedragons.com/foss/migrate-evernote-to-obsidian/

 

Much of this article was from a video by Dottotech.com Steve Dotto and co-host Mike Vardy, September 13, 2023.