Migrate from Evernote to Joplin
| Anke | Also available in: Deutsch
On my journey to move away from closed services I was looking for a note taking application, an Evernote replacement to be specific and stumbled across Joplin. Even though not using Evernote very frequently anymore I wanted to preserve my notebooks, some of them being well-maintained collections of particular topics.
Joplin
Advantages of choosing Joplin:
synchronisation capabilities (Nextcloud yay!)
import Evernote notebooks
desktop and mobile applications
write notes in Markdown (various plugins available, see Joplin's Markdown Guide)
This all sounded really good so I planned my further steps:
install the desktop and mobile app
export Evernote content
set up Nextcloud sync
import Evernote content
evaluate results
use Joplin
delete Evernote account
With Joplin one can create, write and manage extensive collections of any topic. This is just one among many options, see also 12 Best Open Source Evernote Alternatives 2022.
The headache of exporting Evernote content
Getting notebooks out of Evernote became a bit tricky because one cannot just export them in the web browser interface or mobile app. The export function is exclusively available on one of the desktop applications. You can easily install the application on Windows and MacOS but this is a static blog so of course I am using Linux...
There is however the straw of a repackaged Evernote client for Windows available for Linux which is not open source:
if you btw. use Arch, you can install it via AUR
Unfortunately you still have to export your notebooks one after the other.
Nextcloud WebDAV URL
If you follow the Nextcloud synchronisation instructions, you must input the WebDAV URL, not just the Nextcloud instance. This information is to be found in the Setting on the bottom left (see figure).
Aaaand we are done
The Joplin desktop client has a similar application structure. It lacks fancy widgets (pro or con, you decide) and has a cleaner look.
