Microsoft has released the new OneNote Importer tool to migrate Evernote content into OneNote, giving Evernote users the opportunity to easily switch to OneNote and have all their notes in one place and accessible on all devices. “OneNote has become one of the most popular note-taking apps as a result of hard work we’ve done to deliver a superior experience across all platforms…” writes the OneNote team.
The importer is initially available for Windows only. It will become available for Mac in coming months.
Evernote fans who acknowledge OneNote’s appeal but are hesitant to make the switch due to the fact that all their ideas and information reside in Evernote.
This barrier no longer exists with a tool that will help you import your Evernote notes into OneNote. The OneNote Importer tool (for Windows initially) migrates all of your Evernote content into OneNote, giving you the opportunity to switch to OneNote and have all your notes in one place, on all your devices.
Download the OneNote Importer tool.
OneNote and Evernote are similar in many ways, but you’ll appreciate the advantages OneNote has to offer, including a free-form canvas where you can mix text, images, documents, handwriting, audio, video and more; free offline access; and unlimited monthly uploads.
While OneNote is free on all devices, it comes with Office and works seamlessly with Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint to help you stay organized, collaborate and get things done. Evernote Premium ($49.99/year) is more than 70 percent of the cost of Office 365 Personal ($69.99/year), which includes all the apps you know and love, plus 1 TB of storage.
How to migrate your notes from Evernote
To get started migrating your Evernote notes to OneNote, you will need:
- A PC with Windows 7 or later. Once your Evernote notes are imported, they’ll sync across all your devices—Mac, iOS and Android included.
- To speed up the migration process, it is recommended you have Evernote for Windows installed. Sign in to Evernote for Windows with your Evernote account and make sure your latest notes are synced before importing.
Watch this short video to see how easy it is to use the Importer tool:
Step by Step Guide
The OneNote Importer finds any Evernote content on your computer and sends it to OneNote. You can choose any Microsoft Account to use with OneNote, no matter if it’s a personal Hotmail, Live.com, or Outlook.com account, or a Microsoft Account given to you by your work or your school. You likely already have such an account, but you can just as easily create a new one for free.
If you only ever use Evernote on the Web, it is recommended exporting your notes from Evernote for Windows or Mac to an Evernote export (.enex) file.
When you’re ready to import your notes from Evernote to OneNote, do the following:
- On any Windows PC that has Evernote for Windows installed, visit https://www.onenote.com/import-evernote-to-onenote and then click Download the Importer. Your download of the OneNote Importer should start automatically.
- When the OneNote Importer has finished downloading, double-click the installer file on your computer, and then follow the prompts:
- Accept the End User License Agreement.
- If you have Evernote for Windows installed and you have all of your notes synced locally, then the OneNote Importer will automatically discover your Evernote notebooks. From the list that is displayed, select the Evernote notebooks that you want to import into OneNote.
Note: If you don’t have Evernote installed, you can import notes from an Evernote export (.enex) file. If necessary, first create the export file in Evernote (see the FAQ below for instructions to create this file). In the OneNote Importer, click Choose File, and then select the .enex file containing your Evernote notes.
- Select the Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com) that you want to use with OneNote. You can sign in with a personal Microsoft Account or an account given to you by your work or your school.
- When you’re ready, click Import. Once the process is complete, you can click to install OneNote on your computer and view your imported notes.
- When you start OneNote, it will automatically open your most recent Evernote notes for you. Open your other notebooks manually to see the rest.
As soon as you finish importing your notes into OneNote, you can easily access them on the Web as well as on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to install OneNote on all of your devices.
FAQ
Below are some of the FAQs published on the OneNote website
Below are answers to questions that you may have about the OneNote Importer.
- Does Evernote need to be installed?
No, Evernote does not need to be installed if you already have an exported Evernote file (.enex) of your notes. However, importing notes happens a bit faster on a computer that has it installed because you won’t need to first export your notes. - What happens if Evernote isn’t installed?
You can import notes with an exported Evernote (.enex) file. - How do I generate an exported Evernote file?
From any Windows or Mac that has Evernote installed, start Evernote, select the notes you want to export, and then click File > Export to to save them to an .enex file. Transfer this file to the Windows PC on which you want to run the OneNote Importer. - Are any file types other than .enex files supported for import?
No, not at this time. - Does this work for Evernote Plus and Evernote Premium?
Yes, you can use notes from either version of Evernote. - Does OneNote need to be installed?
No, we’ll do the import through cloud magic. However, you can choose to install OneNote at any time from http://www.onenote.com/download. - Can I import notes to OneNote and have them stored locally on my computer?
No, you’ll need to use a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com) to import your notes. - What account types are supported for storing notes in OneNote?
You can sign in with a personal Microsoft Account or an account given to you by your work or your school. - What will my notes look like in OneNote?
We’ll create a new OneNote notebook for each Evernote notebook. Each Evernote page will be a page in OneNote. Optionally, you can also use Evernote tags to organize your notes within your notebook. Each tag will become a section in OneNote that contains the pages that are tagged with that term. - What happens if I have Evernote pages with multiple tags? Will I get duplicate pages in OneNote?
No, we’ll only look at the first tag to determine where we place that page. To make things easy to find, we’ll write every tag that you had in Evernote on the OneNote page so you can find everything easily through OneNote’s instant search. - Will attachments like PDF files and JPG images get imported?
Yes, attachments like PDF files and images will be imported along with your notes. - Is there anything that won’t get imported?
Some things like ink, encrypted text, background colors, and reminders will not show up in OneNote. - How long will the import take?
Depending on how much content is being imported and the speed of your internet connection, importing your notes may take just a few minutes to several hours. You’ll be shown a progress indicator during the import to give you an idea of the estimated amount of time it will take to import your notes. - How do I find my imported notebooks in OneNote?
If you imported multiple notebooks , we will open one of your notebooks in OneNote. Follow these steps to open your other notebooks:- OneNote Windows 10 app — Click or tap the hamburger icon (≡) in the upper-left corner, and then choose More Notebooks.
- OneNote 2016 desktop app — Click the Notebooks drop-down menu to the left of your tabs, and choose Open Other Notebooks.
- OneNote Online — Click the Notebooks button at the top of the left pane to see all of your notebooks.
- What platforms is the OneNote Importer supported on?
You can run the importer on any desktop edition of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 desktop. Stay tuned for news about support for additional platforms. - Do you have a converter for other note-taking applications?
No, not at this time. Stay tuned for news about support for additional apps. - Where can I learn more about OneNote?
Head on over to http://www.onenote.com for more information about OneNote and to download any of the OneNote desktop and mobile apps.
If the information in this post wasn’t sufficient you can always visit the Evernote Importer support page
Sources: Various Microsoft OneNote website and Microsoft News Center