How to Migrate Evernote to Obsidian with Notes Information?

  author
Rollins Duke   
Published: September 23rd, 2024 • 8 Min Read

A lot of users want to migrate Evernote to Obsidian note-taking software including all old notes and associated items. Users prefer to use Obsidian instead of Evernotes because it is available free of cost for personal and non-profit use.

If you are looking for a solution to migrate your notes from Evernote to Obsidian, then you can end your search here. This blog post describes 3 best techniques to resolve this problem with ease.

Evernote and Obsidian are both tools for taking notes, but they use different types of files to store information. Evernote uses ENEX files, and Obsidian uses Markdown (.md) files.

Think of it like using different kinds of containers to hold your notes – Evernote has one type, and Obsidian has another. It’s important to know this when moving your notes from one program to another.

Read Next: Guide to Convert Evernote Notes to PDF Documents

Export Evernote to Obsidian Using Free Plugin

The Evernote to Obsidian import plugin is the best and most reliable method to migrate Evernote to Obsidian note-taking application. You need to complete 3 stages for moving from Evernote to Obsidian.

#1 Stage: Export Evernote Notes to ENEX Files

  1. Start the Evernote program and choose a note to export.
    Select Evernote
  2. Click the Three Dot icon to perform more actions.
    More actions
  3. Next, choose the Export option from the dropdown choices.
    Export Evernote to Obsidian
  4. Select ENEX (.enex) and click the Export button.
    ENEX format
  5. Browse the destination path and press the Save button.
    Save
  6. Go to the destination location to get the Evernote ENEX file.
    Resultant ENEX

#2 Stage: Install Evernote to Obsidian Import Plugin

  1. Download the Obsidian Importer plugin and click Install here.
    Install here
  2. Asking to open the Obsidian plugin to install, click the Open Obsidian option.
    Open Obsidian
  3. Click the Install button and install the Evernote to Obsidian Import plugin.
    Install Evernote to Obsidian import plugin
  4. See importer plugin is installed, now press the Enable button.
    Enable plugin

#3 Stage: Migrate from Evernote to Obsidian

  1. Open the Obsidian program and choose the Open Importer plugin.
    Open importer
  2. Next, select Evernote (.enex) as a file format to import data into Obsidian.
    Evernote ENEX
  3. Select any option to import ENEX files i.e. Choose Files or Choose Folders.
    Choose files
  4. Thereafter, pick Evernote ENEX notes and click the Open button.
    Select Evernote ENEX
  5. Once selected Evernote ENEX files, hit the Import button.
    Import Evernote to Obsidian
  6. Evernote to Obsidian migration has been completed, click Done.
    Evernote to Obsidian migration
  7. See Evernote Notes in the Obsidian note-taking program.
    Export Evernote to Obsidian Software
Important Note: This is a perfect way to migrate Evernote to Obsidian. However, this is a time-consuming method because you will need to finish 3 different phases to perform this task. Even Evernote allows you to export notes in ENEX format one by one.

Recommended: Tips to Export from Evernote to MS Word

Migrate Evernote to Obsidian Using Yarle

You need to use Yarle scripts which is known as the ultimate converter to convert Evernote ENEX to Obsidian Markdown files. First go to Yarle project, choose Code, and download the ZIP file. Thereafter, extract the yarle-master zip file to get JSON, MD, JS, TMPL, etc. files. You will need to complete multiple stages to export Evernote to Obsidian, let’s read them.

#1 Phase: Download and install Node.js on Computer

  1. Go to the Node.js official website and download the installer.
    Install Node.js
  2. Run the Node.js setup MSI file and click Next.
    Node.js setup wizard
  3. Read the end user license agreement and accept the terms and conditions.
    License agreement
  4. Click Next to start the Node.js installing process.
    Installing node.js
  5. Note.js has been successfully installed.
    Node.js installed

#2 Phase: Extract Evernote Notes to ENEX Format

  1. Run Evernote software and click More Actions (three dots).
    More actions
  2. Thereafter, select the Export option from the dropdown.
    Export
  3. Select Evernote ENEX format, click Export, and Save them.
    ENEX format

#3 Phase: Create the config.json File

Now you need to create a config.json file to run the script. You can create an empty config.json at the same location where you have stored Evernote exported ENEX files.

Alternatively, you can copy config.json from Yarle extracted data and paste it where you have saved Evernote ENEX notes. Thereafter, you need to edit or paste the below script in the config.json file.

{

"enexSources": [

"./test-template.enex"

],

"templateFile": "./sampleTemplate.tmpl",

"outputDir": "out",

"keepOriginalHtml": false,

"isMetadataNeeded": false,

"isNotebookNameNeeded": false,

"isZettelkastenNeeded": false,

"useZettelIdAsFilename": false,

"plainTextNotesOnly": false,

"skipLocation": false,

"skipCreationTime": false,

"skipUpdateTime": false,

"skipSourceUrl": false,

"skipWebClips": false,

"skipTags": false,

"useHashTags": true,

"outputFormat": "ObsidianMD",

"taskOutputFormat": "ObsidianMD",

"keepImageSize": "ObsidianMD",

"skipEnexFileNameFromOutputPath": false,

"keepOriginalAmountOfNewlines": false,

"urlEncodeFileNamesAndLinks": false,

"pathSeparator": "/",

"sanitizeResourceNameSpaces": false,

"haveEnexLevelResources": false,

"haveGlobalResources": false,

"useUniqueUnknownFileNames": false,

"useLevenshteinForLinks": false,

 

"replacementChar": "_",

"replacementCharacterMap": {

"<": "_",

">": "_",

":": "_",

"\"": "_",

"/": "_",

"\\": "_",

"|": "_",

"?": "_",

"*": "_"

},

"logseqSettings": {

"journalNotes": false

},

"obsidianSettings": {

"omitLinkDisplayName": false

},

"nestedTags": {

"separatorInEN": "_",

"replaceSeparatorWith": "---",

"replaceSpaceWith": "-"

},

"resourcesDir": "",

"keepMDCharactersOfENNotes": false,

"monospaceIsCodeBlock": false,

"dateFormat": "YYYY-MM-DD"

}

Note: above mentioned script is available in the Yarle exported config.json file. Here, you need to replace ./test-template.enex with the actual path of your ENEX notes. Also, change the outputDir path from the above script i.e. out with any path where you prefer to save output Markdown files.

#4 Phase: Run JSON Script

Thereafter, run the following command to convert Evernote ENEX to Obsidian MD files. After completing this process, go to the output folder and get the resultant notes in Markdown MD format.

npx -p yarle-evernote-to-md@latest yarle --configFile ./config.json

Run the Node.js program and click on the Plus (+) icon to open Windows PowerShell command prompt.

Run script

#5 Phase: Import Markdown Files to obsidian
  1. Start Obsidian and choose an option to create a new folder.
    Create new folder
  2. After that, rename the new folder as Markdown.
    Rename folder
  3. Go to the MD file’s location, select them, and drag.
    Drag markdown notes
  4. Drop Markdown MD files under the recently created Markdown folder.
    Migrate Evernote to Obsidian
Important Note: This method is highly recommended only for technical experts who have deep knowledge of scripts, command prompt, config.json, PowerShell, etc. Hence, non-technical users may face the problem while migrating notes from Evernote to Obsidian.

Read Similar: Export Evernote to Hard Drive in Standard Formats

Batch Convert Evernote to Obsidian Using Software

If you think above mentioned methods are not very beneficial to export Evernote to Obsidian, then try BitRecover Evernote Converter Wizard. This is an all-in-one software that is capable of batch Evernote to Obsidian migration.

This Evernote to Obsidian Software has a separate option to migrate from Evernote to Obsidian including complete associated data. This utility provides several filters to manage Notes as per Tags and Read-only Tags starting with specific text.

How to Export Evernote to Obsidian?
  1. Start Evernote to Obsidian Import Tool, read the instructions, and click Next.
    Evernote to Obsidian Import Tool
  2. The software provides dual options to add Evernote ENEX files, choose any option.
    Add Evernote ENEX files
  3. Select the required Evernote ENEX notes and press the Next button.
    Select Evernote files
  4. Choose MD (Markdown Format) as a saving option.
    MD Markdown format
  5. Select advance settings if required and set the destination path also.
    Choose destination path
  6. Click the Convert button to convert Evernote ENEX to Obsidian MD format.
    Convert Evernote ENEX to Obsidian MD
  7. After completing the conversion, get the resultant Markdown MD files.
    Resultant data

Note That: After converting Evernote ENX to Obsidian MD format. Then import MD Markdown notes into Obsidian note-taking program as shown above.

Evernote to Obsidian Import Tool Benefits
  • Batch converts Evernote ENEX Notes to Obsidian MD Notes at once without showing any error.
  • Facility to use required Evernote ENEX Notes from the software panel for the conversion process.
  • This software comes with 20 unique saving options so you can convert Evernote to PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, EML, etc.
  • Enable an option to migrate Evernote to Obsidian including titles or without titles accordingly.
  • A separate option is available to extract Evernote attachments in actual formats.
Questions We Hear Frequently

Q 1: Which is the best way to migrate notes from Evernote to Obsidian?

If you have a few Evernote exported ENEX files then use Evernote to Obsidian Import plugin. This advisable to use BitRecover Software to batch export Evernote to Obsidian.

Q 2: What is the best alternative to Evernote?

The Obsidian note-taking program is the best alternative to Evernote software. Users prefer to switch from Evernote to Obsidian because Obsidian is available free of cost for personal and non-profit organizations’ use.

Q 3: Is it mandatory to create an empty config.json file to migrate Evernote to Obsidian with Yarle?

No, the config.json file is also available in Yarle downloaded data. You need to replace only the Evernote ENEX source path and output data path in the config.json file.

Conclusion

After discussing 3 expert recommended methods to migrate Evernote to Obsidian, now we are ending this blog post here. You can feel free to opt for any technique as per your technical knowledge. Don’t forget to consider the limitations of the first two methods.

Above mentioned Evernote to Obsidian Software comes with a free trial version so if you want to grab it then first test it by moving 5 notes from Evernote to Obsidian. After getting complete satisfaction, you can purchase its license keys to avoid all the limitations.