How to Switch From Evernote to Obsidian

Are you in a relationship with Evernote and wondering if it’s turned toxic? Let's find out!

00:00 - Start
00:26 - Evernote stalks you
02:30 - Evernote never let's you speak
03:22 - Evernote left the country
04:15 - Obsidian is fast
04:43 - Obsidian is private
05:14 - Obsidian is future-proof
05:45 - How to export from Evernote
08:15 - How to import into Obsidian
10:15 - Using the graph view on your Evernote notes
11:59 - Analyzing where to save your Evernote notes
14:05 - Subfolder or Separate Vault?
15:05 - Why leaving Evernote could make you a better thinker
15:36 - Is It Time To Switch? (Knowledge Rap!)
16:04 - Learn how our tools shape us

🎞️ EDITORS: Dan Lardi, Jorell Belandres
🏷 TAGS: #Obsidian #obsidiantutorial #obsidianapp #evernote #privacy #linkingyourthinking

[cemgencler]

Made the switch after 11 years with Evernote for almost 4K notes. Almost no or little migration issues. Keep on sharing your best practices. Highly valuable. Thanks a lot for guiding.

[Arrow]

I did shift from Evernote to Obsidian (even way beffore I watched this video)- and from rarely using my notes app to it being the main companion of my daily life, because I love the way I use my notes to think instead of just capturing now.

One minor disgreement about the reasons why to switch from Evernote: The new owner being a company sitting in the EU lessens the worries I have about my data, because within the EU the laws regarding handling data are actually stricter than in the US. So I usually reconsider my usage of an application if the owner or headquarters of the company changes from EU to US, because that usually comes paired with a loss of privacy regulations in my experience.

[robertmaxey]

I just bought an iPad and I moved my Obsidian notes to my new device. I installed Obsidian for iOS and moved the MD files to the new install.

Everything is stored on my device and backed up to a micro SD card.

It took about ten minutes, and it was done. Easy and a no brainier. And no cloud.

Just one folder to move and I was done. Friends who use Notion really struggle moving to Obsidian.

As for Evernote, I never liked it because of many issues you point out. If I were going to hack a site, I would hack Evernote. God only knows what you could discover if you have access to entry users files.

Great video, keep going.

[OyvindSolstad]

I was customer number 39 180, Evernote told me in an e-mail some years ago. I've ha tremendous use of the app, but as of 2023, I'm no longer a customer. I exported out all my notes (took me a while), and I've put SOME of it in to Obsidian, which I have been using for a few years now.

I can't even imagine going back to old "not-connected" notes. The way I can link information together in Obsidian, has changed my brain. I see more patterns, see relations between things, and think in a new and better way. Which isn't a small feat, as I'm a creative guy already, and have always been good at finding patterns, developing ideas and linking knowledge together.

Obsidian is the single biggest change in how I learn, and has easily passed "spaced repetition" and "mind maps" on the top three of things I learned about learning as a grown up.

[BLVR]

Evernote now no longer allows for simply "selecting" more than 100 notes. So Select All... is now Select 100... These guys are something

[fluntimes]

This made my day. The Evernote experience has gone sour, the Android app is slow and sucks and the price keeps going up. I DON'T CARE ABOUT AI SORTING OF NOTES and am unsure why that means I have to pay another $60 minimum a year.

This video is a lifesaver thank you from a new subscriber!!

[Berniz]

I did this recently, here's some important bits:

- If you're exporting all notes (as in this guide) Make sure you don't have tons of pictures in some notes. I synced 6k+ notes and mobile Obsidian was taking 30s+ to load. Luckily I exported notebooks individually so disabling photo heavy notebooks was a remedy to fix mobile Obsidian but I'll now have to convert them to text notes first if I want Obsidian mobile to be responsive.

- Obsidian search is not as good, omnisearch plugin works, OCR for images but it will find attachments and not the note itself. This can be further improved with Dataview and YAML, but those CAN'T be easily added to old notes and folders in bulk.

And last one which I still don't know how to fix is how to convert existing notebooks with 100s of notes (I got 6k+) there's no easy way to convert to tags or MOCs in bulk. So I'm stuck with same folders structure just in Obsidian 😅 BUT I do prefer it and I'll put effort to make it work as I know it's better! Just the idea of sorting through 6k+ notes to convert them to MOCs and add tags is making me squirm 😅

A follow up on this video would be great! Thanks again for the video ❤

[thecompanioncube]

The control you have with Obsidian and the freedom to have all your markdown files on your hard drive is just can't be replaced

[GoMiashPrivate]

Very informative video! I am already using Obsisdian for my PKM. This is inspiring me to finally migrate my old notes in Evernote to Obsidian.

[kai-weihu]

Your video made me switch. You are magical

[travisfoley]

What is happening at 15:44 hahaha... good stuff man, as always love the content!

[echuderewicz]

Thank you. I just exported from Evernote to Obsidian. Not looking back.

[PabloSanchezMartin]

Phenomenal video! Now, what would you recommend to replace Evernote Web Plug-in? Are there good Obsidian Chrome extensions to save articles directly to your Obsidian vault?

[mehrdadfeller]

Evernote does not allow me to select more than 100 notes at the same time to export. Is there a workaround for this limitation? They are taking my data hostage.

[janetmunin]

Thanks for this, Nick! I wasn't able to use your export notes process on my PC, but I did end up cleaning out and closing my Evernote.

[theblacktruth]

It was the rap at the end that finally convinced me.

[leannegolan]

Wow, I'm intrigued. Alas, it's time to break up with Evernote, but Obsidian looks so good! I think I need to learn about your system before importing EN, as I was thinking I'd like it all together instead of separate, but I'm sure there's a reason you recommend that. Here to learn!

[charlesbonfante]

Thank you! Evernote is a trainwreck since V10 and I'm a massive proponent Obsidian. Super good video, really useful. Many Thanks.

[clair_high]

I recently switched. I'm still going through a lot of my old notes because I didn't have the Importer plugin to help, and there's a lot to clean up. I am loving Obsidian and I am looking for new was to help me organize and navigate all this accumulated (and new) stuff.

[peternilsson]

Thanks - great video! I'm convinced! Do you know what happens with notes in Evernote that are "locked" with a password?