Goodbye, Evernote: Why I'm Quitting Evernote

I started using Evernote in a big way on June 29, 2008. But on June 29, 2021 – 13 years later – I'm leaving Evernote and moving on. I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, but only recently did I commit to pulling the trigger and quitting Evernote for good.

I'm not saying you should up and quit Evernote like I am. It's just no longer the right app for me. I've found something else that is better suited to the way I work now and I'm going to immerse myself in it as I did when I first started using Evernote. You won't hear much about how I'm going to do that in this video, though – that's another story for another time. Instead, you'll see and hear why I'm saying goodbye to Evernote after being a loyal user for 13 years.

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[edelgard]

Ok. Thanks. That video is my last coffin nail for Evernote. I'm thankful for Evernote as well. And I would stay if Obsidian would join Evernote. That would be perfect. Evernote didn't realize that the way we use information has to be improved, step by step, for ever. Evernote has been unbelievable in terms of my parents. But now it is just a tagged stuff box. Thank you Evernote. Hello obsidian. And thanks to you, Mike.

[globaldot]

I was such an Evernote enthusiast, now I HATE IT! So frustrating!

[xm_tech]

I love Obsidian. I agree about the text files. But am liking Evernote now, it's faster than before and now I have a direct link between notes, to-do, calendar integration (new feature). Am loving where this is heading. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[adrian_am]

I'm going to do the same. Migrate from evernote to obsidian, after 12 years of exclusively working on evernote. I would stay if evernote let me export in markdown... or let me do multi subfolder levels... but I'm tired of waiting for something that will never happen. It's time to take control of my notes and own them. Good bye evernote, thank you so much it's been a pleasure, but it's time to move on.

[AJFaithFitness]

Recently came off of Evernote as well, and moved onto Craft. Next step is to replace Microsoft Office, lol. I grow tired of big corporations telling me what I want instead of them listening to its customers, and trying to create something around customers needs.

[Itsmikevardy]

This isn’t a slam against Evernote. It’s just not for me anymore. Is it still for you? If so, let me know. (If not, also let me know!)

[anthonyosinski]

this comes at a great time for me. I'm going full on with Obsidian as well. I look forward to the videos and podcast episodes that you do on Obsidian in the future!

[martyscholes]

How big is your database? My EN database has 22, 000+ notes, 160+ GB, and 100+ notebooks. I never thought of this as a big database but so far have seen nothing besides EN that will handle that kind of capacity without falling over.

[MobileExperienceChris]

Are Obsidian notes in the Cloud? I thought no. Do you have to do a manual backup to Google Drive or another Cloud? If so, that would be Very inconvenient for me.

[scott]

I've actually started using it more.. I don't find anything is better for managing all the info life chucks at you, quick scan into Evernote and I know exactly where it is.

[tamalita]

I've been struggling with this, and waffling, for some time. I think I just got pushed over the fence. Thank you!

[ArmadusMalaysia]

Oh man, when you explained how it started to change, memories started coming back. But I wasn't as avid as you. I left a lot earlier around year 2019 because the change was too much for me. I was one of their beta testers commenting on their private forums.

[dh]

I also love obsidian ♥️ I am curious how you use obsidian Mike. Do you use it just for notetaking? Or project management? Or journaling? Or task management? Many greetings from Germany

[DavidLeeKing]

Nice explanation! I left Evernote a couple of years ago. I finally realized that I was basically using it for a simple note-taking app with folders ... and I have Apple's Notes on all my devices for free. So what the heck was I paying Evernote for? I copy/pasted all my Evernote stuff into Notes, and haven't looked back.

[muhammadhamza]

Please also make a video on how you use obsidian.

[IAmSam_TheMan]

😭 my only question is do you think Obsidian will be here in the next few years? and i know that question can hold true for Evernote. And i'm glad you didnt say you were using Notion.

[JaneBoyd]

Oh this is interesting. I've had an off and on thing with Evernote over the years -- but after each deep dive I have always come away feeling like it just didn't work quite the way I wanted. I have been using Day One for years and I really love it -- but that has always been more personal than for work specific note taking. For more than 8 years I have been using Podio (which is not at all for notes really ) and I have literally hacked it to do everything possible to link ideas, documents, concepts, products, projects etc. I have found the linking of items to be one of the most powerful features it offers. It has never failed me -- yet at the same time it's clearly more of a project management/workflow platform and it still feels kind of clunky in some moments. Spent some time in Obsidian after watching your video. I can see how it could be both powerful and valuable. I will explore it further. Please continue to share about your experience with Obsidian as I think that will be helpful for many of us watching your channel.

[cybermonkeyusa]

Obsidian? Not me. I moved to Apple Notes and not looking back. I use it in combination with OneNote.

[robertmaxey]

You should do a video about migration from one app to another. When you have hundreds of pages, graphics, lists, databases and the rest, it is not an easy thing to move your stuff to another app. I came to Obsidian from Notion, and what a PITA.

[robertmaxey]

I always thought plain text was the best format for notes. I mean we were talking about notes, not something the public will see. So why worry about formatting. They are toss away notes.