How to leave Evernote without losing a single note

Most people who leave Evernote do not leave because they found something flashier. They leave because the app they trusted got slower, pricier, and heavier every year, until one day the friction outweighed the years of notes trapped inside. The trapped part is what keeps people stuck. This guide removes it.

Why the move feels scarier than it is

Fifteen years of notes feels impossible to move. In practice, Evernote exports cleanly and a modern importer puts everything back where it belongs. The fear is real; the risk is not. You keep the original export as a backup, so there is never a moment where your notes only exist in one place.

Step 1: Export from Evernote

In the Evernote desktop app, select a notebook (or all your notes), choose Export, and pick the ENEX format. ENEX is Evernote's own export format, and it carries your note content, attachments, tags, and timestamps. Export notebook by notebook if you want clean groupings, or everything at once if you just want it out.

Keep these .enex files somewhere safe. This is your backup. Nothing below touches the originals.

Step 2: Import into Cimanote

In Cimanote, open Settings and choose Import, then drop in your .enex files. The importer reads the Evernote format directly: notebooks become notebooks, tags become tags, and attachments (PDFs, images, files) come across attached to the right notes. Most libraries finish in minutes; very large ones in an afternoon.

Step 3: Spot-check the things you care about

Open the five notes you would be most upset to lose and confirm they look right - formatting, attachments, tags. Check one note with a big PDF and one with images. This takes ten minutes and buys total peace of mind.

What you gain once you are in

This is the part Evernote could not give you. Cimanote's Knowledge Engine reads what you imported and starts connecting it - linking related notes, surfacing gaps, and building a living knowledge base out of the pile you just moved. Your archive stops being storage and starts working.

And if you ever want to leave Cimanote, you export everything to Markdown or HTML in one click. No lock-in on the way in or the way out - that is the whole point.

Ready? Start free - your first 6 months of Pro are on us, no credit card needed. Or read the full Cimanote vs Evernote comparison first.