How to Export Notes from Evernote

Quick Answer

To export notes from Evernote, select the notes or a whole notebook in the desktop app, right click, choose Export and pick ENEX or HTML. Once the files are out, the Univik ENEX Converter turns them into everyday documents like PDF, Word and Markdown.

Your notes belong to you, and Evernote does let you take them out. The problem is that the export tools sit behind a right click, limit a selection to 100 notes and run on the desktop only.

The steps below cover all of it, from a single note to the full account.

The Two Formats Evernote Exports

Evernote saves exports in its own ENEX format or as HTML, and the dialog splits HTML into two kinds.

ENEX (.enex)Evernote's XML format with notes, attachments, tags and dates inside. The one for backups and moves to other apps.

One HTML pageEvery note on a single page, with a folder of attachments beside it.

HTML per noteA page for each note, the shared attachments folder and an index that links them all.

Pick ENEX when the notes are going somewhere else, an archive, a converter or a different app. Pick HTML when you want pages a browser opens right away.

Export Selected Notes

The export takes seconds in the Evernote app for Mac or Windows, and Evernote's own export help shows the same steps. The dialog also lets you tick which attributes go with the notes, like tags, created date and author. A big ENEX export can be split into pieces, with a size you set between 300 MB and 2 GB.

Evernote

Recipes · 24 notes

Masala Chai the Proper Way

Simmer the spices before the milk goes in

Aug 12

Sunday Dal Tadka

Soak the dal for an hour first

Aug 18

Five Minute Sandwich Ideas

Toast first, then build

Aug 27

Open in new window

Copy internal link

Move

Duplicate

Export…

Move to trash

Three notes selected in the list, with Export picked from the right click menu

Select the notesClick one or pick several in the list.
Right click and hit ExportThe export dialog opens.
Pick ENEX or HTMLTick the attributes to keep.
Save the fileIt saves to your desktop.

Export 3 notes

Choose a format

ENEX (.enex)keeps tags and dates

Single page HTML

Multi page HTML

Include attributes

Tags Created date Updated date Author

Maximum ENEX file size2 GB

Cancel Export

The export dialog with ENEX picked, attributes ticked and the split size set

That is the whole job for a few notes. Things get tricky past a hundred at once, and the next sections deal with that.

Every migration we see starts at the same spot, the export dialog. People get stuck there for two reasons. The hundred note cap surprises them, and nobody told them notebooks skip it. Once you know that, ten years of notes come out in minutes. The conversion after that is the easy part.

NR

Nick Rogers

Founder, Univik

Building Windows tools since 2013

Convert the files you exported into PDF, Word or Markdown

The Univik ENEX Converter reads exported files without Evernote installed. The free online viewer shows what a file holds before you convert anything.

Free Download See All Features

Export a Whole Notebook

Evernote puts no cap on a whole notebook. Right click a notebook in the sidebar, choose Export notebook, pick the format and the entire thing goes out in one file, no matter how many notes are inside. Notebooks export one at a time, there is no way to do several together, but each one is a single clean export with its attachments included. When your selection of notes goes past the cap, exporting the whole notebook is the answer.

Notebooks

Work Projects12

Recipes24

Travel Plans8

Reading List5

Rename notebook

Share notebook

Add to shortcuts

Export notebook…

Delete notebook

Right clicking the Recipes notebook in the sidebar, all 24 notes export in one file

Get Every Note Out of Evernote

Old versions of Evernote had an export for everything at once. That button is gone, so a full account backup now means going down the sidebar, one notebook at a time. Export the first notebook, then the second, until each has its own ENEX file. The cap of 100 notes applies only to hand picked selections, never to a notebook, so the method works even for thousands of notes. Name the files after their notebooks as you go and you can tell them apart later.

Worth knowing

The cap of 100 notes only applies when you pick notes by hand. A whole notebook exports with no count limit, so notebook by notebook is the way to empty an account.

Why Export Needs the Desktop App

Export is a desktop feature only. The Evernote apps for Mac and Windows have it, the phone apps and the browser version do not. If you run Evernote on a tablet or only on the web, install the desktop app first, sign in, give it time to download your notes and then run the exports there.

What Gets Lost in an ENEX Export

An ENEX file holds a lot, but not everything. Knowing the gaps early means no surprises later.

Note content, attachments, tags and dates are saved inside the file.

Notebook structure is lost, the notes inside one file have no folder tree.

Links between notes break, they pointed at Evernote's own system.

Nested tags and note history do not come along.

The MyInfo team's guide to the ENEX format explains these gaps in detail. The fix for the lost structure is the same as before, one ENEX per notebook, so the file names keep what the format loses.

Where the ENEX Files Go Next

An .enex on its own is hard to use, plain XML with your attachments hidden inside coded text, and only Evernote can open it directly. Three options cover nearly every need. To check what a file holds, drop it on the free online ENEX viewer and read it in the browser. To turn notes into documents, a converter writes them out as PDF, Word or Markdown, each covered in its own guide. And if the goal was PDF from the start, the Evernote to PDF guide covers every way to get there.

Turn Exports into a Regular Backup

One export only saves what you had that day. Notes you keep adding need a routine. Do a fresh notebook by notebook export every month or every three months, keep dated folders on a drive you control and hold on to the old set until you check the new one. Open a few files after each export to check they hold what they should. If an export ever stops in the middle or shows an error, the export troubleshooting guide covers the usual causes and fixes.

Evernote Export Questions

In the Evernote app for Mac or Windows, select the notes or a notebook, right click and choose Export, then pick ENEX or HTML in the dialog. Tick the attributes you want to keep, such as tags and created date, and the file saves to your desktop.

Right click the notebook in the sidebar and choose Export notebook, then pick the format. A whole notebook exports all at once with no note cap, which makes it the best way to get many notes out. Notebooks export one at a time.

Evernote caps a selection of individual notes at 100 per export. The cap does not apply to a whole notebook, so when a selection goes over the limit, export the notebook that holds those notes instead of picking them by hand.

There is no single button for everything any more. The way that works is one export per notebook, going down the sidebar until each notebook has its own ENEX file. Whole notebooks skip the 100 note cap, so even a large account takes only a few minutes.

No. Exporting only works in the Evernote apps for Mac and Windows, so neither the phone apps nor the web version can do it. Install the desktop app, let it sync your account and run the exports from there.

ENEX is Evernote's own XML format and keeps the most, notes, attachments, tags and dates, so it is the one for backups and for moving to another app. HTML gives you pages any browser opens, better when you want to read the notes rather than move them.

Leena Taylor Paul

Written and maintained by Leena Taylor Paul and the Univik team, developers of Windows data conversion and recovery software since 2013. Export questions come into our inbox every day, and the answer is nearly always the same two facts. The cap only applies to hand picked notes, and whole notebooks skip it. This guide is built around both. Last verified August 2026. Emptying a big Evernote account and unsure where to start? Contact our support team.