How to Export Your Evernote Notes (.enex Step-by-Step)

Whether you’re switching to a new note app or just want a local backup of everything you’ve written, Evernote has a built-in export feature that creates .enex files — a clean, standardized format containing all your notes, tags, and attachments. Here’s how to export everything in under five minutes.

What is a .enex file?

.enex stands for Evernote Export. It’s an XML-based format that includes:

• Note titles and bodies
• Original creation dates and modification dates
• Notebook membership
• All tags
• Attachments (PDFs, images, audio) embedded as base64
• Internal note metadata

It’s the format every “Evernote import” feature on competing apps reads. If you have a .enex file, you can move your notes anywhere — including Noteshik, Notion, Obsidian, Bear, Joplin, and more.

Important: Use the desktop app

You cannot export .enex from the Evernote web app. You need the desktop app — Mac, Windows, or Linux. Download it at evernote.com/download if you don’t have it. Sign in with your Evernote account.

Don’t worry about syncing first — once you sign in, the desktop app pulls everything from your account.

Method 1 — Export everything (recommended)

If you’re moving to a new app, export all your notebooks at once:

1. In the Evernote desktop app, click “Notebooks” in the left sidebar.
2. Select all notebooks (Cmd-A on Mac, Ctrl-A on Windows).
3. Right-click any of the highlighted notebooks → “Export Notebooks…”
4. Choose ENEX format in the dialog.
5. Pick a save location — Desktop is fine.
6. Click Save.

You’ll get one .enex file per notebook — they’ll be saved in the location you chose with names matching your notebook titles.

If you have hundreds of notebooks and don’t want to manage hundreds of files, jump to Method 3 below.

Method 2 — Export a single notebook

If you only want to back up or move a specific notebook:

1. Right-click the notebook in the sidebar → “Export Notebook…”
2. Choose ENEX format.
3. Save.

This produces a single .enex file containing every note in that notebook (with tags and attachments preserved).

Method 3 — Combine into one file (easier for migration)

Many users prefer to migrate as a single .enex file. To get one combined file:

1. Create a temporary “All” notebook in Evernote.
2. Move all notes into it (warning: this loses original notebook structure inside Evernote, but the export still preserves which notebook each note was in via tags/metadata).
3. Right-click the “All” notebook → Export Notebook… → ENEX → Save.

Or use a free third-party combiner tool — search GitHub for “enex merge” — to concatenate the files Method 1 produces.

Most modern importers (Noteshik included) accept multiple .enex files in one go, so combining isn’t strictly necessary.

What the file looks like

If you’re curious, you can open a .enex file in any text editor. It’s readable XML:

<en-export ...>
  <note>
    <title>Meeting notes — May 2 2026</title>
    <content><![CDATA[<en-note>...</en-note>]]></content>
    <created>20260502T142300Z</created>
    <updated>20260502T154500Z</updated>
    <tag>work</tag>
    <tag>q2-planning</tag>
  </note>
  ...
</en-export>

This portability is what makes .enex so useful: you own your notes in a format that works everywhere.

Common issues during export

Export takes a long time. This is normal for libraries with thousands of notes or large attachments. Let it finish — interrupting can produce a partial file.

File size is huge. Attachments dominate file size. A user with 5,000 text-heavy notes might see a 50 MB file; a user with 5,000 PDF-heavy notes can see 5+ GB. If your file is enormous, consider exporting per-notebook rather than all at once.

“Export failed” error. Usually fixable by: (a) restarting Evernote, (b) syncing first, (c) exporting smaller batches.

Encrypted notes don’t export readable. Evernote’s encrypted text within notes stays encrypted in the export. Decrypt before exporting if you want the plaintext to migrate.

What to do with your .enex file

• Migrate to Noteshik: drop the file into the import screen. Full guide here.
• Migrate to another app: Notion, Obsidian, Bear, Joplin, OneNote (with helper tools), and others all read .enex.
• Archive: save it to cloud storage (Dropbox, iCloud, S3) as a portable backup.
• Convert to Markdown: use a tool like enex2md if you want plain Markdown files instead of an XML archive.

Backup vs migration — a note

Even if you’re not switching apps right now, exporting .enex files periodically is good hygiene. Cloud accounts can be lost, accounts can be locked, services can change ownership. Having a local .enex file means you always have a copy of your work in a format that any tool can read.

Related reading

• How to Import Evernote to Noteshik in 60 Seconds
• Best Evernote Alternatives in 2026
• Why People Are Leaving Evernote in 2026