How to export everything from Evernote (2026)

The short answer

• Evernote exports notes and notebooks only from its desktop app for Mac and Windows. Evernote says it cannot be done on Evernote Web, and its steps cover nothing else.
• One export covers up to 100 selected notes, or a whole notebook. Evernote’s help names no limit for a notebook, so the way to export everything is notebook by notebook.
• Choose ENEX (a file ending in .enex) if you are moving to another app. It keeps text, attachments, dates, tag names and the text Evernote read from your scans. It leaves out stacks, tag nesting, saved searches, shortcuts and note history.
• A free account can export. You do not need a paid plan.
• Keep your Evernote account and your .enex files until you have checked the new place. Cancel last.

Last checked: 14 October 2026. Facts about Evernote come from Evernote’s own pages, and the legal points from the legal text; all are listed under Sources.

Can you export from Evernote on the web or a phone?

Not for a whole archive. Evernote’s help says exporting is only available in the desktop app and is not possible on Evernote Web. Its steps are written for Mac and Windows only, and it describes Evernote Web as not designed for mobile browsing. That leaves three options.

1. Borrow a computer. This is the most reliable one. The desktop app needs macOS 11 or newer, or Windows 10 or newer; Evernote no longer supports Chromebooks. Ask the owner first, then:

• Install the app from evernote.com/download, sign in, and give it time to sync. A large archive takes longer than a few minutes.
• Export your notebooks (steps below) and copy the files to a USB drive or another place you trust.
• When you sign out, Evernote may ask whether to keep your data on the device. The box is ticked by default, so untick it. Then delete the exported files from that computer.
• The Free plan allows one device at a time, Evernote says, so signing in here may sign out your own devices. We have not tested it.

Type your Evernote password only into Evernote’s own sign-in page.

2. Save single notes as PDF. On Evernote Web, open a note, choose More actions, then Print, and set the destination to Save as PDF. On an iPhone or iPad, choose Print note and save the PDF to Files. That is one note at a time, so it is not a backup. Evernote’s PDF article has the details.

3. Ask Evernote for your data. Evernote’s privacy policy names Bending Spoons S.p.A. as the data controller and offers a web form for requests to access your personal data. Its regional privacy page says people in the European Economic Area, the UK and Switzerland can get a copy of their data and can export it to “a competing service”. Where the GDPR applies to you, the company must answer within one month, or within three if it tells you why (Article 12). We found nothing that says what format Evernote sends back or how complete it is. Treat this as a fallback, and do not count on a file you can import.

Before you export: a checklist

1. Let the desktop app finish syncing. If a notebook looks short, compare it with Evernote Web, as Evernote’s sync advice suggests. Do not export while the app is still catching up.
2. Write down your counts. For each notebook, note how many notes it holds, and which stack it sits in. Write down your tag tree too. A photo of the screen will do. You will compare against this list later.
3. Decrypt encrypted text if you want to read it elsewhere. Text you encrypted inside a note stays locked in the export, and most apps cannot open it. To unlock it, click the arrow on the encrypted block and choose Decrypt permanently; you need your passphrase, which Evernote does not store. This removes the protection from that text inside Evernote too.
4. Look through the Trash. Restore anything you want to keep. We could not confirm whether an export includes notes in the Trash.
5. Plan for stacks and nested tags. An ENEX file does not store a stack, so the file name is the only place to keep it: you will rename each file Stack@@@Notebook.enex. Nested tags arrive flat in most apps, so keep your tag tree written down.
6. Make room. Attachments sit in the file as encoded text, which makes it roughly a third larger than the originals. Check your free disk space.
7. Do not cancel or delete anything yet.

Export, step by step on Mac and Windows

The steps are the same on both. The only difference is the right-click: on a Mac, use a two-finger click or Control-click.

1. Open the Evernote desktop app.
2. Select a notebook, or select the notes you want (up to 100).
3. Right-click the selection and choose Export…
4. Choose a file format: ENEX, single-page HTML or multi-page HTML. For moving to another app, choose ENEX.
5. Tick or untick the attributes to include, such as tags, created date and author. Leave them all ticked. If you untick tags, they will not be in the file.
6. For ENEX, you can set the maximum size of each file, from 300 MB to 2 GB.
7. Click Export. Evernote says the file is saved to your computer’s desktop.
8. Rename the file to Stack@@@Notebook.enex (or just Notebook.enex if the notebook is in no stack), and move it to a backup folder. Then repeat for the next notebook.

About file size: a larger maximum means fewer files, and a smaller one can help if an export stalls. Evernote’s article doesn’t say what happens to a notebook bigger than the maximum; we expect it to come out as several files. LuniNote treats each file as its own notebook, so give the parts the same name and you can merge them afterwards.

The limits

What an .enex file keeps and what it leaves out

An ENEX file is a text file that follows a format Evernote publishes. Most of this table comes from reading that format definition (version 4.0, copyright 2021). If a field is not in the definition, the file cannot hold it.

ENEX, HTML or PDF: which to choose

ENEX is for moving. Evernote’s own post says an ENEX file can be imported back into Evernote, and many other note apps read it. It is the format that holds your attachments, dates, tags and scan text together with each note.

HTML gives you pages you can open in any web browser, with a folder for attachments. Single-page HTML puts all the notes in one file; multi-page HTML makes one page per note, plus an index. It suits a readable archive. A 2013 post from Evernote says its software cannot import HTML exports, and we found no newer statement.

PDF is for printing or sharing. Evernote says a PDF holds only the text and embedded images; attachments appear as pictures of the attachment, not as files.

If unsure, export both ENEX and HTML. It costs only disk space.

If the export fails

1. Update the app, then sign out, restart the computer and sign back in, as Evernote’s sync advice suggests.
2. Check free disk space on the drive that holds your desktop.
3. Choose a smaller maximum file size.
4. If it always stops in the same notebook, export that notebook in batches of up to 100 notes. When one batch fails, split it again until you find the note that stops it. A note with a very large attachment is a likely cause, but that is our guess, not something Evernote says.
5. Reinstalling is the last resort. Evernote says to make sure everything is synced and visible on Evernote Web first.
6. Contact Evernote support and tell them what you tried.

Check before you leave

• Check that every notebook on your list has a file, and that no file is empty.
• After you import into the new app, compare each notebook’s note count with your list.
• Open five of your most complicated notes, such as one with a table, a scan, a checklist, a PDF and a web clipping, and compare each with the original.
• Keep the .enex files. Put one copy on a drive you own and another somewhere else. They are your raw backup, whatever app you use next.
• Keep the Evernote account until all of this is done. Cancelling a paid plan does not delete your notes, says Evernote: the account returns to the Free plan, where you can still view, edit and export.

Bringing it into LuniNote

We make LuniNote, so read this section as coming from the maker. LuniNote is a notes app for people leaving Evernote, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Evernote. Everything above works with any app that reads .enex files. LuniNote is in open beta and free while the beta runs, and it runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave for now.

Way 1: import your .enex files. Each file becomes one notebook. A stack is created only when the file is named Stack@@@Notebook.enex. The import runs in the background, so you can close the page once the upload is done. You then get a report that accounts for every note, with counts of notes, notebooks, tags and attachments, and the reason for any note it skipped.

Comes across: formatting, tables, checklists, attachments, Evernote’s own text from scans (kept and searchable), created and updated dates, author, source address, location and reminder fields. Encrypted text is kept but stays locked. Links between notes are re-linked when both notes are in the same import batch, and the report lists the ones that could not be matched.

Does not come across: nested tags (they arrive flat), saved searches, shortcuts and note history, because the file does not hold them.

Way 2: the LuniNote browser extension. It moves a whole account without .enex files, and it brings what the file cannot: stacks, nested tags and saved searches. It is read-only toward Evernote and never changes anything there. It is built and tested for Chrome and is not in a store yet. It does not bring shortcuts or note history.

You can leave LuniNote the same way. In Settings, “Export your notes” gives you the whole account as one ZIP, as ENEX, web pages (.html), Markdown or a complete archive (.json).

For the full list and the report, see Import from Evernote. To try it, sign up.

Questions

How do I export all my Evernote notes at once?

Evernote’s help describes exporting up to 100 selected notes at a time, or an entire notebook, from the Mac or Windows desktop app. It describes no export-everything button, so you export each notebook in turn as ENEX.

Why can I only export 100 notes at a time?

Evernote does not say why. Its help article states that it supports exporting up to 100 notes at a time, or entire notebooks, and it names no limit for a notebook. Exporting a whole notebook is the way around the 100-note figure.

Can I export from my phone?

Not for a whole archive. Evernote says exporting is only available in the desktop app for Mac and Windows, not on Evernote Web. From a phone or the web you can save a single note as a PDF, which is not a backup. To move an archive you need a Mac or Windows computer for a while, or you can ask Evernote for your data, which is slower and has an outcome we could not confirm.

Do I need a paid plan to export?

No. Evernote’s help says free users can export their content. Evernote also says that an account over the Free plan’s limits of 50 notes and one notebook can still export. According to Evernote, cancelling a paid plan returns the account to Free and does not delete notes.

Will my tags and notebooks survive?

Notebooks do, as one file each. Tag names do if the tags attribute is ticked in the export window, but an ENEX file has no field for a tag’s parent, so nested tags usually arrive flat. Stacks and saved searches are not in the file either. If you name each file Stack@@@Notebook.enex, some apps, including LuniNote, rebuild the stack from the name.

Is it safe to cancel after exporting?

Cancel last, once you have imported the files and checked them. Evernote says cancelling a paid plan does not delete your notes: the account returns to the Free plan, where you can still export. Keep the .enex files as a backup, and delete the Evernote account itself only when you are sure.

What is an ENEX file?

It is Evernote’s own export format: a text file in XML with the extension .enex. Each note holds its title, content, dates, tag names and attachments, which are stored inside the file as encoded text. Evernote publishes a description of the format, and many note apps can read it.

Sources

Read on 14 October 2026. Evernote changes its app and pages often, so check the date at the top.

Evernote help

• Export Notes and Notebooks as ENEX or HTML (last edited 12 March 2025 per Evernote’s help-centre data)
• Export notes as a PDF
• Understanding Evernote Free and Starter plans limits
• Will I lose my notes if I cancel my subscription and my account is downgraded to Free?
• Operating system requirements for Evernote
• Encrypt text in a note
• Remove Evernote data from your Mac or Windows device
• Tips for troubleshooting syncing issues
• Tags overview
• Note links
• Use note history to view and restore older versions of a note
• Saved searches

Evernote blog and format definitions

• Evernote Free plan limits, 29 November 2023
• How Evernote’s XML export format works, 8 August 2013
• Evernote export format, version 4.0 definition
• Evernote note markup (ENML) 2.0 definition

Evernote privacy pages and the law

• Evernote Privacy Policy (updated 1 October 2026)
• Region-specific information (updated 1 October 2026)
• Evernote’s data request form
• GDPR Article 12 and Article 20

Not confirmed: whether an export includes the Trash or writes every task, and what Evernote sends in answer to a data request.