If you’re ready to make a change in your note taking, moving from Evernote to Notion might the perfect choice. Naturally, you don’t want to have to create all your notes all over again. Thanks to Notion’s Evernote import feature, you don’t have to.
Things to Know Before You Switch
Before you jump on the Notion bandwagon because it’s the shiny new productivity tool, there are some things to know.
Notion Cons
While Notion beats the pants off of Evernote in terms of overall features, it’s a bit intimidating to new users looking just for a note taking tool. Evernote is a much more straightforward tool. Notion has numerous templates (including creating your won), which can sometimes complicate what should be a simple process. If you’re looking for more templates, check out these productivity templates and how to add templates from Notion.site.
Another issue is it may offer far more than you’d normally use. Of course, if you’re switching from Evernote to Notion because you want a productive workspace, then ignore this con. Notion tries to give you everything in one place, such as pages designed to hold various types of content, relational databases, calendars, document organizers, etc.
While all these extras make Notion a powerful productivity tool, it’s not as focused as Evernote when it comes to note taking. Some users complain it’s too complicated to learn and adjust to.
Features You May Miss
Notion doesn’t currently offer OCR support for handwritten notes like Evernote does. If you do want to create searchable handwritten notes, you’ll need to use another app to scan them in and then import into Notion.
One other thing missing is offline functionality. Notion offers offline functions, but they’re not useful in any real way. With Evernote, you can work offline in the desktop version and sync when you have Internet access again.
While Evernote allows you to create encrypted notes, Notion doesn’t. You can no longer hide sensitive information, such as if you have a list of usernames and passwords or financial details.
Finally, if you love Evernote’s search functionality, Notion may leave you feeling disappointed. The Quick Find feature isn’t global, so subpages are often excluded. When it comes to databases, you can search individual databases, but searching everything at once doesn’t work well. Also, the search filters are too basic to be useful.
What You Can Import
Notion lets you import pretty much everything. Of course, you’re free to choose to import just the notebook(s) you want. Notebooks show up as hierarchical pages. Everything in a notebook is added to a Notion database as individual items.
Obviously, things won’t look identical to Evernote, but once the data is imported, you can make changes in Notion without affecting the content on Evernote.
The only thing you can’t import is an encrypted note/text. While it will technically import, Notion can’t decrypt it, so you can’t read it. You’ll need to decrypt your notes before importing.
Please note that the Notion import tool only supports Evernote Standard edition and not Evernote Business.
Tip: Are you a bear user instead? You can migrate from Evernote to Bear too.
Importing Evernote Into Notion
At the time of writing, Notion is offering a $5 import credit when you import Evernote to Notion. So, even if you decide you don’t like Notion, you’ll get paid for your time.
The most straightforward method, outside of manually copying and pasting, is using Notion’s Evernote import tool. All you need to get started is to create a Notion account, if you haven’t already.
- Log in to your Notion account.
- Open the three dot menu at the top right corner and select “Import.”
- Select “Evernote.”
- Choose how long you want Notion to have access to your Evernote account. You can choose one day, week, month, or year. Click “Authorize” when you’re finished.
- If you’re already logged into Evernote, you’ll jump right to the next step. Otherwise, enter your Evernote login details.
- Choose the notebook(s) you want to import. If you have a lot, just click “Select All.” Select “Import” when you’re done.
- Wait for the import to complete. The time will vary based on how much you have to import.
- Check your notes to see if anything is missing or changed.
Tip: Not a fan of Notion? Here are several other Notion alternatives you can use.
Exploring Notion
All your notebooks appear in the left sidebar. They should be the first in the list just under “Getting Started From Evernote.” If you’re brand new to Notion, check out this page. All your notebooks are now called “Pages.”
When you click on a page (formerly a notebook in Evernote), you’ll see all your individual items listed.
Troubleshooting Your Import
In an ideal world, everything would work perfectly. Notion’s import tool isn’t perfect. For most users, it works well. For a handful of others, you may be missing entire notebooks or just individual notes.
The most common issue is formatting. For example, if you have a table in Evernote with colorful formatting, it’ll likely become a much more basic table in Notion. Of course, you can fix this manually.
If you’re missing an entire notebook or a note, some of the most common reasons include:
- One or more notes in a notebook include a table without text. Tables that just include images or web clippings don’t import well sometimes
- The note contains web clippings. For some users, web clippings don’t make the transition.
- The note includes attachments. Just like web clippings, attachments occasionally cause glitches.
If you suspect any of these are the issue, remove these notes/notebooks from the import. You can also remove textless tables so the images and web clippings import without issue.
You can quickly find which notes/notebooks have problematic elements by searching Evernote for the following:
- Attachments
- Tables
- Webclips
If possible, move all of these notes to a separate notebook. This makes it easier to do a mass import and then move over the rest of your data manually if you have to.
You can also export these notes as HTML files in Evernote. Then, create a new page in Notion and import the HTML file. You’ll likely lose any formatting, but it does seem to circumvent most import issues.
- Open the Evernote desktop client. This doesn’t work in the web version.
- Right-click the notebook you want to export and select “Export.
- Select “Single web page” or “Multiple web pages.” The first places everything in a single file, while the latter divides each note into a separate HTML page. I had better luck using the Multiple option. Click “Export” when you’re ready.
- Open Notion and select “Add a page” in the left sidebar.
- Click “Import.”
- Choose “HTML.”
- Select your file from your computer and wait for it to import. If it’s multiple files, you can select everything at once.
- Give your new page a name and adjust your formatting if necessary.
It’s not a guarantee everything will be perfect, but I had more luck getting web clippings to merge this way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Notion change any notes or account information in Evernote?
No. While Notion sees your notes and notebooks, your account information is encrypted and off limits. Plus, data imports into Notion, but it doesn’t delete or change anything in Evernote.
How long should I keep Evernote after importing?
It’s a good idea to keep Evernote until you’ve verified all your information has imported successfully. If you don’t like Notion or need to manually import data, you’ll still have everything in Evernote. Even if you’re a premium user, it’s worth paying for an extra month if need be to make sure you don’t lose anything.
Do my imported blocks count against the free account limit in Notion?
No. The free plan that includes workspaces for multiple users has a 1,000 block limit. Anything imported doesn’t count against this. However, as you add new blocks to any imported notes/pages, this will begin counting against the limit.
Are there any other methods to import from Evernote to Notion?
Manual copy/paste and Notion’s import tool are the easiest options. However, a user did create enex2notion, which promises to bring everything over flawlessly. It’s a more complicated process that uses command line prompts. I had mixed results personally, but many users claimed it solved all their import troubles. The GitHub page includes instructions on how to use the tool.
Image credit: Unsplash & Wikimedia Commons, All screenshots by Crystal Crowder
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