Import notes from Evernote into OneNote 2016 for Windows

Welcome! We're happy to see you here and look forward to helping you make the switch from Evernote to OneNote. This article outlines the steps required to import your notes from Evernote to OneNote and offers answers to questions you might have about transferring your content.

The OneNote Importer finds any Evernote content on your computer and sends it to OneNote. You can choose any Microsoft Account to use with OneNote, no matter if it's a personal Hotmail, Live.com, or Outlook.com account, or a Microsoft Account given to you by your work or your school. You likely already have such an account, but you can just as easily create a new one for free.

If you only ever use Evernote on the Web, we recommend exporting your notes from Evernote for Windows or Mac to an Evernote export (.enex) file.

Before you begin

Here is what you'll need to import your Evernote notes into OneNote:

• A PC with Windows 7 or later (required).

• Evernote for Windows (optional, but this speeds up the migration process).
  If you have Evernote for Windows installed, sign in with your Evernote account, and then make sure that your latest notes are completely synced before you begin importing to OneNote.

• Watch this short video about the OneNote Importer (optional)
  

  

  
  

How to use the OneNote Importer

When you're ready to import your notes from Evernote to OneNote, do the following:

1. On any Windows PC that has Evernote for Windows installed, visit https://www.onenote.com/import-evernote-to-onenote and then click Download the Importer. Your download of the OneNote Importer should start automatically.

2. When the OneNote Importer has finished downloading, double-click the installer file on your computer, and then follow the prompts:

   • Accept the End User License Agreement.

   • If you have Evernote for Windows installed and you have all of your notes synced locally, then the OneNote Importer will automatically discover your Evernote notebooks. From the list that is displayed, select the Evernote notebooks that you want to import into OneNote.

     Note: If you don't have Evernote installed, you can import notes from an Evernote export (.enex) file. To do this, first create the export file in Evernote (see the FAQ below for instructions to create this file). In the OneNote Importer, click Choose File, and then select the .enex file containing your Evernote notes.

   • Select the Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com) that you want to use with OneNote. You can sign in with a personal Microsoft Account or an account given to you by your work or your school.

3. When you're ready, click Import. Once the process is complete, you can view your imported notes in OneNote 2016 (or proceed to install OneNote if you don't already have it).

4. When you start OneNote after importing notes, your most recent Evernote notebook will be displayed. You can manually open other notebooks to see the rest of your notes.

As soon as you finish importing your notes into OneNote, you can easily access them on the Web as well as on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. If you haven't already done so, be sure to install OneNote on all of your devices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to some common questions about the OneNote Importer. If your question isn't listed here, please leave it in the "Was this information helpful?" feedback form at the end of this article.

• Does Evernote need to be installed?
  No, Evernote does not need to be installed if you already have an exported Evernote file (.enex) of your notes. However, importing notes happens a bit faster on a computer that has it installed because you won't need to first export your notes.

  
  

• What happens if Evernote isn't installed?
  You can import notes with an exported Evernote (.enex) file.

  
  

• How do I generate an exported Evernote file?
  From any Windows or Mac that has Evernote installed, start Evernote, select the notes you want to export, and then click File > Export to to save them to an .enex file. Transfer this file to the Windows PC on which you want to run the OneNote Importer.

  
  

• Are any file types other than .enex files supported for import?
  No, not at this time.

  
  

• Does this work for Evernote Plus and Evernote Premium?
  Yes, you can use notes from either version of Evernote.

  
  

• Does OneNote need to be installed?
  No, we'll do the import through cloud magic. However, you can choose to install OneNote at any time from https://www.onenote.com/download.

  
  

• Can I import notes to OneNote and have them stored locally on my computer?
  No, you'll need to use a Microsoft Account (Hotmail, Live, or Outlook.com) to import your notes.

  
  

• What account types are supported for storing notes in OneNote?
  You can sign in with a personal Microsoft Account or an account given to you by your work or your school.

  
  

• What will my notes look like in OneNote?
  We'll create a new OneNote notebook for each Evernote notebook. Each Evernote page will be a page in OneNote. Optionally, you can also use Evernote tags to organize your notes within your notebook. Each tag will become a section in OneNote that contains the pages that are tagged with that term.

  
  

• What happens if I have Evernote pages with multiple tags? Will I get duplicate pages in OneNote?
  No, we'll only look at the first tag to determine where we place that page. To make things easy to find, we'll write every tag that you had in Evernote on the OneNote page so you can find everything easily through OneNote's instant search.

  
  

• Will attachments like PDF files and JPG images get imported?
  Yes, attachments like PDF files and images will be imported along with your notes.

  
  

• Is there anything that won't get imported?
  Some things like ink, encrypted text, background colors, and reminders will not show up in OneNote.

  
  

• How long will the import take?
  Depending on how much content is being imported and the speed of your Internet connection, importing your notes may take just a few minutes to several hours. You'll be shown a progress indicator during the import to give you an idea of the estimated amount of time it will take to import your notes.

  
  

• How do I find my imported notebooks in OneNote?
  If you imported multiple notebooks , we will open one of your notebooks in OneNote. Follow these steps to open your other notebooks:

  OneNote Windows 10 app — Click or tap the hamburger icon (≡) in the upper-left corner, and then choose More Notebooks.

  OneNote 2016 desktop app — Click the Notebooks drop-down menu to the left of your tabs, and choose Open Other Notebooks.

  OneNote Online — Click the Notebooks button at the top of the left pane to see all of your notebooks.

  
  

• What platforms is the OneNote Importer supported on?
  You can run the importer on any desktop edition of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Mac. Stay tuned for news about support for additional platforms.

  
  

• Do you have a converter for other note-taking applications?
  No, not at this time. Stay tuned for news about support for additional apps.

  
  

• I'm getting the Error Code 10008 when using the OneNote Importer. How can I troubleshoot?
  This error occurs when your OneDrive, Group, or Document Library contains more than 5,000 items. Consider deleting some files you may no longer need and then try importing again. For more information about this error condition, see our related post on the OneNote Dev Blog.

  
  

• Where can I learn more about OneNote?
  Head on over to http://www.onenote.com for more information about OneNote and to download any of the OneNote desktop and mobile apps.
  

See also

Download the OneNote Importer

Send Feedback about the OneNote Importer

Report an Issue with the OneNote Importer

Learn more about OneNote

Watch the 1-Minute Video

OneNote (desktop) for Windows

OneNote for Windows 10

OneNote for Mac

OneNote Online

Featured Apps