Evernote import enhancement: Convert internal links to Joplin note links

[pmottishaw]

Operating system

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Application

• Desktop
• Terminal

When importing .enex file it would be great if the internal links to other Evernote notes are converted to Joplin note links if the target note has also been imported. It may be possible to do this by adding the Evernote GUID as metadata to an imported note. A second pass then could search for all links in imported (possibly all notes) and convert them to the correct Joplin note link.

An additional benefit could be to link back to Evernote for each imported note using the GUID. Very useful during the migrations phase.

[laurent22]

Do you have an example of Enex file that contains internal links? (I didn't even know Evernote had this feature)

[pmottishaw]

Here is a simple, but real example. I copied a few example notes into a notebook and then created a note with a bullet list of links to all the other notes. I could create something more complex if that was useful. By the way, in using Evernote for nearly 10 years I have found internal links one of the most useful ways of organising notes (more useful than tabs for example). I checked that the enex imports into Joplin. It does, but the bullet points seem to get 2 new lines before the link. Any idea why this might be? A very useful feature of the current Joplin implementation is that the internal Evernote links in imported notes currently take me to the correct note in the Evernote (I use Windows 10 and I recall having to register an Evernote protocol so that Windows recognises these types of links). This is useful if you are slowly or partially migrating from Evernote to Joplin and want links to notes that have not been imported yet to work. I don't know anything about how Joplin is implemented (so this may not make sense), but the implementation ideas that came to mind are 1. When a note is imported from Evernote its unique Evernote GUID should be included in its meta data in Joplin. 2. Joplin should provide a tool that will check if this GUID is used anywhere in a link in a Joplin note and convert it to the correct internal Joplin link. 3. It may be best to keep the import and conversion separate, so that the user can choose whether links are converted or not... need to think about this. 4. It may be useful to be able to do link conversion on selected notes at a later date ... not sure about this. By the way, it would be good to have internal links in a different colour from external links. It makes it easier to navigate. It is also incredibly useful if a "back button" appears after you have clicked on a internal link. Happy to say some more about this in the forum if that would be helpful. Thanks for an amazing set of applications.

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On 28 June 2018 at 21:38, Laurent Cozic ***@***.***> wrote: Do you have an example of Enex file that contains internal links? (I didn't even know Evernote had this feature) — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#585 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJ3s2eNHxYackxL6fyaVL-QEqqR5IeHqks5uBT7dgaJpZM4UXUDE> .

[laurent22]

How do you create a link to another note in Evernote? That's the part I'm missing.

[pmottishaw]

In the windows app it is "Copy Internal Link" under the "Note" menu or when you right click on selected note, keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Alt-L. In the web app it is "copy notelink" under the "..." menu. In the android app it is "Copy internal link" when you are looking at a note under the "three dots menu". I don't know about Apple apps... Mobile 07793989446 Email peter.mottishaw@gmail.com

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On 30 June 2018 at 16:19, Laurent Cozic ***@***.***> wrote: How do you create a link to another note in Evernote? That's the part I'm missing. — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#585 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJ3s2YfM0Q7WcQeH0ZiN_kVSpgrI49KPks5uB5b2gaJpZM4UXUDE> .

[kiuuik]

As far as I see this can't work with enex files (and i wouldn't give a third party app that uses the evernote api access to my notes ....)

• the structure of internal links contains the userid and noteguid.
• the enex file definition doesn't contain the noteguid. I also checked an enex file of mine and didn't find any guid in it.

A similar conclusion was drawn in a similar discussion for a different markdown-software: https://www.reddit.com/r/bearapp/comments/766l9o/internote_links_from_evernote_import/

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How do you create a link to another note in Evernote?

There are two versions: one that links to the website (new type, created as described above) and an older version that starts with (evernote:///view/). You create the latter type on the windows desktop app by right clicking on the note and in the context menu choose "copy internal link" WHILE you press ctrl. For the ios mobile client I think I saw some obscure solutions last year but can't find them and don't know if they still work.

[laurent22]

Yes I've just checked and indeed since Evernote doesn't export the note IDs, the links to notes cannot be preserved. Unfortunately another reason not to use Evernote since they don't allow exporting the complete data.

[kiuuik]

My conclusion might have been premature: There's a third party client named nixnote2 for linux. I trust it because it's bundled with many popular linux distros. nixnote2 has its own export format named nnex which is very similar to evernotes enex but also includes useful entries like <Guid> and <NotebookGuid>. This might help.

Here's the structure of a nnex file. I removed some personal information.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE NixNote-Export>
<nixnote-export version="2" exportType="export" application="NixNote" applicationVersion="2.x">
    <Note>
        <Guid>1a59f8b5-a06f-49a8-8437-7493cfd612e9</Guid>
        <Title>title</Title>
        <Content><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE en-note SYSTEM "http://xml.evernote.com/pub/enml2.dtd">
<en-note><div>some content</div></en-note>]]></Content>
        <ContentHash>voc4wrnu904cw09ucw8828292929292d</ContentHash>
        <ContentLength>674</ContentLength>
        <Created>1536004382121</Created>
        <Updated>1536004392432</Updated>
        <Active>true</Active>
        <UpdateSequenceNumber>9240</UpdateSequenceNumber>
        <NotebookGuid>672ab04c-9e67-47d4-adaf-707e2ee028fb</NotebookGuid>
        <Attributes>
            <Author>a@a.de</Author>
            <Source>desktop.win</Source>
            <SourceApplication>evernote.win32</SourceApplication>
        </Attributes>
        <Dirty>true</Dirty>
    </Note>
</nixnote-export>

[pmottishaw]

It is disappointing that Evernote does not export the guid. Links are the main way I organise notes; tags always seem a bit vague. The nixnote option is promising, but adds some complexity.

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On Mon, 3 Sep 2018 at 21:02, kiuuik ***@***.***> wrote: My conclusion might have been premature: There's a third party client named nixnote2 <https://github.com/baumgarr/nixnote2> for linux. I trust it because it's bundled with many popular linux distros. nixnote2 has its own export format named nnex which is very similar to evernotes enex but also includes useful entries like <Guid> and <NotebookGuid>. This might help. Here's the structure of a nnex file. I removed some personal information. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE NixNote-Export> <nixnote-export version="2" exportType="export" application="NixNote" applicationVersion="2.x"> <Note> <Guid>1a59f8b5-a06f-49a8-8437-7493cfd612e9</Guid> <Title>title</Title> <Content><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <!DOCTYPE en-note SYSTEM "http://xml.evernote.com/pub/enml2.dtd"> <en-note><div>some content</div></en-note>]]></Content> <ContentHash>voc4wrnu904cw09ucw8828292929292d</ContentHash> <ContentLength>674</ContentLength> <Created>1536004382121</Created> <Updated>1536004392432</Updated> <Active>true</Active> <UpdateSequenceNumber>9240</UpdateSequenceNumber> <NotebookGuid>672ab04c-9e67-47d4-adaf-707e2ee028fb</NotebookGuid> <Attributes> ***@***.***</Author> <Source>desktop.win</Source> <SourceApplication>evernote.win32</SourceApplication> </Attributes> <Dirty>true</Dirty> </Note> </nixnote-export> — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#585 (comment)>, or mute the thread <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AJ3s2ZG_D_oKc-ivQ2GHErAqyhPaRFNJks5uXYrLgaJpZM4UXUDE> .