Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Universal OneNote to Apple Notes
- Thread starter circatee
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I used OneNote at the office for years. Every meeting I had I used OneNote to capture minutes and take notes. It was my go-to app. Personally I can’t imagine swapping Apple Notes for OneNote even though I love Apple and the Notes app. Notes just doesn’t seem as robust as OneNote to me.
Yes. I had 3000 notes in Evernote and attempted to use Apple Notes instead. - Don't do it. Apple Notes is really not designed to be a good replacement for Evernote. And there is no native escape possibility from Apple Notes again.
There are two Made-for-Apple (only) apps which actually are much better than Evernote. Those are the ones you should look at.
"Keep It" ("Keep It Mobile" on iPhone/iPad) is the natural choice. It has all the features you would want from Evernote and much more. You have folders in 9 levels and you can also "bundle" notes across folders so you get an extra "dimension" in you data. - The interface is similar to the Apple Notes app, so it is very Apple-like. My non-IT wife simply loves Keep It. So do I because you can store all sorts of files in the notes and add many meta-data too. So this app is what you want. - You move from Evernote to Keep It by exporting .enex files from Evernote and importing those files into Keep It. - We use this app with about 3000 notes, most of them with attachments. Synchronizing works well between all our devices. You can "share" to Keep It/Keep It Mobile and "print as PDF" to Keep It and drag files into Keep It. But you cannot (directly) sent a mail to Keep It.
Then there is the ultimate database solution for "everything": Devonthink 3. It is much more than just an "Evernote" or "Keep It". It is more like a new way of working with all you data. You can put most of your data in there or you can simply ask the app to work with all files as referenced files which stays where they are on you Mac. - But do not attempt to use this app until you actually have read the book/help about what this app/database is and how to use it. It is only for "IT adults". Read the forums. - One smart thing is that it can read data directly from Evernote on a Mac, so the import is automatical. The folder structure will also be intact when data are imported this way.
There are two Made-for-Apple (only) apps which actually are much better than Evernote. Those are the ones you should look at.
"Keep It" ("Keep It Mobile" on iPhone/iPad) is the natural choice. It has all the features you would want from Evernote and much more. You have folders in 9 levels and you can also "bundle" notes across folders so you get an extra "dimension" in you data. - The interface is similar to the Apple Notes app, so it is very Apple-like. My non-IT wife simply loves Keep It. So do I because you can store all sorts of files in the notes and add many meta-data too. So this app is what you want. - You move from Evernote to Keep It by exporting .enex files from Evernote and importing those files into Keep It. - We use this app with about 3000 notes, most of them with attachments. Synchronizing works well between all our devices. You can "share" to Keep It/Keep It Mobile and "print as PDF" to Keep It and drag files into Keep It. But you cannot (directly) sent a mail to Keep It.
Then there is the ultimate database solution for "everything": Devonthink 3. It is much more than just an "Evernote" or "Keep It". It is more like a new way of working with all you data. You can put most of your data in there or you can simply ask the app to work with all files as referenced files which stays where they are on you Mac. - But do not attempt to use this app until you actually have read the book/help about what this app/database is and how to use it. It is only for "IT adults". Read the forums. - One smart thing is that it can read data directly from Evernote on a Mac, so the import is automatical. The folder structure will also be intact when data are imported this way.
Last edited:
Quick question…… Does ‘Keep It’ support Password Protection like Apple Notes?
Disregard… Downloaded. It’s subscription model only.
Last edited:
Yes, it is subscription based, like Evernote as I recall. The other option, Devonthink 3 from https://devontechnologies.com/ is one-time purchase of a licence per Mac. And Devonthink 3 can create encrypted databases. But it is much, much more complicated than Apple Notes. - So it all depend on what you need and expect. Like always.
I have recently done the migration from Evernote to Apple Notes and haven't experienced any issues so far. It seems that Apple Notes has really improved its feature set in recent times.
I only had a little over 300 notes after completing a clean out of older notes. I have been an Evernote subscriber since 2008 but could no longer justify the expense as I wasn't utilising the 'extra' features and templates.
Check out this video and several others by Peter Akkies on Apple Notes -
Hope this helps,
Scott
I only had a little over 300 notes after completing a clean out of older notes. I have been an Evernote subscriber since 2008 but could no longer justify the expense as I wasn't utilising the 'extra' features and templates.
Check out this video and several others by Peter Akkies on Apple Notes -
Hope this helps,
Scott
I let my Drafts subscription expire last month and moved to Notes. The tradeoff was loss of automation/sharing for ability to add graphics to notes, which I needed. I guess its a wash.
I moved from Evernote to Notes in the last month and really regret it. Notes is surprisingly unstable/buggy, and it's caused some serious problems. (I'm on M1 MBA and iPhone 13):
1. The search function is unusable most of the time. Searching my notes for a word often reveals NO results, or results that are just incorrect. It's totally bizarre, and I've found no solution for it.
2. The cut/copy/paste function frequently doesn't work. I've cut text in a note to move it up in the same note, and while the 'cut' worked, the 'paste' doesn't. I now know to watch it like a hawk and edit/undo to undo the cut, but I've lost some key information because of this.
Looking online, there appear to be many other people experiencing these issues — for years — but Apple apparently doesn't care enough to fix them.
So no, I don't recommend switching unless your workload is fairly light.
1. The search function is unusable most of the time. Searching my notes for a word often reveals NO results, or results that are just incorrect. It's totally bizarre, and I've found no solution for it.
2. The cut/copy/paste function frequently doesn't work. I've cut text in a note to move it up in the same note, and while the 'cut' worked, the 'paste' doesn't. I now know to watch it like a hawk and edit/undo to undo the cut, but I've lost some key information because of this.
Looking online, there appear to be many other people experiencing these issues — for years — but Apple apparently doesn't care enough to fix them.
So no, I don't recommend switching unless your workload is fairly light.
Interesting. Are you going to be moving back?
I might get a trial account of Evernote and try it again. It’s been a while…
I'm exploring my options. I don't miss Evernote's yearly fee, but Notes' glitches are intolerable.
Evernote did get much faster when it became optimized for M1, FWIW.
In Jan 2023, I switched from OneNotes to Apple Notes.
I must say, it is certainly restrictive with certain features. Currently contemplating moving back to OneNote.
Any thoughts, or experience with note taking apps? I would prefer a perpetual license application, versus subscription based...
I must say, it is certainly restrictive with certain features. Currently contemplating moving back to OneNote.
Any thoughts, or experience with note taking apps? I would prefer a perpetual license application, versus subscription based...
I have been using Onenote for ages, Apple Notes since I've bought a MacBook.
It should be an easy choice as Onenote has multiple advantages. It's cross platform, has version history, much better handling of ink and file attachments, better export. Historically, it's been very reliable for me for many years. Apple Notes functionality advantage is tags and smart folders, and the fact that it can search inside attached pdfs without having to use printouts.
However, Onenote's interface is - subjectively - rather ugly and outdated. I hate the gaudy hot magenta color that can't be changed. And sharing with other family members is much easier with Apple Notes.
So, I am myself undecided...
FYI, there's a Onenote search plugin for Raycast, and Exporter app for Apple Notes that mostly works OK. That helps to bridge the functionality gap (and make the choice even harder...)
It should be an easy choice as Onenote has multiple advantages. It's cross platform, has version history, much better handling of ink and file attachments, better export. Historically, it's been very reliable for me for many years. Apple Notes functionality advantage is tags and smart folders, and the fact that it can search inside attached pdfs without having to use printouts.
However, Onenote's interface is - subjectively - rather ugly and outdated. I hate the gaudy hot magenta color that can't be changed. And sharing with other family members is much easier with Apple Notes.
So, I am myself undecided...
FYI, there's a Onenote search plugin for Raycast, and Exporter app for Apple Notes that mostly works OK. That helps to bridge the functionality gap (and make the choice even harder...)
Over the past few days, I WAS using OneNote. Within said days I was reminded that I actually now hate it. Honestly, that’s probably more because I’ve gotten used to Apple Notes and it’s simplicity.
So, today I’ve been making sure all my Notes in Apple Notes are up to date/correct.
What I’ve learned is that I probably use 5% of the features in OneNote, if that. And, the framing (where the data is held in your individual note) is what I hate the most.
Anyway, back in Apple Notes, for now
Try Exporter for Apple Notes. It was really cheap and as I said mostly works OK. Most of issues I had were with file attachments which I use a lot and most people don't use at all.Over the past few days, I WAS using OneNote. Within said days I was reminded that I actually now hate it. Honestly, that’s probably more because I’ve gotten used to Apple Notes and it’s simplicity.
So, today I’ve been making sure all my Notes in Apple Notes are up to date/correct.
What I’ve learned is that I probably use 5% of the features in OneNote, if that. And, the framing (where the data is held in your individual note) is what I hate the most.
Anyway, back in Apple Notes, for now
A couple years ago, I moved all of my long term storage info that I used to keep in Onenote to file system, and use the file indexing built into OS to find stuff. This makes it much easier to backup, move to another location, change OS's etc. The short term notes can reside pretty much anywhere.
I have also moved a lot of long term storage to the file system (yay for PDFs). You may not have this concern, but do you have to access it remotely, like on a Windows computer? Does the Files app on iPhone use the indexing that is available on Mac?
For the documents that don’t require any special protection I use OneDrive. (They are still protected by my MS credentials). It has built in indexing and OCR, so I can search it from any device, and it’s a lot better for data storage than iCloud.
The documents that I need extra protected are a more difficult case… there’s no easy *and* cheap / free way to sync them across different devices *and* have them indexed everywhere. At least none that I found.
The documents that I need extra protected are a more difficult case… there’s no easy *and* cheap / free way to sync them across different devices *and* have them indexed everywhere. At least none that I found.
Thanks for your insight. I use Google Drive the same way you use OneDrive. I understand some people's aversion to Google, but it works well for me.
Nothing wrong with GDrive. I prefer OneDrive because I can get MS Office on all devices + 1TB of OneDrive storage for $50/yr under “Home Use Program” (basically if your work has MS subscription, you get O365 for about half off for personal use).
I recently switched from Apple Notes to Upnote as it has much nicer ui, font and is available on all platforms with free cloud syncing. The only thing I miss from Apple notes is the ability to collaborate.