Free online ENEX to TXT converter

What the ENEX format is

ENEX, or Evernote XML Export, is an XML-based interchange format created by Evernote. An ENEX file can contain one or many notes, including titles, timestamps, tags, XHTML-formatted note bodies, and references to attached resources such as images or PDFs.

You normally encounter ENEX files after using Evernote → Export Notes, receiving an Evernote backup from another user, or moving notes between Evernote accounts. ENEX is designed for importing notes back into Evernote, not for direct reading in a basic editor.

What the TXT format is

TXT is a plain-text format containing characters without fonts, colors, page layout, embedded images, or application-specific markup. It opens in Notepad, TextEdit, code editors, terminal tools, and virtually any operating system.

TXT is suitable for searching, scripting, long-term readable archives, email or messaging systems that reject rich formatting, and applications that accept only unformatted content. Converting to TXT removes layout and attachments, so it is best when the words matter more than the original note appearance.

How to actually convert ENEX to TXT

Using the built-in online converter

1. Open 101convert.com and select the ENEX-to-TXT conversion tool.
2. Upload the .enex file.
3. Choose TXT as the output format and start the conversion.
4. Download the resulting .txt file and open it in a plain-text editor to check titles, paragraphs, and line breaks.

This method requires no installed software and is practical for ordinary exports. Do not use it for confidential notes unless the service’s current privacy and file-retention terms meet your requirements.

Using a local Python script

For private data or repeatable batch processing, save the following as enex_to_txt.py in the same folder as export.enex:

import sys
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from html.parser import HTMLParser

class PlainText(HTMLParser):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__()
        self.parts = []

    def handle_data(self, data):
        self.parts.append(data)

    def handle_starttag(self, tag, attrs):
        if tag in {'br', 'p', 'div', 'li', 'h1', 'h2', 'h3'}:
            self.parts.append('\n')

    def handle_endtag(self, tag):
        if tag in {'p', 'div', 'li', 'h1', 'h2', 'h3'}:
            self.parts.append('\n')

def clean_content(value):
    parser = PlainText()
    parser.feed(value or '')
    lines = [' '.join(line.split()) for line in ''.join(parser.parts).splitlines()]
    return '\n'.join(line for line in lines if line).strip()

source = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else 'export.enex'
target = sys.argv[2] if len(sys.argv) > 2 else 'export.txt'
root = ET.parse(source).getroot()

with open(target, 'w', encoding='utf-8', newline='\n') as output:
    for number, note in enumerate(root.findall('.//note'), 1):
        title = note.findtext('title', default='').strip()
        content = clean_content(note.findtext('content', default=''))
        if number > 1:
            output.write('\n\n')
        if title:
            output.write(title + '\n')
            output.write('=' * len(title) + '\n')
        output.write(content)

print(f'Wrote {target}')

Run it with:

python enex_to_txt.py export.enex export.txt

The script reads each note, writes its title as a heading, strips HTML or XHTML tags from the note body, preserves basic block separation, and saves UTF-8 output. It uses only Python’s standard library.

Quality and compatibility limitations

• Formatting such as bold, tables, checkboxes, internal Evernote links, and indentation will not remain fully intact in TXT.
• Images, PDFs, audio, and other ENEX resources are not embedded in a plain-text file. Their filenames or references may be lost.
• Character encoding matters: UTF-8 preserves most international characters and should be selected whenever an application offers an encoding option.
• Multiple notes need separators or headings to remain distinguishable. The local script adds the original title and an underline for each note.
• Before deleting the ENEX source, compare several converted notes, especially notes containing tables, checklists, code, non-Latin characters, or attachments.