Migrate From Evernote to Zoho Notebook?

NOTE: This article is not about any of the “normal” topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, it is a follow-up to my earlier article, Bending Spoons To Acquire Evernote, still available at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/12991805

Evernote is one of my favorite apps for storing random bits of information that I might want to refer to later. I believe Evernote is also used by thousands of other genealogists for many purposes, both genealogy-related and other reasons as well. However, I published an announcement 2 days ago stating that Evernote has agreed to join Bending Spoons, a leading developer of stand-out mobile apps.

The announcement has generated a bunch of comments, including quite a few that appeared in my email in-box. Apparently, many Evernote users are not happy with the announcement for a number of reasons. 

Zoho is a software company based in India that has created a lot of products that (mostly) are alternatives to well-known software products (word processors, spreadsheets, email, CRM, and more) produced by other companies. Zoho has issued a comment that says, “Hey! What about us?”

It seems that Zoho already has a very good note-taking product, called Zoho Notebook, and is inviting all Evernote users to check out the Zoho alternative.

Best of all: Zoho Notebook is available FREE of charge. The company proclaims, “Notebook is 100% Free. No catch. No advertisements. And no, we’re not selling or viewing your data. If you’re curious about our business model or how we secure your data, click here: https://www.zoho.com/notebook/business-model.html.”

Unlike Evernote, Zoho Notebook copies all your notes to all your computers (Windows, Macintosh Apple iOS, Android, Linux, and to the cloud) and states: “The difference here is that (Zoho) Notebook allows you to sync with unlimited devices for free, while Evernote forces you to pick the two devices you want to sync with. We even encrypt your data at rest.”

Zoho Notebook is one of the few note-taking apps that has a native app for the Linux operating system.

NOTE: By copying to the cloud, Zoho Notebook users always have a full backup of all Zoho Notebook data at all times. Again, quoting Zoho: “This is the Notebook you’ll never lose because it syncs to the cloud and across your devices. It’s always backed-up and always up to date.”

While Zoho Notebook is available free of charge and contains no ads, the company does sell “Notebook Pro” for a price. The following is included in the Pro version:

Get more storage, create longer notes and add larger files

Collaborate in notebooks

Email in save emails as notes

Access to premium notebook covers

Entitled for premium customer support through chat and phone

Set custom recurring reminders

Make your documents searchable and editable

Scan and save business cards as contacts

More information about Notebook Pro can be found at: https://www.zoho.com/notebook/draganddrop.html. I do find it interesting that pricing for the Pro version does not seem to be listed, however.

Also, according to Zoho:

“Evernote is one of the most widely used note-taking applications in the world, but there haven’t been any major updates in recent years. Some of the features requested by their customers haven’t been developed. Some users have found that their notes don’t sync properly to all of their devices, and the restriction on the number of devices they can sync to limits their flexibility and productivity. These issues make note-takers look for alternatives.

“Zoho Notebook, launched six years ago as a simple note-taking alternative, has now grown into a full-fledged productivity application. You simply cannot ignore Zoho Notebook when you’re looking for a robust note-taking app.”

You can read a lot more from Zoho’s suggestion that you evaluate Zoho Notebook at: https://www.zoho.com/notebook/evernote-alternative.html

You can read a rather complementary review of Zoho Notebook by TechRadar (a web site that I trust for reviews) at https://www.techradar.com/reviews/zoho-notebook.

Comments by Dick Eastman: I haven’t yet switched from Evernote to Zoho Notebook, primarily because I received the Zoho ad just a few minutes ago. However, I do plan to evaluate the Zoho product sometime in the next few days.

Since I haven’t yet seen the Zoho product, I am not yet in a position to recommend it. However, I will say that I have been using several other Zoho products for several years and have always been satisfied with the products. Zoho seems to always produce nearly bug-free code that works well.

Is it worth the effort to switch from Evernote to Zoho Notebook?  I cannot say one way or the other just yet. however, I do plan to evaluate Zoho Notebook in the next few days.