Written by Jennifer Walsh. Reviewed for technical accuracy by Shubham Dixit, Independent Expert in Email Forensics and Data File Conversion.
Shubham is an independent external reviewer and not an employee of PCDOTS.
Quick answer. Export your notes from Evernote as ENEX and drag the file into your Dropbox folder. That is free and it syncs, but an ENEX sits there as a sealed archive you cannot read or search. Convert your notes to PDF or Markdown first and Dropbox will preview them on any device.
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What Dropbox actually does with your notes?
Worth clearing up first, because a lot of guides describe this wrongly. Dropbox is file storage, not a note taking app. It does not import anything and it has no list of supported formats to satisfy. Drop in a photo, a spreadsheet, a zip archive or an Evernote export and Dropbox will hold all of them equally happily, then sync them to your other devices. There is also no Evernote integration to switch on, which is fine, because none is needed.
So the real question is not what Dropbox will accept, since it accepts everything. The question is what you can do with the file once it is in there. Some formats Dropbox will show you straight in the browser or the phone app, and can search inside. Others just sit as a sealed lump you have to download and open elsewhere. That distinction decides whether this is a backup or a genuinely useful archive.
Both files sync perfectly well. Only one of them opens when you tap it.
Export Evernote to Dropbox free
If a backup is all you want, this takes two minutes and costs nothing.
Step 1. Open Evernote on your computer and select the notes or the notebook you want to keep.
Step 2. Right click the selection, choose Export, and pick the ENEX format. Save it somewhere easy to find.
Step 3. Open your Dropbox folder in File Explorer on Windows or Finder on Mac.
Step 4. Drag the ENEX file in. Dropbox syncs it up, and it is now on your other devices and in your account.
One thing to plan around, on a free Evernote plan exports are capped at roughly 100 notes at a time, so a big library comes out in several batches. Your attachments travel inside the ENEX, so nothing is left behind.
The catch with an ENEX in Dropbox
The file is safely stored, and for a pure backup that is a job done. The trouble starts the moment you want to use it. An ENEX is one big XML archive with every note packed inside, and nothing outside Evernote knows how to display that, so Dropbox shows you a file it cannot preview. You cannot read a note in the browser, you cannot open one on your phone, and Dropbox search will not find a word that is sitting inside the archive. To get at a single note you download the whole file and import it back into a notes app.
There is a storage angle too. A large ENEX counts as one hefty file against your Dropbox quota whether you need one note from it or all of them. So if the plan was to have your notes handy in the cloud, ENEX alone does not deliver that.
Make your notes readable in Dropbox
The fix is to stop treating Dropbox as a place notes get imported, and start giving it files it can actually show you. Two formats do this well.
PDF is the strongest choice for reading. Dropbox previews PDFs in the browser and on mobile, keeps your layout and images exactly as they looked, and on paid plans its search can look inside them. One note per PDF means you can find and open a single note in seconds, from a phone, without Evernote anywhere in sight.
Markdown suits you better if you want to keep editing. The files are tiny plain text, Dropbox shows them as formatted text, and any editor can open them. It is also the friendliest format if you later move your notes into another app.
Evernote does not export to either of these, it only offers ENEX and its own formats, which is why a conversion step sits in the middle.
Be honest about which one you are doing, because they need different files.
Convert Evernote notes for Dropbox
Since Evernote will not hand you PDFs or Markdown, a converter does that step. The PCDOTS Evernote File Converter reads your exported ENEX files and writes them out as PDF, Word, Markdown, RTF or plain text, in bulk, keeping the text, images and attachments together. It runs on your own PC and does not need Evernote installed, which also makes it the answer if you have old ENEX exports and no working Evernote account. Convert once, drop the results into Dropbox, and every note previews on any device. There is a free version to try it on a few notes first.
Converting ENEX into files Dropbox can show you, then syncing them up.
Here are the steps with the screens.
Step 1. Download, install and start the converter on your Windows PC.
Step 2. Click Open and choose the Files or Folder option to add your exported ENEX files.
Step 3. Browse, select and import them, then preview your notes in the panel.
Step 4. Open the Export menu, choose PDF or MD, set a save location and click Save. Then drag the results into your Dropbox folder.
If Markdown is your preference there is a fuller walkthrough on how to convert ENEX to Markdown, and if Dropbox is only a staging post on the way somewhere else, see moving Evernote notes to Notion or Evernote to OneNote.
The two approaches compared
Both put your notes in Dropbox. Only one lets you use them there.
| Approach | Best for | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| ENEX dragged in | A quick safety copy, free | Sealed file, no preview or search |
| Converted to PDF | Reading notes on any device | Previews, keeps layout and images |
| Converted to Markdown | Notes you still want to edit | Tiny plain text, easy to move on |
“A backup nobody can open is only half a backup. I see this constantly with proprietary export formats, the data is safe in the sense that the bytes exist, but the moment the original application is gone or the account lapses, a sealed archive is a locked room. Storing notes as PDF alongside the raw export costs almost nothing and means the archive still answers questions in ten years.” Shubham Dixit, Email Data reviewer (draft, pending approval)
Frequently asked questions
How do I export Evernote to Dropbox?
Export your notes from Evernote as an ENEX file, then drag that file into your Dropbox folder and it syncs. To be able to read the notes in Dropbox, convert them to PDF or Markdown before you drop them in.
Does Dropbox support ENEX files?
Dropbox stores any file type, so an ENEX syncs fine. What it cannot do is show you what is inside, since an ENEX is an archive only a notes app can open, so it will not preview or search.
Can I keep Evernote notes as PDF in Dropbox?
Yes, and it is the most useful option. Dropbox previews PDFs in the browser and on mobile, keeps your layout and images, and on paid plans can search inside them.
Does Dropbox have an Evernote integration?
No, there is no built in connection between the two. You export from Evernote yourself and put the files into Dropbox, which is why the format you choose matters.
Do attachments come across?
Yes. Attachments are packed inside the ENEX export, and a converter keeps them with the note when it writes out PDF or Markdown.
Is there a limit on exporting from Evernote?
On a free Evernote plan exports are capped at around 100 notes per batch, so a large library comes out in several goes. Your Dropbox storage quota is the other thing to watch.
A backup you can actually open
If you remember one thing, make it this. Getting notes into Dropbox is the easy half and it is free, but a file that syncs is not the same as a file you can use. Ask yourself whether you want a sealed copy sitting there in case of disaster, or an archive you can search from your phone on a Tuesday afternoon. Keep the ENEX by all means, it is your raw original, then put readable PDFs beside it, and your notes will still be there for you long after Evernote stops being part of your life.
