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Palm Desktop memo importer for Evernote is a utility program to bring your existing memos or notes from Palm Desktop (synced copies of notes created on a Palm device or in Palm Desktop itself) into Evernote (a web service and programs for storing and syncing notes between the web and a variety of devices). You'll find this useful if you've been using a PalmOS device such as a Treo smartphone and are moving to a different device (Palm Pre, iPhone, BlackBerry, etc.) which has Evernote support, and you want to bring your old notes with you.
The import process will create a new Evernote notebook called "Palm import". In that notebook, it will create a new Evernote note for each Palm Desktop memo. It will create and apply Evernote tags corresponding to the Palm Desktop categories on each note. If the data exported from Palm Desktop includes modification dates for each note (which is true when exporting with Palm Desktop for Mac, but not Palm Desktop for Windows), then this date will be used as the creation date for the note in Evernote.
This is a one-time import from Palm Desktop to Evernote, not a sync utility.
See below for instructions on how to export your notes from Palm Desktop in a format this utility can read.
First, you'll need an Evernote account. Sign up if you don't already have one.
Second, you'll need to have Palm Desktop installed, under either Mac OS X or Windows. This utility has been tested with Palm Desktop for Mac version 4.2.2 and with Palm Desktop for Windows version 6.2.2. If you have a choice of computers to export from, Palm Desktop for Mac preserves note modification dates, whereas the Windows version does not; if this is important to you, use Palm Desktop for Mac.
Third, you'll need the memo importer utility itself. Download it using the links above, unzip the file you've downloaded, and run the standalone program directly -- it does not require installation.
The process of copying your notes from your PalmOS device into Evernote goes like this:
Now your notes will be available anywhere you can access Evernote.
To export your notes from Palm Desktop in a format this utility can read:
Use version 4.2.2 or version 4.2.1d of Palm Desktop for Mac. Launch Palm Desktop, and choose the File -> Export command. In the top half of the "Export: Palm Desktop" window, specify a name and location for the export file; remember this because you'll have to provide this to the import utility aftwards. In the bottom half of the window, use the following settings:
(If you enter the Export command while on the Memos screen, the only option you should have to change in this dialog is the Format option.)
Press Save, and wait as your memos are exported. Now you can return to step 3 in the instructions above.
Use version 6.2.2 of Palm Desktop for Windows. Launch Palm Desktop, enter the Memos view, then choose the File -> Export command. In the "Export as" dialog, specify a name and location for the export file; remember this because you'll have to provide this to the import utility aftwards. In the bottom half of the window, use the following settings:
Press Export. This will take you to the "Specify Export Fields" dialog. Leave all settings at their defaults (Memo, Private, and Category should all be checked and should remain in that order) and press OK.
Wait as your memos are exported. Now you can return to step 3 in the instructions above.
Releases of this program:
This program was created by Matt Ginzton, matt@maddogsw.com.
Thanks to the Python, wx, and wxPython projects for providing the technology that powers this program, and thanks to Evernote for providing APIs to bring data in and out of their service.
Evernote and Palm may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Palm Desktop memo importer for Evernote is available for free, but if you want to say thanks with a small donation, thanks in return!
Send questions/comments to matt@maddogsw.com