Geeknote for Evernote (or 印象笔记)

Geeknote is a command line client for Evernote that can be use on Linux, FreeBSD and OS X.

It allows you to:

create notes in your Evernote account;
create tags, notebooks;
use Evernote search from the console using different filters;
edit notes directly in the console using any editor, such as nano, vim or mcedit;
synchronize your local files and directories with Evernote;
use Evernote with cron or any scripts.

Geeknote is open source and written in Python. Geeknote can be used anywhere you have Python installed (even in Windows if you like).

In this document we'll show how to work with Evernote's notes, notebooks, and tags using Geeknote and how to use Geeknote sync.

Installation

You can install Geeknote using Homebrew/Linuxbrew, or from its source.

Homebrew installation

brew install --HEAD https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jeffkowalski/geeknote/master/geeknote.rb

Downloading and installing from source

# Install dependencies. (This example for Debian-based systems):
sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get -y install python-setuptools
pip install wheel

# Download the repository.
git clone git://github.com/jeffkowalski/geeknote.git

cd geeknote

# Installation

# - if you have only a python2 environment,
python setup.py build
pip install --upgrade .

# - or, to force python2 in python3 environments
python2 setup.py build
pip2 install --upgrade .

Testing

Geeknote has a non-destructive unit test suite with fair coverage.

Ensure pytest framework is installed

pip install --upgrade pytest

Execute the tests

py.test

Un-installation

If originally installed via homebrew,

brew remove geeknote

If originally installed from source,

pip uninstall geeknote

Geeknote Settings

Authorizing Geeknote

After installation, Geeknote must be authorized with Evernote prior to use. To authorize your Geeknote in Evernote launch the command login:

geeknote login

This will start the authorization process. Geeknote will ask you to enter your credentials just once to generate access token, which will be saved in local database. Re-authorization is not required, if you won't decide to change user. After authorization you can start to work with Geeknote.

Logging out and changing users

If you want to change Evernote user you should launch logout command:

geeknote logout

Afterward, you can repeat the authorization step.

(Yìnxiàng Bǐjì notes)

If you want to use Evernote's separate service in China Yìnxiàng Bǐjì (印象笔记), you need to set the environment variable GEEKNOTE_BASE to yinxiang.

GEEKNOTE_BASE=yinxiang geeknote login
# or
export GEEKNOTE_BASE=yinxiang
geeknote ...commands...

Yìnxiàng Bǐjì (印象笔记) is faster in China and it supports Chinese payment methods. Be aware that Yìnxiàng Bǐjì will not have support for sharing social features like Twitter or Facebook. Furthermore, since data are stored on servers in China, Chinese authorities have the right to access their data according to current regulations.

For more information, see: Evernote Launches Separate Chinese Service

Examining your settings

$ geeknote settings
Geeknote
******************************
Version: 2.0.9
App dir: /Users/username/.geeknote
Error log: /Users/username/.geeknote/error.log
Current editor: vim
Markdown2 Extras: None
Note extension: .markdown, .org
******************************
Username: username
Id: 11111111
Email: example@gmail.com

Setting up the default editor

You can edit notes within console editors in plain text or markdown format.

You can setup the default editor you want to use. To check which editor is now set up as a default call:

geeknote settings --editor

To change the default editor call:

geeknote settings --editor vim

To use gvim you need to prevent forking from the terminal with -f:

geeknote settings --editor 'gvim -f'

Example

$ geeknote settings --editor
Current editor is: nano
$ geeknote settings --editor vim
Editor successfully saved
$ geeknote settings --editor
Current editor is: vim

Working with Notes

Notes: Creating notes

The main functionality that we need is creating notes in Evernote.

Synopsis

geeknote create --title <title>
               [--content <content>]
               [--tag <tag>]
               [--created <date and time>]
               [--resource <attachment filename>]
               [--notebook <notebook where to save>]
               [--reminder <date and time>]
               [--url <url>]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑title	title	With this option we specify the title of new note we want to create.
‑‑content	content	Specify the content of new note. The content must not contain double quotes.
‑‑tag	tag	Specify tag that our note will have. May be repeated.
‑‑created	date	Set note creation date and time in either 'yyyy-mm-dd' or 'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM' format.
‑‑resource	attachment filename, like: document.pdf	Specify file to be attached to the note. May be repeated.
‑‑notebook	notebook where to save	Specify the notebook where new note should be saved. This option is not required. If it isn't given, the note will be saved in default notebook. If notebook doesn't exist Geeknote will create it automatically.
‑‑reminder	date	Set reminder date and time in either 'yyyy-mm-dd' or 'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM' format. Alternatively use TOMORROW and WEEK for 24 hours and a week ahead respectively, NONE for a reminder without a time. Use DONE to mark a reminder as completed.
--urls	url	Set the URL for the note.
--raw		A flag signifying the content is in raw ENML format.

Description

This command allows us to create a new note in Evernote. Geeknote has designed for using in console, so we have some restrictions like inability to use double quotes in --content option. But there is a method to avoid it - use stdin stream or file synchronization, we show it later in documentation.

Examples

Creating a new note with a PDF attachment:

geeknote create --title "Shopping list"
                --content "Don't forget to buy milk, turkey and chips."
                --resource shoppinglist.pdf
                --notebook "Family"
                --tag "shop" --tag "holiday" --tag "important"

Creating a new note and editing content in editor (notice the lack of content argument):

geeknote create --title "Meeting with customer"
                --notebook "Meetings"
                --tag "projectA" --tag "important" --tag "report"
                --created "2015-10-23 14:30"

Notes: Searching for notes in Evernote

You can easily search notes in Evernote with Geeknote and output results in the console.

Synopsis

geeknote find --search <text to find>
             [--tag <tag>]
             [--notebook <notebook>]
             [--date <date or date range>]
             [--count <how many results to show>]
             [--exact-entry]
             [--content-search]
             [--url-only]
             [--reminders-only]
             [--ignore-completed]
             [--with-tags]
             [--with-notebook]
             [--guid]

Description

Use find to search through your Evernote notebooks, with options to search and print more detail. Geeknote remembers the result of the last search. So, you can use the ID number of the note's position for future actions. For example:

$ geeknote find --search "Shopping"

Total found: 2
  1 : 2006-06-02 2009-01-19 Grocery Shopping List
  2 : 2015-02-22 2015-02-24 Gift Shopping List

$ geeknote show 2
################### URL ###################
NoteLink: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/nl/2079/7aecf253-c0d9-407e-b4e2-54cd5510ead6
WebClientURL: https://www.evernote.com/Home.action?#n=7aecf253-c0d9-407e-b4e2-54cd5510ead6
################## TITLE ##################
Gift Shopping List
=================== META ==================
Notebook: EverNote
Created: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2012-02-24
|||||||||||||||| REMINDERS ||||||||||||||||
Order: None
Time: None
Done: None
----------------- CONTENT -----------------
Tags: shopping
Socks
Silly Putty
Furby

That will show you the note "Gift Shopping List".

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑search	text to find	Set the text to find. You can use "" like this: --search "Shop"
‑‑tag	tag	Filter by tag. May be repeated.
‑‑notebook	notebook	Filter by notebook.
‑‑date	date or range	Filter by date. You can set a single date in 'yyyy-mm-dd' format or a range with 'yyyy-mm-dd/yyyy-mm-dd'
‑‑count	how many results to show	Limits the number of displayed results.
‑‑content-search		find command searches by note's title. If you want to search by note's content - set this flag.
‑‑exact-entry		By default Geeknote has a smart search, so it searches fuzzy entries. But if you need exact entry, you can set this flag.
‑‑guid		Show GUID of the note as substitute for result index.
‑‑ignore-completed		Include only unfinished reminders.
‑‑reminders-only		Include only notes with a reminder.
‑‑with-notebook		Show notebook containing the note.
‑‑with-tags		Show tags of the note after note title.
‑‑with-url		Show results as a list of URLs to each note in Evernote's web-client.

Examples

geeknote find --search "How to patch KDE2" --notebook "jokes" --date 2015-10-14/2015-10-28
geeknote find --search "apt-get install apache nginx" --content-search --notebook "manual"

Notes: Editing notes

With Geeknote you can edit your notes in Evernote using any editor you like (nano, vi, vim, emacs, etc.)

Synopsis

geeknote edit --note <title or GUID of note to edit>
             [--title <the new title>]
             [--content <new content or "WRITE">]
             [--resource <attachment filename>]
             [--tag <tag>]
             [--created <date and time>]
             [--notebook <new notebook>]
             [--reminder <date and time>]
             [--url <url>]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑note	title of note which to edit	Tells Geeknote which note we want to edit. Geeknote searches by that name to locate a note. If Geeknote finds more than one note with such name, it will ask you to make a choice.
‑‑title	a new title	Use this option if you want to rename your note. Just set a new title, and Geeknote will rename the old one.
‑‑content	new content or "WRITE"	Enter the new content of your notes in text, or write instead the option "WRITE". In the first case the old content of the note will be replaced with the new content. In the second case Geeknote will get the current content and open it in Markdown in a text editor.
‑‑resource	attachment filename, like: document.pdf	Specify file to be attached to the note. May be repeated. Will replace existing resources.
‑‑tag	tag	Tag to be assigned to the note. May be repeated. Will replace existing tags.
‑‑created	date	Set note creation date date and time in either 'yyyy-mm-dd' or 'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM' format.
‑‑notebook	target notebook	With this option you can change the notebook which contains your note.
‑‑reminder	date	Set reminder date and time in either 'yyyy-mm-dd' or 'yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM' format. Alternatively use TOMORROW and WEEK for 24 hours and a week ahead respectively, NONE for a reminder without a time. Use DONE to mark a reminder as completed. Use DELETE to remove reminder from a note.
--urls	url	Set the URL for the note.
--raw		A flag signifying the content is in raw ENML format.

Examples

Renaming the note:

geeknote edit --note "Naughty List" --title "Nice List"

Renaming the note and editing content in editor:

geeknote edit --note "Naughty List" --title "Nice List" --content "WRITE"

Notes: Showing note content

You can output any note in console using command show either independently or as a subsequent command to find. When you use show on a search made previously in which there was more than one result, Geeknote will ask you to make a choise.

Synopsis

geeknote show <text or GUID to search and show>

Examples

$ geeknote show "Shop*"

Total found: 2
  1 : Grocery Shopping List
  2 : Gift Shopping List
  0 : -Cancel-
: _

As we mentioned before, show can use the results of previous search, so if you have already done the search, just call show with number of previous search results.

$ geeknote find --search "Shop*"

Total found: 2
  1 : Grocery Shopping List
  2 : Gift Shopping List

$ geeknote show 2

Notes: Removing notes

You can remove notes with Geeknotes from Evernote.

Synopsis

geeknote remove --note <note name or GUID>
               [--force]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑note	note name	Name of the note you want to delete. If Geeknote will find more than one note, it will ask you to make a choice.
‑‑force		A flag that says that Geeknote shouldn't ask for confirmation to remove note.

Examples

geeknote remove --note "Shopping list"

Notes: De-duplicating notes

Geeknote can find and remove duplicate notes.

Synopsis

geeknote dedup [--notebook <notebook>]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑notebook	notebook	Filter by notebook.

Description

Geeknote can locate notes that have the same title and content, and move duplicate notes to the trash. For large accounts, this process can take some time and might trigger the API rate limit. For that reason, it's possible to scope the de-duplication to a notebook at a time.

Examples

geeknote dedup --notebook Contacts

Working with Notebooks

Notebooks: show the list of notebooks

Geeknote can display the list of all notebooks you have in Evernote.

Synopsis

geeknote notebook-list [--guid]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑guid		Show GUID of the notebook as substitute for result index.

Notebooks: creating a notebook

With Geeknote you can create notebooks in Ever.0.0note right in console!

Synopsis

geeknote notebook-create --title <notebook title>

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑title	notebook title	With this option we specify the title of new note we want to create.

Examples

geeknote notebook-create --title "Sport diets"

Notebooks: renaming a notebook

With Geeknote it's possible to rename existing notebooks in Evernote.

Synopsis

geeknote notebook-edit --notebook <old name>
                       --title <new name>

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑notebook	old name	Name of existing notebook you want to rename.
‑‑title	new name	New title for notebook

Examples

geeknote notebook-edit --notebook "Sport diets" --title "Hangover"

Working with Tags

Tags: showing the list of tags

You can get the list of all tags you have in Evernote.

Synopsis

geeknote tag-list [--guid]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑guid		Show GUID of the tag as substitute for result index.

Tags: creating a new tag

Usually tags are created with publishing new note. But if you need, you can create a new tag with Geeknote.

Synopsis

geeknote tag-create --title <tag name to create>

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑title	tag name to create	Set the name of tag you want to create.

Examples

geeknote tag-create --title "Hobby"

Tags: renaming a tag

You can rename the tag:

Synopsis

geeknote tag-edit --tagname <old name>
                  --title <new name>

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑tagname	old name	Name of existing tag you want to rename.
‑‑title	new name	New name for tag.

Examples

geeknote tag-edit --tagname "Hobby" --title "Girls"

gnsync - synchronization app

Gnsync is an additional application installed with Geeknote. Gnsync allows synchronization of files in local directories with Evernote. It works with text data and html with picture attachment support.

Synopsis

gnsync --path <path to directory which to sync>
      [--mask <unix shell-style wildcards to select the files, like *.* or *.txt or *.log>]
      [--format <in what format to save the note - plain, markdown, or html>]
      [--notebook <notebook, which will be used>]
      [--all]
      [--logpath <path to logfile>]
      [--two-way]
      [--download]

Options

Option	Argument	Description
‑‑path	directory to sync	The directory you want to sync with Evernote. It should be the directory with text content files.
‑‑mask	unix shell-style wildcards to select the files	You can tell gnsync what filetypes to sync. By default gnsync tries to open every file in the directory. But you can set the mask like: .txt, .log, .md, .markdown.
‑‑format	in what format to save the note - plain or markdown	Set the engine which to use while files uploading. gnsync supports markdown and plain text formats. By default it uses plain text engine.
‑‑notebook	notebook where to save	You can set the notebook which will be syncronized with local directory. But if you won't set this option, gnsync will create new notebook with the name of the directory that you want to sync.
‑‑all		You can specify to synchronize all notebooks already on the server, into subdirectories of the path. Useful with --download to do a backup of all notes.
‑‑logpath	path to logfile	gnsync can log information about syncing and with that option you can set the logfile.
‑‑two-way		Normally gnsync will only upload files. Adding this flag will also make it download any notes not present as files in the notebook directory (after uploading any files not present as notes)
‑‑download-only		Normally gnsync will only upload files. Adding this flag will make it download notes, but not upload any files

Description

The application gnsync is very useful in system adminstration, because you can syncronize you local logs, statuses and any other production information with Evernote.

Examples

gnsync --path /home/project/xmpp/logs/
       --mask "*.logs"
       --logpath /home/user/logs/xmpp2evernote.log
       --notebook "XMPP logs"

Original Contributors

Vitaliy Rodnenko
Simon Moiseenko
Ivan Gureev
Roman Gladkov
Greg V
Ilya Shmygol

fcl-a/geeknote

Geeknote for Evernote (or 印象笔记)

Installation

Homebrew installation

Downloading and installing from source

Testing

Un-installation

Geeknote Settings

Authorizing Geeknote

Logging out and changing users

(Yìnxiàng Bǐjì notes)

Examining your settings

Setting up the default editor

Example

Working with Notes

Notes: Creating notes

Synopsis

Options

Description

Examples

Notes: Searching for notes in Evernote

Synopsis

Description

Options

Examples

Notes: Editing notes

Synopsis

Options

Examples

Notes: Showing note content

Synopsis

Examples

Notes: Removing notes

Synopsis

Options

Examples

Notes: De-duplicating notes

Synopsis

Options

Description

Examples

Working with Notebooks

Notebooks: show the list of notebooks

Synopsis

Options

Notebooks: creating a notebook

Synopsis

Options

Examples

Notebooks: renaming a notebook

Synopsis

Options

Examples

Working with Tags

Tags: showing the list of tags

Synopsis

Options

Tags: creating a new tag

Synopsis

Options

Examples

Tags: renaming a tag

Synopsis

Options

Examples

gnsync - synchronization app

Synopsis

Options

Description

Examples

Original Contributors