The useful result
All three synthetic notes arrived in one notebook with four tags, six note-to-tag assignments and one PNG attachment. The exported image was byte-for-byte identical to the input. A link between two notes became a relative link to the correct exported Markdown file.
The input was an ENEX file we generated for this test. It was not exported from an Evernote account. This tests Joplin’s handling of that small format fixture, not every part of an Evernote migration.
What we checked
- Preserved: three titles, created and updated times, bold and italic text, nested bullets, checked and unchecked tasks and four tags.
- Links: one external URL survived. One internal note link was resolved by matching its target title.
- Attachment: the PNG’s hash matched the input after import and Markdown export.
- Lost in Markdown: red text colour and a 20-pixel font-size declaration.
- Archive round trip: importing Joplin’s JEX export into a second fresh profile then exporting again produced identical three Markdown files and PNG bytes.
A small repair checklist
If colour carries meaning in your notes, replace it with explicit text labels before relying on Markdown. Check internal links after export, especially when notes share a title. Keep the original ENEX archive and test a representative notebook with attachments before moving a larger collection.
Inspect the evidence
- Download the synthetic ENEX input
- Download the actual Markdown export and attachment
- Inspect the counts, file hashes and result record
Method and limits
A research agent used the actual Joplin Terminal 3.7.1 application with two isolated empty profiles on Windows and Node 24.1.0. No account, cloud sync or personal notebook was used. Import, Markdown export, JEX export and JEX re-import completed. The output files were inspected independently.
Joplin’s official Windows installation instructions use WSL. This test used native Windows shell mode, so it does not establish a supported Windows installation or test the desktop interface. It is not a performance benchmark or a guarantee of lossless migration.
OCR, encrypted notes, notebook stacks, reminders, duplicate titles, large attachments and complete account export were not tested. The observed internal-link result covers one unambiguous target only.
See Joplin’s official import and export guide and terminal documentation for the supported workflows.