Microsoft launches OneNote Importer tool to attract Evernote users

Microsoft has released a new software plug-in for OneNote that will allow users of other third-party apps to import data and host it on the Redmond-based company's digital platform. Starting with Windows, the tool will be available to Mac users over the next few months.

The tech giant launched the OneNote Importer tool especially for Evernote users, to help them seamlessly switch to Microsoft's note-taking app. "The OneNote Importer tool (for Windows initially) migrates all of your Evernote content into OneNote, giving you the opportunity to switch to OneNote and have all your notes in one place, on all your devices," said Vijay Sharma, senior product manager for the OneNote team.

One of the biggest advantages of the product is that it is available for free along with the Office Suite and is integrated to work well with other Office products including Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

In a blog post, Sharma asked users to move to Microsoft's product as they would get the entire Office 365 personal suite including 1TB of cloud storage for $69.99 per year. Evernote Premium customers have to spend $49.99 per year to subscribe to the app.

To attract more customers, OneNote is offering a range of features including free-form canvas to mix text, images, documents, audio, video, offline access to notes and unlimited monthly uploads. Even as Evernote did not share its total user-base in 2014, it claimed to have more than 100 million customers. It is one of the leading productivity apps in both iOS and Android app stores.

With the latest software plug-in, Microsoft that once ruled over the enterprise applications and personal computers space with its Windows OS is trying to reclaim its position, with its Apps and Office Suite.

In January this year, Microsoft announced that its Office Apps touched over 340 million users, and over 30 million users were accessing Outlook from iOS and Android devices. "Office commercial products and cloud services revenue grew 5% in constant currency driven by Office 365 revenue growth of nearly 70% in constant currency," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella while announcing financial results for the second quarter of 2016.