Terry

Get your Palm Memos onto your Android phone in 7 easy steps!

In this continuing series on my conversion from PalmOS to Android I discuss my solution for getting your PalmOS Memos onto you Android hand held computer. To read Part 3 click here: SplashID: Palm to Android

This might have been the simplest conversion I’ve made thus far. You know exactly what you want. You want all your Palm memos, properly formatted and in appropriate categories magically transported to your Android device. My solution involves using Note Everything from Softxperience. Their website appears to be in German only. You can download Note Everything from the Android Market for free. There is also a Note Everything Pro version that gives extra bells and whistles. But, thankfully you don’t need to shell out for the Pro version to import your Palm Memos.

 Transfer Memos From PalmOS to Your Android
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1. Sync your memos to your Palm Desktop. If you don’t have the Desktop software you can get it here: Palm Desktop Software.
If your Hotsync hangs while you are syncing your Memos, like mine did, you may have corrupted records in your Memo Pad. I used Pimlico Software’s dbscan software (located here dbScan) to Remove All Deleted Records.

2. In the Palm Desktop choose Memos, highlight all your Memos and then File -> Export. Choose “csv,txt” file format and choose a location and name for your exported file. Place a check mark next to Category and Memo leaving Private unchecked. Also, re-order the three items so that the order is Category, Memo, then Private.


3. Connect and mount your Android device via USB to your computer. Then, copy the file you created in step 2 to your device.

4. Download Note Everything from the Android Market and install it.

5. In Note Everything. Select the Menu then Import. Next choose “Import from Palm Memos”. Feel free to visit the web site that pops up. (Basically these instructions.)

6. Navigate to and choose the csv file you transferred onto your Android’s SD card in steps 3.

7. That’s it. Your Palm Memos are now on your Android device in separate Note Everything folders. Incidental, folders are accessible by selecting the Menu and choosing Select Folder.

Told you that was easy.

Happy Dancing.

Terry.


Please leave comments below. If you have questions feel free to post them our new forum here.

90 thoughts on “Get your Palm Memos onto your Android phone in 7 easy steps!”

  1. Well, we were sailing along just fine here!
    Thanks for the tips.
    I haven’t bought the droid yet, but my Palm XT just died. I can still sync, but I can’t enter anything.

    What about all those other things?
    Like – calendar?? Docs to go. Shopping list. todo list?

    You were doing so well. Thanks.

  2. Thanks so much for your journal of your journey from Palm to Android. I’m on that journey now and appreciate all the work you’ve shared.

    I’ve had a Palm product since the early Palm Pilot, through the Tungsten era, and the Centro.

    I have been wondering what to do about memos. I still get out the Centro, no longer a phone, and look at my memos. I will follow your advice.

    I’ve never used Splash ID. I do have 2.0 android. Would you recommend it?

    I do miss Splash Shopper. ToMarket is the closest thing I’ve found. Not perfect, but it fills a need.

    Thanks again for sharing.

  3. Great info. Helped me a lot.

    Exporting Contact List from Palm Treo to Android based phones

    Also, for contact list transfer from Palm Treo to HTC Aria Android phone, I just saved the contact list as a vfile from Palm Treo Desktop application and then imported into Gmail account, it automatically synced with HTC Aria.

    Could anyone advise on how to transfer media files (photos/videos) from Palm Treo to Android based phones like HTC Aria.

    Thank you.

  4. Thanks for posting, but I followed these steps and it imported as one long memo with lots of funky characters… Can you tell me what I am doing wrong? Thanks…

  5. I cannot “see” my Droid on my Windows Explorer. It’s as if the PC doesn’t realize that there is something plugged into the USB port. I tried e-mailing the exported MemoPad file to my Gmail account, but I can’t unattach the document on my Droid. Any ideas?

    Thanks!

  6. Ramesh,

    Can you see your memos fine in the Palm Desktop?
    Are your memos Password protected? This method does not handle password protected memos.
    Did you de-select the ‘Private’ category as is shown in step 2?

    Terry.

  7. Regina,

    Do you see any indication that the Droid knows it is connected to the computer? Do you see the USB icon in your status bar?

    You could try rebooting the Droid and re-connect it to your PC.

    Another alternative might be to remove the Micro SD card from the Droid and plug it into your PC, via a MicroSD to Standard SD converter. Which leads to another question. Can you see other USB devices in your Explorer after you attach them to you PC?

    Terry

  8. Thanks for your quick reply, Terry. With my Dell, no, there was absolutely no indication that it saw my Droid (though it does see other things I plug into the USB, like a digital camera). Oddly, though, and perhaps more problematic, I plugged the Droid into my Vaio laptop, and it (the Vaio) DOES see the Droid. BUT, I cannot move or copy the .csv file onto the Droid. I have no idea why that should be. When I try to drag the .csv file, I get that circle-with-a-slash-through-it symbol. If I try to copy the .csv, and then right-click on the Mobile Device icon to prepare to paste the copied file, I get no option to paste. Any thoughts?

    Thanks so much,
    Regina

  9. Terry, I should add one more thing to my previous comment: I tried e-mailing (via Gmail) the .csv file to myself, thinking that I could then open up the file on the Droid (or anyway, save it on the Droid, even if I couldn’t open it) so that I could get around my original problem of transferring the .csv file. However, I find I cannot open OR save the file from my Gmail on the Droid. I have been able to open other e-mail attachements, though. What do you make of that?

    Cheers,
    Regina

  10. I must thank you for this posting. Your directions worked perfectly! I now am enjoying all of my palm memos on my brand new Vibrant, which you have made even more useful for me. Thank you so very much!!!!!

  11. Well, Terry, I figured out my otherh problems…but now I have the problem that Ramesh had: All the memos came across to the Droid as one REALLY long memo. I double-checked the stuff you recommended to Ramesh. Any thoughts?

  12. I have tried this but have some problems.

    My Vista Palm Desktop, 6.2.1, does not have the option File > Export Choose only File > Export so I cannot check Category and Memo; could this be because I have not categorised any of my memos? They all appear in All and Unfiled.

    Secondly when I get the file “full memo.mpa” onto my SD card and run Note Everything it has taken over two hours so far and is still saying Outlook Import: Parsing file.. with the status bar showing some movement but no indication that it has completed any conversion?

    Note I did make an error the first time I tried this by running two attempts (did not notice first had started; thought it was a quick process?)at conversion; force kill and reboot before this attempt.

    Any advice

  14. Alan,

    I run LInux as my primary desktop. When I converted my contacts and memos I had to find a Windows XP machine to do the export. Can you use a friend’s Windows XP system?

    I also like using Virtual Machines to install other Operating Systems. If you are up to it (and have access to Windows XP install disks) you could download and install Oracle’s Virtual Box, install XP in it and export your Memos that way.

    Terry.

  15. Terry, I too am in the same situation as Ramesh. I tried exporting my memos as csv and tab files, but still get one very long file. I ordered the “Category, Memo and Private” categories as you mentioned.

  16. Worked great!

    Being a first-timer, here were my struggles…

    1. Had to unplug the Droid X from the laptop a couple of times to give the Droid’s SD card access back to the Droid.

    2. In order to move the .csv file from the laptop to the Droid X, I did a right click on “Start” on my laptop then select “Explore”. With the Droid X plugged into the laptop, I could see the Droid X showed as a “removeable disk”. Then I located the .csv file of my memos, which I had purposely saved onto my Desktop, and simply did a drag-and-drop of the file from my desktop to the “removeable disk” .

    3. A few hiccups with Note Everything. After downloading it to the Droid X and running it, a blank screen without much info showed up. I was lost for a bit. What you have to do at this screen is click the lower left “Menu Key” button on the Droid X (the one with the 4 little squares pictured on it), then select “More”, then select “Import”, then select “Import from Palm memos”, then scroll down to the .csv file that you made.

    4. Any time the Droid X said “SD-Card not accessible”, I just unplugged it, did what I had to do, then re-attached it if needed.

  17. Terry,
    if your method works, i am going to be so happy and appreciative. a couple of questions as i try to move my memos from palm treo 755p to Motorola droid X. My Palm Desktop is on an APPLE platform. I’m using Palm Desktop 4.2.1. but when i prepare to export, a csv format is not offered! Just “Palm Desktop” or “Tab & Return” formats are available (vcard and vcal are grayed out meaning inaccessible). what to do?

    also, i am being asked whether to export “columns” and the choices to check are: Title, Body, Time, Date, Modified, Catergory 1, Category 2, and Private. Each of these can be checked or unchecked. confused.

    lastly, connecting the X to the Apple by micro-usb/usb does not seem to get X recognized by computer. what computer said was “computer does not recognize this disk.”

    any help would be most appreciated.

    thank you,
    john c.

  18. I am a Palm operating system user from the mid-90’s, and had a multitude of Memos. Your instructions worked beautifully. Thank you for your help!

    Terry T.

  19. Thank you for this guide. I was looking for a solution for several weeks and this solved my problem in half an hour and saved me a lot of work and trouble. Again, many thank you.
    Tom d.

  20. I too am on a Mac and have experienced the same as John (September 4). Any advice/info?

    Thanks,

    JPW

  21. Terry…
    I have the same issue as Ramesh and Doug. What do I do with the singular long memo that I imported from my PalmDesktop? Is there a way to divide it into individual files using Note Everything?
    Thanks for your help!

  22. Thanks for the info. Have you checkd out Dejaoffice at http://www.companionlink.com? It claims that you can sync the Palm Desktop Calendar, tasks, memos, and contacts to the android with this device. How does that compare to NotesEverything? I’d be curious to get your opinion on this. Thanks.

  23. Hi.
    The solution for the contacts worked seamlessly.
    Have the droid plugged into the computer and have my files exported into the droid, but can’t find the SD card on the droid. My computer sees it as a removable disk, and I have several choices including .android secure, .quickoffice, android, dcim, kindle, logs, lost.dir, messaging.
    I’ve move a few files into each of these folders but the noteseverything doesn’t see it.
    is there an “explorer” w/in the droid where I can move these around?
    thanks
    Bill

  24. Bill,

    When you are importing within Note Everything you have the ability to find the files on the SD card. If you want to find the files without using Note Everything you can find a File Manager app in the Market. I use ES File Explorer myself.

    Terry.

  25. Thanks Terry
    Hey, I found it (just had to tap “more” and found import….
    Got them imported. Thanks!
    however….
    I’m a palm user from back in the pilot days and have over 1000 memos that I need to have individually ordered into their own file.
    I had the same problem Ramesh, doug, and digichick have – they’re coming over in one large file.
    would the pro version of this help?
    Thanks
    Bill

  26. Thanks Terri
    Found it!
    however, having the same probs as some others
    comes in one big memo
    I have over 1000 from the days of palm pilot and need them individual
    would prof version do this?
    any other solution?
    thx
    bill

  30. these 2 apps helped me astro and documents to go exported memos to my sd card
    Files just popped up then you can see the files as you open astro are you can see them in docs to go

  31. Terry

    I am “blown away” – thank you SO much for this advice and for the effort you put into helping others. Your instructions were clear and everything worked as you said it would. Now I’ll start reading to see if you have a solution to copy all of my To-do lists from my TX.

    Again, many thanks from down under (Australia)

    rob g

  32. Pingback: Migrate Palm Memos to Android (Snasung Galaxy S I9000) « Linux Toys
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  34. Thanks for the info. I have the HTC EVO, I copied the files to the SD card of the EVO, installed Notes Everything. It worked like a charm. Thank you so very much!!!

  36. Hi Terry,

    Very helpful instructions, but I’m stuck.

    I have an HTC EVO Shift. I exported my memos from my Palm Centro as you instructed.

    I got up to Step #6 of your directions. I see my Palm Memos CSV file show up on the Notes Everything screen and when I touch it to “Pick” and it highlights green, nothing happens. The “Pick” button in the lower right hand corner is greyed out.

    I see at the bottom of my screen: Current selection: …mnt/sdcard/Palm Memos 3-17-11.csv

    When I go back to Note Everything by pressing the back arrow it is a blank black screen that says: “No notes in this folder, pres menu to create one or select another folder.”

    Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

    =MB=

  37. Hello again Terry,

    Never mind! I just realized that I didn’t have any bars (reception) on my phone. So I went outside and had reception and all of the Memos imported into Note Everything! A million thanks!!

    I can finally stop charging my Palm Centro and let it retire in peace.

    All the best!

    =MB=

  38. I followed the instructions, created an export file, imported it into Note Everything (I have pro) and it imported all kinds of titles (unfiled, Personal, Gardening), but they’re all blank :( Any thoughts as to what might have happened?

  39. Nevermind – I see what I did, I didn’t order the categories – all is well now, everything imported nicely, thank you!! :)

  40. I have steps 1 thru 3 completed with the memos copied to my desktop. I do not know how to copy these onto the card in my htc Android phone. Could you be a little more specific with the instruction as how to copy to the card. I tried dragging the files to the Android in control panel devices & printers but this did not work. I tried right clicking on the desktop memoes then selecting copy but do not know how to find target to copy to. I have the app on the phone, just am stuck trying to get the memoes from my desktop onto the card. Thank you

  41. Dickie,

    (These instructions may vary depending on the Android version your hand held is running)

    When you attach your hand held to your computer via the USB cable you should see a USB logo in your phone’s notification bar.
    Drag the notification bar down, click on the USB logo and choose ‘Disk Drive’
    You should then be able to open Windows Explorer (or an equivalent file manager depending on what OS you are running) and navigate to your Android’s SD Card.
    Once you open your Android’s SD card on your desktop you can then copy the file your created in steps 1 to 3 to the Android.

    Hope that makes it more clear.

    Terry.

  44. I think I followed the steps, but I’m getting all of the memos from a category into a single memo on my android.
    Does anyone have any idea how to fix this???

    Thanks
    Carson

  45. I imported Palm notes and addresses with B-Folders. They are all secured and I can sync between phone, computer and laptop smoothly without using any cloud.

    Hu

  48. Dave,

    I have not seen that error myself. What version of the Palm Desktop are you using?
    Did you order the fields as instructed to in step 2?

    Terry

  49. 3. Connect and mount your Android device via USB to your computer. Then, copy the file you created in step 2 to your device.
    “how do i do this procedure”

  50. menachem,

    1. Connect your Android phone to your PC using a USB cable.

    2. Depending on your Android version you should see an indicator to attach your Android to your PC as a disk drive.
    I’m running Android 2.2. When I attach my phone to my PC I see a USB logo in the notification bar on top.
    Open the notification bar and click “Charge only”. Then choose “Disk drive” and “Done”

    3. Open your File Manager, like Windows Explorer if you are running Windows, and navigate to the folder you saved the file in step 2.

    4. Copy the file from this folder to a folder on the Android device.

    Let me know if this helps or not.

    Terry.

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