Import notes from another app
Upload what another app exported. Folders become notebooks and files become notes.
Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app
Import turns files exported from another note app into CommonNote notes. The folder structure inside a ZIP becomes your notebook structure, so you don’t have to rebuild the way you had things organized. Conversion happens in your browser or app, and notes are uploaded to the server one at a time.
First, export from your old app
| Old app | What to upload |
|---|---|
| Notion | The ZIP from a Markdown & CSV export |
| Obsidian | A ZIP of your vault folder |
| Evernote | The exported .enex file |
| Anything else | .md, .markdown or .txt files (several at once is fine) |
Import your notes
- Click Import at the top of the note list. You can also use Import notes from another app in the ⌘K command palette, or Import from another app when you have no notes yet.
- In the Import notes from another app window, click the box (Choose files or drop them here — ZIP · .enex · .md) to choose files, or drag them onto it.
- Wait until “Moving {done} of {total} notes…” finishes. Closing the window or refreshing partway through can leave the import half done.
- Check the results — notes imported, notebooks created, and {n} files skipped with the reasons — then click Close.
What comes across from each app
| Old app | Comes across | Doesn’t come across |
|---|---|---|
| Notion | Page content, folder structure, images and files linked in the text. Databases become checklist notes you can view as a table again under Calendar → Table | Files missing from the ZIP — their image or file links keep the original path and won’t open; the import result lists them as missing |
| Obsidian | Markdown content, folder structure, and attachments linked with standard Markdown such as  | [[wiki links]] and ![[embeds]] stay as plain text; they aren’t turned into note links or attachments. The .obsidian/ and .trash/ folders are ignored |
| Evernote | Titles and body text (headings, lists, checkboxes) | Attachments and images, created/updated times, and formatting such as tables and bold. Notes arrive in No notebook |
| Markdown files | Content and formatting, plus attachments linked from files you selected together | — |
Rules to know
- A note’s title is its file name, without the extension or the long ID Notion adds.
- Folders in the ZIP become notebooks, and folders inside folders become sub-notebooks. If you already have a notebook at the same path (for example
Research/2026), notes go into it instead of a new one. Notebooks shared with you are never used. - Files uploaded without a folder go into No notebook.
- Files and folders starting with
.and__MACOSX/are skipped. Unsupported formats are counted in the results as files we cannot import. - Importing the same files again creates the notes again. There is no check for notes you already have.
- You can’t import into a locked notebook until you unlock it.
Limits
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| The request that sends one note | 16 MB for the whole request (body plus details) — text with many quotes or line breaks may need to be smaller |
| One attachment | 50 MB — the same rule as any attachment, and it uses your storage |
| Whole ZIP | No set limit, but the ZIP is unpacked in your device’s memory, so split very large exports into smaller ones |
If you run out of storage, attachment uploads fail and those files show up in the skipped list. Check your remaining space in Plans and storage.