Import notes from Notion, Evernote and Obsidian, with a preview first

Switching notes apps should not mean starting over. Barside can import notes from Notion, Evernote and Obsidian, and from OneNote, Google Keep, Granola, browser bookmarks, outlines and plain files. You pick the export, Barside reads it on your computer and shows a preview, and you choose the workspace it goes into. Links between notes, checklists, tables, images, audio and video come along. Nothing is uploaded, and if something goes wrong partway, nothing is added.

Below: what to export from each app, the import step by step, what converts and what changes, and the limits to know before a big move.

What Barside can import

Barside recognizes a format by what is inside the files, not by the button you press. The buttons mainly decide whether you pick a folder or files, so Other files handles a mix of formats too.

How to import notes from Notion, Evernote and Obsidian

Each app exports in its own way. Here is what to pick in each, and what Barside does with it.

Notion

Notion's workspace export gives you one ZIP with every page.

1. In Notion, open Settings and, in your workspace's general settings, choose "Export all workspace content".
2. Choose "Markdown & CSV" as the format. Notion emails you a download link when the export is ready, which can take hours for a large workspace.
3. Download the ZIP. You do not need to unzip it.
4. In Barside's import list, choose Notion, then Choose ZIP.

To move one page and its subpages instead, open the page's ••• menu, choose Export, pick "Markdown & CSV" and include subpages.

Each page becomes a note, and links between pages become Barside note links. Databases arrive as CSV files, and each one becomes a note with a table, using the first row as headers. Notion's download often holds more ZIP files inside it, and Barside opens those too. The long ID Notion adds to every file name is removed from note titles.

Evernote

Evernote exports from its desktop app, not from Evernote Web, and it exports up to 100 notes at a time or whole notebooks.

1. In the Evernote desktop app, select a notebook, or the notes you want.
2. Right-click, choose Export, and pick ENEX (.enex) as the format. Leave tags ticked in the export options to keep them.
3. Repeat for each notebook. In Barside, choose Evernote, then Choose .enex files, and select all the files at once.

Each note keeps its title, its created and updated dates, its formatting, and its pictures, audio and video. Tasks from newer versions of Evernote, which are stored outside the note text, come back as checklists in the place they had, ticked if they were done.

Obsidian

An Obsidian vault is already a folder of Markdown files on your computer, so there is nothing to export.

1. In Barside, choose Obsidian, then Choose vault folder.
2. Pick the vault's main folder. Its subfolders come along.

[[Wiki links]] become Barside note links, including links with their own label, like [[Project plan|the plan]]. Embedded images such as ![[diagram.png]] show in the note. Lines like - [ ] and - [x] become checklists, ticked or not. Front matter gives the title, tags, and created and updated dates. The .obsidian settings folder, the .trash folder and hidden files are skipped.

OneNote

OneNote for Windows can save pages and sections as Word documents. OneNote for Mac and OneNote on the web cannot, so do this step on a Windows computer.

1. In OneNote for Windows, open the page or section and choose File, then Export.
2. Pick Page or Section, then Word Document (.docx), and save.
3. In Barside, choose OneNote, then Choose .docx files.

Each Word file becomes one note with its headings, lists, tables and pictures, so a section saved as one file arrives as one note.

How to import, step by step

1. Open Settings & backups, go to Notes from other apps, and choose Import next to Import notes. You can also type import in the search bar.
2. Find your app in the list and press its button: Choose ZIP, Choose vault folder, Choose .enex files, Choose .docx files, and so on. Each row says where that app keeps its export.
3. Barside reads the files and shows Ready to import: how many notes, reading items, bookmarks and attachments it found, the attachments' total size, the first few titles, and a list of things to know when something needs your attention.
4. Under Import into, choose A new workspace, named after the source by default, like From Notion, or An existing workspace.
5. Choose Import. The button names what it will add, like Import 128 notes.
6. When it finishes, Your notes are here. appears, with Open workspace.

If anything fails partway, Barside removes what it added and says The import was not finished and nothing was added. A preview waits for 30 minutes; after that, choose the files again.

What comes along, and what changes

• Links between notes become Barside note links and backlinks, so each note shows what links to it. A link to a note that was not in the import becomes plain text.
• Checklists become real tasks. Every item appears on the task board built from your checklists.
• Images, audio and video are copied into Barside's own storage, so the note keeps working when the export folder is gone. Barside takes PNG, JPG, WebP, GIF, AVIF and BMP pictures, MP4, WebM, MOV and M4V video, and MP3, WAV and OGG audio. Other attachments, such as PDFs, are not imported: the note keeps a line that names each one (Attachment not imported), and the preview lists them.
• Tables stay tables. A CSV file becomes a note with a table.
• Tags become text: a bold Tags: line at the end of the note lists them, so search still finds them. Google Keep labels get a Labels: line the same way.
• Dates are kept when the export has them, for example from Obsidian front matter or Evernote.
• Titles come from the note's own title, its first heading, or the file name.

Granola, Google Keep, bookmarks and outlines

• Granola. In Granola, open Settings, then Profile, and click Generate CSV. Granola emails you the file. Each meeting becomes a note with its attendees, summary, your own notes and the transcript. Granola only exports notes that have a summary. See the Granola alternative guide.
• Google Keep. At takeout.google.com, select only Keep, then Create export, and pick the ZIP. Checklists become task lists, and labels, links and pictures come along. Notes from the Keep trash are left out.
• Browser bookmarks. Export the bookmarks file from your browser: Chrome or Brave through Bookmark manager, Edge through Favorites, Firefox through Manage bookmarks, Import and Backup. It becomes one note, like Bookmarks from Chrome, with every link in the note's bookmark bar, grouped by folder. See the bookmark manager for your projects.
• OPML outlines. Export OPML from Workflowy, Dynalist, Logseq or an RSS reader. Each file becomes a note with nested bullets, and a list of feeds becomes a list of links.
• Other files. Markdown, Word (.docx), HTML, text and CSV files, or a ZIP of them.

Bring your reading too

The same import brings in articles from read-later apps: Matter, Readwise and Readwise Reader, Pocket, Instapaper, Raindrop.io and Omnivore. They go to your Reading inbox with their highlights and tags, not to your notes list, and articles you already saved are skipped.

Pocket shut down on July 8, 2025, and its export page has since closed, so use the export you downloaded: the ZIP with part_000000.csv, or ril_export.html. Omnivore's hosted app ended in November 2024; pick the export ZIP you saved. Read more about Reading, the read-it-later inbox, or compare in the Pocket alternative and Matter alternative guides.

Limits, and tips for a big library

• Up to 5,000 notes per import. If an export has more, Barside stops there and says so in the preview. Import the rest in a second round.
• Up to 1 GB of files per import. A bigger folder is read up to that point, and a folder with more than 20,000 files is read up to the 20,000th.
• Files up to 200 MB each. That goes for a ZIP, .enex or .docx file you pick and for each attachment inside, while a single Markdown, HTML, text or CSV file can be up to 20 MB. If Notion's download is larger than 200 MB, unzip it once and pick the ZIP files inside it.
• Tables up to 5,000 rows and 100 columns. Larger CSV files keep their first rows and columns, with a note in the preview.
• Importing twice adds notes twice. Reading skips articles you already have, but notes do not.

A few habits make a big move calm:

• Import each app into its own new workspace. Look through it, then move notes where they belong. See workspaces for projects.
• Make a backup first. Export backup in Settings & backups saves your whole library as one ZIP, in case you want to go back.
• Read the things to know. The preview lists the files it skipped and why, before you commit.

The importer works the same on Windows 10 and 11, on Linux and on Mac. Only the OneNote export itself needs OneNote for Windows.

Privacy: your files stay on your computer

Barside reads the files you pick on your computer. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed. Imported notes become ordinary notes in your library, so they are part of your ZIP backups. AI features treat them like any other note: you can leave a workspace or a note out of Library AI, and AI apps only see the workspaces you share with them. The privacy guide has the details.

Coming from another app

If you are leaving a cloud notes app, these guides compare Barside with it feature by feature: the Notion alternative, the Evernote alternative, the Obsidian alternative and the OneNote alternative. For a wider view, see the best Notion alternatives and the best note-taking apps.

Works well with