How to move from Notion to Barside without losing your pages

Leaving Notion does not mean retyping your notes. Notion exports a workspace as Markdown and CSV files in one ZIP, and Barside reads that ZIP on your computer: each page becomes a note, links between pages become note links, and databases arrive as tables. This guide walks through the export, the import, what changes, and how to settle in.

Before you start

Barside is a free, local-first desktop app for Windows, Linux and Mac. Your notes live in a library on your own computer, with no account and no note limits. It has linked notes and backlinks, workspaces, checklists and a task board, kanban boards, database tables and charts inside notes, a calendar next to your notes, and AI features that use your own AI account.

Two things to decide before the move:

• All of Notion, or one area? You can export the whole workspace, or one page with its subpages, and move in stages.
• Where should it land? Barside imports into a new workspace by default, named From Notion. That keeps the import together while you sort it.

Step 1: Export from Notion

The whole workspace

These steps follow Notion's help center:

1. Open Settings in Notion's sidebar.
2. Under Workspace, select General.
3. Choose Export all workspace content.
4. Pick Markdown & CSV as the format and start the export.

Notion emails you a download link. The export "can take up to 30 hours" for a large workspace, and the link "will expire after 7 days". The workspace export is available only on desktop or the web.

One page and its subpages

1. Open the page and click the ••• icon at the top right.
2. Choose Export.
3. Pick Markdown & CSV and switch on Include subpages.
4. Click Export. The ZIP downloads.

Notion's notes on the format: "Any non-database Notion page can be exported as a Markdown file. Full page databases will be exported as a CSV file, with Markdown files for each subpage." Callout blocks are exported as HTML, "as there is no Markdown equivalent".

Step 2: Import into Barside

1. In Barside, open Settings & backups, go to Notes from other apps, and choose Import next to Import notes. Or type import in the search bar.
2. Find Notion and choose Choose ZIP. Pick the ZIP you downloaded.
3. Barside reads it and shows Ready to import: how many notes and attachments it found, the first titles, and things to know, such as files it will skip.
4. Under Import into, keep A new workspace (named From Notion) or pick an existing one.
5. Choose Import. The button says how many notes it adds.
6. When Your notes are here. appears, choose Open workspace.

Notion's download often contains more ZIP files inside it, and Barside opens those too. If anything fails partway, Barside removes what it added, so you never end up with half an import.

What comes along, and what changes

The long ID Notion adds to every file name is removed from note titles. Each checklist item becomes a real task that appears on the task board.

Limits for a big workspace

• Up to 5,000 notes per import, and up to 1 GB of files. Import a very large workspace page by page.
• Files up to 200 MB each. If Notion's download is bigger, unzip it once and pick the ZIP files inside it.
• Tables up to 5,000 rows and 100 columns.
• Importing twice adds notes twice, so import each export once.

A calm plan for the move

1. Day 1: make a Barside backup, export one Notion area you use every day, and import it.
2. Days 2 to 5: work in Barside for that area. Note what you miss, and check the Notion keyboard shortcuts page for the Barside equivalents.
3. Day 6: export the rest of the workspace and import it into its own workspace.
4. Day 7: sort, link and pin. Keep Notion read-only for a month before you cancel a paid plan.

After the move: make Barside yours

• Sort into workspaces. Move notes from From Notion into workspaces for your projects, and pin the important ones to the top.
• Rebuild key databases. Barside's database tables have typed columns (text, number, choice, date, checkbox, link), sorting, filters and totals, and charts can draw them.
• Link as you go. Type [[ to link notes; the note graph shows how they connect.
• Start from templates. The template gallery has planners, trackers and boards you open in Barside with one click.
• Keep a backup. Export backup in Settings & backups saves your whole library as one ZIP.

Where Notion and Barside differ

Notion is a cloud workspace built for teams, with real-time editing, permissions, web publishing and a large template ecosystem. Barside is a desktop app where your library stays on your computer and works offline, with capture tools Notion lacks: screen recording, call transcription, a read-it-later inbox and a password manager. Teams can share work in Barside Spaces, but it is not a drop-in replacement for a large Notion team. The Notion alternative guide compares both in detail, and the best Notion alternatives list covers other options. Shortcuts change too: see Notion keyboard shortcuts and their Barside equivalents.