# Bring in your notes from another app
> Move your notes into Terra from Obsidian, Notion, Bear, Evernote, Roam, a Markdown folder or a reference manager, or open an existing folder as it is.
Source: https://terramd.io/docs/bring-in-your-notes
You've built up years of notes somewhere else: an Obsidian vault, a Notion workspace, a stack of Evernote notebooks. Moving to a new app shouldn't mean copying pages across one at a time.
Terra gives you three ways in. If your notes are already Markdown files, you can open their folder as a [Library](https://terramd.io/docs/libraries) and carry on with the same files. For other apps, Terra's importer turns an export into Markdown notes inside your Library and leaves the original untouched. And single files, such as PDFs, images or a few stray notes, you can drag straight in from Finder.
> [!SUMMARY]
> - Choose between opening a folder as it is and importing a copy
> - Open an Obsidian vault or a Markdown folder as a Library
> - Import from Obsidian, Notion, Bear, Evernote, Roam, Markdown folders and reference managers
> - Check what came in, including links that didn't connect
> - Drag individual files in from Finder
> [!BEFORE]
> - Terra installed. To import, have a Library open; to use an existing folder, you'll open it as the Library in Step 1.
> - An export from your old app, unless it's Obsidian or a plain folder of Markdown. Step 3 lists what each source needs.
> - About 10 minutes, plus however long a large import takes.
## How it fits together
| Your notes are… | Best way in | Your original files |
| --- | --- | --- |
| An Obsidian vault or another folder of `.md` files you'll keep using | Open the folder as a Library ([Step 1](#open-a-markdown-folder-as-a-library)) | Used where they are; Terra edits them |
| In Obsidian, but you'd rather try Terra on a copy or add them to a Library you already have | Import ([Steps 2 to 5](#open-the-importer)) | Left alone |
| In Notion, Bear, Evernote, Roam, Apple Notes or a reference manager | Import ([Steps 2 to 5](#open-the-importer)) | Left alone |
| A handful of files | Drag them in ([Step 6](#drag-in-individual-files)) | Left alone; Terra copies them |
## Step 1: Open a Markdown folder as a Library
If your notes are already Markdown files, Terra can use them where they are, with nothing converted or copied.
1. Press ⌘ O (or choose **File › Open Library…**) and choose **Open other…**. If no Library is open yet, click **Choose folder** instead.
2. Pick your vault or notes folder and click **Open**.
Terra adds what it needs, a hidden `.terra` folder and `.terra-library.toml` plus an `Inbox` folder and `Themes/default.css`, and leaves your notes as they are. Notes without a header show their file name as the title, and links written `[[Note name]]` work in Terra too.
> [!NOTE] Coming from Obsidian
> - Terra writes its own header (`id`, `title`, `created`, `updated`) into a note the first time you edit it, and saves the file in its own Markdown style. [What Terra changes when it saves](https://terramd.io/docs/how-terra-stores-your-notes#what-terra-changes-when-it-saves) lists the details.
> - Obsidian's settings folder, `.obsidian`, appears in Terra's **Folders** list. It holds no notes; leave it be.
> - Callouts show as [Sprouts](https://terramd.io/docs/sprouts). Terra's kinds are lowercase (`> [!tip]`), so `> [!TIP]` shows without its colour, and a collapsible callout (`> [!note]-`) stays a plain quote.
> - Obsidian plugins and their settings don't carry over.
## Step 2: Open the importer
Importing makes converted copies of your notes in the Library that's open now, so you can try Terra without touching the originals.
1. Right-click an empty part of the sidebar, such as the space under **Views**, and choose **Import library…**.
2. The **Import** window opens. (The same options are in **Settings › Import**.)
## Step 3: Choose your source
1. Under **Source**, click the app your notes come from.
2. Click **Browse** and pick the export or folder in the window that opens, or paste its path into the box.
3. **Destination** shows where the notes will go, a folder such as `Imported/Obsidian/` in your Library. You can't change it here, but you can move the notes afterwards.
What each source expects, and what Terra does with it:
| Source | What to give Terra | What Terra does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Obsidian** | The vault folder | Keeps each note's header, its text and your `#tags`. Uses each file's dates for created and updated, adds a `recurrence` property for the first recurring task (`🔁 every …`) in a note, and skips the `.obsidian` folder. |
| **Notion** | A `.zip` export in **Markdown & CSV** format | Turns page properties into note properties and fixes up callouts and links between pages. Formula, rollup and relation values come in as text. Each Notion database becomes a note with its CSV file attached, not a Terra database. |
| **Bear** | A `.bear2bk` backup | Moves tags written on lines of their own into the note's tags, and removes those lines. |
| **Evernote** | An `.enex` export | Converts each note to Markdown with its title, dates, tags and attachments. Each notebook becomes a folder. |
| **Roam** | A `.json` export | Makes one note per page. Blocks become nested bullets, block references become embeds, and `key:: value` lines become properties. |
| **Apple Notes** | A folder of Markdown files exported from Apple Notes | Reads the folder like plain Markdown. Apple Notes can't make this export itself, and Terra doesn't include an export Shortcut yet. |
| **Plain markdown** | A folder of `.md` files | Copies each note as it is, header included. |
| **Zotero / Mendeley** | A BibTeX (`.bib`), RIS (`.ris`) or CSL-JSON (`.json`) export | Makes one note per reference, with its citation key and bibliographic details as properties. See [Build a research library](https://terramd.io/docs/research-library). |
> [!NOTE] Images in vaults and folders
> For Obsidian, Apple Notes and plain Markdown, images and files that sit in the same folder as a note are copied into an `attachments` folder beside it, and the note's links to them are updated. Files kept somewhere else, such as one shared attachments folder for the whole vault, aren't copied. If you rely on one, open the vault as a Library instead (Step 1).
## Step 4: Set the options and start
1. Choose a **Conflict policy**, which decides what happens when a note of the same name is already in the destination: **Skip existing** (the default), **Keep both (suffix)** or **Replace**. It matters when you import the same source twice.
2. Leave **Copy attachments** on to bring linked files along, and **Preserve original timestamps** on to keep the dates from your old app where it has them.
3. To check before you commit, click **Preview contents**. **Import preview** counts the **Notes** and **Attachments** to come, and shows **Needs review** if some files can't be read.
4. Click **Start import**. The window closes, and a progress bar at the bottom of Terra's window shows **Imports** with the source, a count and the last note written. Click **Cancel** on it to stop.
## Step 5: Check what came in
1. When the bar reaches 100%, click **▾ Show details** for a summary of the run.
2. Find the new notes under **Folders** in the sidebar: open **Imported**, then the folder for your source. Open a few notes to see how they came through.
3. Click **Dismiss** to put the summary away.
| In the summary | What it counts |
| --- | --- |
| **Emitted** | Notes written to your Library |
| **Skipped** | Notes left out because they already existed (with **Skip existing**) |
| **Unchanged** | Notes that were already identical (with **Replace**) |
| **Unparseable** | Files Terra couldn't convert |
| **Attachments** | Files copied |
| **Unresolved links** | Links to notes that weren't part of the import |
Unresolved links point at notes your old app didn't export, or that live in another place. Once the notes are in, you can move them into folders of your own, add [properties](https://terramd.io/docs/properties) and [tags](https://terramd.io/docs/tags), or build [databases](https://terramd.io/docs/databases) around them.
## Step 6: Drag in individual files
For a few files rather than a whole collection, drag them from Finder onto a folder in Terra's sidebar, or into the window. Terra copies them into your Library and gives each one a note. Markdown files become notes; PDFs, EPUB books, images, spreadsheets and web pages open in Terra's viewers; anything else gets a note with a link to it.
[Add files from Finder](https://terramd.io/docs/files-and-folders#add-files-from-finder) covers where dropped files go, and [Accepted file formats](https://terramd.io/docs/file-formats) lists every format.
## Troubleshooting
> [!NOTE]- Preview contents and Start import are greyed out
> They wait for a path. Choose a file or folder with **Browse**, or paste its path into the box.
> [!NOTE]- "Preview failed" or "Run failed"
> The message after it says what went wrong. Most often the path points at the wrong kind of file for the source, such as a folder where Notion expects a `.zip` export.
> [!NOTE]- I imported twice and have doubled notes
> With **Keep both (suffix)**, a second import adds a copy of each note, with `-2` at the end of its file name. To start over, right-click your source's folder under **Imported** › **Move to Trash**, then import once more with **Skip existing**.
> [!NOTE]- My Notion databases came in as notes with a CSV file
> That's expected: Terra doesn't turn Notion databases into Terra databases. The original CSV is attached to a note, and each row page comes in as a note of its own, usually in a folder named after the database. A folder opens as a [database](https://terramd.io/docs/databases) in Terra, so click that folder to see the rows as a table.
> [!NOTE]- Images are missing from imported Obsidian notes
> Only files in the same folder as a note come along. Open the vault as a Library (Step 1) to use it with all its files in place.
## What's next
- [Libraries](https://terramd.io/docs/libraries) — switch between your old folder and other Libraries.
- [Files and folders](https://terramd.io/docs/files-and-folders) — organise what you brought in.
- [How Terra stores your notes](https://terramd.io/docs/how-terra-stores-your-notes) — what Terra adds to your files.