Bringing your old notes in

Apple Notes, Evernote, Markdown, Word, HTML, RTF, JSON, or a zip, with their folders and attachments.

Settings → Your data → Bring notes in takes one file or many and makes a note of each. There's a second import button at the top of the note list.

What it accepts

• Markdown (.md, .markdown), whose filename becomes the note's title
• Plain text (.txt)
• HTML (.html, .htm), keeping headings, lists, tables, links, and inline images
• Word (.docx) and RTF, keeping paragraphs, headings, lists, bold, and italic
• JSON, which carries many notes at once with their folders and their original dates
• Evernote (.enex), one notebook per file, with its pictures, files, checklists, tags, and the original dates
• A zip of any of those, whose directories become folders
• A zip exported from Scratchpad, which also restores the folders and every attachment

Front matter isn't read. A --- block at the top of a Markdown file arrives as text in the note rather than becoming its title.

Formatting survives. Headings, lists, checklists, tables, code blocks, quotes, and links all arrive as themselves rather than as literal Markdown.

From Apple Notes

Apple Notes can't export everything at once, so there's a small script that does it for you.

1. Download the Apple Notes exporter and double-click the zip to unzip it.
2. Open export-apple-notes.applescript in Script Editor, which is in Applications → Utilities on every Mac.
3. Press Run.

It writes one file to your Desktop, apple-notes-export.json. Bring that file in and every folder and note arrives in one go, with its pictures, files, recordings, and original dates.

The script only reads. Nothing in Notes is changed, and nothing leaves your Mac until you import the file. Password-protected notes are skipped and counted, so remove the password in Notes first for any you want. Moving from Apple Notes, Evernote, or Notion lists everything that comes across and what stays behind.

Folders come with it

To bring a whole folder across, zip it first. You can't pick a folder directly, and the directories inside the zip become folders.

Your structure is kept, up to the three levels Scratchpad supports. A deeper tree isn't refused: it keeps its outermost three, so files in Taxes/2024/Q1/January land under Taxes, then 2024, then Q1.

Saving a web page

Settings → Capture from anywhere has a Save to Scratchpad button. Drag it to your browser's bookmarks bar, then click it on any page you want to keep. A small window opens where you can add tags, and Save makes a note of the page in a folder called Clips, which is made the first time.

The note has the article's text and pictures, a link back to the page, the site and author when the page names them, and the tags you typed. The pictures are saved in Scratchpad, so the note keeps them even if the site goes away. Menus, ads, and the rest of the page are left behind.

It works in Safari, Chrome, Vivaldi, Firefox, Edge, and any other browser with bookmarks. Scratchpad fetches the page itself, so a page behind a sign-in or a paywall can't be read. You still get a note with the link and the reason.

If something doesn't come through

An import never overwrites anything. Every file becomes a new note, so a second attempt after a failed one leaves you with duplicates rather than losing anything.

Last updated 19 October 2026