---

title: Import and Export sidebar_label: Import & Export sidebar_position: 1 description: Data portability, backups, and migration. #

Import and Export #

Noteleaf stores data in open formats for portability: SQLite for structured data and Markdown for notes.

Data Storage #

SQLite Database #

Location varies by platform:

macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/noteleaf/noteleaf.db

Linux:

~/.local/share/noteleaf/noteleaf.db

Windows:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\noteleaf\noteleaf.db

Markdown Files #

Notes are stored as individual markdown files:

Default location:

<data_dir>/notes/

Configure via notes_dir in .noteleaf.conf.toml.

Articles #

Saved articles are stored as markdown:

Default location:

<data_dir>/articles/

Configure via articles_dir in .noteleaf.conf.toml.

JSON Export #

Task Export #

Export tasks to JSON format:

noteleaf todo view 123 --json
noteleaf todo list --static --json

Output includes all task attributes:

• Description
• Status, priority
• Project, context, tags
• Due dates, recurrence
• Dependencies, parent tasks
• Timestamps

Export Format Configuration #

Set default export format:

noteleaf config set export_format "json"

Options:

• json (default)
• csv (planned)
• markdown (planned)

Backup Strategy #

Full Backup #

Back up the entire data directory:

# macOS
cp -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/noteleaf ~/Backups/noteleaf-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Linux
cp -r ~/.local/share/noteleaf ~/backups/noteleaf-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Includes:

• SQLite database
• Notes directory
• Articles directory
• Configuration file

Database Only #

# macOS
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/noteleaf/noteleaf.db ~/Backups/

# Linux
cp ~/.local/share/noteleaf/noteleaf.db ~/backups/

Notes Only #

# Copy notes directory
cp -r <data_dir>/notes ~/Backups/notes-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Notes are plain markdown files, easily versioned with Git:

cd <data_dir>/notes
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial notes backup"

Restore from Backup #

Full Restore #

# Stop noteleaf
# Replace data directory
cp -r ~/Backups/noteleaf-20240315 ~/Library/Application\ Support/noteleaf

Database Restore #

cp ~/Backups/noteleaf.db ~/Library/Application\ Support/noteleaf/

Notes Restore #

cp -r ~/Backups/notes-20240315 <data_dir>/notes

Direct Database Access #

SQLite database is accessible with standard tools:

# Open database
sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/noteleaf/noteleaf.db

# List tables
.tables

# Query tasks
SELECT id, description, status FROM tasks WHERE status = 'pending';

# Export to CSV
.mode csv
.output tasks.csv
SELECT * FROM tasks;
.quit

Portable Installation #

Use environment variables for portable setup:

export NOTELEAF_DATA_DIR=/path/to/usb/noteleaf-data
export NOTELEAF_CONFIG=/path/to/usb/noteleaf.conf.toml
noteleaf todo list

Useful for:

• USB drive installations
• Synced folders (Dropbox, iCloud)
• Multiple workspaces
• Testing environments

Migration Strategies #

From TaskWarrior #

Manual migration via SQLite:

1. Export TaskWarrior data to JSON
2. Parse JSON and insert into noteleaf database
3. Map TaskWarrior attributes to Noteleaf schema

Custom migration script required (future documentation).

From todo.txt #

Convert todo.txt to Noteleaf tasks:

1. Parse todo.txt format
2. Map projects, contexts, priorities
3. Bulk insert via SQLite

Custom migration script required (future documentation).

From Other Note Apps #

Notes are markdown files:

1. Export notes from source app
2. Convert to plain markdown
3. Copy to <data_dir>/notes/
4. Noteleaf will index them on next scan

Sync and Cloud Storage #

Cloud Sync #

Store data directory in synced folder:

# Use Dropbox
export NOTELEAF_DATA_DIR=~/Dropbox/noteleaf-data

# Use iCloud
export NOTELEAF_DATA_DIR=~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/noteleaf

Warning: SQLite databases don't handle concurrent writes well. Only run one Noteleaf instance at a time per database.

Version Control #

Notes directory can be versioned:

cd <data_dir>/notes
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git remote add origin <repository-url>
git push -u origin main

Automatic git commits planned for future release.

Data Formats #

SQLite Schema #

View schema:

sqlite3 noteleaf.db .schema

Tables include:

• tasks - Task management
• notes - Note metadata
• articles - Article metadata
• books, movies, tv_shows - Media tracking
• publications - Leaflet.pub publications
• Linking tables for tags, dependencies

Markdown Format #

Notes use standard markdown with YAML frontmatter:

---
title: Note Title
created: 2024-03-15T10:30:00Z
modified: 2024-03-15T11:00:00Z
tags: [tag1, tag2]
---

# Note Content

Regular markdown content...