Migrate from Notion to Obsidian

Take it out

1. 1

   Step 1

   Make a Notion connection

   Obsidian's help page says to use the account import when you can. Sign in at Notion's connections page and choose New connection. Name it, choose Access token, and pick the workspace. After you create it, open Configuration, choose Show, and copy the token. It is a long string that usually starts with ntn_. Store it like a password.

2. 2

   Step 2

   Let that connection see your pages

   Open the Content access tab on the same connection. Add the pages and databases you want. Add the original database, not a linked view of it. Notion's API does not share linked data sources.

3. 3

   Step 3

   Or export HTML if you cannot use a token

   You need to be a workspace admin to export everything. In Notion, open Settings, then Workspace, then General, then Export all workspace content. Choose HTML, not Markdown. Choose Include everything, and turn on Create folders for subpages. Notion sends a zip by email or in the browser. Obsidian says the Markdown export leaves out data you need.

Put it in

1. 1

   Step 1

   Install Importer

   In Obsidian, open Settings, then Community plugins, and install Importer. It is the official plugin from the Obsidian team. Turn it on. Open it from the command palette or the ribbon icon.

2. 2

   Step 2

   Import with the token

   Set File format to Notion (API). Under API token, choose Link, name the secret, and paste the token. Choose Load and pick the pages and databases. Choose Import to see a preview. Choose Import again and wait. A big workspace takes a long time, because Notion limits how fast the download can go.

3. 3

   Step 3

   Or import the zip

   Set File format to Notion (.zip) and pick the HTML export. Import the whole workspace at once so links between pages can be fixed. Turn on Save parent pages in subfolders if you want Notion's tree. If the import complains about a zip inside the zip, unzip the download and import each inner export zip.

What you lose

• Databases on the zip path

  The HTML zip does not keep databases. The connection path does. Obsidian stores each database as a folder with a .base file inside. Only the primary view of each database is imported.

• A few formulas

  Obsidian says these Notion functions do not convert: name() and email() on people, and style() and unstyle() on text. Open one database your team actually uses and check the formulas before you delete Notion.

• Odd pages

  Obsidian says the Notion API importer is new, and some unusual pages may convert badly. If a page looks wrong, try the HTML zip for that part. The importer shows a preview before the real import, so use it.