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Import and Export

Your data is yours. Glassy supports open formats end-to-end — Markdown in, Markdown out, with JSON for structured backups. Nothing is locked in.

Import

Markdown files

Import .md files with frontmatter preservation. Glassy reads YAML frontmatter and uses title, tags, created, updated, and public when present.

# Bulk import a folder of .md files
Settings → Import → Markdown folder → select directory
  • Subfolders become tags (or collections, if you opt in)
  • Wikilinks [[other-note]] resolve to Glassy notes if a matching file exists, otherwise render as plain text
  • Embedded images are copied into Glassy storage and re-linked

JSON

Use the JSON exporter format from a previous Glassy export, or any tool that produces the same shape. The schema is documented in glassy-dash/docs/EXPORT_SCHEMA.md.

Obsidian vault

There are three ways to bring a vault in:

  1. Live sync — self-host Glassy, connect the Obsidian Local REST API plugin, and changes flow both ways. See Obsidian Vault Integration.
  2. Bulk ZIP import — works on cloud too. Zip your vault, drop the ZIP in Settings → Import → Vault ZIP. Glassy extracts, de-duplicates by file path, and indexes the content for the Knowledge Base.
  3. Single vault file — open any vault file in Glassy via drag-and-drop on the dashboard. The Markdown becomes a rich note.

Companion captures

Anything you saved via the Companion lives in Glassy already — no import step. To bring captures from a different tool, export them as JSON or Markdown and use the import paths above.

Evernote / Notion / Bear

These tools have their own Markdown exporters. Export, then import the resulting folder or ZIP into Glassy. Tags become collections. Attachments transfer with some loss — check the file size caps on your tier before bulk-importing.

Export

Markdown export

Settings → Export → Markdown gives you a folder of .md files organised by collection, with frontmatter on every file. Compatible with Obsidian, VS Code, Bear, and any tool that reads Markdown.

glassy-export-2026-07-23/
├── notes/
│   ├── research/
│   │   └── attention-is-all-you-need.md
│   └── drafts/
├── bookmarks/
│   └── reading-list.md
├── captures/
└── README.md

JSON export

Settings → Export → JSON produces a single glassy-export-<date>.json file with everything — notes, bookmarks, captures, tags, attachments (base64-encoded), account metadata. Use this for backups and for moving data between Glassy instances.

Obsidian-flavoured export

Settings → Export → Obsidian bundle produces a ZIP that drops directly into an Obsidian vault:

  • Wikilinks instead of internal IDs
  • Tags as #tag inline
  • Dataview-friendly frontmatter (created, updated, tags, source, collection)
  • attachments/ folder with original filenames

Voice memos

Voice memos export as .webm audio plus a sidecar .md with the transcript. Place both in the same folder and your Markdown viewer plays the audio inline.

Data portability guarantees

  • Open formats. Markdown is the source of truth. JSON is the structured backup. Both are readable without Glassy.
  • No proprietary encoding. Notes are stored as Markdown on disk, not in a custom binary.
  • No data lock-up. Delete your account and the deletion is permanent within 30 days. Export before deleting if you want a copy.
  • Self-host escape hatch. A self-hosted export contains the same data as a cloud export — switching instances is a restore operation, not a re-import.

Common workflows

Switching from Notion

  1. In Notion: Settings → Export all → Markdown & CSV
  2. Unzip the export
  3. In Glassy: Settings → Import → Markdown folder → select the unzipped directory
  4. Review the import summary — tags become collections, internal links become text references
  5. Re-save anything that needs Glassy-specific structure (Public Window pins, voice memos)

Migrating from Obsidian

  1. In Glassy: Settings → Import → Vault ZIP
  2. Zip your vault first (or pick the folder directly)
  3. Wikilinks resolve automatically; double-links resolve on first save

Archiving a workspace

  1. Settings → Export → JSON — single file, complete backup
  2. Save the file off-machine (cloud storage, external drive, encrypted USB)
  3. Optional: enable automatic weekly exports under Settings → Export → Schedule

Learn more