---
title: "Importing notes from another app"
---

Mimir has no import command. To bring in notes from another app, send each
note to Mimir as a [mimir:// link](/deep-links-and-automation#the-mimir-links).
A script can do this for thousands of notes. If you work with an AI
assistant, it can write that script for you from this page.

Don't write notes into Mimir's database file directly. The file holds a
history of every change you made, and Mimir builds your notes from that
history each time it opens. It has no table of notes to add to.

## The route

For each note, open one link:

```
mimir://append?page=<title>&text=<text>
```

Use the note's name as `<title>` and its contents as `<text>`, both
URL-encoded. Mimir creates a page with that title and adds the text to it.
If a page with that title already exists, the text goes at the end of it.

On macOS, a script can open a link with the `open` command:

```
open "mimir://append?page=Groceries&text=Milk"
```

Before you start:

1. Back up your notes. See
   [Where your notes live](/where-your-notes-live).
2. Import a handful of notes.
3. Check how those notes look in Mimir.
4. Import the rest. Send one link at a time, with a pause of a second or
   two between them. Mimir opens each page as its text arrives.

Running the same import twice adds every note a second time.

## How the text becomes bullets

- **A note with two or more list items** splits up. Each list item becomes
  its own bullet, and indented items stay indented. Each paragraph that
  follows a blank line becomes its own bullet too. A numbered item keeps
  its number at the start of its bullet.
- **A note with fewer than two list items** arrives as one bullet that holds
  the whole note, blank lines and all.
- **A note that is one line followed only by a list** puts the list under
  that line.

To give every paragraph its own bullet, put `- ` in front of each paragraph
before you send the note.

Markdown that Mimir understands keeps working, such as `[[links]]`, `# headings`,
and lines that start with `>`. A `[[link]]` to a page you don't have yet
works as a link. Mimir creates the page when you click it. Front matter (the
block between `---` lines at the top of some Markdown files) arrives as
plain text, so remove it first.