standardnotes / forum

Support from other community members. For 1-on-1 help, please contact help@standardnotes.com.
https://forum.standardnotes.org
199 stars 8 forks source link

Apple Notes import not working as expected #3571

Open traktuner opened 6 months ago

traktuner commented 6 months ago

Describe the bug I exported all my notes according to this guide: https://standardnotes.com/help/31/how-can-i-import-my-notes-from-apple-notes The "Export" app exports everything with the correct folder structure When I then start the import process in Standard Notes and drag the exported folder into the import window it is stuck at "Detecting service..." Then nothing happens. Those are only about 400 notes.

When selecting "Plain text" in the import wizard I can only select individual notes, which is a bit of a hussle with my subfolder structure.

Expected behavior Drag the exported Apple Notes folder into the Standard Notes import wizard and import all notes in all subfolders, preferably with the subfolder structure intact.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

vordenken commented 3 months ago

Yeah same for me, wanted to switch to standard notes for cross platform e2e sync but importing all +300 notes manually is really not ideal.

b6t commented 3 months ago

Confirming the same behavior and the same post purchase displeasure...

Standard notes: Version 3.194.13 (3.194.13) macos: 14.1 (23B74)

b6t commented 3 months ago

I emailed support on this. They said...

I see, I'm very sorry to hear about this. However, I believe that if your resulting export from Apple notes included folders, I'm afraid you cannot drag the just the folder itself, because the app cannot import the actual folders into an account. It's important to note that the Folders on Standard Notes is actually an extension of the tags on the app, wherein you will be able to create sub tags by nesting them to create a folder-like hierarchy.

Currently I'm afraid there is no workaround to immediately import your folder structure from Apple Notes, but in terms of importing the files, you should be able to click and drag the actual exported notes to the auto-detection box on the import tool, then the tool should be able to detect their format and proceed with the import to your account 🙏

GeraldScott commented 2 months ago

Further to the above, the same happened to me, except on Fedora 40 Desktop.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Get excited about an open source note app to replace Obsidian
  2. Install using Flatpak
  3. Register account
  4. Find Import button (hidden bottom left)
  5. Drag *.md from Obsidian folder to Import Drag-and-drop
  6. Watch "Detecting Service.." message for 10 minutes
  7. Give up and Google problem
  8. Follow instructions here
  9. Use conversion tool to create *.txt
  10. Drag *.txt file to Import Drag-and-drop
  11. Watch "Detecting Service.." message for 5 minutes
  12. Give up and try File picker
  13. Watch "Detecting Service.." message for 5 seconds
  14. Give up and try "Import from Plaintext/markdown"
  15. Successfully import *.txt
  16. Stare at JSON-formatted note in dismay
  17. Delete and import original *.md using "Import from Plaintext/markdown"
  18. All OK

There is definitely a defect in the Import Drag-and-drop window because the "Import from Plaintext/markdown" works without an issue.

But more broadly, please make (and document) the on-ramp from plain-text repos easier.

Thanks for all the good work.