Export a notebook to Markdown

In this tutorial you'll export a notebook with dnfmt into a folder of Markdown files that opens in any Markdown editor. You'll also export its tables as CSV for a spreadsheet. The notebook itself is not changed.

You'll need#

• dnfmt on your path.
• A notebook from DunneNote 0.9, for example Research.dunnenote.
• A terminal, opened in the folder that holds the notebook.

Export to Markdown#

What you get#

Research-md/
├── index.md
├── Research/
│   ├── Overview.md
│   └── Background/
│       └── Reading list.md
├── Planning/
│   └── Schedule.md
└── assets/
    ├── e4153f38….png
    └── sketch-01a0e92f-….svg

• Each page is one .md file, in folders named after your sections. Two pages with the same name in one section become Notes.md and Notes (2).md.
• Rich text keeps its headings, lists, bold, italic, strike and links. Text colour, highlight and fonts are not carried over; the text is.
• Pictures are copied into assets/ and shown with their alt text. Sketches are drawn as SVG files.
• Tables become Markdown tables and calendars become lists of events.
• Each page starts with a short header giving its title, its id, and its tags, which many Markdown editors can read.

Canvases appear in reading order, top to bottom and then left to right. Their exact positions on the page are not kept.

Include archived content#

Archived pages and canvases are left out by default. To include them, add --include-archived. Archived canvases are then marked as archived in the Markdown.

Export tables to CSV#

When you need everything#

Markdown and CSV are readable copies, not backups. For a complete copy of the content, including layout, settings and metadata, use dnfmt export --json Research.dunnenote Research.json, or simply copy the whole .dunnenote folder.

Next#

• Check a notebook with dnfmt
• dnfmt and the format library
• Create a notebook from a script