Import and export

Import a file or a folder

1. 1

   Choose the file

   Choose File ▸ Import…. In the panel, select an OPML file, a Markdown file or a folder of Markdown files. The panel's button reads Review.

2. 2

   Read the review

   The review sheet says how many notes will be added, where they go, and what comes with them. Read it before you confirm.

3. 3

   Confirm or cancel

   Choose Import to add the notes. Cancel is the default button, so Return alone cancels.

The review lists the notes, the to-dos, code blocks and links, the shared references, and the supertags, fields and saved searches that are new or reused. A field that Superliner typed from its values is listed under Typed fields, with a checkbox to keep it as text. Warnings about anything that could not be carried over are listed as well.

What an import makes

The notes go into one new note in the Inbox. Its title begins with “Import”, then the kind of source and the date. Under it, the structure of the source is kept: headings, nested lists and folders become nested notes.

• A Markdown heading or list item becomes a note, and nested lists nest.
• - [ ] and - [x] become open and checked to-dos.
• A code fence becomes a code block with its language.
• #tag makes the note tagged with that supertag, and the #tag text leaves the sentence.
• [[Page]] becomes a link to a page of that name. A page is made, empty, if none exists.
• The front matter tags: adds supertags, and created: and updated: give the note its own times when they are dates.

Nothing that already exists is changed. The only reuse is by name: a #tag that matches an existing supertag, ignoring case, uses that supertag, and a property that matches an existing field uses that field. One Undo takes the whole import back.

Size limits

An import has ceilings: 64 MB for one file, 50,000 files in one folder, and 1,000,000 notes in one import. A note's text longer than about one million characters is cut, and nesting deeper than 64 levels is flattened. Split a larger source into parts.

Export a page as OPML

Choose File ▸ Export Page as OPML…. The page you are on, and the notes it owns, are written to an OPML 2.0 file. Its name starts with the page's title. The rows you have open in the pane stay open in the file. A reference is listed, not opened, so a loop ends.

Bold, italic, code and links are written as simple HTML inside each outline row. A checked to-do is marked as complete. Supertags and field values are written as attributes. The export is refused only for a workspace saved by a newer version of Superliner, which should export it from that version.

Combine it

• Import tags that already existAn imported #tag uses an existing supertag of the same name. Check the review's Supertags line before you import, so you know which ones are reused.
• Back up before a large importOne Undo removes an import. A backup keeps the whole workspace, in case you have closed the app since.
• The Markdown copySuperliner writes the Markdown copy itself. An import reads a Markdown folder as new notes, and never edits the notes the folder came from.
• Paste instead of importFor a few lines, paste them. A multi-line paste makes notes at the caret without a review.

Limits

• Import is turned off in a read-only workspace.
• Export Page as OPML writes one page at a time. It is not a whole-workspace export.