Saving, importing and exporting
Saving
There is no document to save: Notr keeps your notebooks in its database and saves changes as you work, a moment after each change. Save (⌘S) saves at once. Notr also saves when you close the window or quit.
The status bar says where things stand:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Saved on this Mac | Everything is in the database |
| Editing… | You are typing; the text is committed after a short pause |
| Saving… | A save is about to happen |
| Save failed — export a backup | The database couldn't be written. Notr tries again with your next change. |
| Conflict — export your changes, then reopen Notr | Another Notr window or copy saved the same database; see Troubleshooting |
| Storage unavailable — changes are not saved | The database couldn't be opened at launch; see Troubleshooting |
The database is at ~/Library/Application Support/Notr/notr.db. See
Storage for what's in it.
Backups (.notespace)
File › Export Notebook Backup… (⇧⌘E), Export in the title bar, or
Help › Back Up saves the whole workspace — every notebook, section group, section,
page, picture, attachment, stroke, page version, the recycle bin and your view settings
— as one .notespace file, named Notr-YYYY-MM-DD.notespace in your Documents folder.
It is the same format NoteSpace uses, so backups open in either app. See The .notespace format. A backup can be at most 32 MB.
Importing
File › Open / Import… (⌘O) accepts:
| File | Result |
|---|---|
.notespace, .json |
After you confirm, the backup replaces the whole workspace. Export your current workspace first if you want to keep it. The import can be undone until you quit. |
.md, .txt |
A new page in the current section, named after the file |
A text import turns each paragraph (text separated by a blank line) into a text
container. A first paragraph starting with # becomes the page title, ## makes a
heading, and - [ ] or - [x] makes a to-do.
Microsoft OneNote files (.one, .onepkg) can't be opened.
Exporting a page
These export the current page, named after its title, to your Documents folder.
Markdown
File › Export Page as Markdown… writes the notes in reading order (top to bottom,
then left to right): ## for headings, - [ ] / - [x] for to-dos, - and 1. for
bulleted and numbered containers, bold and italic for whole-container formatting,
Markdown tables, --- for dividers and #tags. Pictures, attachments and ink are
mentioned but not included.
HTML
File › Export Page as HTML… writes a standalone web page with the title, date and notes in reading order, keeping font sizes, colors, highlights, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough and links. PNG, JPEG and WebP pictures are embedded. It prints well from a browser.
PNG
File › Export Page as PNG… draws the whole page as a picture, as it looks in light mode, including paper, pictures and ink. The picture covers everything on the page and at least 1100 × 760 points, and can be at most 16 megapixels.
Text is laid out with the same line breaks as on screen, but drawn with Helvetica Neue where the page uses the system font, so it can look slightly different.