How to Migrate Apple Notes to Anytype (Complete Guide)
Move your Apple Notes library into a local-first, no-folder PKM tool, and know exactly what happens to your folders, tags, and attachments before you start.
Quick Answer
To migrate from Apple Notes to Anytype, export your Apple Notes library as Markdown, then import that Markdown into Anytype through Channel Settings > Import > Markdown. Apple Notes Exporter Pro keeps every folder and attachment intact across a full-library batch export, which macOS Tahoe 26's own free File > Export as Markdown does not do beyond a couple of notes at a time. Once the files land in Anytype, know this going in: Anytype has no folders at all. Every Markdown file becomes its own Object, and you rebuild any organization afterward with Collections and Tags, not a folder tree.
Anytype is one of the more specific reasons people are leaving Apple Notes right now: a local-first, end-to-end encrypted personal knowledge tool that gets compared to Obsidian more often than to any other note app, because both store your writing as linked, Markdown-shaped content you own outright instead of a database locked inside one company's app. As of September 16, 2026, nothing published anywhere walks through what actually happens when you move an Apple Notes library into it, which is unusual for a migration this specific.
There is no direct connector between the two apps, and there is unlikely to ever be one. Apple Notes exports. Anytype imports. What sits in between is a folder of Markdown files, and the exact shape of that folder matters more than it would for most migrations, because Anytype's own documentation is blunt about a structural fact worth knowing before you start: "There are no folders in Anytype." Notes become independent Objects that link to each other instead of nesting inside folders, which changes how you should think about the move, not just how you carry it out.
This guide covers the standard case on macOS Tahoe 26: a personal Apple Notes library of a few hundred to a couple thousand notes, exported to Markdown and brought into a fresh or existing Anytype Space on the same Mac. Anytype's desktop client was at version 0.48.3 on the Mac App Store as of this check, released August 14, 2026, and import only runs from the desktop app, not from iPhone or iPad, so plan to do this step on your Mac even if you use Anytype elsewhere afterward.
What actually happens when you move from Apple Notes to Anytype
Apple Notes to Anytype: step-by-step migration
1. Export your Apple Notes library to Markdown
macOS Tahoe 26 added a free File > Export as Markdown option to Notes, but it writes a flat folder with no subfolder structure once you select more than a note or two, and a documented bug on the MacRumors Forums (running since October 2025 on iPadOS, corroborated on macOS Tahoe 26.2 in January 2026) can duplicate lines or output blank files on a large bulk export. For a full library, Apple Notes Exporter Pro is the steadier route: choose Markdown, turn on attachments, and it writes each folder's notes into its own subfolder with images alongside them, in one pass, without touching Apple's own export code.
2. Zip the exported folder
Anytype's own import documentation notes that folder selection is not supported on every platform, in which case you compress the export into a single .zip archive and import that instead. On a Mac you can usually point the import dialog at the folder directly, but zipping it first is a reasonable habit anyway: it is one file to keep track of instead of a nested folder tree, and it matches what Anytype's own migration guides recommend by default.
3. Create or open a Space for your notes
In Anytype, a Space is closer to an entire separate workspace than to a folder. Anytype's own documentation compares your account, the Vault, to a house, with each Space as one of its rooms, each with its own lock. Decide up front whether your migrated Apple Notes should land in a dedicated new Space or inside a Space you already use, since there is no straightforward way to merge two Spaces later.
4. Import the Markdown files
Open Channel Settings inside the Space, click Import in the side menu, choose Markdown, and select the .zip or folder from step two. Anytype processes every file it finds and creates a separate Object for each one. Any '#tags' inside the note text become values on that Object's Tag property automatically. Anytype's own docs do not list a note-count limit anywhere, unlike Evernote's well-known 100-note export cap, so a library of any size should go through in one import. A very large batch will simply take longer.
5. Rebuild the organization your folders used to provide
This is the step most migration guides skip, because most target apps still have folders. Anytype does not. Open the new Objects and either drag the notes you want grouped together into a Collection, the closest thing Anytype has to a folder, or apply consistent Tags the way you'd have used folders in Apple Notes, so filtering by tag recreates what a folder used to do. Skipping this step is how people end up with a Space full of hundreds of loose, ungrouped notes six months later.
6. Check attachments and formatting by eye
Open a sample of notes that had images, tables, or checklists in Apple Notes and confirm they came through the way you expect: as visible images rather than broken links, as readable tables, and as working checkboxes rather than plain text with a stray dash. Anytype does not document exactly how relative image paths inside an imported Markdown file resolve, so this is the one part of the process worth verifying yourself rather than assuming it worked.
7. Decide what happens to your Apple Notes library now
Once your notes, tags, and images have all made the trip, decide whether to keep Apple Notes as a read-only archive for a while or stop using it entirely. Apple Notes still has no built-in backup beyond one-note-at-a-time PDF export or the Tahoe 26 Markdown export with its own documented large-batch bug. Apple Notes Exporter Pro is worth keeping around after the move, not for this migration, but for scheduled backups of whatever you keep writing in Apple Notes going forward.
Common Questions
Does Anytype have a dedicated Apple Notes importer?
No. As of this check on September 16, 2026, Anytype's own import documentation lists Markdown, a Notion integration, an Obsidian-specific menu shortcut, and a community-built, unofficial Evernote importer that Anytype's team does not maintain. There is no Apple Notes option anywhere in that list. The only supported path is exporting Apple Notes to Markdown yourself, then using Anytype's generic Markdown import.
My Apple Notes are organized into folders. What happens to that structure in Anytype?
It disappears on import, and that is by design rather than a bug. Anytype's documentation states directly that there are no folders in Anytype: everything is an Object, and Objects connect through links instead of nesting inside a folder tree. Every note you import becomes its own standalone Object regardless of which Apple Notes folder it came from. If you want that grouping back, you rebuild it afterward using Anytype's Collections or Tags, since neither is created automatically from your old folder names.
Will my Apple Notes tags carry over automatically?
Yes, and it happens without anyone having built a converter for it. Apple's own support documentation describes an Apple Notes tag as literal text: type a '#' followed by a word directly in a note. That text survives a Markdown export unchanged, and Anytype's Markdown importer turns any '#tag' it finds in an imported file into a value on that Object's Tag property. The two apps happen to represent tags the same way, as plain hashtag text, so the migration works because the formats line up, not because of any explicit Apple Notes support Anytype built.
What happens to images and attachments during the move?
Apple Notes Exporter Pro exports each note's images into an attachments folder next to its Markdown file, linked with standard Markdown image syntax. Anytype's own import documentation does not spell out in detail how it resolves those relative paths from inside a zipped import, so check a handful of image-heavy notes right after import rather than assuming every picture made the trip. If one is missing, the original file is still sitting in your exported folder and can be dragged in manually.
Is Anytype actually open source?
Partly. The underlying any-sync protocol that handles peer-to-peer sync and encryption is MIT-licensed. The client apps you actually install, on Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android, ship under the Any Source Available License 1.0, confirmed directly from the LICENSE.md file in Anytype's own GitHub repository as of September 16, 2026. That license lets you read, modify, and use the code for non-commercial purposes, but it is not an OSI-approved open-source license, and it restricts commercial redistribution.
What does 'local-first' mean if Anytype also syncs across devices?
It means your device holds the primary copy of your data and works fully offline, with sync as an optional layer rather than the source of truth. When you turn sync on, Anytype uses a peer-to-peer protocol with client-side XChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption, so a relay or backup node passes your data along without holding the key to read it. Local-first describes where your data lives and who can read it in transit, not that it never touches a server.
How much does Anytype cost, and is there a real free tier?
Yes. Anytype's own Memberships documentation points to the live pricing page for exact numbers instead of fixing them in the docs, since prices vary slightly by platform. Checking Apple's App Store listing directly on September 16, 2026, Anytype's in-app purchases were a Pro tier at $9.99 and a Builder tier at $119.00, on top of a free tier. Paid tiers add network sync storage and unlimited shared Spaces rather than unlocking Markdown import, which stays free.
Should I migrate to Anytype or Obsidian instead?
That depends on whether you want a folder of files or a graph of Objects. Obsidian keeps your notes as a literal folder of Markdown files on disk, so an Apple Notes export folder structure maps onto an Obsidian vault close to one-for-one. Anytype has no folders at all, so the same export needs manual regrouping into Collections and Tags after import. Pick Obsidian if keeping your existing folder structure intact matters more than end-to-end encrypted sync. Pick Anytype if you want linking and tagging over folders and are willing to rebuild organization once.
Does Apple Notes Exporter Pro import my notes into Anytype for me?
No, and that is worth being direct about. Apple Notes Exporter Pro exports notes out of Apple Notes, to Markdown, PDF, Word (DOCX), HTML, RTF, EPUB, LaTeX, JSON, JSONL, and plain text. It does not talk to Anytype or push anything into it. The import step is entirely Anytype's own Channel Settings > Import > Markdown feature, described above. Where it helps is on the Apple Notes side of the move: exporting a full library to Markdown with folders and attachments intact in one batch, instead of running into the native macOS export's flat structure and documented large-batch bug.
Related Reading
Obsidian is the closer parallel if keeping your existing folder structure intact matters more to you than rebuilding it with Collections and Tags. This is the flat-vault version of the same Markdown-export approach.
Still consolidating notes into Apple Notes from Evernote before moving on to Anytype? This covers that inbound leg first, including the real ENEX export limit.
Whether your notes are already in Anytype or still sitting in Apple Notes while you decide, this is the tested comparison of tools for keeping the source library backed up.
Export Your Notes Before You Migrate
Apple Notes Exporter Pro exports your whole library to Markdown, with folders and attachments intact in one batch, so the file you hand to Anytype's importer is complete from the start.