Bear

Connect

Bear shows on Exporter’s home when it is installed. Press “Connect” beside it, then “Open Bear Folder”: the panel opens in Bear’s Application Data folder, ~/Library/Group Containers/9K33E3U3T4.net.shinyfrog.bear/Application Data. Press “Select This Folder”, then choose where the files go and press “Use This Folder”.

Where the files go

Each note lands in a folder named after its first tag in alphabetical order, and a / in that tag makes subfolders: a note tagged #work/projects goes to work/projects/. The file is named after the note. Two notes with the same title under the same first tag each get their own file, with a short id at the end of the name, like Apple Notes’. A folder right in your home folder, like ~/Documents, gets a bear-export folder inside it; a deeper one is used as it is.

What is exported

Every note is exported unless you untick it. Selection is by tag: untick a tag and its notes stay out, unless another of their tags is ticked. Notes with no tag are the “untagged” group at the end of the list and go to _untagged/. Recent, Pinned, Archived and Files (notes with attachments) sit beside Tags as lists. A note you untick loses its file on the next sync.

Left out: encrypted notes and the trash.

Attachments

Images and files are copied into attachments/ next to the note, and the note’s links are rewritten to point at the copies.

Markdown and HTML

Markdown is Bear’s own text, exactly as Bear stores it. Choosing HTML in the format menu beside “Saves To” writes the note’s plain text inside a <pre>, with attachments copied but not linked: keep Markdown. One format at a time; switching leaves the other format’s files behind.

The file

Bear files carry no front matter: the file is the note as Bear stores it, #tags included.

Free

Bear exports free, with no limit and no purchase.

Sync and full resync

After the first “Sync Now”, edits in Bear are written to the files while Exporter runs. When you delete, rename or retag a note, the next sync removes its old file.

“Full Resync” asks first, then removes only the files Exporter wrote and writes every ticked note again. Anything else in the export folder stays.

Problems and fixes

• “database not found” or “invalid database”: press “Connect” again and select the folder the panel opens in
• “Nothing is ticked to export. Tick at least one tag.”: tick a tag; “Sync Now” and “Full Resync” stay off until you do
• “Bear is not connected any more. Connect it again to export.”: press “Connect”
• a note is missing: give it a tag in Bear, and check it is not encrypted or in the trash