# Reminders

How the Reminders export works, from connecting to fixing problems.

## Connect

Press "connect" on the Reminders card. The panel opens in the Reminders folder where macOS keeps its store, `~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.reminders`: press "Select this folder". Then press "select export folder".

## Where the files go

One Markdown file per list, named after the list (`groceries.md`). A folder right in your home folder, like `~/Documents`, gets a `reminders-export` folder inside it; a deeper one, like `~/Documents/reminders`, is used as it is. Images on reminders land in `attachments/`.

## What is exported

The lists ticked on the card, every reminder in them, completed ones too. The pills only filter the list: lists (every list), shared (lists someone shares with you or you with them) and recent (the lists that changed last).

Two lists with the same name each get a short id suffix, so neither file overwrites the other. Unticking a list removes its file on the next sync; ticking it again brings it back.

## Format

Always Markdown: the list's front matter, then a checkbox line per reminder, subtasks indented under their parent, completed reminders under a `Completed` heading.

## The file

| key | holds |
| --- | --- |
| `title`, `id` | the list's name and id |
| `created`, `modified` | the earliest created and the latest changed reminder |
| `source_url` | opens the list in Reminders |
| `shared`, `owner` | on a shared list, who owns it |
| `reminders`, `completed` | how many, and how many are done |

Each line carries the title, then Dataview inline fields when they apply: `due`, `priority`, `flagged`, `notes`, `url`, `recurring`, the reminder's hashtags, a link that opens it in Reminders, and a block id.

```markdown
---
title: "Groceries"
id: "8F2C1A3B-4D5E-6F70-8192-A3B4C5D6E7F8"
shared: true
owner: "Anna Kowalski"
reminders: 3
completed: 1
---
- [ ] Coffee beans [due:: 2026-09-16] [priority:: high] [↗](x-apple-reminderkit://REMCDReminder/1) ^rem-1
  - [ ] Grinder [↗](x-apple-reminderkit://REMCDReminder/2) ^rem-2

## Completed

- [x] Oat milk [↗](x-apple-reminderkit://REMCDReminder/3) ^rem-3
```

## Free and unlocked

Your first 100 reminders are free: the newest by last change, and they stay free. A free list file holds the reminders that hold a free slot and fills up when you unlock ([pricing](https://exporter.dev/pricing)).

## Sync and full resync

After the first "sync now", Exporter rewrites a list file when a reminder in it changes, at most once a minute.

"full resync" asks first, then removes the list files Exporter wrote and writes every ticked list again. Anything else in the folder stays.

## Problems and fixes

- "no reminders database in that folder (pick the Reminders folder itself)": press "connect" again and select the folder the panel opens in
- a list is missing: it is unticked on the card, or it holds no reminders yet
- a reminder is missing from its file: the free 100 are used. Unlock Reminders and press "sync now"
- an image is missing: it was added on another device and has not synced to this Mac yet

## Related

- [Reminders](https://exporter.dev/reminders): Every list as a Markdown checklist
- [Reminders guides](https://exporter.dev/guides/reminders): Every list as a checklist file
- [Getting started](https://exporter.dev/docs/getting-started): Install, connect, first export

---

human version: https://exporter.dev/docs/reminders
every page: https://exporter.dev/llms.txt