Apple Notes to Obsidian, kept in sync
Keep writing in Apple Notes and read every note in Obsidian.
Steps
- In Finder, make a folder for the export inside your vault, like
Vault/Apple Notes. With no vault yet, make an empty folder and open it with Obsidian’s “Open folder as vault” first. - In Exporter, press “connect” on the Apple Notes card, then “Select this folder” in the panel that opens.
- Press “select export folder” and choose
Vault/Apple Notes. Leave theformatrow on markdown. - Press “sync now”. From then on every edit in Apple Notes is written to the vault while Exporter runs, window open or closed. Settings > “launch at login” keeps it going after a restart.
- Optional: “install companion plugin” on Exporter’s Obsidian card (or in Settings > OBSIDIAN) adds sync status inside Obsidian and opens any note back in Apple Notes.
What you get
Vault/
.obsidian/
Apple Notes/
Studio/
Poster, first pass.md
attachments/
bases/
all-notes.base
photo-notes.base
all-attachments.base
My own note.md
Each note’s front matter shows as Properties, with created and modified as real dates that sort and filter, and cover pointing at the note’s first image. Your #tags stay in the text, where Obsidian reads them as tags. source_url reopens the note in Apple Notes.
Pitfalls
- Choose a folder of its own, not the vault’s own folder, so your notes and Exporter’s stay apart. A “full resync” removes only the files Exporter wrote: the notes you wrote in Obsidian and
.obsidianwith your settings and plugins stay. - An edit to an exported file goes nowhere: Exporter replaces it the next time it writes that note. Write in Apple Notes, and keep your own notes outside the export folder.
- The bases filter by file type, so they list your own notes too, and they are rewritten on every export: to change one, copy it under a new name.
Moving to Obsidian for good? Its free Importer copies Apple Notes once. Every field in the files, and each problem with its fix, is in the Apple Notes docs.