Can I Import and Export My Notes in Trilium Notes?

Updated

Yes. Trilium Notes is designed so your notes are never locked in: the site lists import and export as supported features, the app is open source under AGPL-3.0, and your data lives locally on your desktop or on a server you host yourself. That combination means you can bring existing notes in and take your content out in a usable form rather than leaving it trapped in a proprietary silo.

What the site confirms

The product page presents "Import & export" as a top-level feature area and states plainly that "Your notes are never locked in." It also confirms the surrounding conditions that make portability meaningful:

  • Open source, AGPL-3.0 licensed — the code can be inspected and run independently.
  • Local-first storage — use it on your desktop, or sync with a self-hosted server.
  • No account needed and works offline, so access to your own notes doesn't depend on a vendor account.

How import and export fit the rest of the app

Portability matters most when the note model is rich, and Trilium's is. Notes are arranged hierarchically with no folders — each note can contain sub-notes, and a single note can appear in multiple places in the tree. Notes also carry labels, relations, and promoted attributes that feed tables and boards.

That has a practical consequence for import and export: a plain-text or Markdown round trip may preserve the words but not the tree positions, labels, or structured attributes. If keeping that structure matters, treat export as a backup of the whole note collection rather than a per-file conversion, and check how a given format handles hierarchy before relying on it.

A realistic check before you commit

If you're deciding whether to migrate, test with a small sample rather than your whole archive:

  1. Import a handful of representative notes — including one with sub-notes and one with labels or attributes.
  2. Confirm the hierarchy and attributes survived, not just the body text.
  3. Export that same sample and re-import it into a fresh location.
  4. Compare the two versions to see what a round trip preserves.

The expected result is that content and structure come through; the common snag is losing tree placement or structured attributes when a format only carries text.

Related capabilities worth knowing

  • Note revisions are saved periodically in the background and can also be created on demand, giving you a recovery path for accidental changes.
  • Protected notes are encrypted behind a password-protected session — expect those to behave differently from ordinary notes in any export.
  • REST API lets you read, create, and update notes over HTTP, which is a viable route for scripted bulk export or migration if the built-in export doesn't cover your target format.
  • Web publishing can expose any subtree as a public, read-only site if you run a server — useful for sharing, not a substitute for a full export.

Bottom line

Trilium supports both import and export, and its open-source, self-hosted, local-first design means your notes aren't tied to the vendor. Before a large migration, verify with a sample that your chosen format preserves hierarchy and attributes, and use the REST API or whole-collection export when you need structure intact.