Does Flotes Support Markdown and Can I Export My Notes?

Yes. Flotes is built on plain Markdown, and the site states that you can import and export freely with "no lock-in." Two specific portability details are worth knowing: backlinks in the Wiki view are stored as standard Markdown links, and the Canvas view exports using the open JSON Canvas specification.

Markdown as the foundation

Flotes describes itself as "Powered by Markdown" and lets you write in plain Markdown rather than a proprietary rich-text format. That matters for two reasons:

• Your notes stay readable outside the app. Because the source is plain text, the content isn't trapped in a format only Flotes can render.
• Import and export are first-class. The site explicitly lists "Import and export freely. Open format with no lock-in" as a feature, and separately notes you can "easily publish or share your notes on the web."

If your main concern is whether you can move notes in and out, the answer from the site's own description is yes — Flotes positions open format and no lock-in as core selling points, not add-ons.

What "no lock-in" covers in practice

Different parts of the app store data in different ways, and the site is specific about two of them:

The backlink detail is the one people usually miss. In many note apps, links between notes are stored in a proprietary database, so exporting gives you the text but breaks the connections. Flotes says its backlinks are stored as standard Markdown links "for seamless export and compatibility" — meaning the link structure should come along with the export rather than being stripped out.

The Canvas export is a separate format from Markdown. JSON Canvas is an open specification for infinite-canvas tools, so a canvas you build in Flotes is intended to be portable to other canvas apps that read the same format, not just to Flotes itself.

How to check this for yourself

The site doesn't document exact menu paths for import/export in the material available here, so the reliable way to confirm behavior is to test it directly:

1. Create an account (the site says "Start for Free" and "Free to use, unlimited notes, all views").
2. Write a note in Markdown, including a link to a second note so a backlink is created.
3. Use the export option and open the resulting file in a plain text editor.
4. Check that (a) the Markdown formatting is intact and (b) the link to the other note still appears as a Markdown link rather than as plain text or a broken reference.
5. If you use Canvas, build a small canvas and export it, then verify the output is JSON Canvas.

Expected result: the note text and its links should be usable in another Markdown-based tool without cleanup. If a link comes out as plain text, that's the specific thing to flag.

Common sticking points

• Markdown support doesn't mean every Markdown extension. "Plain Markdown" is the site's wording; if you rely on a specific flavor or plugin syntax, test it before committing.
• Canvas is not Markdown. Don't expect a canvas to export as Markdown — it uses JSON Canvas, a different open format.
• Pricing and account limits aren't specified here. The site links to a Pricing page and says "Free to use, unlimited notes, all views," but the available material doesn't state whether any features sit behind a paid tier. Check the Pricing page directly if that affects your decision.
• Sync is separate from export. The site lists seamless sync across devices, but sync keeps your notes current inside Flotes; export is what gets them out. They solve different problems.

Who this suits

Flotes fits you if you want to write in Markdown, keep the ability to leave with your notes intact, and use learning-oriented views (study with fill-in-the-blanks, spaced repetition, canvas, wiki backlinks) on top of that text. It's a weaker fit if you need a documented, versioned export API or a specific Markdown dialect — the site describes open formats and free import/export, but doesn't publish those deeper technical guarantees in the material available.