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How to import journals

Switching to Diarly for your journaling? If you're transitioning from another digital platform or have entries in different file formats, this guide will assist you in importing your existing journals into Diarly with ease.

Understanding the available importers

Diarly supports importing from a range of sources. Choose the appropriate importer for your journal format:

Initiating the import process

On Mac

  1. Navigate to File > Import in the Menu Bar.
  2. Select the relevant importer for your file type.

On iOS

  1. Navigate to Settings
  2. Choose Import.
  3. Select the relevant importer.

During the import, you'll see details about the the import process. To complete, click Import.

Note: Entries from the same date will be merged into one entry with time separators.

Detailed guide

Markdown importer

For importing a zip file containing .md files. Refer to Diarly's export guide for file structure.

DayOne importer

  • DayOne JSON: Import using a zip file.
  • DayOne classic: Use a .dayone file or a zip file containing it.

For more, visit /migrate-from-dayone.

WordPress importer

Import using a WXR (WordPress eXtended RSS) file. Instructions for creating a WXR file can be found on the WordPress website.

CSV importer

Format: two columns - one for the date and another for notes. Dates correspond to daily notes; undated entries are treated as regular notes.

Example:

01/01/2020, This is a daily note
          , This is a regular note

Text / Markdown files

Imports .md, .txt, or .zip files as daily or regular notes. This import option is optimized for files generated in other editors such as Obsidian and BearApp.

  • For ZIP files: Ideal for notes with attachments. Include .txt or .md files and referenced files (images, etc.) in markdown format (e.g., ).
  • First non-empty line of the file is used to check for a date. If you use a date it will be inserted as a daily note.