How to back up your notes

Typed notes feel safe because they live in the cloud, but they usually live in one company’s cloud, inside one app. Years of journal entries in Apple Notes, a recipe archive in Google Keep, client notes in Evernote and project pages in Notion each depend on that service staying the way it is, on you keeping access to the account, and on no one in a shared workspace deleting the wrong page.

This guide covers how people usually back up notes, the problems that come with exporting from note apps, and how to keep a copy of your notes in Fabric where they’re searchable together and available on every device.

How people usually back up notes

Many people rely on the app’s own sync and treat it as a backup. Sync keeps devices in step, so a note deleted or overwritten on one device is changed on the others. Most apps keep a recently deleted folder for a while, which helps with mistakes noticed quickly and less with ones noticed months later.

Export is the next option. Evernote can export notebooks as ENEX files, Notion can export a workspace as Markdown or HTML, and Google Keep notes come out through Google Takeout. With Apple Notes, people often share notes out one at a time. Each export is a snapshot, and reading it back often means opening a folder of files in a format no other app reads well. What is data portability? explains why exports vary so much.

Some people copy important notes into a document or email them to themselves every so often. That spreads the risk around and, at the same time, spreads the notes across more places.

Step 1: Import your notes from Evernote and Notion

Fabric has import functions for Evernote and Notion, so the notebooks and pages you’ve built there can come across into your Fabric library. Notion docs can also be brought in through a connection instead. Connections need a paid plan.

Keep the original export files from each app as well, stored in a folder in Fabric or on an external drive. They’re a second copy in the app’s own format.

Before deleting anything in the old app, open a sample of imported notes and compare them with the originals, paying attention to the long ones and any with tables or images. It takes ten minutes and tells you whether the import caught everything you care about. Leaving the old account in place for a few months after the move costs little and gives you a fallback.

Step 2: Bring in notes from other apps

For notes in Apple Notes, Google Keep or a similar app, paste the text straight into Fabric and it becomes a note. Fabric works out the content type itself, so there’s no format to choose. On a phone, select a note’s text, tap Share and choose Fabric.

If an app exports Markdown, TXT or HTML files, upload those directly; Fabric handles them as documents. You can also forward notes to your Fabric email address, which accepts mail from your verified account address and is handy for apps that only offer email as a share option.

Step 3: Write new notes in Fabric

Once your archive is safe, writing new notes in Fabric keeps everything in one place from then on. The notes editor is a full Markdown editor with real-time collaboration, and you can link between notes and embed files you’ve saved. Notes are part of the free plan.

Fabric runs on the web, as a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux, and on iOS and Android from the mobile download page, so a note started on the laptop can be finished on the train. Scanned handwriting and voice notes (a paid feature) become notes in the same library.

Step 4: Search all your notes together

After an import, you’ll have notes from several apps and many years in one place. Click Search or press Cmd+F (Mac) / Ctrl+F (Windows) and type what you remember. Search matches by meaning and keyword, so “the idea about a subscription box for plants” can find a note you titled “misc 14”.

Fabric processes each note as it arrives: it creates embeddings, writes a short summary, extracts the concepts it covers and suggests tags. Smart collections you set up fill themselves from that content, which can bring Evernote, Notion and Apple Notes material on the same topic together without refiling anything.

Step 5: Ask questions across your notes

Open a folder of notes and the AI assistant limits itself to that folder. Ask what you decided about a project over the past year, or which books you meant to read, and it answers with clickable references to the notes it used. Answers can be saved as new notes.

For a broader approach to keeping notes useful over time, Building a Second Brain describes one system that works well with a single searchable library.

Frequently asked questions

How do I back up my Evernote notes?

Export your notebooks from Evernote and keep the files somewhere safe, then use Fabric’s Evernote import to bring the notes into a searchable library.

How do I back up Apple Notes?

The quickest route is to copy or share notes into Fabric, starting with the ones you’d least like to lose. Pasted text becomes a note.

Can I back up my Notion workspace to Fabric?

Yes. Fabric has a Notion import, and Notion docs can also come in through a connection, which needs a paid plan.

Is app sync the same as a backup?

Sync copies changes across your devices, including deletions and edits, which is useful for staying up to date. A backup is a separate copy kept somewhere else, so a mistake in the original app doesn’t reach it. Many people use both.

Can I upload Markdown files as notes?

You can upload Markdown, TXT and HTML files, and Fabric handles them as documents that are searchable and can be highlighted and commented on.

Can I search notes from different apps at once?

Once they’re in Fabric, yes, whichever app they started in. One search covers every note, file and saved item in your library, and with connections it can reach connected apps too.

Can I use AI on my old notes?

Yes. Open a folder and ask the AI assistant, or right-click a folder and add it to the assistant’s context. It cites the notes it used, so you can open each one and check.

Are notes included on the free plan?

Yes. Notes and file uploads are on the free plan, which has storage caps. See pricing for details.