Notion Import

Notion Import Skill

Guide for importing Notion workspaces into an Obsidian vault and processing the results into a usable structure.

Phase 1: Export from Notion

Method: API Import (Recommended)

Why API over ZIP: API import preserves Notion Databases as Obsidian .base files. ZIP/HTML import loses all database structure — you get flat markdown only.

Setup Steps

1. Create Notion Integration Token

   • Go to Notion Integrations
   • New integration → name it (e.g., "Personal Export")
   • Choose the workspace to export
   • Save → copy the ntn_... token
   • In the Access tab → Edit access → add all pages/databases you want

2. Run Obsidian Importer

   • Settings → Community Plugins → install/enable Importer
   • Open Importer (Cmd+P → "Importer" or ribbon icon)
   • File format: Notion (API)
   • Paste API token
   • Click Load to pull page/database list
   • Select what to import
   • Set output folder to a staging directory (e.g., Project/notion-import/) — never import directly into your working folders
   • Click Import, wait

What You Get

• Regular pages → .md files with notion-id in frontmatter
• Database items → .md files with frontmatter containing all database properties + base: "[[DatabaseName.base]]" link
• Databases → .base files (Obsidian's native database format) with filters, properties, and view definitions
• Folder structure → mirrors Notion's page hierarchy (parent pages become folders)

Known Limitations (API Import)

• Only the primary view per database is imported (alternate views lost)
• Linked data sources not imported (Notion API limitation)
• People functions (name(), email()) not available
• Text functions (style(), unstyle()) not available
• Rate limits make large workspaces slow — 1500 files can take 10-30+ minutes
• Emoji-prefixed page names become emoji-prefixed folder names (e.g., 📦 Archive/)

Frontmatter Structure (Database Items)

---
notion-id: 1d0be9d0-0a42-808f-9795-d946fcdc690a
base: "[[DatabaseName.base]]"
Property Name: value
Another Property: value
Sub-item: []
Parent item:
  - notion-id-of-parent
---

.base File Structure

# Database Name

filters:
  and:
    - note["base"] == link("DatabaseName.base")
properties:
  file.name:
    displayName: Name
  Property1:
    displayName: Property 1
views:
  - type: table
    name: Table View
    order:
      - file.name
      - Property1

Phase 2: Landscape Mapping

After import completes, you need to understand what you have before routing anything.

Step 1: Census

Run a structural census to understand the shape of the import:

# Total file count
find "path/to/notion-import/" -type f | wc -l

# File types breakdown
find "path/to/notion-import/" -type f | sed 's/.*\.//' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

# Database (.base) files — these are the structured data
find "path/to/notion-import/" -name "*.base"

# Top-level folder structure (Notion's page hierarchy)
ls -la "path/to/notion-import/"

# Deepest nesting
find "path/to/notion-import/" -type f | awk -F/ '{print NF-1}' | sort -rn | head -5

Step 2: Database Inventory

Each .base file represents a Notion database. Read each one to understand:

• What properties/columns it has
• How many items belong to it (grep for files with base: "[[ThatDatabase.base]]")
• Whether it maps to an existing system (content calendar, task tracker, etc.)

Step 3: Content Categorization

Map top-level folders to their destination:

• Archive/junk → delete or quarantine
• Active projects → merge with existing project folders
• Reference material → route to appropriate project
• Databases worth keeping → preserve .base files and their items together

Phase 3: Processing & Routing

Approach Options

Option A: Manual audit (small imports, <100 files) Read through folders, move things where they belong.

Option B: Agent team (large imports, 500+ files) Use subagents to parallelize the landscape mapping:

• Agent 1: Census + database inventory
• Agent 2: Read frontmatter of all database items, categorize by base
• Agent 3: Read top-level pages, summarize content
• Coordinator: builds routing map from agent findings

Option C: QMD indexing (very large imports, searchable archive) Index all imported markdown into QMD for full-text + semantic search. Good when you need to query across the import rather than just route it.

Routing Decisions

For each top-level folder/database, decide:

1. Merge — content maps to an existing project folder → move files there
2. Keep — valuable standalone content → rename/reorganize in place
3. Archive — old but might be useful → move to an archive folder
4. Delete — junk, duplicates, empty pages → remove

Edge Cases & Gotchas

• Emoji folder names: Notion uses emoji prefixes heavily. These work in Obsidian but can cause issues with CLI tools and scripts.
• "Untitled" databases: Notion allows unnamed databases — these import as Untitled/Untitled.base, making identification harder. Check the properties and items to understand what they are.
• Notion AI summaries in frontmatter: If Notion AI was used, database items may have an AI summary property — this can actually be useful for quick triage.
• Parent-child references by notion-id: Parent/sub-item relations use raw Notion IDs, not wikilinks. These may need conversion if you want Obsidian graph connections.
• Duplicate content: Pages that appear in multiple Notion databases may import multiple times.

Phase 4: Cleanup & Integration

After Routing

• Delete the staging notion-import/ folder once everything is routed
• Update project CLAUDE.md files if new content was added
• Create task files for any follow-up work discovered during audit
• If databases were preserved as .base files, verify they work in Obsidian's Base view

Repeat for Additional Workspaces

Each Notion workspace needs its own integration token. Import one at a time to keep things manageable. The second import benefits from lessons learned on the first.

Session Log

Import 1: Creative Intelligence Agency (Personal Notion)

• Date: 2026-02-28
• Token: Created, all pages shared
• Target folder: Creative Intelligence Agency/Notion/
• File count: ~1500 expected
• Status: Import in progress
• Observations:
  • First files to land: Podcast Name for Guests/, 📦 Archive/, loose pages
  • Archive contains old Ray Peat book drafts (Bioenergetic Tiger, PUFA chapter, etc.) — likely maps to existing wiki-projects/ content
  • .base file found for an unnamed database with AI summary, Sub-item, Parent item columns
  • Database items include notion-id in frontmatter — good for dedup
  • Emoji prefixed folders confirmed (📦 Archive)