Getting your notes out
Your notes shouldn’t be hostage to an app, least of all this one. So there’s a button that hands you the lot in formats you can read anywhere.
There’s no account and no server, which is the point, but it does mean the usual “we’ll keep a copy for you” safety net isn’t there. Here’s what is.
Sync is not a backup
Edmund syncs your notes between your devices through your own iCloud. That covers losing a phone: sign in on the new one and everything comes back.
What it doesn’t cover is you deleting something and wanting it back next month, because a deletion syncs just as faithfully as anything else. Recently Deleted holds notes for thirty days, and past that, the export is what you’ve got.
Exporting everything
Open Settings ▸ Data ▸ Export all data. Edmund gathers everything up and hands you a zip through the normal share sheet, so you can drop it in Files, iCloud Drive, Dropbox or straight into a message to yourself.
It happens entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded anywhere to produce it, and it doesn’t pass through me.
What’s in the zip
Two views of the same thing, because they’re good at different jobs.
A folder of Markdown files, one per note, sorted into folders by project. These are for humans: open them in any text editor, drop them into Obsidian, print them out if you like. No Edmund required, ever.
And a JSON file with the full structure: notes, projects, areas, types, tags, dates, routing links, related notes. This is the complete picture, including the bits Markdown can’t express.
Your attachments come along too, the images and files you added to notes, alongside the notes that reference them.
What isn’t in there: your API keys and connected accounts. Those live in your Keychain and stay there, which is the right place for them.
Putting it back
Being straight about this: there’s no import button yet. The JSON is written to be read back in, and building the other half of that is on the list, but today an export is a safety copy and an escape hatch rather than a restore.
So if you’re about to do something drastic, take an export first. And it’s not a bad habit anyway. It costs you one tap and a few seconds.
Deleting the lot
Under the same Settings ▸ Data screen there’s a delete-everything option, which does exactly what it says on this device and, through sync, on your others. Take an export first if there’s any doubt at all.
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