Notes and Obsidian import

Notes live in ALT next to your areas and projects, as an outline you edit like in Workflowy. Bring notes over from Obsidian once, and export them to Markdown any time.

Where your notes are

Open an area or a project and switch to Notes (⌘8). A project shows its own notes. An area shows its notes and the notes of its projects. All Areas shows every note.

ALT keeps notes in its own database, like your tasks. There are no folders to set up: press New Note and start writing. Notes are on the Mac for now.

Write in an outline

A note is a list you type in place, as in Workflowy. Each line is an item.

• Return makes the next item. Tab nests it under the item above, ⇧Tab moves it back out.
• Backspace at the start of an item joins it to the one above.
• ⌘↓ unfolds a note or an item in place, ⌘↑ folds it back.
• ⌘. or a click on a note's name opens it as a page. ⌘[ goes one level up.

Notes are Markdown, written as you type them:

• - [ ] Call the bank is a checklist item. A ticked item stays a moment, then moves to the "Show done" line under the note.
• # Heading makes a heading.
• [[Kickoff notes]] links to another note. A web address or [text](https://...) links to a site. A click opens the link.
• ![[kitchen.jpg]] or ![](https://...) shows a photo under the item.

All the keys are in Keyboard shortcuts.

Import from Obsidian

1. Choose File → Import from Obsidian...
2. Pick your Obsidian vault folder.
3. Wait for the message "Imported N notes". If some files couldn't be read, it says how many.

Import copies Markdown notes and their photos into ALT. Your files stay where they are and nothing is deleted. ALT adds one property to the top of each imported file, moved-to-alt: with the date, so you can see in Obsidian what has moved.

You can run import again. Files that didn't change since the last import are skipped, and a note you've edited in ALT is never overwritten by its old file.

Import takes the vault folders that are linked to your projects and areas. In this beta you can't link a folder from the app yet, so if import reports 0 notes, write to hello@altplan.app and we'll help you move them.

Export to Markdown

Choose File → Export Notes to Markdown... and pick a folder. ALT writes every note as an .md file, in folders by area and project, with its photos next to it. Links between notes keep working as links between files.

Export never overwrites files already in the folder: a name that's taken gets a number, like "Plan 2.md". Use it as a backup or to take your notes elsewhere.

Notes and the assistant

The chat reads a note when your question needs it, and can create, rewrite or delete notes. Before you press Apply, "Show in note" opens the note with the changes in it. Claude Code and Codex can read notes, create one in a project or an area, and rewrite one. Every change can be undone. See The assistant and your AI key and Claude Code and Codex.