Import

Import brings what you already have into Lino. Notes from Obsidian, Bear, Logseq or any folder of Markdown files become Cards. A Heptabase whiteboard becomes a Canvas. Image files become Images. Your original files are only read, never changed — unless you turn on Smart Sync, which keeps a Card and its file in step on purpose.

All importers are on Settings → Import, under Files & apps. Importing needs the desktop app.

What each source becomes

Source	Tile hint	You choose	It becomes
Obsidian	As Cards	Your vault, or any folder of Obsidian notes	One Card per Markdown file
Heptabase	As Canvases	The Heptabase export folder	One Canvas per whiteboard you pick
Bear	As Cards	The folder you exported from Bear	One Card per note
Logseq	As Cards	Your graph's root folder	One Card per page or journal file
Markdown	As Cards	Any folder of `.md` or `.markdown` files	One Card per file
Images	As Images	One or more image files	One Image each, in your Inbox

Import Markdown, Obsidian, Bear or Logseq

These four work the same way. They differ only in which folder you pick.

Open Settings → Import and click the tile: Obsidian, Bear, Logseq or Markdown.
A short note tells you which folder to choose. Click the button at its foot:
- Obsidian → Choose vault. Pick your vault, or any folder inside it.
- Logseq → Choose graph. Pick the graph's root folder; Lino reads the Markdown files in its pages and journals.
- Bear → Choose export folder. Bear has to export first: in Bear, choose File → Export Notes → Markdown, save the notes to a folder, then pick that folder here.
- Markdown → Choose folder. Pick any folder that holds .md or .markdown files.
Lino scans the folder and opens the import dialog (Import from Obsidian, Import Markdown Files, and so on).
Choose files, a destination and whether to keep them synced (below), then click Import.

When it finishes, a message says how many files were imported, for example Imported 42 markdown files with Smart Sync.

Pick the files

The left side lists every Markdown file Lino found. Each row shows the note's title, the start of its text, the first picture in it (if any) and the date the file was last changed. All files start selected.

Click a row to select or deselect it.
Type in Search... to narrow the list by title, path or text. Select shown selects (or clears) everything the search is showing.
Change folder scans a different folder without closing the dialog.
The counts on the right show how many files are Selected, Available and Shown.

Very large or unreadable files are skipped, and a scan stops at a limit for huge folders. If that happened, the dialog says Some files were skipped because they were too large, unreadable, or beyond the scan limit.

Choose where they land

Under Import options → Destination:

Inbox — the new Cards wait in the Inbox Stack in the bottom-left corner, grouped under a tab for the source (Obsidian, Logseq, Bear or Import), so you can place them on Canvases one by one. See Inbox Stack.
Gallery — the Cards go straight into your Artifacts Gallery without filling up the Inbox. Use this for a big archive you want searchable but not on a Canvas yet.

Keep them synced, or not

Tick Smart Sync ("Keep these cards and their Markdown files in step, both ways.") to bind every imported Card to the file it came from. Edit either one later and Lino carries the change across. Leave it off for a one-time copy.

Smart Sync needs you to be signed in, because bindings are saved to your account for this computer. See Smart Sync for how it works.

How a file becomes a Card

The note's text becomes the Card's body: headings, lists, checklists, quotes, code, tables, links and so on.
Frontmatter at the top of the file (the block between --- lines) becomes the Card's Properties. If it has concept:, the Card becomes a Concept Card with that Concept; aliases: and variable: become its Aliases and Variable. See Concepts.
Links and references in the text become real Links and Connections, the same as if you had typed them.

Re-importing a folder you exported or synced before

Files that Lino wrote or synced carry a lino-id line in their frontmatter, which points to the Card they came from. If you import such a file while that Card still exists:

With Smart Sync on, a Reconnect review box lists those files. Each one is ticked to Reconnect to its existing Card: the Card is updated from the file and bound to it, instead of being copied. Untick a file to Import new card instead of reconnecting it.
With Smart Sync off, the box only tells you that some files already point to existing Cards, and that turning on Smart Sync would reconnect them.

Heptabase

Heptabase imports one whiteboard at a time, as a new Canvas placed inside a Canvas you choose.

In Heptabase, make a backup/export of your data. You need the folder that contains All-Data.json and a Whiteboard folder.
In Lino, open Settings → Import and click Heptabase, then Choose export, and pick that folder.
The Import from Heptabase dialog opens. On the left, pick a whiteboard. Each one lists its cards, text, images, groups and connections. Use Search... to find one by name.
On the right, under Lino · Add into ..., pick the Canvas that will hold it.
Click Import.

Lino creates a Canvas with the whiteboard's name, places it as a nested Canvas tile on the Canvas you picked, and opens it. The message says what came in, for example Created canvas "Biology" with 58 cards, 12 images, and 4 groups. Heptabase sections become Groups, and its connections become Connections.

Importing the same whiteboard again makes another Canvas, but its Cards and Images are the same ones as before (updated from Heptabase), not copies.

Images

Open Settings → Import and click Images.
Click Choose images and select one or more files (.png, .jpg, .webp, .gif and other common formats).
Settings closes right away and the import runs in the background.

Each picture becomes an Image in your Inbox, with its file name as the caption. A picture you already have in Lino is reused instead of being added twice; the message says how many already existed. To bring in pictures without the Inbox, you can also drop them onto a Canvas. See Images.

Memory from other AI assistants

The AI section of the same page imports what ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini already knows about you into Lino AI's memory. See Memory → Import memory.

Limits and troubleshooting

Plan limits. Each import is checked against your plan's Artifact allowance before anything is written. If the new Cards or Images would go over it, nothing is imported and you are told why. Cards that reconnect to an existing Card do not count as new. See Settings → Subscription.
"…import is only available in the desktop app" — open Lino's desktop app to import.
"Heptabase import failed: invalid backup data…" — you picked the wrong folder. Choose the folder that directly contains All-Data.json and Whiteboard/.
"No markdown files found in this folder." — the folder has no .md or .markdown files. For Logseq, pick the graph's root folder — the one that contains pages and journals.
Smart Sync checkbox is greyed out — sign in, and wait for this computer to finish setting up (Sync binding needs this device to finish setup.).