Import your notes

Bring your existing notes and conversations into Thoughtstead so everything you already have lives alongside everything you capture from here on.

Go to Settings → Import. Everything you import lands in the context you are in, so switch to the one you want it in before you upload.

Markdown / Obsidian

Zip up your vault folder (or any folder of Markdown files) and upload the zip. Each file becomes a captured thought, enriched the same way anything else you capture is — linking people, projects, and decisions where it can.

ChatGPT

From ChatGPT: Settings → Data controls → Export data. OpenAI emails you a zip file — upload that same zip here.

Re-importing is safe

Re-running an import never creates duplicates. Thoughtstead dedupes by source, so if you re-upload the same vault or the same ChatGPT export later (say, after adding new notes), only genuinely new items get captured.

Large imports

Imports of 1,000+ files are fine. You'll see enrichment progress as it goes, and you don't need to keep the tab open — enrichment continues in the background and finishes via the daily cron even if you close the browser.

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