Moving your writing in and out of Nodes is meant to be easy in both directions. You can bring an existing collection with you, and you can take everything with you whenever you like.
Import
Already have a folder of markdown files or a pile of PDFs? Choose File ▸ Import… (⇧⌘I) and the Import dialog opens with a drop zone: Drop files, folders or a Nodes archive - or click it to browse. Markdown, plain text, PDF, and image files become full nodes in your library, ready to link, tag, and search (a .txt file comes in as markdown), while a .nodes archive restores a library: nodes, tags, and links.
Nothing is imported the moment it lands. The dialog reviews what you gave it first, in up to three steps, showing only the ones it needs - a single file goes straight to the overview:
- Folders - a folder's subfolders become tags. Choose All parent folders (a tag for each folder above a node), Nearest folder (only the one it sits in), or No tags. Rename a folder's tag, or skip the folder and its files stay out. The folder you chose becomes a tag only if you tick it. Hidden folders and files Nodes can't import are set aside and counted.
- Nodes - every node on its way in, with its tags. Skip any you don't want. When an archive holds nodes that already live in your library, this step counts them and offers three choices: Keep Both (the default - your version stays untouched and the incoming one arrives as a copy), Replace, or Skip.
- Overview - your library before and after, what's arriving, and which of its tags are new and which you already have.
Nothing happens until you commit with the Import N Nodes button. When a single node arrives, open shows it in the tab you're on, or in a new tab from Home. Tags that came from folders are ordinary tags from then on - rename or merge them on their tag page. The dialog closes on Esc or a click outside it - unless an import is mid-write, in which case it stays put until it finishes.
Loose files come in on every edition, up to the Demo's cap. Folders as tags and .nodes archives come with Alexandria; until then, choose No tags and a folder's files come in untagged.
Got just one loose Markdown file to deal with? Open it in a Light Window and choose Import into Nodes.
Drag and drop
You don't have to open the dialog first. Drag files, a folder, or a .nodes archive from Finder onto Home, a node, a tag page, or an empty tab (the graph and timeline don't take drops) and a Drop to review overlay appears. Release, and the Import dialog opens already holding what you dropped, on the same review as above.
Only markdown, text, PDF, and image files, folders, and .nodes archives come in this way - drag anything else and the window doesn't take it.
Export
To export nodes as files, choose File ▸ Export… (⇧⌘E). With a node open, the dialog is already set up to export that node; export more nodes… leads to the full picker, where you can select any set of nodes. Markdown nodes leave as Original .md or as a Typeset PDF - with Letter or A4 paper and a font-size control, and a live page preview so you see the result before saving. PDF and image nodes simply export as their original files. A single node saves through a save panel; several nodes are written as plain files into a folder you choose, each named after its note's title. It's the real content in open formats, not a locked proprietary database.
To back up the whole library, go to Settings ▸ General and click save archive… on the Archive row of the Library card. That writes everything into a single .nodes archive - every node, tag, link, description, and sticker - so a later import restores your library exactly.
To see what an archive holds without importing it, select it in Finder and press Space. The preview shows how many nodes and tags it carries, the dates they span, its most-used tags and its newest nodes.
Keep that archive as a portable backup, or move it wherever you like. It's the backup that leaves this Mac; library snapshots, right below it, keep daily recovery points here without you having to remember anything.
Why it's built this way
Your nodes are plain files to begin with (see Where your files live), so export is really just handing you a tidy copy of what's already yours. There's no lock-in by design: you should stay with Nodes because you want to, never because you can't leave.