How to export Notion to Markdown
Ten minutes, no tooling, free plan included. Here's the clean way out — what you'll get, what the export quietly flattens, and where to put the files so they stay yours.
Whatever prompted this — a privacy rethink, subscription fatigue, or plain curiosity about what you'd actually keep if the servers vanished — the good news is that Notion's Markdown export is real and complete enough to leave with. The steps:
The five steps
01Export a page — or everything
For one page: open it, click the ••• menu in the top-right, choose Export. For your whole workspace: Settings & Members → Settings → Export all workspace content. Either way, pick “Markdown & CSV” as the format.
02Include subpages
In the export dialog, switch “Include subpages” on — without it you get a single file and lose the tree. For workspace exports, Notion emails you a download link when the archive is ready.
03Unzip and inspect
You'll get folders of .md files (pages) and .csv files (databases), with an assets folder for images. File names carry long ID suffixes — ugly, but harmless.
04Check what the export flattens
Markdown can't hold everything Notion can: database views become plain CSV, synced blocks become static text, and page links can arrive as relative paths. Skim your most important pages before deleting anything at the source.
05Give the files a home
A folder of Markdown is portable but not yet a notebook. Import it into any tool that reads .md — or into Locus, where File → Import turns each file into a page of native blocks: headings, lists, to-dos, quotes, and code all convert.
Menus move occasionally — if the labels differ, look for “Export” on the page menu and in workspace settings.
After the export
You now hold your notes as plain files — the position of strength. Keep them that way by choosing tools that read and write open formats: the tests in local-first notes are a good filter. If you're replacing Notion outright, the honest comparison covers the trade-offs — and Locus imports your fresh export in one step: File → Import, point at the folder, done.
Questions people ask
Does exporting from Notion cost anything?+
No — Markdown & CSV export is available on Notion's free plan, for single pages and full workspaces alike. (PDF export of a whole workspace is the paid-plan feature.)
Will my Notion databases survive as tables?+
They export as CSV, not Markdown tables. Simple databases can be reshaped into tables afterward; complex ones — relations, rollups, views — don't have a Markdown equivalent anywhere, so plan to simplify.
How often should I export?+
If Notion stays your daily tool, treat exports as backups: monthly, or before big reorganizations. If you're leaving, export once, verify, and import into the new home the same day so nothing drifts.
Why move the files into Locus rather than keep a folder?+
A folder preserves your words; a notebook makes them usable — search, backlinks, to-dos with real checkboxes, version history. Locus keeps the ownership story intact: the workspace stays a readable local file, and Markdown export back out is always one menu away.
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