HOLIDAY70% OFFHow to import notes from Google Keep and other apps
From MemoKey 3.4, Restore from Backup brings in more than MemoKey backups: Google Keep notes from Google Takeout, plain text and Markdown files, and MemoKey’s own Markdown export; from 3.6 also a spreadsheet saved as CSV; from 3.7 Evernote exports (.enex) and your text shortcuts from a Mac or Gboard. Imported notes are added to the ones you have; nothing is replaced.
Where to import
Every import starts in MemoKey at Settings → Data Management → Restore from Backup. After you confirm, your phone’s file picker opens: select the files there, several at once if you like.
Importing only adds notes, it never deletes any. Google Keep notes, Evernote exports, text shortcuts and text or Markdown files can be picked together; a MemoKey backup (JSON or CSV) has to be picked on its own.
Import your Google Keep notes
1. Open Google Takeout
Sign in to your Google Account and open takeout.google.com. The products that hold your data are selected; clear every box except Keep, then go to the next step.
2. Create the export
Choose Send download link via email, a one-time export and the Zip file type, then Create export. Google says this can take from a few minutes to a few days; most people get the link the same day.
3. Download and unzip the archive
Open the link in Google’s email and download the archive. It expires after about 7 days and can be downloaded 5 times. Unzip it and put the .json files of your Keep notes on your phone, for example in Files on iPhone or in Downloads on Android.
4. Pick the files in MemoKey
In MemoKey, open Settings → Data Management, tap Restore from Backup and confirm. Select the .json files: each file is one Keep note, and you can select many at once.
5. Check the result
MemoKey says how many notes were imported and how many files were skipped: notes in Keep’s trash, empty notes and files that are not Keep notes.
What comes over from Keep
Each Keep note becomes one MemoKey note with its title and text. A checklist becomes lines starting with “- [ ]” (open) or “- [x]” (ticked). Labels become tags, reusing a tag you already have with the same name, pinned notes stay pinned, and the created and edited dates are kept.
Archived notes are imported like the others. Notes in Keep’s trash and notes with neither title nor text are skipped. Pictures, drawings, voice recordings, colors and collaborators stay in Keep: MemoKey notes are text.
Imported notes are not locked; lock the ones you want afterwards. Importing the same files again adds the notes again.
Import your Evernote notes
1. Export a notebook as .enex
In Evernote, export the notebook (or the notes) as an .enex file.
2. Put the file on your phone
Save the .enex file where your phone’s file picker can open it, for example in Files on iPhone or Downloads on Android.
3. Pick it in MemoKey
Open Settings → Data Management, tap Restore from Backup, confirm and pick the .enex file. You can pick several, and text, Markdown or Keep files with them.
4. Check the result
Titles, text, checklists (as “[ ]” and “[x]”), tags and dates come in. Images and attachments are left out and MemoKey says how many; notes you already have are skipped.
Bring your text shortcuts
1. Mac: export Text Replacements
On the Mac, open System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements, select the rows and drag them into a folder. That creates a file named “Text Substitutions.plist”.
2. Gboard: export the personal dictionary
In Gboard, open Settings > Dictionary > Personal dictionary and export it. Unzip the export: the file you need is dictionary.txt.
3. Put the file on your phone
Send “Text Substitutions.plist” to your phone with AirDrop or in Files, or keep dictionary.txt where the file picker can open it.
4. Pick it in MemoKey
Open Settings → Data Management, tap Restore from Backup, confirm and pick the .plist or dictionary.txt file. Pick the zip itself and MemoKey skips it and says so: unzip it first.
5. One note per phrase
Each shortcut becomes a note titled with the shortcut, holding its phrase, tagged Text Replacements or Gboard. Shortcuts you already have are skipped, so importing the same file again adds nothing.
Import text and Markdown files
1. Put the files on your phone
Save the .txt or .md files where your phone’s file picker can open them, for example in Files on iPhone or in Downloads on Android.
2. Pick them in MemoKey
Open Settings → Data Management, tap Restore from Backup, confirm and select one or more files.
3. One note per file
Each file becomes a new note named after the file without its extension: “Shopping list.md” becomes “Shopping list”. The text is kept exactly as written, without tags. Files over 1 MB are skipped, and importing a file again adds it again.
Import notes from a spreadsheet
1. Save the spreadsheet as CSV
Put one note per row. In Google Sheets, choose File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv); in Excel, save as CSV UTF-8. Move the file to your phone, for example in Files or Google Drive.
2. Pick the file
In MemoKey, open Settings → Data Management, tap Restore from Backup, confirm, then pick the CSV file. A CSV that is not a MemoKey backup opens the Choose Columns screen.
3. Choose the columns
Choose which column is the Text (required), the Title (or None: the first line of the text) and the Tags (or None). Turn First row is a header on or off to match your file. Several tags in one cell are split at commas or semicolons.
4. Check the preview
The Preview shows the first 3 rows as they will become notes, with their tags.
5. Import
Tap Import. Every row with text becomes a new note, not pinned or locked; rows without text are skipped and MemoKey says how many. Tags that already exist are reused; new ones are created, even past the free plan’s 10-tag limit.
Scan text from photos into a note
Scan Text reads printed text from a photo into a note, on your phone: the photo is never kept or sent anywhere. In the note editor, open Scan Text and choose Take Photo or Choose Photo.
Choose Photo takes up to 10 photos in one go, which suits a stack of pages or receipts. The photos are read in the order you picked them, with a blank line between each one’s text, and the lines are added where your cursor is.
One Undo on the message that follows removes everything from that scan, as long as you have not edited the lines. If some photos had no text, the message says how many, so you know which scan to repeat.
Bring back a MemoKey Markdown export
Settings → Data Management → Export as Markdown saves every note in one readable .md file. Pick that file in Restore from Backup and MemoKey reads it back as separate notes, with their titles, tags, pins and locks, instead of one long note.
A note already in your library with the same title and text is skipped, and MemoKey says how many were. The restored notes are dated at the time of the import.
After an import: find duplicates
An import can bring in notes you already had in another form. From MemoKey 3.6, Settings → Data Management → Find Duplicates lists groups of notes with the same title and text, ignoring case, accents and spacing.
Keep Newest on a group, or Keep Newest in All Groups, keeps the most recently edited note and moves the others to Trash, where you can restore them for 30 days. Tags are not merged. While Lock Individual Note is on, locked notes are not checked.
MemoKey backups: JSON and CSV
A JSON or CSV file exported by MemoKey is restored the same way and merged with your notes; MemoKey’s own CSV is recognised and imported as a backup, without the column chooser. The backup guide explains what a restore keeps and how tags are matched.
Notes from other apps
MemoKey has no direct import from Apple Notes, Samsung Notes or Notion. If an app can save notes as text or Markdown files, import those files as shown above, one note per file. What these apps’ own help pages say:
Apple Notes on iPhone: from iOS 26, a note can be exported as a Markdown file from the note’s Share menu.
Samsung Notes: open the note, tap More options (the three dots), then Save as file, and choose a text file.
Notion: in a page’s ••• menu, choose Export and the Markdown & CSV format. Notion downloads a zip file: unzip it and import the .md files. A database’s CSV file can be imported as a spreadsheet, as shown above.
Sources
The help pages we read for the steps in other apps (October 2026). Apps change; their own pages are the final word.
Still stuck? See the FAQ or Support page.