How to convert Bear notes to Markdown

Converting your Bear notes to Markdown can help make them more compatible with other apps and websites. Bear has long used a similar syntax, called Polar, but we are working towards going Markdown-only eventually.

If you want to make this switch, first let’s check to see if your notes even need to be converted at all. In Bear for Mac, go to Bear > Preferences > General. Check to see if the Markdown Compatibility Mode option is enabled. If it is, you do not need to convert your notes.

How to convert your Polar notes to Markdown

We’ll use a Mac for these instructions.

First thing’s first: backup your notes. In Bear for Mac, go to File > Backup Notes. Save that backup in a safe space on your Mac or an external drive.

Part 1: The export

• In Bear’s preference, make sure the Keep tags during export option is on
• Export all your notes as TextBundle
  • Click Notes at the top of the Sidebar
  • Click the first note on the list
  • Press ⌘A (Edit > Select All)
  • Press ⌘⇧S (File > Export Notes)
  • In the Save File Window select Text Bundle as the export format
  • Save the files in an empty folder on your Mac or an external hard drive

Part 2: The import

• In Bear’s preference, enable the Markdown Compatibility Mode option
• Trash all the old notes. Yep, all of them
  • Select Notes
  • Select the first note on the list
  • Press ⌘A (Edit > Select All)
  • Press ⌘⌫ (Edit > Delete)
• Import the TextBundle notes you created in Part 1
  • Press ⌘⇧O (File > Import Notes)
  • In the file window that appears, select the folder containing the TextBundle of your notes
  • Make sure the keep original dates option is enabled, and the escape involuntary tags option is off
  • Press the Import Notes button

• Check your imported notes to make sure they look correct and contain any photos or attachments
• If everything looks good, it’s safe to delete the old notes from Bear’s trash
• If something went wrong, delete these notes and try the import process again from the beginning