Import and export

Glob for Web and the Linux CLI use Glob Portable v1: a readable, unencrypted .glob JSON file. An export from either can be imported into the other.

Export your account#

Open Settings → Data → Export. The download is glob-export.glob.

It includes this device's stored nodes, notes, tasks and body entries; task completion, repeat counts, dates, date ranges and time zones; tags, colours, positions and hierarchy; summaries and variants; saved lookups and brainstorms; links; and project/list membership, pins, bookmarks and aliases. Archived and deleted records still stored on this device retain their state.

The browser builds the file from content already decrypted here. Export does not upload your data to a new service, call AI or change how unlocking works. Keep the downloaded file private.

Export a project#

Open the project panel and its Import & export view. Select the project and choose Download portable .glob.

The file includes the project's subtree and locally stored context it references, such as parent containers, summary sources and accepted brainstorm records. This can include context outside the selected project so references remain meaningful. Export stops with an error if a stored record cannot be read safely.

Import a file#

In the project panel's Import & export view, choose Import a .glob file…, then select a Portable v1 file from Web or the CLI.

Import validates the complete file, creates separate copies with fresh IDs, and adds their projects and lists. Your existing records are kept. The first imported project opens when the file contains one. Importing the same file twice creates two sets of copies.

A validation error names the format version and the unreadable field or problem and writes no imported content. A storage or browser-quota failure can leave some new copies; existing data remains intact. Keep the source file, inspect the result and resolve the storage error before trying again.

The imported copies use the existing encrypted sync path. A portable file contains no sharing permissions and grants no access to the original shared work.

Older files#

Legacy Mac project version 1 .glob JSON still imports as a new project. Its available note text, timestamps, positions, bookmarks and link kind/confidence/tags are retained. Old summary markers and last-opened values are preserved as compatibility data; they are not reconstructed as new summary blocks.

Those Mac files never contained task flags/schedules, tags on notes, colours, hierarchy controls or separate summary blocks. Import cannot restore information absent from the file. The paused Mac app cannot open Portable v1, and these downloads are not the old Mac format.

Older Web downloads were Markdown ZIPs. They were readable exports without a structure file and did not round-trip through the project importer. The older CLI's flat or Node/Note/Task Markdown directories can now be converted with the Linux CLI importer, then exported as a portable file for Web. Web's file picker does not import a Markdown directory or ZIP.

What the file leaves out#

Portable v1 excludes encryption/recovery keys, login credentials and account settings, sharing access, operation journals, sync cursors and edit history, chat sessions, temporal journals, separate DataJar definitions, attachment binaries and device view preferences. Opaque extension data on covered records is retained.

It contains what this browser has stored, so resolve sync errors before treating it as a copy of all your devices' work. Downloading does not sign you out or delete the account. See account deletion for that separate action.