Jimmy: Convert Exports from Evernote, Notion, Google Keep, and More into Markdown

Jimmy is a note conversion tool whose goal is to convert content from different note apps or document formats into Markdown. It is useful for people who want to move notes out of closed apps, import them into Obsidian or Joplin, or simply keep long-term archives as plain text.

The project documentation is very direct: export or back up the original note app’s data, run jimmy to convert it, then import the result into Joplin or Obsidian, or open it directly in a text editor such as VSCode.

What Jimmy Solves

Many note apps have their own export formats. When switching apps, the hardest part is often not the text itself, but images, attachments, tags, internal links, and structured metadata such as front matter.

Jimmy tries to turn those exports into a more universal Markdown directory:

• Convert note bodies to Markdown.
• Preserve images, resources, and attachments as much as possible.
• Preserve tags, external links, and internal note links where possible.
• Output Markdown + front matter.
• Make the result importable into Joplin, Obsidian, and similar tools, or readable directly in a text editor.

The point of this kind of tool is to reduce migration cost. Once notes become Markdown, they are no longer tightly bound to one app. Backup, search, version control, and LLM processing all become much easier.

Many Supported Note Apps

Jimmy supports a wide range of sources, including Anki, Anytype, Bear, CherryTree, ColorNote, Day One, Diaro, Drafts, Dynalist, Evernote, Google Docs, Google Keep, Joplin, Notion, Obsidian, OneNote, QOwnNotes, RedNotebook, Reflect, Roam Research, Signal, Simplenote, Standard Notes, Synology Note Station, Telegram, Tiddlywiki, Turtl, UpNote, Wordpress, Zim, Zoho Notebook, and more.

Not every source has the same fidelity. In a real migration, you should still test with a small batch first and check images, attachments, tags, internal links, and date fields carefully.

It Can Also Convert Regular Documents

Besides exports from note apps, Jimmy can also handle common document formats. The docs mention converting a single file or recursively converting an entire folder, which makes it useful for turning messy document directories into Markdown.

Common supported formats include:

If you only want to batch-convert DOCX, PDF, or HTML into Markdown, Jimmy can also work as an offline batch-processing tool.

Two Ways to Use It

Jimmy provides both CLI and TUI interfaces.

The official README gives these Linux examples:

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# Convert with the interactive TUI
jimmy-linux tui

# Convert a single file supported by pandoc
jimmy-linux cli libre_office_document.odt

# Convert an entire folder
jimmy-linux cli path/to/folder

# Convert a Google Keep export
jimmy-linux cli takeout-20240401T160516Z-001.zip --format google_keep

These commands show that Jimmy is not only for one note app. It puts “note export packages” and “regular document folders” into the same conversion workflow.

Main Characteristics

“Offline” and “no AI” are especially fitting for note migration. Notes often contain private information, work materials, and old attachments. Keeping conversion local makes the risk boundary clearer.

Who Should Use It

Jimmy is useful for:

• Users migrating from Evernote, Notion, OneNote, Google Keep, and similar tools to Markdown.
• People importing notes into Obsidian, Joplin, or another plain-text workflow.
• People who want to preserve long-term materials in a format that will be easier to read in the future.
• People preparing notes or documents as text that LLMs can process.
• People who need to recursively convert folders of DOCX, PDF, HTML, ODT, and similar files.

It may not be for users who expect “one-click perfect migration”. Export formats vary greatly between note apps, and complex pages, databases, embeds, and internal links may still need manual review.

Pre-Migration Checklist

Before doing a real migration, it is better to follow this order:

1. Export a small sample from the original note app.
2. Convert the sample with Jimmy instead of converting everything immediately.
3. Check Markdown body text, images, attachments, tags, creation time, and internal links.
4. Confirm that the target app, such as Obsidian or Joplin, recognizes the directory structure and front matter correctly.
5. Convert the full export package.
6. Keep both the original export and converted result until you have verified everything.

This is a bit slower, but it avoids discovering missing attachments, broken links, or wrong tag structure only after the migration is done.

My Take

Jimmy is useful because it turns note migration from “relying on one app’s importer” into “convert to universal Markdown first”. It supports many sources, and its output is general enough to help free a personal knowledge base from closed formats.

If you only export one or two notes occasionally, you may not need it. But if you have years of notes, attachments, and document folders and want to move to Obsidian, Joplin, or a Git-managed Markdown workflow, Jimmy is worth trying. It is best used as a migration middle layer: first turn data into readable, backup-friendly, batch-processable text, then decide which note system should own it.

Project link: marph91/jimmy
Documentation: Jimmy - Note Conversion Tool