Apple Notes importer Improvement for One-way Sync #394

jykim · 2025-06-09T17:01:42Z

Current importer logic for Apple Note seems to be designed for one-time import. I want to use both Apple Notes (upstream) and Obsidian (downstream), so made two improvements to Apple Notes importer for people who want to perform regular one-way sync (from Apple Notes to Obsidian).

Since this changes the default behavior at the moment, comments are welcome.

Option to add date-based prefix (default: YYYY-MM-DD)

The prefix applies to both notes and attachments. I prefer default value of YYYY-MM-DD which will make imported notes follow obsidian journal file naming convention, and preserve the chronological ordering from Apple Notes.

Option to control how duplicated notes (same name in both Apple Note & Obsidian) are handled

Skip import
Import only updated (new default)
Create a copy (legacy)

Again, I believe the new default (2) is more sensible which fetches only notes updated in Apple Notes, but it will overwrite the changes to corresponding notes in Obsidian, in which case (1) can be useful. IMO the legacy method (3) doesn't make much sense for regular sync.

Comments welcome.

You can test the pre-release version using BRAT.

https://github.com/jykim/obsidian-importer/releases/tag/v0.2

Introduced a new setting to allow users to skip importing notes that already exist in the vault. This feature helps prevent duplication during the import process.

tsconfig.json

tgrosinger · 2025-06-09T18:59:25Z

Thanks for making these improvements. I see that the PR is marked as a work in progress still, so let me know when it's ready for review.

Introduced a new setting that allows users to specify a date prefix format for filenames during the import process. The format can include placeholders for year (YYYY), month (MM), and day (DD). If left blank, no prefix will be added. This enhancement improves file organization and user customization.

…ures" This reverts commit 696ebd6.

jykim · 2025-06-09T19:11:02Z

You can test the pre-release version using BRAT.

https://github.com/jykim/obsidian-importer/releases/tag/v0.2

… when saving attachments and markdown files.

Introduced an enum for duplicate handling strategies: Skip, ImportUpdated, and CreateCopy. Updated the importer to allow users to choose how to manage existing notes and attachments during the import process, improving flexibility and control over file management.

jykim · 2025-06-10T21:01:36Z

@tgrosinger -- I think it's ready for your review!

jykim · 2025-06-14T20:00:17Z

Just a gentle nudge @tgrosinger :)

tgrosinger

This looks like a great start. Thank you working on this. Let me know if you have questions about any of these comments.

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T18:54:39Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+				' Leave blank for no prefix.'
+			)
+			.addText(t => t
+				.setValue('YYYY-MM-DD')


Let's please leave this empty so the default is to preserve the existing behavior.

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T18:59:37Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		if (this.filePrefixFormat) {
+			const creationDate = new Date(this.decodeTime(row.ZCREATIONDATE3 || row.ZCREATIONDATE2 || row.ZCREATIONDATE1));
+			const datePrefix = this.filePrefixFormat
+				.replace('YYYY', creationDate.getUTCFullYear().toString())


This is pretty rigid right now. Let's please use Moment to output the date using the provided format string. See the other importers to see how this is being done.

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:01:16Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+			title = `${datePrefix} ${title}`;
+		}
+
+		const fullPath = `${folder.path}/${title}.md`;


path.join. See other uses in this file.

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:07:05Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		// Check for duplicate notes based on the selected handling option
+		const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath) as TFile;
+
+		if (existingFile) {


Instead of asserting above, please do if (existingFile && existingFile instanceof TFile) {

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:14:19Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		if (this.filePrefixFormat && row.ZCREATIONDATE) {
+			const creationDate = new Date(this.decodeTime(row.ZCREATIONDATE));
+			const datePrefix = this.filePrefixFormat
+				.replace('YYYY', creationDate.getUTCFullYear().toString())


Same comment as above.

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:15:34Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+
+				if (appleAttachmentModTime <= existingAttachmentModTime) {
+					this.ctx.reportSkipped(finalAttachmentName, 'attachment unchanged since last import');
+					return existingAttachment;


Should this be returning null?

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:16:36Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+	async getAvailablePathForAttachment(filename: string, existingPaths: string[]): Promise<string> {
+		// Always use the default behavior from FormatImporter to respect Obsidian's attachment folder settings
+		// This ensures attachments go to the configured attachment folder (e.g., _files_) rather than the note folder
+		return super.getAvailablePathForAttachment(filename, existingPaths);


If there are no behavior changes please don't override this method.

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:28:09Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		if (this.duplicateHandling === DuplicateHandling.Skip || this.duplicateHandling === DuplicateHandling.ImportUpdated) {
+			// For Skip and ImportUpdated, create the file directly without numeric suffix
+			const sanitizedName = sanitizeFileName(title);
+			const fullPath = `${folder.path}/${sanitizedName}`;


src/formats/apple-notes.ts

tgrosinger · 2025-06-16T19:29:33Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+				return existingFile;
+			} else {
+				// Create new file
+				return await this.vault.create(fullPath, content);


If the file doesn't exist then just fall through to call the super function.

jykim · 2025-06-18T23:33:31Z

Thanks for comments @tgrosinger .
I'm out of town so will work on this next week!

…improve file path handling - Replaced manual date formatting with moment.js for better flexibility in file prefix formatting. - Updated file path construction to use path.join for consistency. - Removed unused method for attachment path handling.

jykim · 2025-06-24T21:06:52Z

All your comments addressed. @tgrosinger -- thanks for thoughtful comments.

As for default file prefix, I still prefer to keep 'YYYY-MM-DD' as default value, although I understand this might cause disruption for existing user. Since the use case I have in mind is running the import regularly to keep the contents in sync, setting the value every time is a bit of hassle. Can we move this into plug-in setting so that it won't have to be set for every import?

tgrosinger

A few more comments, but heading in a good direction. Thank you.

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T16:03:51Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+			.addDropdown(d => d
+				.addOption(DuplicateHandling.Skip, 'Skip import')
+				.addOption(DuplicateHandling.ImportUpdated, 'Import only updated')
+				.addOption(DuplicateHandling.CreateCopy, 'Create a copy (legacy)')


Suggested change

.addOption(DuplicateHandling.CreateCopy, 'Create a copy (legacy)')

.addOption(DuplicateHandling.CreateCopy, 'Create a copy')

I don't think we need to include (legacy). Most people using this plugin are first time users of it, so they don't need to know what the previous default behavior was.

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T16:09:57Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+
+		// Check for existing attachment based on the selected handling option
+		const attachmentPath = await this.getAvailablePathForAttachment(`${finalAttachmentName}.${outExt}`, []);
+		const existingAttachment = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(attachmentPath) as TFile;


Looks like this comment was missed. Please don't assert here and instead check the type.
If you remove the assertion here, then below where it's checked you can add the type check too.

if (existingAttachment && existingAttachment instanceof TFile) {

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T16:10:28Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		if (existingAttachment) {
+			if (this.duplicateHandling === DuplicateHandling.Skip) {
+				this.ctx.reportSkipped(finalAttachmentName, 'attachment already exists');
+				return existingAttachment;


This comment was missed.

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T16:15:30Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		const fullPath = path.join(folder.path, `${title}.md`);
+
+		// Check for duplicate notes based on the selected handling option
+		const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath) as TFile;


Suggested change

const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath) as TFile;

const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath);

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T16:21:48Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+			const fullPath = path.join(folder.path, sanitizedName);
+
+			// Check if file already exists and handle overwriting
+			const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath) as TFile;


Another assertion. Please change this one too.

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T16:58:48Z

src/formats/apple-notes.ts

+		if (existingAttachment) {
+			if (this.duplicateHandling === DuplicateHandling.Skip) {
+				this.ctx.reportSkipped(finalAttachmentName, 'attachment already exists');
+				return existingAttachment;


Actually it seems like maybe the return null below should not be returning null? Because these cases are successful, they just don't need to do anything. So we don't want the caller of this function to think this was unsuccessful.

tgrosinger · 2025-07-03T17:01:17Z

As for default file prefix, I still prefer to keep 'YYYY-MM-DD' as default value, although I understand this might cause disruption for existing user. Since the use case I have in mind is running the import regularly to keep the contents in sync, setting the value every time is a bit of hassle. Can we move this into plug-in setting so that it won't have to be set for every import?

I don't think we should add it as a plugin setting because there aren't any other plugin settings so far. What about storing the last used value in local storage, and using that if there is one? Take a look at the OneNote importer where we are using localStorage.getItem and localStorage.setItem.

- Introduced local storage functionality to save and retrieve the file prefix format for Apple Notes imports - Updated duplicate handling logic to return existing files instead of null when skipping duplicates - Minor adjustments to ensure consistent type handling for existing files and attachments.

jykim · 2025-07-04T18:17:31Z

Thanks. I applied your other comments, and I also tried to use incorporate local storage, and the stored value (YYYY-MM-DD in my case) does show up in UI once I entered, but when I run import the default value ("") is used, creating files with no prefix. I'm trying to debug this myself but any comment would be appreciated.

jykim · 2025-07-05T15:58:02Z

I added getter/setter for filePrefixFormat with log to see the behavior, and here's my observation:

When I run import without touching the filePrefixFormat value in UI, no prefix is applied to import although the UI shows YYYY-MM-DD as the value
When I run import after touching the filePrefixFormat value in UI (e.g. YYYY-MM-DD >> YYYY-MM-D >> YYYY-MM-DD), set prefix value (YYYY-MM-DD) is applied
But the setter for filePrefixFormat indicates that the filePrefixFormat is set to YYYY-MM-DD when the importer UI initially loads, so I don't understand the behavior for case (1).

Add option to skip duplicate notes in Apple Notes importer

7afbc1a

Introduced a new setting to allow users to skip importing notes that already exist in the vault. This feature helps prevent duplication during the import process.

jykim changed the title ~~Add option to skip duplicate notes in Apple Notes importer~~ [WIP] Add option to skip duplicate notes in Apple Notes importer Jun 9, 2025

chore: update TypeScript configuration to support ES2019 features

696ebd6

tgrosinger reviewed Jun 9, 2025

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tsconfig.json Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

jykim added 2 commits June 9, 2025 12:01

Revert "chore: update TypeScript configuration to support ES2019 feat…

d0b7cbe

…ures" This reverts commit 696ebd6.

jykim added 3 commits June 9, 2025 16:03

Implemented options to skip numeric suffixes for duplicate file names…

20195e8

… when saving attachments and markdown files.

Remove deploy.sh script

24737df

jykim changed the title ~~[WIP] Add option to skip duplicate notes in Apple Notes importer~~ Apple Notes importer Improvement for One-way Sync Jun 10, 2025

tgrosinger requested changes Jun 16, 2025

View reviewed changes

jykim requested a review from tgrosinger June 30, 2025 16:50

tgrosinger reviewed Jul 3, 2025

View reviewed changes

	.addOption(DuplicateHandling.CreateCopy, 'Create a copy (legacy)')
	.addOption(DuplicateHandling.CreateCopy, 'Create a copy')

	const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath) as TFile;
	const existingFile = this.vault.getAbstractFileByPath(fullPath);

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Apple Notes importer Improvement for One-way Sync #394

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jykim commented Jun 9, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Option to add date-based prefix (default: YYYY-MM-DD)

Option to control how duplicated notes (same name in both Apple Note & Obsidian) are handled

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tgrosinger commented Jun 9, 2025

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jykim commented Jun 18, 2025

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tgrosinger commented Jul 3, 2025

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jykim commented Jun 9, 2025 •

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