Import a notes vault
An Obsidian vault, or any folder of Markdown notes, imported from Settings in your browser.
On this page5 parts
Import an Obsidian vault, or any folder of Markdown notes, from Settings in your browser. Each note becomes its own record, with its path and its revisions. The import sends no note to a model. You and the agents you connect can read the notes.
Import a vault
- Open Settings. On the Imports card, find the Notes vault row and choose Import a vault.
- Choose Choose a folder, then select the folder of your vault. You can also drop the folder on the page. Your browser can ask you to let the page read the folder.
- Check the vault name. By default it is the name of the folder. The page shows the name that Mana keeps, in lower case with a dash between the words.
- Choose Preview. Your browser sends only the path, the size and a short fingerprint of each note, and Mana says what it already holds. The preview writes nothing.
- Read the preview. It counts the notes that will arrive, the unchanged notes, and the notes no longer in the folder. It names each file that will not arrive, with its reason.
- Choose Import. The page sends each new or changed note and counts them. At the end, it says what Mana holds now.
Keep the page open until the import is complete. If the import stops, import again. A note that arrived is not sent a second time.
One import takes at most 5,000 notes. For a larger vault, import each top folder as its own vault, with its own name.
What arrives
Every .md, .txt and .json file of 1 MiB or less arrives as its own record. A note with only properties arrives with its properties as its text. A note with only a title does not arrive.
The preview names each file that does not arrive, with its reason:
| Reason | What it covers |
|---|---|
| hidden or ignored | .obsidian/, .git/, .trash/, node_modules/, and temporary files, in any folder of the path |
| secret name | a file or a folder whose name reads like a secret, such as api-token.md or secrets/ |
| unsupported type | images, PDFs, canvases, and every other kind of file |
| too large | a file above 1 MiB |
| path | a path Mana does not accept, such as a path longer than 512 characters |
| changed | a file that changed after the preview; choose the folder again, then import |
| unreadable | a file that your browser cannot read, that is not UTF-8 text, or that has no text |
| deleted | a note whose record a person deleted in Mana; it stays deleted when the file comes back |
A security check reads each note that arrives. When it flags the content, the note is held in quarantine, and no search returns it. The result of the import counts these notes.
Who reads the notes
When you import a vault, its notes have one reader: you. The agents you connect read them too, because they act for you. No other person sets who reads your vault, an admin included.
Import again
When your vault changes, import it again from the same page, with the same vault name. Only a new or changed note is sent. Nothing imports a vault by itself.
A note that is no longer in the folder is marked missing: the Notes vault row counts it, and its record stays in Mana.
Notes in the Library and in search
The Library shows your notes under vaults/, in a folder with the vault's name, with the vault's own folders. A name is written there in lower case, with a dash for a space. A name in another script shows as a short code.
A link from one note to another note of the same vault opens that note, as in Obsidian. A link to a file above the vault folder shows as text. The Library says which links open.
A note is searched, read and cited like any other record. Nothing turns it into a memory on its own. Do not load a vault through mana_remember_batch: that tool stores memories, and it sends every note through your agent's model.