Using Sempere

Export

PDF, PNG pages, Markdown and media files, for one note, a selection, a notebook or the whole vault.

Exports are ordinary files that anyone can open. They are not encrypted. Keep them somewhere as safe as the notes deserve.

One note

Open the note’s ⋯ menu ▸ Export (on the Mac, File ▸ Export…, ⇧⌘E) and pick a format:

Format	What you get
PDF…	The pages as a PDF. Choose PDF + attachments to embed recordings (with transcripts) and video clips and list them on a last page.
PNG Pages…	One image per page, at 72, 144, 216 or 300 dpi.
Text (Markdown)…	Your recognized handwriting and text boxes as Markdown. Optionally with the PDF (Include the PDF) and a PNG of each page (Add a PNG for Each Page). Needs recognized handwriting.
Media…	The note’s recordings, transcripts, video clips, images and PDFs as separate files.

Paper Background and Ruling decides whether the paper’s lines are in the export. Then tap Export, and Share… or Save to Files… (on the Mac, Save…). The app deletes its own copy of the files when the sheet closes.

Several notes, a notebook, everything

In the note list, tap Select, pick notes, and use Export. For several notes, One PDF for All Notes merges them.
In the sidebar, a notebook’s menu has Export Notebook…, and the All Notes row’s menu has Export All Notes….
To Folder or Zip… (in the Export menu; File ▸ Export to Folder or Zip… on the Mac) writes PDF, PDF + attachments, PNG pages or media for many notes at once (for a folder, Choose Folder and Export…). Folders Like Your Notebooks mirrors your notebooks as folders, and Save As chooses Files in a Folder or Zip Archive. Exporting again into the same folder skips the notes that have not changed, so it works as a readable mirror you refresh now and then.

More formats with the CLI

The CLI exports PDF, SVG, PNG, Markdown (in Obsidian-style folders), single-file HTML, JSON and media:

sempere export "Week 3" --format pdf --out ~/week3.pdf
sempere export "Week 3" --format svg --out ~/week3-svg
sempere export --all --format markdown --images png --out ~/Obsidian/Sempere
sempere export --all --format pdf --layout notebooks --out ~/notes-pdf
sempere export --all --notebook School/Math --format pdf --attachments --zip --out Math.zip

Bulk exports skip unchanged notes when you run them again. See The CLI.

Exports are not backups

An export is a readable snapshot, good for sharing and as a last-resort copy. It is not a backup of your vault: it leaves out the history, and you cannot open it in Sempere again. For backups, see Backup strategy.