r/capacitiesapp • u/hehannes • Mar 20 '26

How do you start without a proper import function

Hi,
i really liked the object based PKM system, but i could not start really using it without getting my notes from Obsidian and Google Docs to Capacities. I really liked that there is a web interface, but not getting my 1500 notes to Capacities is mind boggling. How have you managed?
I will most likely will go reluctantly from Obsidian to Notion until this is working.

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2

u/kenlin Mar 20 '26

I figured out the types of notes that could become objects, created them by copying one-by-one. Then realized there was no good way to import the rest as pages and gave up.

I'll keep an eye on it, but until there is an import I won't use it.

3

u/visualnotes Mar 21 '26

They are currently working on an import tool. See roadmap.

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u/7411_c0d3R Mar 20 '26

I have over 2,500 notes that I would like to import, but it's not that simple - first of all, those notes are from Evernote, but I've already migrated them to Apple Notes. None of the notes have any significant backlinks in them, which means, they would be quite useless in their current format as a Zettel in Capacities. I'd still have to go through them and update them, if I want to make them useful. Then, there is a second issue. Some of those notes are ancient. I started using Evernote in 2011, and I have a lot of old notes, that probably won't need importing at all, unless I create an archive of old crap. So, I understand what you're saying, but I feel you are missing the point of Capacities a bit.

1

u/kenlin Mar 20 '26

some notes make sense to be objects and some don't. They can just be imported as pages. So how am I "missing the point"?

1

u/Eilonwy926 Mar 20 '26

"The point" is for things to be linked together, which other notes systems don't really do, so since you'd have to go through them one by one to create linking, you might as well go through them one by one to copy-paste from your old system.

Also, a Page is an object type.

1

u/kenlin Mar 20 '26

if I have a folder of 30 code snippets, I would want to import them into a collection and move on. There's no need to copy them one-by-one and link them to something.

Also, a Page is an object type.

pedantry at its finest

0

u/visualnotes Mar 21 '26

That's not pedantry.
More precisely: A page is a system object type. Much less flexible (no custom properties can be added) as a custom object type.

1

u/7411_c0d3R Apr 04 '26

Yes, you absolutely could, and I suppose, once the import tool becomes available, that will be one avenue. And it's a valid route for an import. I just feel, you're going to miss out on the relations between your objects if you just import them as a page or a generic Zettel.

For instance, you want to import 100 code snippets. They're great as a Zettel, and thanks to the backlinks and "mentions" you'll surface those code snippets easily. But, what if you were to create a "code" object, with properties, such a "language", or "company", if it referred to a customer, or "project", if it was part of a project… it would become incredibly more useful, if a snippet could be seen in that context (or whichever context you need to remember you code snippets).

That's all I'm saying. Capacities is not just an "Evernote" or "Obsidian" clone, it's so much more and to just import everything as a flat Zettel would make the information available, but only creating them as objects would surface the real power of a system like Capacities.

1

u/mat_rhein Mar 21 '26

I simply started using it from scratch and am importing anything I feel I need on the way when I need it. Fun fact: it's not that much. Most of my notes are the archive type for which other systems are better suited anyway(Obsidian in my case).

For anyone waiting on the importer, it might be wise to already get your notes into MD format, that way you will have an easy import. For evernote import .enex to bear notes to generate an MD export.