Guide

Import your Google Keep notes

Google Keep exports as a Takeout archive. Choose the ZIP itself, the Keep JSON files, or the unpacked Keep folder. The import tool reads your selection in the browser, shows what will be carried over, and writes nothing until you confirm the preview.

Get the export

Open Google Takeout and sign in to the Google account that holds the notes.
Deselect the other products and select Keep.
Start the export and wait for Google to prepare the archive. Large accounts can take hours.
Download the ZIP file. You can keep it as it is, or unzip it and open the Keep folder inside.
Each note is a JSON file, and the pictures or audio from your notes sit beside those files in the same folder.

Choose the files

Choose the Takeout ZIP, the JSON files from the Keep folder, or the unpacked Keep folder itself. The ZIP is opened in the browser, and only the Keep folder and the pictures the notes reference are unpacked.

The files are read in your browser and the preview is built locally. Nothing is sent anywhere at this point, and the preview is never written to browser storage.

Importing writes into an account, so sign in first. The picker opens once you are signed in.

Read the preview

The summary reports how many notes were found, how many pictures were attached, how many limitations were reported, and whether any file could not be read.

Each note is listed with its title and either a ready state or the limitations that apply to it. Review that list before you continue.

What carries over

Titles, body text, checklists, labels, colours, pin state, archive state, and the original timestamps are imported.

A picture a note references is attached to that note when the file is in your selection. It is downscaled and re-encoded, so camera and location metadata does not travel with it.

What is left behind

Audio, PDFs, and other attachments that are not pictures. They stay in your Takeout archive, because a note only holds pictures.
A referenced picture that is missing from your selection, or that shares its file name with another file. The note reports it instead of guessing.
Nested checklist items. They are appended to their list at a single level, and the note reports how many moved.
Annotations, collaborators, and audio notes. These are reported in the preview.
Trashed notes. They are skipped when the import runs.

Run the import

Pick Notes or Vault, tick the confirmation box, and choose Import notes. A Vault import encrypts each note in the browser first, so it needs your recovery secret before it starts. A Notes import encrypts on the server instead.

Limits to keep in mind

The in-browser reader refuses a password-protected archive, an archive larger than 20,000 entries, and any entry with an unsafe path. Unzip those by hand and choose the Keep JSON files.
Pictures are attached when the file is in your selection. Audio and other non-picture attachments stay in your Takeout archive.
Nested list items are flattened to one level, and annotations, collaborators, and audio are skipped.
Importing writes into an account, so it requires a signed-in account. A Vault destination also needs an unlocked vault.

Questions

Can I upload the Takeout ZIP directly?

Yes. Choose the ZIP as it downloaded. It is opened in your browser, only the Keep folder is read, and the archive is never uploaded. You can also unzip it and choose the Keep folder instead.

Where do the notes land after the import?

In your vault. Each note is encrypted in the browser before it is stored, and the vault key never leaves the browser.

Are my Keep photos and audio imported?

Pictures are. When a note references a PNG, JPEG, or WebP file and that file is in your selection, it is attached to the note. Notes hold up to three pictures each. Audio and other files stay in your Takeout archive.

What happens to notes in the Keep trash?

They are skipped. Notes still in the Keep trash are not imported.

Do I need an account?

Yes. The picker opens after you sign in, so a preview is never built and then lost on the way to sign in. Choosing Vault as the destination also needs an unlocked vault.

Sources

Google Takeout, the official Google export page https://takeout.google.com/settings/takeout

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