How to Fix a Notion Export for Obsidian

Moving notes from Notion to Obsidian sounds simple: export a ZIP, unzip it, then open the Markdown files. The difficult part is that a raw Notion export often carries formatting and file-reference problems into the new vault.

This guide is for a Notion workspace exported as Markdown & CSV. It explains what to check before importing, how to repair the common problems, and where the limits are.

What a Notion export can break

Before importing, inspect one or two exported Markdown files and the surrounding folders. The common issues are:

• Image links can depend on temporary Notion URLs or a separate asset folder.
• Callout blocks and toggles can be exported as HTML that does not read well in a plain Markdown vault.
• Page and asset filenames can contain long UUID suffixes.
• Code fences can lose a language label.
• Inline text colors and some complex table cells do not translate cleanly to ordinary Markdown.

Not every export has every issue. The point is to repair the files before building links, tags, and folders around them in Obsidian.

Step 1: Export the right format from Notion

In Notion, open Settings, then choose Export content. Select Markdown & CSV and export the workspace or the pages you need.

Keep the downloaded ZIP intact until you have a fixed copy. It is your original reference if you need to compare a page or recover a file later.

Step 2: Repair the ZIP before importing it

Open the Notion Export Fixer and drop the exported .zip file onto the page. The tool processes the archive in the browser and returns a repaired ZIP.

The fixer checks and repairs supported problems such as image references, callout and toggle markup, UUID-heavy filenames, excessive blank lines, code block language labels, inline color markup, and LaTeX normalization. It also shows a fix report and a Markdown preview before you download the result.

For large exports, split the workspace into smaller batches. The current browser-based limit is 50 MB per processing batch.

Step 3: Inspect the repaired result

Download the repaired ZIP, unzip it into a temporary folder, and check these items before moving it into your Obsidian vault:

1. Open a note with images and confirm the image content still appears.
2. Open a note with callouts or toggles and confirm the text is readable as Markdown.
3. Check that filenames are understandable enough to browse.
4. Open a code-heavy note and check that fenced code blocks have useful language labels.
5. Compare one important original page with its repaired Markdown output.

Do not rely only on file counts. A small manual review catches issues that are specific to your Notion workspace.

Step 4: Copy the repaired folder into Obsidian

Create or open an Obsidian vault, then copy the repaired export folder into it. Open a few notes directly in Obsidian and let the app index the vault.

At this point, organize folders, rename notes, and add Obsidian-specific links only after you are satisfied with the imported files. Keeping the original ZIP and the repaired ZIP outside the vault gives you a clean rollback path.

What this workflow does not restore

Notion and Obsidian are different products, so some Notion features do not have a one-to-one Markdown equivalent.

• Standalone databases are normally exported by Notion as CSV files. Keep those CSV files with the export and decide separately how to use them.
• Complex table cells containing nested content may be simplified.
• Embedded third-party content can be preserved as a URL instead of becoming an interactive Obsidian block.
• Notion permissions, comments, page history, automations, and database views are not part of a Markdown export.

The goal is a readable, portable Markdown archive, not a perfect clone of every interactive Notion feature.

Troubleshooting

My export is larger than 50 MB

Export a smaller top-level area from Notion, repair that batch, then repeat. Keep a consistent folder structure so batches can be combined later.

An image still is not visible

First check the repaired Markdown file and the downloaded ZIP. If the original export did not contain a downloadable image or the remote source blocks access, no local converter can recreate the missing image. Keep the original page available until your migration review is complete.

I only need one public Notion page

For a public page rather than a workspace ZIP, use Notion to Markdown instead. It is designed for a pasted public Notion URL.