How to import and export Markdown in Apple Notes on iOS 26

For years, Apple Notes was a one-way street. Text went in and mostly stayed there, with no built-in way to hand a note back out in a format other writing tools could actually read. iOS 26 changes that by building native, two-way Markdown support into Notes, and this guide walks through how to import and export Markdown in Apple Notes on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Apple's support documentation confirms that in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe 26, Notes converts Markdown syntax into rich text while preserving common formatting such as headings, links, lists, bold, and italics (Apple Support explains). Reporting from around the iOS 26 beta period, last year, laid out the basic mechanics: share a .md file into Notes to import it, or use a new "Export as Markdown" option in the share sheet to send a note back out as plain text (9to5Mac reported).

This guide gets specific about the steps for iPhone and iPad, flags where Mac differs, and then turns to what actually survives the round trip. Treat it as a practical walkthrough, not a claim that Notes has quietly become a full Markdown editor.

What you need before you start

Markdown import and export requires iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS Tahoe 26. The capability is built into the Notes app update that ships with each of these releases, and Apple's documentation confirms the underlying conversion works the same way across all three platforms (Apple Support explains).

The files themselves just need to be plain-text Markdown, the kind ending in .md that any text editor can produce. There's no separate mode to switch into and no plug-in to install. It's the same Notes app you already have, with a new capability layered on top of it.

One quirk worth knowing before you start typing: entering Markdown symbols like ** or # directly into a note doesn't trigger formatting as you type. Notes shows the finished rich-text version on screen, not the raw syntax, and the conversion between plain text and rich text only happens at the moment you actually import or export a file (MacRumors reported; 9to5Mac reported). If you're used to a Markdown editor showing you both views at once, that absence takes a beat to get used to.

How to import Markdown files into Apple Notes

On iPhone or iPad, importing runs through the standard share sheet rather than a menu buried inside Notes itself.

1. Open the .md file you want to bring in, either in the Files app or another text editor.
2. Tap Share, then tap the Notes icon.
3. Confirm the import when Notes asks.

Notes opens automatically, and the file's headings, links, bulleted lists, and bold or italic text convert into ordinary rich text rather than staying as raw symbols (MacRumors reported). Apple's own support page points to the same workflow, describing the import as following the standard steps for sharing anything into Notes through the Files app (Apple Support explains).

Once the import finishes, check the Imported Notes folder in the sidebar rather than assuming the note landed wherever you had Notes open last (MacRumors reported). That's the one non-obvious step in an otherwise simple process, and it's worth remembering before you start hunting through folders you already had.

On iPad, there's a second route that skips the share sheet entirely: iPadOS 26 adds an Import to Notes… command directly in Notes' new File menu (9to5Mac reported). It's the faster option if you're already working inside Notes and don't want to bounce out to Files first.

Mac users running macOS Tahoe 26 get the same underlying Markdown conversion (Apple Support explains), so a .md file imported on a Mac should behave the same way it does on iPhone or iPad. This guide focuses on the iPhone and iPad workflow, since that's where most day-to-day note-taking happens.

How to export Apple Notes as Markdown

Exporting works the same way sharing any other file does, just with a new Markdown-specific option now sitting in the share sheet.

1. Open the note you want to send elsewhere.
2. Tap Share, then tap Export as Markdown.
3. Choose where the file goes: Files, a message thread, or any other app that accepts text.

The note leaves Notes as a plain-text file, with formatting expressed as Markdown syntax rather than the rich text visible on screen (9to5Mac reported). Until that export happens, the underlying syntax stays invisible, since Notes displays the finished, formatted version the whole time you're writing (MacRumors reported).

The output holds up well once it leaves Notes. Exported files keep enough of the original structure, headings, links, and lists intact, that they open cleanly in other text editors, documentation tools, and publishing platforms built around standard Markdown (MacRumors reported). That's the whole point of the feature: a note written casually on your phone can become the source file for a blog post without a manual reformatting pass.

macOS Tahoe 26 supports the same export path for anyone working primarily on a Mac (Apple Support explains), which matters if your writing habit splits across devices rather than living entirely on one.

Apple Notes Markdown import and export limitations in iOS 26

Common formatting generally survives the trip. Headings, bulleted lists, bold and italic text, and standard hyperlinks convert cleanly in both directions, and the Markdown that comes out the other side reads like something written by hand rather than machine-mangled (Apple Support explains; MacRumors reported). That covers most of what an average note actually contains.

The gap shows up once notes get more structurally ambitious, particularly around linking. A Bear Community feature request describes moving notes from Apple Notes into Bear, a Markdown-native app, as a process that's "so close" to seamless, with one real catch: it loses the links between notes (Bear Community reports). The distinction comes down to how Notes stores two different kinds of links. An ordinary text hyperlink survives the export intact. Notes' object-style links, the ones marked with a small note icon and created through the >>Note Title shortcut or the "Use Note Title" option, degrade into plain text once exported and reimported somewhere else (Bear Community reports). Anyone using Notes as a lightly interlinked personal wiki should take that seriously: the connective structure holding those notes together doesn't travel with the Markdown file.

Highlight colors run into a similar wall. The same Bear Community thread notes that copying and pasting highlighted text from Notes into Bear keeps the highlight colors intact, but the Markdown export-and-import path doesn't carry them over (Bear Community reports). Before Apple added native highlighting to Notes, the user posting this request worked around the gap by changing font color instead, a habit that, somewhat ironically, survives Markdown export better than the newer highlighting feature does (Bear Community reports). It's one account rather than broad testing, but it points to a real seam between what copy-paste preserves and what the Markdown pipeline currently handles.

There's also no live preview. Notes shows the finished rich-text version as you type rather than raw Markdown syntax, and conversion happens only at the moment of import or export, not continuously (MacRumors reported). Anyone used to a dedicated Markdown editor's split-screen preview will feel that absence quickly.

None of this makes the feature a letdown. It solves a specific, common problem: moving plain text into and out of Notes without a third-party converter sitting in between. For anyone occasionally dropping a note into a blog post or a documentation file, that's plenty. Anyone running a heavily interlinked personal knowledge base, or leaning on highlight-color coding to organize notes, should keep a dedicated Markdown app in the loop until Notes catches up on those edges.

Where this leaves you

Apple Notes now handles the two most common Markdown tasks, pulling files in and pushing notes out, through the share sheet on iPhone and iPad and the same underlying support on Mac (Apple Support explains; 9to5Mac reported). It closes a gap that's existed since Notes launched: for years, there was simply no clean way to move formatted plain text in either direction.

What it isn't is a replacement for a dedicated Markdown app. Cross-note links and highlight colors don't survive the round trip cleanly, and there's no live preview to check your syntax before it goes out the door (Bear Community reports; MacRumors reported). Treat Notes' Markdown support as a reliable bridge for everyday text, and keep a dedicated editor on hand for anything that needs to survive the trip fully intact.