Sharing, Import, Export, and Printing

Sharing from other Apps

Agenda includes a powerful sharing extension that allows you to send snippets of text, images, and files from other apps to Agenda. You can insert the shared items in any of your Agenda notes, and even make other edits to the note, all without opening the Agenda app.

For example, from an app like Safari or Mail you might want to save a file, link or piece of text to Agenda. You could copy the information, open Agenda, locate the destination note, and paste, but there are many steps involved in that, and it can interrupt your workflow. It is often much easier to use the sharing extension.

Enabling the Sharing Extension

Before you can use the Agenda sharing extension you will need to enable it first. This only needs to be done once.

To enable the sharing extension on macOS:

  1. Click the share icon from any system or 3rd party app. You see a list of apps that can accept the shared content. Agenda will probably not be there to begin with.

  1. Click on the More… entry, in order to add Agenda as an option. After that, it will appear each time you open the menu.

Alternatively, enable Agenda in the sharing menu by going to System Preferences and under Share Menu ticking the box for Agenda.

Note: the sharing extension requires your Mac runs macOS 10.13 or higher

To enable the sharing extension on iOS and iPadOS:

  1. Click the share button (the box shaped icon with an arrow pointing upwards, shown also in the image at the top of this page) in any app to bring up the share sheet:

  2. Scroll the list of apps horizontally to the end, and tap the More button. Add Agenda to your favorites, and it will appear in the main share sheet after that.

Note: the sharing extension requires your iPhone or iPad runs iOS/iPadOS 13.2 or higher

Using the Sharing Extension

Most apps offer a sharing menu or button, usually featuring a box-shaped icon with an arrow pointing upwards, as shown in the header at the top of this page. If you select the content you want to share to Agenda, and use the menu or button, you can bring up the Agenda sharing sheet.

sharesheet

The share sheet presents a single of your notes, which you can select from your library by clicking/tapping the note title at the top:

By selecting a different note in the popover (if necessary you can use the back button in the top left to select a different project too) the editor switches to that note. The popover also contains a Recently Edited button to load notes you have recently edited in the Agenda app itself. Finally, you can hit the plus button if you’d like to start a new note or project for the content you are about to share to Agenda.

Once you have decided in which note to insert the shared content, you can either simply hit the orange Insert button at the bottom of the sheet on macOS or in the bar above the keyboard on iOS and iPadOS, to insert the content at the bottom of your note. Or if you like it somewhere else, you can first place the insertion cursor at the location you like and then hit the Insert button.

insert

If you like you can still make additional edits to your note, for instance add some additional comments. On macOS you can use the dot in the gutter on the left to using the usual formatting and insert options, while on iOS and iPadOS the keyboard bar reverts to the standard one after inserting the shared items.

Tip: You don’t necessarily need to insert the shared content in a note in order to make edits while you’re add it. You can select a note, make edits to it, switch to a different note either before or after inserting the shared content, continue to make edits, etc. All your changes are being saved, in fact, you can even make edits to your notes and cancel without inserting any shared content if you like.

Once you’re done with your edits hit the Done button to dismiss the share sheet.

Tip: You can hit ⌘-return to insert the shared content into your notes, and a second ⌘-return to hit done, super easy and super fast. ⌘-space will trigger the project selection header in case you want to switch to a different note first.

Important: One limitation of the sharing extension is that any inserted content and edits made to your notes is only synced to your other devices if you switch to the main Agenda app, which is something to keep in mind especially on iOS or iPadOS.

See how the sharing extension works in action:


Import and Export

You need to be able to move notes into Agenda from other apps, and receive notes from other people who have Agenda. Agenda allows importing of duplicate copies of notes and projects, and can also handle standard formats like text and markdown.

Supported Formats

Agenda File

If you need to import notes from another Agenda user, the best approach is to use the Agenda File format. This format allows to store your note in the native format used by Agenda, meaning that it can contain all the features a note can contain in Agenda, including tables, formatting, attachments, etc. As a result if you share these file with another Agenda user you are guaranteed that your note comes across exactly as is, and therefore they are the best way to send a duplicate note or project to someone else, or to archive notes and projects.

Note: While an Agenda file has the .agenda file extension it’s nothing more than a zip file that contains a JSON file with all the information from the note and a folder containing all the attachments for the exported notes. While we don’t have formally documented this format at the moment, you can find more information in the Shortcuts section of the community about it.

Agenda Links

One very powerful way to use Agenda with other apps is to create Agenda links to your projects and notes. This allows you to jump from one app to the other as needed, opening exactly what you need.

Tip: Agenda links are not only useful to couple multiple apps in your workflow to your notes and projects, but you can also use them within Agenda itself to create cross-links between projects and notes. You can read much more about it in Tags, People, Emoji's, Text Actions and Links

Apple Notes

If you have been using Apple Notes prior to Agenda, you probably have a lot of information in that app. You can import it into Agenda by selecting the corresponding item in the import menu. This imports all of the Apple Notes data made available to Agenda, and creates a separate category of projects. You will probably want to go through those and drag notes to other projects in Agenda.

Important: At the time of writing, Agenda doesn’t support attachments or inline images, so these are not brought into Agenda from Apple Notes. Also, some users with larger Apple notes libraries have reported difficulties importing, in this case it might be better to use the app Exporter to export the notes as markdown, and then import them into Agenda a number at a time. See also Import Apple Notes on iOS

Evernote Notes

Similarly, if you have been using Evernote prior to Agenda, you can import it into Agenda by selecting the corresponding item in the import menu. This imports all of the Evernote data made available to Agenda, and creates a separate category of projects. You will probably want to go through those and drag notes to other projects in Agenda.

Important: As Agenda takes a distinct approach and both Agenda and Evernote offer unique features that do not overlap 100%, not all aspects of your notes in Evernote might be imported.

PDF

PDF is one of the most widely used document formats around, and PDF export is supported in Agenda. It allows you to share beautifully formatted documents with others, regardless of what computing platform they are using (e.g. Windows, Android).

Premium: Exported files will include an Agenda watermark until the Premium Feature Pack has been purchased.

Tip: If you like the PDF to use a different page size, or your custom paper size because you’d like the PDF to have bigger or narrower margins for example, you can change these setting using the File > Page Setup menu item on macOS, just as with Printing.

Rich Text

The rich text format (RTF) was introduced by Microsoft, and is well supported on Windows and macOS. It includes text, with styling information including fonts. One advantage of RTF over PDF is that the result is readily editable.

Premium: Exported files will include an Agenda watermark until the Premium Feature Pack has been purchased.

Markdown

Markdown is a popular text-based format used a lot by blogging software and other web sites. Agenda can import and export in this format, making it useful for preparing blog posts and other content destined for online use.

Premium: Markdown import and export requires you to purchase the Premium Feature Pack.

Text Bundle

The TextBundle format allows for easy exchange of notes in the popular Markdown format between different apps. It creates an archive that can contain one or more notes, including any attachments, which is the big advantage over plain markdown export.

Premium: TextBundle import and export requires you to purchase the Premium Feature Pack.

HTML

HTML is the format used on the web. Agenda can export notes and projects as HTML, for use on web sites and in other apps that can handle HTML.

To export as HTML, select the note or project you wish to export, and choose File > Export > HTML.

Premium: HTML export requires you to purchase the Premium Feature Pack.

Exporting a Project or Overview

To export as a project or overview on macOS:

  1. Select the project you want to export in the projects sidebar
  2. Choose on of the export formats above under the File > Export menu.
  3. In the export dialog pick a file name and location and optionally choose which notes, projects or categories to export, and whether to export them in a single file, or multiple files per project and/or category.

Alternatively you can right/control-click a project in the sidebar and choose the export option.

To export a project or overview on iOS and iPadOS:

  1. Select the project by tapping it in the sidebar, then tap the three orange dots on the right side. Or as shortcut double-tap a project name.
  2. Select the Share or Copy As option from the menu/popover, depending on the way you prefer to use the exported file, and select the export format you’d like to use.

Exporting Notes

To export as a note on macOS:

  1. Select one or more notes you want to export in the notes list.
  2. Choose on of the export formats above under the File > Export menu.

To export a note on iPadOS…

  1. Tap the cog button at the bottom of the note.
  2. Select the Share or Copy As option from the menu/popover, depending on the way you prefer to use the exported file, and select the export format you’d like to use.

To export a note on iOS and iPadOS:

  1. Tap the orange dot button next to the title of the note.
  2. Choose Other Actions > Share or Copy As option from the menu/popover, depending on the way you prefer to use the exported file, and select the export format you’d like to use.

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Importing a Project or Note

To import on macOS you can:

  1. Just double click the file in Finder if it is an Agenda file, or
  2. Drag-and-drop the file on top of the Agenda icon in the dock, or
  3. Choose File > Import and select the relevant format or app, then locate the file and/or follow the instructions.

To import on iOS and iPadOS you can:

  1. Share an Agenda file from an application like Mail or Files to Agenda (by clicking the share button, usually featuring a box-shaped icon with an arrow pointing upwards, as shown in the header at the top of this page). Or you can use Airdrop to send a file to your iOS or iPadOS device and tell it to open the file in Agenda.
  2. Select whether you want to import the notes in the selected project or in a new project when asked in the dialog that will show.

Sharing to Other Apps

Sharing allows you to send your notes and projects straight to another app or online service, without having to export a file first. Agenda supports standard sharing extensions, which means it will adapt to what is available on your Mac and iOS or iPadOS device.

To share a note or project with another app on macOS:

  1. Select the project or note
  2. Choose an option from the Share menu. The contents of the menu will vary based on the apps you have installed, and what each app is capable of importing. When you select an app, you can see what formats you are able to send.

When you make a selection, you will usually get shown a form by the system, which should be updated before sending the data.

Alternatively you can right/control-click a project in the sidebar, or click the gear menu of a selected note and choose the share option.

To share a project or overview on iOS and iPadOS:

  1. Select the project by tapping it in the sidebar, then tap the three orange dots on the right side. Or as shortcut double-tap a project name.
  2. Select the Share option from the menu/popover, and choose the export format you’d like to use.

To share a note on iPadOS…

  1. Tap the cog button at the bottom of the note.
  2. Select the Share option from the menu/popover, and select the export format you’d like to use.

To share a note on iOS and iPadOS:

  1. Tap the orange dot button next to the title of the note.
  2. Choose Other Actions > Share option from the menu/popover, and select the export format you’d like to use.

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Collaborating with Others

So far the above sharing methods assume your notes are personal and content is either brought into or exported out of Agenda on a one-off, manual basis. Some notes are meant to be shared with others however, for instance if you work with somebody else on common projects or ideas. Starting in Agenda 16 you can invite other Agenda users to collaborate on a note, allowing them to see and edit the note. Your changes will be sent to them, and vice versa in a simple and secure way.

Learn more on how to share and edit notes together with other Agenda users, see Collaborating with Others

Copy and Paste

Sometimes it is simpler to copy notes to the clipboard, in order to transfer it to another note in Agenda, or even into another app.

Agenda supports copying of data between notes in the app, but also copying of text for use in other apps. You can even copy a link to the selected note or project for inclusion in another app, and have Agenda open to that note or project when you click the link.

To copy text, select the text, and choose Edit > Copy. To copy a whole note, click the top of a note to select it, and choose Edit > Copy.

If you want want to copy a particular format of data, such as markdown, choose Edit > Copy As, and select the format you would like.

Some options in Copy As require you to purchase the Premium Feature Pack.

Drag and Drop

Just like copy-paste another easy way to export your notes to another app is through simple drag-and-drop. When dragging a project or note it is automatically available in a variety of formats that could be imported in another app if you drag it to it, on its dock icon in macOS, or in a split screen setup on iPadOS.

Printing

Printing of documents has been somewhat superseded by sharing of digital documents, but Agenda does support printing to paper, as well as PDF. Just choose File > Print on macOS or select Print from the menus on iPad and iOS app shown above, to generate a beautifully formatted copy of the currently selected project or note.

On macOS your prints outputs will follow the settings from the File > Page Setup settings, where you can also modify the margins if needed by creating a custom paper size if needed, for example if you like to use wider or narrower page margins:

On iOS and iPadOS you can configure these in the print dialog after selecting Print.

1 Like

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Is it possible to get my data out of Agenda? Like in a text markdown format?

Yes, we have options to export your data in the agenda file format (which really is just a zip file containing a JSON file). We also have HTML and Markdown export a premium feature available.

Thank you for this wonderfully promising application! I just noticed that we can export notes from Agenda into OmniOutliner or Outlinely in text mode. Each paragraph becomes an outline header. Interestingly, all indented paragraph become subheader we can collapse under their respective headers. So, we still can convert linear texts from Agenda into bonafide outlines practically on the fly, which is very interesting, to say the least.

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Any way to transfer notes from standard iOS notes app to Agenda?

I successfully used the Mac version File Menu —> Import —> Apple Notes.

All my Apple Notes were imported.

However, I still have the same question regarding iOS. My imported notes are still not showing on my iPad Pro, although the Category I created does show.

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Indeed that’s the way to import your notes from Apple Notes (this only works on the Mac).

Do any notes sync? Do these tips help? Syncing between desktop and iOS

I am still unclear about exporting a project. I can see the gear icon under an individual note to share but I don’t know where to do that to export an entire project. Please help.

Hi there, I’m trying to import my notes in Apple REMINDER (not Apple Notes) to Agenda.

Is there a way to do it? If not, is there a workaround?

Thanks in advance.

Best,
Daryl

it would be suuuuuper useful if we can add images and videos on agenda. thats like only thing that is missing to be perfect

Your instructions for importing refers to using the File menu, Which I infer that it means using a Mac. I do not have a Mac, but use an iPhone, iPad, and Windows PC. Is there a way to import using an iPhone or iPad?

I have many notes in the iOS app called Drafts. It can export into a CSV or JSON file. Is there a way I can import all my notes into Agenda?

You can export an entire project by clicking the three dots next to a selected project in the sidebar, followed by tapping Share

There’s no such way yet.

This is our next top priority with the iOS app out of the way, see The features we are working on right now…

If you ask your device to open one of the supported file types in Agenda it will import the notes (at the moment, Rich Text, Mark down, and the Agenda file format are supported)

I have many notes in the iOS app called Drafts. It can export into a CSV or JSON file. Is there a way I can import all my notes into Agenda?
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Not easily no I’m afraid.

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These instructions are for importing on a Mac… How do I do it on iPad?

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On iOS the import process starts from the other end, the app that contains the data to import (e.g. Mail, Files, etc), tell it to export or open the file in Agenda and at that point Agenda will come to the front and ask you where to import it into (new project, existing project, etc).

Thought I would leave a comment for anybody else, I am using Bear, and if you use the little info icon in the upper right, you can then choose export options in the bottom of the right hand side bar that opens and choose mark down to share the particular note to Agenda from there.

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