Importing Projects

Importing brings existing work into Spleen as a new project. Use a Spleen Archive when you want to restore Spleen project data, or import Markdown when you want to bring written material into a fresh workspace structure.

The Import menu is available above the projects list and in the empty state before you have created any projects. Both places offer Spleen archive, Markdown file, and Markdown folder.

Importing a Spleen Archive

Open the Import menu on the projects overview and choose Spleen archive to bring an earlier Spleen project back into your workspace. The dialog is titled Import projects.

You can select one or more Spleen Archive files with the .spleen extension. You can also import a .zip or .tar.gz bundle containing several Spleen Archive files. Each archive in the selection is imported as a separate project.

A Spleen Archive preserves project details including the subtitle and author or pen name, together with the writing and research structure, documents, notes, annotations, and snapshots. Sections and documents that were in Archive or Trash keep those locations in the imported project. Importing therefore restores more than the written text alone.

Imported projects are always added as new projects. Spleen does not merge them with, update, or overwrite an existing project. An “(imported)” suffix is added to the project title so the imported copy can be recognised easily.

You can rename the imported project after the import has finished.

Importing Markdown

Markdown import is useful when you already have writing in simple text files and want to use Spleen as the workspace around that material.

You can import a single Markdown file or an archive of a Markdown folder. Spleen turns the imported material into project documents so you can continue organising and editing it inside the app.

Choose Markdown file from the Import menu for one .md or .markdown file. The dialog is titled Import from Markdown. Spleen creates one new project from that file, adds “(imported)” to the project title, and names the project from the file name. The file may become one document or several documents: if the file has a repeating heading structure, Spleen splits it into documents at that heading level. If it does not, the file stays as one document. Document titles come from the split headings, or from the file name when there is no heading to use.

Choose Markdown folder from the Import menu for a .zip, .tar.gz, or .tgz archive of Markdown files. The dialog is titled Import from a Markdown folder. Spleen imports only .md and .markdown files from the archive. If the archive contains one shared outer folder, Spleen uses that folder name for the imported project. Markdown files outside folders become loose documents. Folders directly inside the archive become sections, and folders one level below them become subsections. Files in deeper folders are folded into the nearest subsection because Spleen sections nest only one level deep.

File and folder names are made more readable by removing the extension and turning hyphens or underscores into spaces. For example, chapter-01.md becomes chapter 01, and research_notes becomes research notes. Hidden files and folders are skipped.

Markdown import keeps the core writing structure Spleen can edit: paragraphs, headings, blockquotes, bullet and numbered lists, code blocks, horizontal rules, hard breaks, bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, and links. Unsupported Markdown features, including tables, images, and raw HTML, are not imported.

Import limits

Spleen applies safety limits before importing:

A Spleen Archive upload or Markdown folder archive can be up to 25 MB. Its contents can take up no more than 100 MB when opened.
One Spleen Archive import can contain up to 25 projects, subject to your plan’s project limit.
A single Markdown file can be up to 5 MB.
A Markdown folder archive can contain up to 500 Markdown files.
A Spleen Archive is rejected when one of its documents or snapshots is too large or too deeply nested for the editor. Split that material into smaller documents and export a new archive before trying again.

If a whole batch contains an invalid archive, Spleen rejects the batch instead of importing only part of it.

Good to know

Importing a Spleen Archive creates a new project rather than restoring over an existing one.
Several .spleen files can be imported at once.
A .zip or .tar.gz bundle can contain several Spleen Archive files.
The subtitle, author or pen name, notes, annotations, snapshots, sections, and documents are preserved when importing a Spleen Archive.
Sections and documents in Archive or Trash return to the same bin in the imported project.
An imported Spleen Archive becomes a new active project, even when the source project was archived.
Book covers, share links, and the Indent paragraphs setting are not restored from a Spleen Archive.
Importing an older archive may create a project that does not contain your most recent changes.
Markdown import is meant for bringing written content into Spleen, not for restoring notes, annotations, snapshots, or other details stored by Spleen.