# How export works

> What a downloaded note holds, how a ZIP of notes is named, the full export, and exporting skills.

Page: https://docs.memex.tools/how-export-works

## One note

**Download .md** on the note, or tick it in the list. The file is the note's body with YAML frontmatter: title, tags, description, who wrote the description, source, source URL, status, created and updated dates. Wiki-links stay as written, so the file drops into a vault unchanged.

## Several notes

Tick them in the Notes list and download a ZIP. Each file is named after its note's title, so the ZIP opens as an Obsidian vault and `[[Title]]` opens the note; a note imported from a vault goes back to the folder and file it came from, unless that file was named only after its title, as memex's own export names them.

Characters a file name cannot hold (`: / \ ? * " < > | # ^ [ ]`) become a space, so in Obsidian a link to such a title does not open; imported back into memex, it links again. Notes whose titles match, ignoring case, get the note number added. Tags keep their exact text, and exported Markdown preserves body whitespace. A failed archive write produces an error.

## Everything

**Settings › Notes** › **Export** › **Download notes**: one ZIP, one file per note, pending notes included. History, deleted notes and the journal are not in it; the journal downloads separately from Activity.

The same ZIP moves your notes to another memex account: imported there, each note arrives with its tags, description and dates. Connections, keys, settings, history and deleted notes stay behind. See [How import works](https://docs.memex.tools/how-import-works).

## Skills

The skills export API downloads a ZIP with one folder per served skill, each holding a `SKILL.md`, the format Claude Code, Codex and other tools that read Agent Skills already understand. A single skill downloads the same way, as one file, from its panel.

## Related

- [Export notes](https://docs.memex.tools/export): Download one note, a selection, or everything as Markdown files.
- [How import works](https://docs.memex.tools/how-import-works): What import accepts, its size limits, the frontmatter it reads, its options, and how links and deleted notes are handled.
- [Back up and restore](https://docs.memex.tools/self-hosted-backups): Where a self-hosted memex keeps its daily backups, how to copy them off the machine, and how to restore one.