# Export your iA Writer library

iA Writer stores your writing as plain .md files in its Library, so the Library folder is the export. The one thing to get right is making iCloud hand over the real files first.

## Take the folder out of iCloud, then zip it

1. In iA Writer, right-click the folder in the Library sidebar and choose Show in Finder.
2. In Finder, right-click that folder and choose Download Now, so iCloud fetches every file instead of leaving placeholders.
3. Right-click it again and choose Compress.
4. Drop the .zip into the importer.

## On iPhone or iPad

Open the Files app, go to iCloud Drive > iA Writer, press and hold the folder, and choose Compress. Share the .zip to PrivacyNotes, or open PrivacyNotes and pick it from Files.

## The placeholder trap

With Optimize Mac Storage on, iCloud replaces files you have not opened lately with tiny placeholders. Zip the folder in that state and you get an archive of empty stubs: the import runs, reports success, and brings almost nothing. Download Now first, then check the .zip is roughly the size of your writing before you import it.

## What comes across

Library folders become real folders, at any depth, and the images and files your notes link to come with them. Headings, tables, task lists, code blocks and footnotes survive, and bare URLs become clickable links. Front matter is read for the title, dates and tags.

Content blocks, which pull one file into another as you write, arrive as the link they are written as rather than as the pulled-in text.

## Import into PrivacyNotes

1. Open PrivacyNotes and go to Settings > Import & Export.
2. Pick **iA Writer** as the source.
3. Drop in the file you just exported, or click to browse.
4. Check what the preview says will arrive, then start the import.

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Source: https://privacynotes.app/help/import/ia-writer