Using DigCite with Other Apps

There are many ways to create notes and many of us have been doing so for years. We built DigCite so that all those notes could be explored and revisited. However, many popular apps use bespoke formats that DigCite won’t be able to read without a little help beforehand. To that effect, we’ve created guides for the most popular apps that show you how to export for DigCite.

As a general rule if you can get your notes into a plain text format, and get them into the Files app, you are good to go!

• 1Writer
• Bear
• DayOne
• ShellFish
• SimpleNote
• Ulysses

Don’t see your favorite app in this list? Let us know.

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1Writer

1Writer’s files live in the Files app (either in iCloud or in your device’s storage) so integrating with DigCite is as simple as pointing at one of 1Writer’s directories.

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Bear

The Bear team make it very easy to export your entire note library. Just follow these steps:

iOS

1. In Bear, open up the sidebar and tap the settings button towards the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap Import & Export and scroll down to the Export section.
3. Configure the export as you see fit, but we suggest the following:
   • We suggest you do not “keep tags during import.”
   • Do not export attachments or images since DigCite will ignore them.
   • Choose a simple text format such as txt, markdown, rtf, or TaskPaper.

4. Choose a location in the Files app to save your export.
5. Choose that location as a source in DigCite.

macOS

1. In the notes list, select all the notes you would like to export.
2. Choose File > Export Note… and choose a format (we suggest txt, markdown, rtf, or TaskPaper).
3. Save the export to your desired location in iCloud.
4. Once uploaded, choose that location as a source in DigCite.

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DayOne

DayOne can export all entries for a given journal as a single .txt file. This is of limited use for DigCite, but if you would like to try it out, please follow the DayOne team’s excellent tutorial for exporting from any version of the app. Once you have exported your notes to a location in the Files app, choose that location as a DigCite source.

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ShellFish

You can even connect DigCite to text files on a server using the insanely great app Secure ShellFish. This app has many great feature, but one of the most useful is that it can add an FTP/SFTP server as a location in Files. That makes it trivial to keep your text files on a server and still display them in DigCite!

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SimpleNote

Exporting your notes from SimpleNote is very simple, just follow these steps:

1. Go to app.simplenote.com and log in.
2. Open the menu in the top left corner of the web app (or press Ctrl + Shift + U). Select the “Settings” menu item.
3. Go to the “Tools” tab and select the “Export Notes” action. A download should begin.
4. SimpleNote simply exports your notes as .txt files, so you are pretty much ready to go. Just throw this folder into iCloud or anywhere in the Files app and you can then use it as a DigCite source.

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Ulysses

There are couple different options for getting Ulysses sheets into DigCite.

Export as one file

You can export individual Ulysses sheets, or groups of sheets as a single plain text or markdown file. Please follow the Ulysses team’s tutorial on exporting sheets, found here. Once you have exported your notes to a location in the Files app, choose that location as a DigCite source.

Export as individual files

You can also export sheets as individual files by using the External Folders feature in Ulysses. When you add or copy sheets to an external folder they are automatically converted into the format you specify for the folder when you create it. To learn how to do this in the macOS, iOS, and iPadOS versions of Ulysses, please refer to this tutorial. Once you have exported your notes to a location in the Files app, choose that location as a DigCite source.