Journey Diary Import turns diary backups into dated notes

Name: Journey Diary Import
Author: theluckystrike

Preview a Journey ZIP and import dated notes with local photos.

MIT · no telemetry · core features free

The backup preview shows two entries, one photo and dated output paths. — Open larger

version: 1.1.0
released: 2026-10-21
downloads: 26
review: Passed
health: Excellent
license: MIT
listed for: Desktop, Mobile
obsidian: 1.13.4 or later

Tests use a public 2021 fixture and generated entries. Newer export schemas, encrypted ZIPs, large real diaries and physical mobile devices were not tested.

Directory facts fetched 2026-10-23 07:28 UTC from community.obsidian.md/users/theluckystrike.

About Journey Diary Import

You want to move a Journey diary into your vault while keeping supported entry properties and local photos.

Choose a Journey ZIP backup and review its entries, photos and warnings before writing notes. The free import creates one dated Markdown note per entry. Photos come from the archive.

Start with a separate folder and keep the original backup. Repeating an import creates duplicates; a daily merge appends the entries again.

Preview a Journey backup, then review its imported note and photo

Free features

Preview a backup

Review entry and photo counts, warnings and the first eight output paths. The preview reads entries with date_journal and text fields without writing notes. A ZIP without matching entries produces no notes.

Dated Markdown notes

Each entry becomes a note named from its local date and minute. HTML bold and italic become Markdown, while Markdown entries lose image syntax and HTML tags. Existing paths receive numbered suffixes.

An imported diary note shows its date, properties and formatted text. — Open larger

Local photos

Archive photos become local attachments with vault embeds. Missing or ambiguous photo names produce warnings while entry text can still import. Supported extensions are JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP and HEIC; HEIC display depends on your device.

An imported entry displays a photo copied from the backup. — Open larger

Entry properties

Separate notes keep date, timezone and Journey ID as properties. Tags, mood, valid coordinates with their address, and weather follow when present. Missing timezones use UTC; unknown timezones also produce a warning.

A diary entry shows location, address, mood and weather properties. — Open larger

Pro features

Pro costs $5 a month or $15 one time through GitHub Sponsors. One sponsorship turns on Pro in every plugin that has it.

Daily note merge Pro

Pro appends entries to date-named daily files, creating missing files. Existing daily frontmatter stays in place. Each entry gets a time heading and its own properties in a YAML code block.

A Journey entry appears below existing daily note text. — Open larger

Folders and file names Pro

Pro can group notes in year and month folders. File name patterns accept {date}, {time} and {id}. Daily merge uses the date name instead of your custom pattern.

The preview shows year and month folders and a custom diary name. — Open larger

See how Pro works

Set up Journey Diary Import

needs

Obsidian 1.13.4 or later
A Journey ZIP backup with supported JSON entries.

steps

Make a ZIP backup in Journey and keep the original.
Run Import Journey ZIP backup and choose the ZIP with the file picker.
Choose note and attachment folders, then check counts, warnings and output paths.
Select Import entries and compare the resulting notes with Journey.

If the app can't find a new plugin yet, try again later. Obsidian says a plugin that passes the review shows in the app within 24 hours.

How to import a Journey diary into Obsidian

Known limits of Journey Diary Import

Repeating a free import creates numbered copies; repeating a daily merge appends the entries again.
Newer Journey export schemas, encrypted ZIPs, large real diary archives and physical mobile devices were not tested.
ZIP input is limited to 128 MiB and 10,000 files, with 256 MiB of selected expanded data and 4 MiB per JSON entry.
The importer reads the backup in memory.
A write error leaves completed notes and copied photos in the vault.
The importer removes images from entry text and embeds listed archive photos instead of fetching remote images.
Missing or ambiguous photo names produce warnings; HEIC display depends on your device.
Unknown timezones produce a warning and use UTC; missing timezones also use UTC.
Daily merge keeps existing daily frontmatter and puts each entry’s properties in a YAML code block.

Questions about Journey Diary Import

Will another import skip entries I already imported?

No, the importer doesn't track completed backups or deduplicate earlier imports. Another free import creates numbered copies, and another daily merge appends entries again.

Does it download images from my diary text?

No, images in the text are removed. The importer embeds photos listed in the archive instead of fetching remote images.

Which archive sizes can it read?

ZIP input is limited to 128 MiB and 10,000 files, with 256 MiB of selected expanded data. One JSON entry can be at most 4 MiB.

What happens if a write fails?

The error reports how many entries and photos completed. Files already written remain in the vault, so inspect them before trying again.

Network use

After you choose Sign in with GitHub, github.com receives the public client ID and read:user scope for device sign-in. Then api.github.com receives your token and a sponsorship query at sign-in, periodic checks or Refresh. The plugin sends no vault data; successful checks last seven days, and failed checks can retry after six hours.

Read the full network disclosure