Tomefold › Import your Day One journal

How to import your Day One journal into Tomefold

Updated October 17, 2026

You can move years of Day One entries into Tomefold in a few minutes, for free, and without deleting anything from Day One. This is the whole procedure, including what to check afterwards.

Before you start

You need Tomefold on an iPhone, iPad or Mac (iOS 18, iPadOS 18 or macOS 15 and later).
Check your free space: the export contains your photos and videos, and the import needs room for them too.
Import on one device only. If you later turn on iCloud sync (a Pro feature), your other devices receive the journals from iCloud. Importing the same file on a second device is not needed.

Step 1 — Export from Day One

In Day One, open Settings, then Import/Export, choose to export all journals and pick the JSON format. Include the media if you want your photos and videos. Day One produces a ZIP file; leave it as it is and do not unzip it. Day One describes the export on its own help pages (see the sources below).

Step 2 — Import into Tomefold

Open Import & Export: on iPhone it is in the More tab; on iPad and Mac it is in the sidebar.
Choose Import from another app and select Day One.
Pick the ZIP file. Tomefold shows a preview with the number of entries, photos, years and the space needed.
Confirm. The progress is shown on screen; large archives take a while, so keep the app open.

What comes across

Entries with their text and original dates, kept in the time zone where you wrote them.
Photos, videos and PDFs, linked to the right entries.
Places and tags. Entries with a place appear on the Places map.
Your journals, as separate journals.

Titles are read from the first line of the entry, as in Day One, and shown in their own field when you edit.

Importing again is safe

Tomefold recognises entries it has already imported, so importing the same file twice never creates duplicates. A newer export updates an entry only if the file is more recent than the copy in Tomefold, so something you edited in Tomefold is not overwritten by an older backup.

Check, then decide

Scroll through a few years, open the Media tab and the Places map, and try the search. Keep your Day One journals until you are happy. Whenever you want, Import & Export can write everything back out for free: a JSON file compatible with Day One and one Markdown file per entry.

Other apps

The same screen imports from Journey (ZIP), Daylio (CSV), Diaro (backup ZIP), Evernote (ENEX), generic CSV tables and folders of Markdown, text or HTML files. Each one comes with export instructions inside the app. Tomefold is independent and is not affiliated with these apps.

Sources (checked October 17, 2026)

Day One: exporting entries

Frequently asked questions

How do I export my Day One journal as JSON?

In Day One go to Settings, then Import/Export, export all journals and choose the JSON format, with media if you want photos and videos. You get a ZIP file; choose it in Tomefold without unzipping it.

Is importing from Day One into Tomefold free?

Yes. Import and export are free in Tomefold, with or without Pro.

Will my photos and videos come with the entries?

Yes, if you included the media when exporting from Day One. They are linked to the entries they belonged to.

Does Tomefold delete anything from Day One?

No. Tomefold only reads the file you choose; it never touches the Day One app or its data.

Can I import a very large Day One archive?

Yes, large ZIP files are supported. Keep enough free space, keep the app open while it imports, and import on one device only.

Can I import from apps other than Day One?

Yes: Journey, Daylio, Diaro, Evernote, CSV tables and folders of Markdown, text or HTML files.

Keep your journal on your terms

Tomefold is free to write in, to import into and to export from. Pro is a single purchase: no subscription.

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