Import files, folders, and ZIP archives

Bring in what you already have. Golem Docs opens a single file, imports a whole folder with its subfolders, or unpacks a ZIP archive, and puts every document in the same folder it came from. Nothing is uploaded to do it: the files are read in your browser.

📁 Vault
  📁 Projects
    📄 plan.md
    📄 notes.docx
  📁 Photos
    🖼 map.png
  📄 todo.md

📁 Vault
  📁 Projects
    📄 plan
    📄 notes
  📁 Photos
    🖼 map
  📄 todo

One file, many files, or a whole folder

• A single file opens straight away. Choose File ▸ Import, or drop it on the window.
• Several files dropped together are imported as a batch, each saved as its own document.
• A folder keeps its shape. Choose File ▸ Import Folder, or use the Import folder button on the Documents screen, or drop the folder on the window or the Files sidebar. Every subfolder, however deep, becomes a folder in Golem Docs.

ZIP archives

Import a ZIP and its documents land in the folders they were in inside the archive. Drop a ZIP next to other files and it gets a folder named after it, so its contents stay together. ZIPs that hold other documents of any supported type work the same way, and one damaged or password-protected file doesn't stop the rest.

To go the other way, File ▸ Download All (ZIP) gives you every saved document as one archive.

Nothing gets overwritten

• Folders are reused. If a folder with the same name already exists, new documents go into it rather than making a second one.
• Names are kept apart. A document whose name is already taken in its folder is saved as "Report (2)", "Report (3)", and so on. Existing documents are never replaced.
• Hidden and system files are left out. Files and folders whose names start with a dot, and the __MACOSX folders a Mac adds to ZIPs, are not your documents and are skipped without comment.
• Unsupported files are counted. Files Golem Docs can't open, such as program files and formats it doesn't read, are skipped, and the result tells you how many.

What gets imported

Any document type Golem Docs can open: Word, OpenDocument, PDF, Markdown, HTML, EPUB, LaTeX, CSV, plain text and the many text-based files that look like it, and more. Pictures (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, BMP, and SVG) come in as pictures you can edit; GIF, BMP, and SVG are kept as PNG.

Big imports

A large folder or ZIP shows a progress card with a steady bar and an estimate of the time left. You can cancel at any time: what was already imported stays, and the rest is left out.

Private by default

Signed out, imported documents are stored in your browser and never leave it. With a subscription they sync with your account like any other document. Either way, importing doesn't need an account.

Coming from Obsidian? See how to import an Obsidian vault.

Open Golem Docs