Explain the problem you see
I would like to have a way to export everything from Tana as a backup, including references, inline references, links and images.
Why is this a problem?
Lack of full backup hinders the willingness to move all-in to Tana including important work stuff.
Suggest a solution
Complete backup to a file and/or external cloud like Google Drive or Dropbox + backup import tool.
12 Comments
Ideally the Backup happens on a schedule (Daily, Weekly...) and is uploaded automatically into one of the providers you mention (GDrive, Dropbox...)
It should also break the file by a Tag or something since files that are too big aren't readable by GDrive, Dropbox... When RoamResearch exports to Markdown it creates one file per page so having the #Page Tag in Tana would be helpful for just that usecase
This is absolutely crucial for doing 'real work' in Tana. The back-up needs to be readable by other tools, e.g. like the flat markdown export from Workflowy. The risk of losing everything for important projects where your livelihood depends on is just not worth it, however small it is.
I made an account just to make essentially this request.
I love the platform. It's so pleasant to work in, and I could see using it for increasingly large parts of my work, but I'm worried about the sole copy being somewhere online.
Local storage (a la Obsidian) would be great, but failing that, an ability to export everything (in markdown, or even plain text) would be helpful. Ideally automated.
Also created an account to vote for this. Surprised there isn't anything basic available yet.
Depending on what you mean with 'basic', there is the full actual JSON graph that Tana uses available. This is possible to parse and transform into any other output, since this is the core internal model of Tana. So it has everything mentioned in this idea (references, inline references, links, searches, commands, tags, ...everything), except it only links to the media files using an URL (it doesn't include the files).
Before anyone says so; that isn't what this idea is about. It's about a export that you can use elsewhere or even manually if you choose to leave Tana, not an internal data dump. :)
Hey Odin, thanks for the reply. This is exactly what I mean :-). As a non coder/IT-professional having a usable export is the final thing holding me and my team back from comitting fully to Tana.
Thomas
It is crucial, that you can get out all the data you put in into a system. It is very, very important, to be able to export everything, including all the files one uploads to Tana. It is okay, to not have this currently, but we must be assured that there will be an export everything functionality soon.
I completely agree with this.
I am loving Tana, but before I commit completely, i need to know that in the event Tana shuts down, goes out of business or just stops caring, I need to be reassured I can export this data into another system to continue work or be able to export these into usable/readable files like one interactive PDF (I can't believe it said that) but as someone who is not a coder we need something that is easy to get our data out so we can feel comfortable to commit.
One of the main reasons non-developers like me go with software like Tana is because it doesn't feel like I have to input code to make it work like I do with Logseq and Obsidian. (I love Logseq but we all know what I mean)
Just food for thought as I feel this will stop a lot of people from moving across. If the functionality is there they then need to do a better job of articulating exactly how that works.
I can only hope Tana is around for a good long time
Will
On my first hour with Tana and it looks super promising. Landed here after trying to find a way to access or export data. This would be absolutely crucial for me. Coming from Obsidian this is one feature I will not want to give up (having readable files always at my fingertips and storage fully in my control). With strict company rules I'd likely also not be able to use it for work if I cannot control where things are stored. Interested to see future development here and will play with it for my private data for a while.
I would like this for another reason that the ones already mentioned. I work for a large company and don’t carry enough influence to convince my company to use Tana. I need the ability to export to a common file type like .pdf or .txt in order to share information with my colleagues without publishing my information online. Don’t get me started on the conversation on end to end encryption or lack of local first storage.
I also have switch from capacities to Tana and part of me has heartburn about it because capacities is currently in the process of updating their system with a offline mode option. As someone who has lost access to their files and information during the working day because of server issues, updates, or bugs I desperately want this and have a deep fear of the first time this happens in Tana.
First, I'm not a dev and I lack programming skills. Who among you has tried or proceeded to query or transfer the data encapsulated in the JSON backup that Tana offers? I am one of those who once a month generates a JSON backup (just in case...). I don't do it out of a deep fear or an apology for the local-first movement or anything like that (otherwise I wouldn't be using a cloud-based tool). But I am interested to know how you manage the information stored in this cloud, especially after months (already years) of entering company data, personal data, etc... consistently.
Some sort of related idea shared here too
https://ideas.tana.inc/posts/602-data-portability-and-long-term-accessibility