# Importing from another app

> Bring your tasks, projects and labels into Done Bear from Todoist, TickTick, Things 3 and a dozen other places.

Done Bear can take your existing backlog from most task managers. You find it under **Settings → Integrations & Import → Import from another app**.

Two things are true of every import:

- **Your other app is never changed.** Done Bear only reads what you give it. It does not sign in on your behalf, and it does not write, edit or delete anything on the other side.
- **Nothing is written here until you say so.** Every import does a dry run first and shows you exactly what it will create, change and leave alone. You choose whether to go ahead.

## Where your export comes from

| App             | What to bring                                                           |
| --------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Todoist         | Settings → Backups, then the `.json` file. A per-project CSV works too. |
| TickTick        | Settings → Backup, then the `.csv` file.                                |
| Microsoft To Do | A JSON export of your lists and tasks.                                  |
| Any.do          | Settings → Account → Export my data, then the `.json` from the archive. |
| Apple Reminders | Open Reminders on a Mac, select a list, File → Export as `.ics`.        |
| Things 3        | A copy of your Things database file.                                    |
| Trello          | Board menu → More → Print and Export → Export as JSON.                  |
| Asana           | The project menu → Export/Print → CSV or JSON.                          |
| Notion          | The database's ⋯ menu → Export → Markdown & CSV, then the `.csv`.       |
| Google Tasks    | Google Takeout, then `Tasks.json`.                                      |

The import screen shows the same instructions next to each app, along with the file types and size limit it accepts.

## If your app is not listed

Almost every task manager can export a spreadsheet or a calendar file, and Done Bear reads all three of the common ones: **CSV**, **JSON** and **iCal / ICS**. Pick one of those instead, and you get an extra step where you say which of your columns holds the task title, which holds the due date, and so on.

There is also a link on that screen to ask us to build an importer for an app we do not cover yet.

## What comes across

Tasks, projects and lists, areas, labels, subtasks, completed tasks, dates, and repeat rules — as far as the app you are leaving actually exports them. Some apps export less than they show you, and the preview says so before you commit.

A few things change shape on the way in, because Done Bear works differently:

- **Areas become teams.** Whatever your old app used to group projects becomes a team here.
- **Due times become reminders.** Done Bear dates are whole days ([see dates](/help/dates)), so a task due at 9am arrives due that day with a reminder set for 9am.
- **Subtasks become checklist items** on their parent, when that is all they are. A subtask with its own due date, notes or labels comes across as a task in its own right instead, so nothing is lost to make it fit.
- **Attachments are linked, not copied.** The file stays where it is; the link comes across in the task's notes.

## Before you import

The preview counts everything found in your file — tasks, projects, labels, how many are already done, how many repeat — and flags anything it could not read. It also lists any fields from your old app that Done Bear has no home for. Those are kept with the task rather than thrown away.

You then choose:

- **Where it goes.** Recreate your old projects and areas, put everything into one project, or drop it all into your Inbox.
- **The time zone.** Dates that carry no zone of their own are read in the zone you pick. If your export does not say which zone it used, Done Bear tells you and asks — getting this wrong is what moves tasks a day.
- **What happens to anything already here.** Skip it, fill in only the blanks, overwrite it from the file, or import everything as new.

## Running it more than once

Re-importing the same file is safe. Done Bear recognises the tasks it already brought across from that export, so the default is to leave them exactly as they are and add only what is new.

## Undoing an import

The completion screen has an **Undo this import** button, and the offer is still there next time you open the import screen — closing the tab does not lose it. It is kept by the browser you imported from, so undo it from that same browser rather than from another device or the iOS app.

Undo removes what the import created and puts back anything it changed. **Anything you have edited since the import is kept**: if you have renamed, completed or rescheduled an imported task, undo leaves that task alone and tells you how many it kept. It asks you to confirm first, and says exactly how many records it will remove.

If some rows could not be read, the same screen offers a report you can download listing each one and why.

## Related

- [Start dates and deadlines](/help/dates)
- [Views](/help/views)