Import and export

You can bring writing into Cleve by pasting it, dropping in PDFs, or connecting the apps where it already lives. When you need a doc somewhere else, export it from the doc’s ··· menu.

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Paste text into a doc

Copy from anywhere and paste into a doc with ⌘V / Ctrl+V. What you get depends on what’s on your clipboard.

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Paste Markdown

When you paste plain text that looks like Markdown, Cleve turns it into formatted blocks instead of pasting the symbols. This is handy for text copied from a .md file, Obsidian, a terminal, VS Code, or an AI chat that gives you raw Markdown. Cleve converts:

• Headings (#, ##, ### and so on)
• Bulleted, numbered, and to-do lists (- [ ], - [x])
• Bold, italic, inline code, and links
• Quotes, and callouts written as > [!note], > [!tip], > [!important], > [!warning], or > [!caution]
• Fenced code blocks, including their language
• Tables

If you paste into a code block, the text goes in exactly as copied.

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Paste from web pages, Google Docs, and Notion

Content copied from a web page, Google Docs, Notion, or ChatGPT usually carries its own formatting. Cleve keeps that formatting, so headings, lists, bold text, and links come across as they looked.

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Paste as plain text

To paste without any formatting, use ⌘⇧V / Ctrl+Shift+V. Markdown symbols stay as typed characters, and formatting from the source is dropped.

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Paste or drop images

Paste an image, or drag one into a doc, to add it where your cursor is. PNG, JPEG, GIF, and WebP images up to 5 MB each are supported. See Blocks for resizing and aligning images.

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Create docs from PDFs

On a computer, you can turn a PDF into a doc by dropping it onto the docs list.

1. Open the docs list, from All Docs in the sidebar or with ⌘⇧O / Ctrl+Shift+O.
2. Drag one or more PDF files over the list. A Drop PDFs to create docs area appears.
3. Drop the files. Cleve extracts the text and creates one doc per PDF.

Each new doc is named after the file and placed at the top level of your workspace, under All Docs. Cleve keeps the text and works out headings, bullet points, and indented passages from the layout. Pages are separated by dividers. Images and other graphics in the PDF aren’t brought across. Limits:

• Up to 10 MB and 10 pages per PDF.
• Only text-based PDFs work. A scanned PDF that’s just pictures of pages shows “Could not extract text from this PDF”.

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Work with Notion and Google Docs

Cleve doesn’t copy your Notion pages or Google Docs into your workspace automatically. Instead, you connect those apps, and Cleve can read them when you ask.

1. Open Settings → Integrations.
2. Under Your apps, click Connect next to Notion or Google Docs and sign in.
3. In chat, ask Cleve to find or read a page, for example: “Read my Q3 planning page in Notion and summarise the open decisions.”

If you want a copy in Cleve, ask for one: “Turn my onboarding guide from Google Docs into a Cleve doc.” Cleve reads the original and creates a new doc in your workspace. The original stays where it is. Once you’ve finished the Set up workspace checklist, the sidebar may show an Import from prompt with the Notion and Google Docs logos. It opens Settings → Integrations so you can connect them. You can dismiss it with the × button. See Connected apps for everything else connected apps can do.

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Attachments in chat vs docs

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Import from the previous version of Cleve

If you used the earlier version of Cleve, you can bring that data across.

1. Open Settings → Developer.
2. Under Legacy Data Import, click Start Import.

Cleve finds your old account by matching your email address, then imports your folders, docs, and chat history. You’ll see counts of Folders, Docs, and Messages as it goes. Running it again with Re-import doesn’t create duplicates. To undo it, use Remove imported data, which deletes everything that came from the old version.

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Export a doc

Open the doc, click ··· in the doc toolbar, and choose an export option. Files are named after the doc’s title. A doc with no content shows “Nothing to export”.

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Export to Google Docs

Export to Google Docs needs Google Docs to be connected. If it isn’t, Cleve opens the Google sign-in in a new tab and shows “Connect Google Docs, then export again”. Once you’ve connected, choose Export to Google Docs again. The new Google Doc belongs to your Google account.

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What each format keeps

All exports keep your text, headings, paragraphs, bold and italic text, links, and code blocks. Beyond that, they differ: A few more things to know:

• PDF pages are rendered as images, so the text in the PDF can’t be selected or searched.
• DOCX uses the font, text size, line spacing, and heading sizes you see in the editor. Fonts are referred to by name rather than built into the file, so if the reader doesn’t have your font installed, Word substitutes another. A DOCX export can include up to 30 diagrams.
• Markdown, DOCX, and Google Docs exports are built from Markdown, so tables lose their table layout and numbered lists become bulleted lists. Highlights and text colours aren’t kept.

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Make a copy

Make a copy creates a new doc with the same content at the top level of your current workspace and opens it. The copy is yours: it starts unshared, with its own version history, and doesn’t bring across comments. You can also make a copy of a doc someone shared with you, from its ··· menu or from its menu under Shared with you in the sidebar.

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