things3export

A script that connects to your local Things 3 sqlite database and dumps the contents in a structure of folders (one for each area) and markdown files (one for each project, one for each area, and one at top level) - modeled after NotePlan.

WARNING: This code does not escape stuff very well. Please only use it on a copy of your personal Things database. It's probably possible to craft a malicious database that could write elsewhere on your system. And verify the output before using it for anything important.

Project state: It works well enough to move my 26.000 rows Things 3 database over to NotePlan 3 without causing me to loose all overview. This means that it has served its purpose for me, and I do not intend to work on it for my own sake. However, I'll happily accept pull requests, and might even consider co-maintainers after you have shown trustworthy in some capacity.

Usage

Requirements: Python 3 (no dependencies)

1. Find your database according to this article and copy it to the folder of this script.
2. Run the script from terminal using python3 things3export.py
3. The directory export_noteplan3 now contains your data!

Caveats and behaviour

• Slashes in folder and filenames (for areas and projects) are replaced with " or ".
• Spaces in tags are replaced with _.
• Repeating is not supported at all, but marked with #repeating_template.
• Reminders are not supported.
• Deadlines are not supported in NotePlan, so not really brought over.
• NotePlan date: If a task is marked as today in Things 3, it will be in NotePlan. If not, if a task has a start date that will be the date of a task. If not, if it has a deadline, that will be the date of the task.
• Someday/maybe tasks are created as checklist items and tagged #someday.
• Status (someday/maybe, cancellations, etc) are not supported for projects in NotePlan. Cancelled and completed projects are ignored.
• Closed (completed or cancelled) tasks outside projects are ignored. Inside a project you get the 10 last closed tasks that were not a repeating task. This is an attempt to find a good compromise for important tasks vs noise.
• Nested tags are flattened.
• The naming pattern filename (1).md, filename (2).md, etc is used where multiple similar files is output.

TODO

• Compare with things.sh and update database assumptions.

Documentation tidbits:

TMTask table in Things 3 database

This is the important table, which keeps projects, headings and tasks.

• Type: 0 for task, 1 for project, 2 for heading
• Status: 0 for not done, 1 seems unused, 2 for cancelled, 3 for completed
• Start: 0 for inbox, 1 for available, 2 for some day
• todayIndexReferenceDate if exists, indicates today