Import & Export

Admins can export the entire knowledge base and import it back — a portable, human-readable copy of your document content. (For a complete database snapshot, see Backups & restore instead.)

It’s in Settings → Import & export.

Export

Export all docs (.zip) downloads a zip containing:

manifest.json                          # spaces + a document index
documents/<space-slug>/<doc-slug>.md   # one file per document

Every .md file carries the document’s metadata as YAML front-matter (title, type, status, space, tags, summary, author, timestamps) followed by the Markdown body. Drafts are included.

Import

Upload an export zip — or any zip of front-matter Markdown files:

• Documents are matched to existing ones by (space, title) and updated in place; otherwise they’re created.
• Missing spaces are created automatically (using the manifest’s names/icons when present, otherwise the folder or front-matter value).
• type and status are validated (defaulting to knowledge / draft); tags accept a YAML list or a comma-separated string.
• Documents that require read confirmation are left unchanged (a published one, and a paused one, unpublished with the requirement still on, that the zip would publish; a zip that keeps a paused policy a draft updates the draft, and the decision waits for the publish) unless you tick Also overwrite documents that require read confirmation (off by default). An import cannot ask whether a change is an editorial fix or a material one, so the box is the decision: left unchecked, each such document is counted as skipped and listed under the warnings with the reason; checked, the document is overwritten and its edit default decides what readers see (under the recommended default everyone is asked to re-confirm; the History row reads source Import with your name). The run is written to the audit log as one row (document.import: the file, the counts and whether the box was ticked), and each overwritten policy is echoed as its own decision row with your name and address.

You get a summary of how many documents were created, updated, and skipped, with a warning for any file that couldn’t be read (e.g. a missing title) or any policy that was left unchanged. When the import changed the text of policies, the summary adds “3 policies will ask people to re-confirm.”; when it left some unchanged, “2 policies that require read confirmation were left unchanged.” For scripts, POST /api/import takes the multipart field overwrite_policies (1 to allow) and the result carries reconfirm_requested and policies_skipped.

Migrate from Confluence or Notion

Coming from another tool? Settings → Data → Migrate from another tool imports a Confluence or Notion export directly — no reshaping required.

1. Export from the source:
   • Confluence — Space settings → Export space → HTML, and download the zip.
   • Notion — Settings → Export (or the ••• menu on a page) → Markdown & CSV, with Include subpages turned on, and download the zip.
2. In CompassDocs, upload the zip. The format is auto-detected and you get a preview — the detected source and the number of pages and attachments found.
3. Choose the destination: a new space (named for you, editable) or an existing space, and whether pages arrive as drafts to review or are published.
4. Click Import.

What comes across:

• Page hierarchy becomes nested pages (Confluence’s page tree; Notion’s sub-page folders), up to the 3-level nesting limit — anything deeper is flattened to the deepest allowed parent.
• Formatting is converted to CompassDocs Markdown — headings, lists, tables, code blocks, and links. (Confluence’s HTML is converted automatically.)
• Images and file attachments are imported and every reference is rewritten to the imported copy, so nothing points back at the old tool.

The import is admin-only and recorded in the audit log. Because pages can arrive as drafts, you can review everything before publishing.

Large spaces

Vendor exports include their attachments, so the zip can be big — imports accept files up to 200 MB. For a very large Confluence instance, export one space at a time.

Uses

• Migrate from Confluence or Notion with the guided importer above (or from any other tool by shaping it into front-matter Markdown).
• Bulk-edit offline: export, edit the .md files, re-import.
• Move content between CompassDocs instances.