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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/xwmx/nb/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

nb treats your notebook as a general-purpose file container, not just a home for Markdown text. You can pull in images, PDFs, Office documents, videos, audio files, and entire browser bookmark collections with a single command. When you need to share a note externally, nb export can write it out as-is or hand it to Pandoc for conversion to virtually any document format — all without leaving the terminal.

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Importing Files

Use nb import (shortcut: nb i) to copy files into the current notebook: 
# import an image file
nb import ~/Pictures/example.png

# import a Word document
nb import ~/Documents/example.docx

# open the imported file in your system's default application
nb open example.docx

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Importing Multiple Files

Multiple filenames and glob patterns are supported in a single command: 
# import all files and directories in the current directory
nb import ./*

# import all markdown files in the current directory
nb import ./*.md

# import two specific files
nb import example.md sample.md

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Importing from a URL

nb import can download and import files directly from the web: 
# import a PDF from the web
nb import https://example.com/example.pdf
# Imported "https://example.com/example.pdf" to "example.pdf"

# open the downloaded PDF in your system's PDF viewer
nb open example.pdf

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Copy vs Move

By default, nb import copies files into the notebook and leaves the originals in place. Use the explicit subcommands to control this behavior: 
# explicitly copy a file (leaves the original intact)
nb import copy ~/Documents/example.docx

# move a file (removes the original after import)
nb import move ~/Documents/example.docx

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Importing Bookmarks from a Browser

Bookmark files exported from Chrome, Firefox, and Edge can be imported with nb import bookmarks. nb creates one .bookmark.md file for each URL in the export: 
nb import bookmarks ~/Downloads/bookmarks_export.html

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Converting on Import

Pass --convert to have nb convert imported HTML content to Markdown during import. This is useful for pulling a downloaded web page or HTML file into your Markdown-based workflow: 
nb import https://example.com/article.html --convert
--convert converts HTML content to Markdown. It does not convert other formats such as DOCX. Pandoc must be installed.

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File Type Indicators

Imported files are shown with emoji indicators in the notebook list so you can identify them at a glance: 
❯ nb
home
----
[6] 📖 example-ebook.epub
[5] 🌄 example-picture.png
[4] 📄 example-document.docx
[3] 📹 example-video.mp4
[2] 🔉 example-audio.mp3
[1] 📂 Example Folder

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Importing Notebooks

An entire local folder or notebook can be imported to make it a global nb notebook: 
# import a local notebook or folder and register it globally
nb import notebook ../path/to/notebook
This is an alias for nb notebooks import.

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Exporting Files

Use nb export to write a note or file out of the notebook to a destination path. When the destination path has a different file extension than the source, nb automatically invokes Pandoc to convert the file: 
# export a Markdown note to a .docx Microsoft Office Word document
nb export example.md /path/to/example.docx

# export a note titled "Movies" to an HTML web page
nb export Movies /path/to/example.html

# export an Org file
nb export example.org /path/to/example.org

# export note 12 in the "sample" notebook to HTML
nb export sample:12 /path/to/example.html

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Exporting with Full Pandoc Control

For fine-grained control over Pandoc options, use the nb export pandoc subcommand. It passes all additional arguments directly to Pandoc and prints to standard output by default: 
# export note 42 as an epub with custom pandoc options
nb export pandoc 42 --from markdown_strict --to epub -o path/to/example.epub

# export a Markdown note to HTML and print to standard output
nb export pandoc example.md --from=markdown_strict --to=html

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Supported Output Formats

Because nb export delegates conversion to Pandoc, any format that Pandoc supports is available. Common targets include:

DOCX

Microsoft Word — great for sharing with collaborators.

PDF

Portable document — requires a LaTeX engine or wkhtmltopdf.

HTML

Web page output suitable for publishing.

ePub

E-book format for readers and distribution.

ODT

OpenDocument Text for LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

RTF / LaTeX

Rich Text Format or raw LaTeX source.

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Exporting a Whole Notebook

Export an entire notebook to a directory on disk: 
# export the global notebook named "example" to a destination directory
nb export notebook example ../path/to/destination
This is an alias for nb notebooks export.

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Exporting via the Browser Interface

Items can also be exported through nb browse. Open any item page in the terminal or GUI browser and use the down-arrow (↓) download link to save the original file: 
❯ nb browse 123
❯nb · home : 123 · ↓ | +

    example.pdf

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Typical Import Workflow

1

Locate the file you want to import

Find the file on disk or identify the URL you want to pull in.
2

Import into your notebook

# import from disk
nb import ~/Documents/research-notes.docx

# or import from the web
nb import https://example.com/paper.pdf
3

Verify the import

nb ls
The imported file appears in the list with its type indicator.
4

Open or edit the file

# open in your system's default application
nb open research-notes.docx

# or edit in your terminal editor (for text-based files)
nb edit research-notes.docx
5

Export when ready to share

nb export research-notes.docx ~/Desktop/research-notes-final.pdf

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