How to Import a Notion Workspace Backup Into a New Workspace

You need to move all your Notion pages, databases, and settings from one workspace to a new one. Notion does not offer a direct clone or merge feature between workspaces. The only supported method is to export your old workspace as a backup file and then import that file into your new workspace. This article explains how to export your workspace correctly, prepare the import file, and bring everything into a fresh workspace without losing data.

What a Notion Workspace Backup Contains and What It Does Not

A Notion workspace backup is an export of every page, database, and file inside the workspace. The export creates a single ZIP file that contains HTML files for each page, a CSV or Markdown representation for databases, and any attached images or documents. This backup does not include workspace-level settings, team member permissions, integration connections, or custom templates shared across the workspace. The export is a flat snapshot of the content, not a full workspace copy.

Before you start, ensure you have owner-level access to both the source workspace and the target workspace. The target workspace must be empty or have enough unused page storage to accommodate the imported content. Notion free plans allow up to 1,000 blocks per workspace, while Plus and Business plans have higher limits. If your source workspace exceeds the target workspace block limit, the import will fail partway through.

What Gets Exported

Every top-level page and all subpages are exported as individual HTML or Markdown files. Database tables, boards, calendars, and lists are exported as CSV files or as HTML tables depending on the export format you choose. Images and PDFs attached to pages are included as separate files inside the ZIP archive. Page titles, text formatting, and basic database properties such as text, number, select, and date are preserved.

What Does Not Get Exported

Workspace name, workspace icon, custom domain settings, guest accounts, permission groups, and connected apps (Slack, Google Drive, Figma) are not included in the backup. Database views that use custom filters or sorting specific to a user account may lose their configuration. Relations and rollups between databases are exported as plain text references, not as live linked properties. After import you must recreate these connections manually.

Steps to Export Your Workspace and Import It Into a New Workspace

Follow these steps in order. Export first, then create or open the target workspace, and finally import the ZIP file. Do not rename or modify the ZIP file contents before importing, as Notion expects the original folder structure.

1. Open workspace settings in the source workspace
   Click Settings & Members in the left sidebar. Select Settings from the menu. Scroll down to the Workspace section.
2. Click Export workspace content
   Under the Export section, click the Export workspace content button. A dialog appears with export options.
3. Choose export format and options
   Select HTML for better formatting preservation. Leave the default setting to include subpages. Toggle on Include content from all workspaces if you have multiple workspaces under the same account and want to export all of them. Click Export.
4. Wait for the export email
   Notion prepares the ZIP file and sends a download link to the email address associated with your account. This can take several minutes for large workspaces. Do not close the browser tab until the email arrives.
5. Download the ZIP file
   Open the email from Notion and click the Download Export button. Save the ZIP file to your computer. Do not extract the ZIP file.
6. Create or open the target workspace
   Log into the Notion account that owns the target workspace. If you need a new workspace, click your workspace name in the top-left corner and select Join or create workspace. Choose a plan that can accommodate your content block count.
7. Navigate to Import in the target workspace
   In the target workspace, click Settings & Members in the left sidebar. Select Settings. Scroll down to the Import section.
8. Upload the exported ZIP file
   Click the Import button. Select the ZIP file you downloaded earlier. Notion begins processing the file. A progress bar shows the import status.
9. Wait for the import to complete
   Do not navigate away from the page. Large imports can take 10 to 30 minutes. When finished, a success message appears. All pages and databases from the backup are now inside the target workspace.

If Notion Fails to Import the Backup Correctly

Import stops at a specific percentage and does not finish

The ZIP file may be corrupted or incomplete. Redownload the export from the email link. If the file is larger than 5 GB, split the export into smaller batches by exporting only specific pages. To do this, open a top-level page, click the three-dot menu, select Export, and choose HTML. Repeat for each major section of the workspace. Import each smaller ZIP file separately into the target workspace.

Database relations and rollups appear as plain text after import

This is expected behavior. Notion export does not preserve live relation properties. After import, open each database that used relations. Delete the plain text property and recreate the Relation property pointing to the correct target database. Then recreate any Rollup properties that depended on those relations.

Images and files are missing after import

The export includes attached files, but large media files may fail to upload if the target workspace has a file size limit. Notion Plus and Business plans have a 5 MB per file upload limit for free accounts. If your export contains files larger than 5 MB, upgrade the target workspace to a paid plan or reattach those files manually after import.

Page hierarchy is flattened after import

If you selected Markdown as the export format, subpage hierarchy may not be preserved. Always use HTML format for export to keep the page tree structure intact. If you already imported with Markdown, delete the imported pages and re-export using HTML format, then import again.

Notion Free vs Plus vs Business: Block and Import Limits Compared

Item	Free	Plus	Business
Block limit per workspace	1,000 blocks	Unlimited	Unlimited
File upload size limit	5 MB per file	5 MB per file	5 MB per file
Export format options	HTML, Markdown, CSV	HTML, Markdown, CSV	HTML, Markdown, CSV
Import ZIP file size limit	5 GB	5 GB	5 GB
Guest accounts	Not supported	Supported	Supported

You can now export your old workspace and import the backup into a new workspace. Start by exporting the source workspace using HTML format to preserve page hierarchy and database views. After the import, recreate any relation or rollup properties between databases. For workspaces with more than 1,000 blocks, use a Plus or Business plan to avoid hitting the block limit during import.