Why Notion Import From Dropbox Paper Cannot Process Mention Reference

When you import a Dropbox Paper document into Notion, all text and formatting usually transfer correctly. However, mention references to people, dates, and other Paper elements often break during the import. Notion cannot read the internal linking identifiers that Dropbox Paper uses for its mentions. This article explains why these references fail to process and what you can do to preserve or replace them.

Why Dropbox Paper Mentions Break During Import

Dropbox Paper stores mentions as special inline objects that reference a user’s Paper profile ID, a specific date anchor, or a file entity. These IDs are unique to Dropbox’s system and have no equivalent in Notion’s data model. When Notion’s import parser encounters a mention object, it cannot map the ID to any existing Notion user, page, or date format. As a result, the import process either strips the mention entirely or converts it to plain text that shows the user’s name or the date string without any link or interactive functionality.

Notion’s import engine is designed to handle common text formatting, images, and tables from Dropbox Paper. But mention references are not part of the standard Markdown or HTML export format that Dropbox Paper provides. Dropbox Paper exports its content as a .paper file or as plain Markdown. Neither format preserves the mention metadata. Even if you export as Markdown, a mention to a person like @JaneDoe becomes just the plain text “Jane Doe” with no underlying link. Notion has no way to know that this text was once a clickable mention.

What a Dropbox Paper Mention Looks Like Internally

Inside a Dropbox Paper document, a mention is stored as a JSON object that includes fields like “user_id”: “dbid:…” or “entity_type”: “date”. When Paper exports to Markdown, it replaces this object with a plain text string. For example, @JohnSmith becomes the literal text “John Smith”. Notion sees this text as normal content and does not attempt to convert it back into a mention. The original context — that this was a link to John Smith’s Paper profile — is lost.

Steps to Recover Dropbox Paper Mentions After Import

Because Notion cannot process Dropbox Paper mention references automatically, you must manually replace them after the import. The following steps assume you have already imported the Dropbox Paper document into a Notion page.

1. Open the imported Notion page
   Navigate to the page where the Dropbox Paper content was imported. Scroll through the document to locate any text that was originally a mention. Look for names of people, dates, or file references that appear as plain text without any link or highlight.
2. Delete the plain text mention
   Select the plain text that represents the broken mention. For example, if the text reads “Jane Doe” and you know it was a mention, delete it completely. Do not leave any whitespace.
3. Type the @ symbol to trigger Notion’s mention menu
   Place your cursor at the exact location where the mention should appear. Type the @ symbol. Notion will display a drop-down menu showing recent people, pages, dates, and other options.
4. Select the correct person, page, or date
   Start typing the name of the person or page you want to mention. Notion’s search will filter the list. Click the correct entry from the drop-down. For dates, type a date-related keyword like “today” or a specific date format such as “June 15”. The mention now appears as a live, clickable reference.
5. Repeat for each broken mention
   Scan the entire document for every instance of a lost mention. Use the same delete-and-retype method for each one. If the document contains many mentions, consider using Notion’s Find feature (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) to search for common name patterns or date strings.

If Notion Still Has Issues After the Main Fix

Imported Text Contains Extra Characters or Formatting

Sometimes Dropbox Paper exports include stray formatting characters such as extra spaces, line breaks, or invisible Unicode characters around mention locations. These artifacts can prevent your new @-mentions from appearing correctly. To fix this, select the entire paragraph around the broken mention and use Notion’s “Clear formatting” option. You can find this in the toolbar under the A icon or by pressing Ctrl+\ (Cmd+\ on Mac). Then re-insert the mention.

Mention to a Notion User Who Is Not in Your Workspace

If the original Dropbox Paper mention referred to a person who is not a member of your Notion workspace, you cannot recreate that mention as a live link. Notion only allows mentions of workspace members. In this case, keep the plain text name as a reference. Optionally, you can create a new page for that person and mention that page instead.

Date Mentions Appear as Plain Text Without Format

Dropbox Paper date mentions often import as plain text like “2023-11-15” or “November 15, 2023”. Notion does not convert these into date properties automatically. To turn a date into a Notion date mention, delete the plain text and type @ followed by the date. Notion will offer a date picker. Select the correct date from the calendar. The mention will now appear as a blue, clickable date that can be used in database filters.

Dropbox Paper Import vs Manual Mention Recreation

Item	Dropbox Paper Import	Manual Recreation in Notion
Mention handling	Converts to plain text or removes	Creates live, clickable @-mentions
User linking	Only shows name text	Links to workspace member profile
Date linking	Shows date as plain string	Creates interactive date picker mention
File or page linking	Often lost entirely	Links to existing Notion pages or files
Time required	Instant but incomplete	Several minutes per document

The import method is fast but loses all mention functionality. Manual recreation takes more time but gives you fully functional Notion mentions that integrate with your workspace’s people, pages, and dates.

You now understand why Notion cannot process Dropbox Paper mention references during import and how to fix each broken mention manually. After re-creating mentions, explore Notion’s database rollup feature to link mentions across multiple pages. As an advanced tip, use Notion’s API to bulk-replace plain text patterns with @-mentions if you have many documents with the same broken references.