Timeline Export

Export your timeline as Markdown for any date range

Overview

Dayflow lets you export your timeline as Markdown for any date range. This allows you to:

• Share work summaries with clients or managers
• Archive personal records outside the app
• Search your timeline using external tools
• Import timeline data into other productivity systems

Exported files are standard Markdown (.md) and can be opened in any text editor or Markdown viewer.

How to Export

From the App

1. Open Dayflow → Settings → Other
2. Scroll to Export Timeline
3. Select Start Date and End Date
4. Click Export Timeline
5. Choose a save location and filename
6. Click Export

Dayflow will generate a Markdown file containing all timeline cards within the specified date range.

Exports can span any date range — from a single day to months of data.

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Export Format

Exported files use a clean, readable Markdown format:

## Dayflow timeline · Monday, Nov 24

1. **9:15 AM – 10:45 AM — Coding Swift animation work**
   - _Development_
   - Summary: Dialing in spring curves and reverse logic for timeline card animations
   - Details: Focused on making the timeline feel more responsive. Experimented with different spring damping values.

2. **11:00 AM – 12:30 PM — Team standup and planning**
   - _Communication_
   - Summary: Weekly sync with the design team on Q1 roadmap

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## Dayflow timeline · Tuesday, Nov 25

1. **9:00 AM – 10:30 AM — Email and admin tasks**
   - _Communication_
   - Summary: Responding to client emails and scheduling meetings

...

Format Details

• Date headers: Each day starts with a level-2 heading (##)
• Activity cards: Numbered list with time ranges and titles in bold
• Metadata: Category shown in italics
• Summaries: Indented under each card
• Day separators: Horizontal rules (---) between days

The Markdown format is optimized for readability in plain text editors, GitHub, Notion, Obsidian, and other Markdown-compatible tools.

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Use Cases

Client billing & timesheets

Export a week or month of activity, filter for client-related work, and use it as the basis for invoices or timesheets.

Example:

1. Export last week’s timeline
2. Search the Markdown file for “Client X”
3. Extract relevant cards and time ranges
4. Generate billable hours summary

Weekly reviews & retrospectives

Export the past week to review patterns:

• Where did time go?
• Were you focused or context-switching?
• Did you hit your goals?

Use the exported Markdown as input for personal retrospectives or team reviews.

Personal knowledge management

Import exported timelines into tools like Obsidian, Notion, or Roam Research to:

• Build a searchable archive of your work
• Link timeline entries to project notes
• Track long-term productivity trends

Proof of work for remote teams

Share exported timelines with managers or teammates to demonstrate:

• What you worked on during a sprint
• How you spent your week
• Evidence of focus time vs. meetings

Privacy tip: Review the export before sharing to remove any sensitive or irrelevant entries.

Data portability & backup

Export your entire timeline periodically as a backup or to ensure you have a portable copy of your data outside the app.

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Export Options

Date Range Selection

• Single day: Set start and end date to the same day
• Week: Select Monday to Sunday (or any 7-day span)
• Month: Select the 1st to the last day of the month
• Custom range: Choose any start and end date

Exports use the 4AM boundary — the same logical day boundary as the timeline. A “day” runs from 4AM to 3:59AM the next morning.

Filename Suggestion

Dayflow auto-generates a filename based on the date range:

Dayflow timeline 2024-11-18 to 2024-11-24.md

You can customize this before saving.

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Export Metadata

After a successful export, Dayflow shows:

• Number of activities exported
• Number of days included
• Filename and location

Example:

Saved 42 activities across 7 days to Dayflow timeline 2024-11-18 to 2024-11-24.md

Export metadata is not included in the Markdown file — only timeline data is exported.

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Privacy Considerations

Exported Markdown files contain:

• Timeline card titles (e.g., “Coding Swift animation work”)
• Summaries (AI-generated descriptions of your activity)
• Time ranges (when activities occurred)
• Categories (e.g., Development, Communication)

Sensitive data: Review exported files before sharing. They may contain:

• Project names
• Client information
• Private browsing history (if tracked)
• Email subject lines or message snippets

What’s NOT Exported

• Screenshots: Exports are text-only — no images
• Timelapse videos: Not included in exports
• Journal entries: Only timeline cards are exported (not journal intentions/reflections)
• Raw observations: Only final timeline cards are exported, not intermediate AI processing data

To export journal entries, manually copy content from the Journal view or use a tool to export the SQLite database (chunks.sqlite).

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Advanced: Clipboard Export

In addition to file exports, Dayflow supports clipboard export for individual days:

1. Navigate to a specific day in the Timeline view
2. Right-click (or Ctrl+click) on the timeline
3. Select Copy timeline to clipboard
4. Paste into any text editor

This gives you quick access to a single day’s timeline without opening Settings.

Clipboard export uses the same Markdown format as file exports.

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Troubleshooting

Export button is disabled

The export button is disabled if:

1. Start date is after end date: Ensure start ≤ end
2. Export already in progress: Wait for the current export to finish

Fix the date range and try again.

Export shows 0 activities

If the export contains no activities:

1. No timeline cards: Ensure you have timeline cards for the selected date range
2. Recording disabled: Check that recording was enabled during that period
3. Date range issue: Verify the start and end dates are correct

Export file is huge

Large exports (many months) can produce very large Markdown files. To reduce size:

1. Export smaller date ranges (e.g., one month at a time)
2. Use external tools to compress the Markdown (.md.zip)
3. Split exports by project or category (manually filter after exporting)

Can I export as PDF or HTML?

Dayflow only exports as Markdown (.md). To convert to other formats:

1. Use Pandoc to convert Markdown to PDF, HTML, or DOCX:
   pandoc timeline.md -o timeline.pdf
   
2. Import into tools like Notion or Obsidian which support Markdown
3. Use online converters like Markdownify

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Export Analytics

Dayflow tracks (anonymously) when exports are performed to improve the feature:

• Date range: Start and end dates (as day counts, not actual dates)
• Activity count: Number of activities exported
• Format: Always “markdown”

No content is tracked — only metadata about export usage. See Privacy for details.

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Comparison: Export vs. Clipboard

Feature	File Export	Clipboard Copy
Date range	Any range	Single day only
Access	Settings → Other	Right-click on timeline
Format	.md file	Markdown text
Best for	Archiving, sharing	Quick copy-paste

Use file export for multi-day ranges and long-term archiving. Use clipboard copy for quick sharing of a single day.

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Next Steps

Timeline

Learn how timeline cards are generated

Journal

Track intentions and reflections alongside your timeline

Privacy

Understand what data is stored and shared

AI Providers

Choose the AI provider that generates your timeline