How to export Apple Reminders

Apple Reminders has no bulk export button on a current Mac, iPhone, or iPad, and no hidden menu replaces it. The route that works depends on what you need: a file you can read, a direct move into another app, or the task titles alone.

Check whether your Mac still has Export

Open Reminders on your Mac, select a list, and look in the File menu. If the Mac runs macOS Mojave or earlier, choose File → Export, name the file, and save it. Apple says this creates a file for the selected list.

On a newer Mac, the command is gone. Apple’s iCloud archiving guide now suggests sharing a reminder or inviting someone to a list. Sharing lets people work on the same list, but it does not create a backup file.

If an old Mojave Mac still syncs your reminders, export from it and open the file to check it. Most people will need one of the routes below.

Choose the route that fits

Use a Shortcut when you need a file and care about more than titles. Use a destination app’s importer when you want the fastest move. Copy and paste suits one short list that has no important dates or notes.

Make a file with Shortcuts

Open Shortcuts and create a new shortcut. Add actions that find reminders, choose one list, repeat through the results, turn each reminder into a line, and save the text to Files. Apple’s Shortcuts guide explains how actions join together.

Decide which fields you need before building the rows. A useful first version has the reminder title, list name, due date, completion state, and notes. Add subtasks or priority only if they matter in the app you are moving to.

For a CSV-style file, put one reminder on each row and keep the same field order every time. Use a first row such as Title,List,Due date,Completed,Notes. Put a comma between fields and a line break between reminders. Notes may contain commas or line breaks, so test how your Shortcut quotes them before running a large list.

Run the shortcut on a list with three reminders first. Include one with a due date, one with a note, and one with a subtask. Open the file and check all three. A shortcut does exactly what you built, so a missing field may produce no error.

A shortcut created on a Mac can also run on iPhone and iPad. That makes a Shortcut the main Apple-only route for someone who no longer has an old Mac.

Move directly into another app

Some task managers ask for access to Reminders on your iPhone and copy the tasks directly, with no file in between. TickTick documents a Reminders import in its iPhone app settings. Done Bear’s iPhone app has one under Settings → Import → Reminders.

Check the result before you treat the move as complete. Open a task with a due date, a note, and a subtask in the new app. A direct import still maps fields from one app to another, and the two apps may not give a field the same meaning.

The source list remains useful as a safety copy. Leave it in Reminders until the new app has survived a week of normal use.

Copy and paste a short list

On a Mac, select the reminders in one list, copy them, and paste them into a text editor. Copy and paste is quick and needs no setup.

Copy and paste mainly gives you the titles. Dates, flags, priorities, notes, subtasks, attachments, and the original list may not survive. Use it for a small shopping or errands list, and never for work that depends on dates or notes.

Understand what iCloud does

iCloud sync keeps the same reminders on your Apple devices. If you replace an iPhone, signing in can bring the list back.

iCloud sync gives you nothing to inspect or import elsewhere, and a deletion can reach every synced device. Keep a separate file or the untouched source list while you test a move.

Import Apple Reminders into Done Bear

Done Bear imports Apple Reminders two ways: directly on iPhone, or from a file on the web. Neither route signs in to iCloud, and neither changes your Reminders lists.

On iPhone, open Settings → Import → Reminders, allow access, and pick the lists to bring across. Done Bear copies each list’s incomplete reminders once and shows how many tasks and projects it will create before you import.

The iPhone route does not read subtask links, flags, priorities, tags, or attachments, and an imported task with a repeat rule does not repeat. Running the import again skips reminders it already copied.

On the web, open Settings → Import. Choose Apple Reminders for an old .ics export. An .ics file from Reminders needs no column matching, because calendar fields already have known names. The web importer reads notes, subtasks, repeat rules, completed reminders, and attachment links from that file. It lists the links in each task’s description, and the files stay in Reminders. The Apple Reminders migration page maps every field.

A Shortcut-made CSV or JSON file gives you more control over the fields. Choose the matching file format instead of Apple Reminders, and Done Bear will ask which column holds the title, due date, notes, and completion. Check that screen carefully.

The web importer shows a preview before it writes anything. Check the number of tasks, completed items, dates, and any fields it could not read, then choose where the tasks go. You can start free and open the importer. The Done Bear import guide explains the preview, field matching, date handling, repeat imports, and undo.

If a Shortcut put a date into ordinary text, no importer can know that the text was meant to schedule the task. Import one small list first. The Apple Reminders comparison explains when Siri, HomeKit, or location alerts make staying with Reminders the better choice. If you are leaving because of a Windows PC, Apple Reminders on Windows is the decision page and the Windows app is the native install. If the missing app is Things, see Things 3 for Windows.

Check the result before deleting anything

Pick three reminders you know well: one with a date, one with a note, and one with a subtask. Find each one in the new app and compare it with Reminders.

Count the items in one source list and compare that number with the import preview. A matching total does not prove every field survived, but a different total tells you to stop. After the import, download the report the completion screen offers and read the reason beside each skipped row.

Then add and complete a few real tasks for a week, and keep the source list during that test. Exporting or importing never requires you to delete anything, and removing the safer copy early gains you nothing.