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Cleft integrates with NotePlan via Local Sync on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Local Sync itself is free; Cleft Plus lets you point exports at a NotePlan project folder (or any folder you choose). On Free, exports land in Cleft’s Documents/Cleft Notes folder.

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What you get

When you enable Local Sync and point Cleft to a NotePlan folder, your notes are automatically saved as .md files with:
  • Readable filenames like 2026-05-06-meeting-with-jonny-12431.md (date + title slug + unique ID)
  • YAML frontmatter with title, tags, timestamps, and the full transcript
  • Inline hashtags at the end of the body, clickable in NotePlan search and smart folders
  • Smart title renames when you retitle a note in Cleft
Here’s what a synced note looks like in your NotePlan folder: 
---
cleft_id: 12431
title: "Meeting with Jonny"
tags: ["work", "ideas"]
created: 2026-05-06T10:30:00Z
updated: 2026-05-06T11:15:00Z
source: cleft
transcript: "full transcript on one line, newlines collapsed to spaces"
---
AI-generated summary body goes here.

#work #ideas
In NotePlan, this renders as:
  • Body with the AI summary as the readable artefact
  • Tag pane / search picks up #work and #ideas from the inline hashtags at the end of the body
  • Frontmatter appears at the top of the note. NotePlan tolerates it but doesn’t surface unfamiliar keys as structured fields
This is one-way sync: Cleft → NotePlan. Edits you make in NotePlan are overwritten on the next Cleft sync (same contract as Notion auto-send).

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Setup

1

Pick your NotePlan folder as the destination

Open Settings → Local Sync and click Choose Custom Folder… (Plus).
  1. Select the folder where NotePlan stores your project notes (or any folder NotePlan watches)
  2. On Mac, Cleft creates a dedicated subfolder inside it. On iPhone and iPad, Cleft writes to the exact folder you select in Files.
  3. Use the selected folder and you’re done
Full setup guide: Local Sync
2

That's it

Your notes sync automatically. Open NotePlan and check the active Local Sync folder. You’ll see .md files with readable names and inline tags.

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NotePlan-specific tips

  • Project notes: Point Local Sync at a NotePlan project folder and Cleft notes become part of that project’s note list. Best fit for the natural NotePlan workflow.
  • Tags: Inline #tag syntax at the end of the body is what NotePlan indexes. It’s clickable in search results and powers smart folders. Multi-word tags become #multi-word (sanitised), and slashed tags like #work/meetings are preserved.
  • Frontmatter: NotePlan parses YAML but doesn’t display unfamiliar keys as structured fields, so title, tags, created, updated, source, and cleft_id appear as text at the top of the note. Your timestamps are still there if you want to query them via export or other tooling.
  • Calendar views: NotePlan’s calendar views are driven by filename (YYYYMMDD.md daily-note format), not frontmatter. Cleft uses YYYY-MM-DD-{slug}-{id}.md, so notes won’t auto-populate calendar views. They live as project / project-folder notes instead.

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Limitations

  • No daily-note auto-population. Cleft’s filename format is readable-first (2026-05-06-meeting-with-jonny-12431.md), not NotePlan’s calendar format (20260506.md). Notes appear in folder lists, not in calendar day views.
  • No @person mention extraction. NotePlan recognises @person syntax for collaborators; Cleft doesn’t extract mentions from transcripts.
  • No task syntax. Cleft summaries aren’t structured as tasks (* task >2026-05-06). They’re prose summaries with inline tags.