BlogBook Documentation
BlogBook is a Mac app that exports your WordPress blog to a single Markdown file. This guide walks you through the flow and features in the order you’ll see them in the app.
1. Connect with credentials
On the first screen you enter your WordPress site and login details. BlogBook uses the WordPress REST API and requires an application password, not your normal WordPress password. You can create one in your WordPress profile (or WordPress.com security settings).
- Blog URL — Your site URL (e.g.
https://example.com). You can type it or pick a previously saved blog from the dropdown. - Username — Your WordPress username.
- Application password — The app-specific password you generated. The app has a help link that opens WordPress’s guide to application passwords.
After you tap Connect, BlogBook verifies the credentials and fetches your site name and description. If something fails, an error message explains what went wrong.
2. Filter what to export
Once connected, you see the filtering screen. The header shows your blog name and a Change Blog link to go back to credentials. Use the four sections to limit which posts are included in the export.
Categories
Categories load from your blog. Each category shows its post count. Use the checkboxes to include or exclude categories; only posts in at least one selected category are exported. Use Select All / Deselect All to toggle everything.
Authors
If your site exposes authors via the API, you can filter by author. Only posts by at least one selected author are included. On some setups, author data requires admin access; if so, you’ll see a message and the authors list may be empty.
Tags
Tags are shown in a token-style field. Type to search and add tags; you can also open the dropdown to browse all tags. Selected tags are combined with OR logic: a post is included if it has any of the selected tags. Remove a tag by clicking the × on its chip.
Date range
Choose a From and To date. Only posts published within this range are exported. The range is limited to the actual post dates on your blog. If the end date is before the start date, a warning is shown. Use Reset to Full Range to set the range back to the full span of your content.
The footer summarizes your filters (e.g. “Filtering by: 2 categories, 1 author”) or “All posts will be included.” Tap Continue to go to export options.
3. Export options
On the options screen you configure how the Markdown file is built: metadata, dates, links, tags, images, and structure.
Book metadata
Set a Book title and Book author(s) (multiple authors separated by commas). Choose the metadata format: MultiMarkdown, YAML Front Matter, or Pandoc. The chosen format is written at the top of the exported file so tools like Marked or Pandoc can use it.
Post dates
Turn Include post date in output on or off. When on, you can pick a date format (e.g.
2024-01-15, January 15, 2024, etc.). The date appears under each post title in the
Markdown.
Content
Include source URL for each post — When on, each post gets a link back to the original URL. You can choose Source: <URL> (plain) or [Source](URL) (Markdown link).
Include tags — If on, each post’s tags are written in the Markdown. You can put tags Above post or Below post, and optionally make them Linked to your site’s tag archive URLs.
Add page break before each post — Inserts <!--BREAK--> (Marked syntax)
before each post for clean page breaks in PDF and other exports.
Download images — If on, images (and video sources) in post content are downloaded and saved
to an assets folder next to the Markdown file. References in the Markdown are updated to
assets/filename. If this is off, image URLs stay as in the original HTML.
Table of contents
Include Table of Contents — When on, BlogBook inserts <!--TOC--> after the
main title. Marked (and similar tools) use this to generate a table of contents.
The right column shows an Output preview of how the start of your Markdown file will look with the current options. When ready, tap Export to Markdown. You’ll choose a save location (or a folder if “Download images” is on); the app then fetches posts, converts HTML to Markdown, and writes the file.
4. Processing and result
While exporting, BlogBook shows progress: “Downloading posts…”, “Converting posts to Markdown…”, and a count (e.g. “42 of 100 posts”). When done, you see Export complete! and the path to the saved file.
From there you can:
- Show in Finder — Reveal the file in Finder.
- Open Markdown in default app — Open the file with your system default for Markdown.
- Open in Marked — If Marked is installed, open the book there to preview and export to PDF, DOCX, EPUB, etc. If Marked isn’t installed, the button becomes Get Marked and opens the Marked website.
Use Export another to go back to the filter step (same blog and options) or Start over to return to the credentials screen.
Summary
Flow: Credentials → Filter (categories, authors, tags, date range) → Options (metadata, dates, content,
TOC, images) → Export. The result is one Markdown file (and optionally an assets folder)
ready for Marked or any Markdown-friendly tool.
Developed by Brett Terpstra. For support, use the Support page.