Dump Keynote speaker notes to Markdown. Tested with Keynote 14.4 (September 2025)

keynote_speaker_notes.scpt

-- Get file without activating Keynote
set chosenFile to choose file with prompt "Select a Keynote presentation:" of type {"key", "com.apple.iwork.keynote.key", "com.apple.iwork.keynote.sffkey"}
set fileName to name of (info for chosenFile)

-- Generate output filename
set timestamp to do shell script "date '+%Y%m%d-%H%M%S'"
set outputFile to "~/keynote-notes-" & timestamp & ".md"
set fullPath to do shell script "echo " & outputFile

tell application "Keynote"
    -- Open without bringing to front
    set wasRunning to running
    open chosenFile
    
    tell front document
        set docTitle to name
        set slideCount to count of slides
        
        -- Write markdown header (using quoted form for safety)
        do shell script "echo " & quoted form of ("# " & docTitle) & " > " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo " & quoted form of ("**File:** `" & fileName & "`  ") & " >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo " & quoted form of ("**Slides:** " & slideCount & "  ") & " >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '**Exported:** '$(date '+%Y-%m-%d at %H:%M:%S')'  ' >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '---' >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
        
        -- Export notes with progress
        repeat with i from 1 to slideCount
            -- Show progress in notification
            if i mod 10 = 0 then
                display notification "Processing slide " & i & " of " & slideCount with title "Exporting Keynote Notes"
            end if
            
            do shell script "echo " & quoted form of ("## Slide " & i) & " >> " & outputFile
            do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
            
            set slideNote to presenter notes of slide i as text
            if slideNote is not "" then
                -- Handle multi-paragraph notes
                set quotedNote to quoted form of slideNote
                do shell script "echo " & quotedNote & " >> " & outputFile
            else
                do shell script "echo '*[No presenter notes]*' >> " & outputFile
            end if
            
            do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
            if i < slideCount then
                do shell script "echo '---' >> " & outputFile
                do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
            end if
        end repeat
        
        -- Add footer
        do shell script "echo '' >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '---' >> " & outputFile
        do shell script "echo '*End of presenter notes*' >> " & outputFile
        
        close saving no
    end tell
    
    -- Only quit if Keynote wasn't running before
    if not wasRunning then quit
end tell

-- Success notification and optional file opening
display notification "Notes exported to: " & fullPath with title "Export Complete" sound name "Glass"

display dialog "Keynote notes exported successfully!" & return & return & "File: " & fullPath buttons {"Open File", "Show in Finder", "Done"} default button "Done" with icon note

if button returned of result is "Open File" then
    do shell script "open " & outputFile
else if button returned of result is "Show in Finder" then
    do shell script "open -R " & outputFile
end if