This is not a valid .sy.zip archive. If the archive was expo

Error message

This is not a valid .sy.zip archive. If the archive was exported from [Settings], please import it from [Settings]

What it means

Thrown by ImportSYNotebookBundle after locating the manifest: either gulu.JSON.UnmarshalJSON cannot parse the manifest bytes, or the parsed manifest's Spec does not equal syNotebookBundleSpec, or it lists zero notebooks. All three cases yield Conf.Language(199) (invalid .sy.zip archive) — the manifest exists but its content does not satisfy the bundle contract.

Source

Thrown at kernel/model/notebook_bundle.go:240

			_ = archive.Close()
			return nil, true, readErr
		}
		manifestData, readErr = io.ReadAll(reader)
		_ = reader.Close()
		if nil != readErr {
			_ = archive.Close()
			return nil, true, readErr
		}
		rootName = candidateRoot
	}
	_ = archive.Close()
	if rootName == "" {
		return nil, false, nil
	}
	bundle = true
	manifest := &syNotebookBundleManifest{}
	if err = gulu.JSON.UnmarshalJSON(manifestData, manifest); nil != err || manifest.Spec != syNotebookBundleSpec || len(manifest.Notebooks) < 1 {
		err = errors.New(Conf.Language(199))
		return
	}

	unzipPath := filepath.Join(filepath.Dir(zipPath), strings.TrimSuffix(filepath.Base(zipPath), filepath.Ext(zipPath))+"-bundle-"+gulu.Rand.String(7))
	if err = gulu.Zip.Unzip(zipPath, unzipPath); nil != err {
		return
	}
	defer os.RemoveAll(unzipPath)
	rootPath := filepath.Join(unzipPath, filepath.FromSlash(rootName))
	if !gulu.File.IsDir(rootPath) {
		err = errors.New(Conf.Language(199))
		return
	}

	var notebooks []*inspectedSYNotebook
	seenArchives := map[string]struct{}{}
	for _, item := range manifest.Notebooks {
		archivePath := path.Clean("/" + item.Archive)

View on GitHub (pinned to afa823b6b4)

Solutions

Re-export the bundle on a current SiYuan version and import without modifying the archive
If you must inspect, verify manifest.json parses, its spec field matches the current kernel, and notebooks is non-empty
Check zip integrity (unzip -t) after transferring the file

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

ids, bundle, err := model.ImportSYNotebookBundle(zipPath)
if err != nil && err.Error() == Conf.Language(199) {
    // manifest unparseable / wrong spec / no notebooks: verify with unzip -t, then re-export
}

Prevention

Match exporting and importing SiYuan versions for bundle transfers
Do not hand-edit manifest.json fields such as spec or notebooks
Verify archive integrity (unzip -t) after downloading or transferring bundles

When it happens

Trigger: Importing a .sy.zip whose manifest.json is truncated/corrupted, was written by a different (older/newer) spec version, or has an empty/removed "notebooks" array. Editing the manifest by hand or exporting from an incompatible SiYuan version are typical causes.

Common situations: Version skew between the exporting and importing SiYuan builds; manifest edited to remove a notebook leaving none; zip corruption during transfer (partial upload).

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@afa823b6b4 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2cbcaa75ae2d6b36. Report an issue: GitHub.