diff --git a/src/calibre/db/backend.py b/src/calibre/db/backend.py
index 77e5004d6d..e3827b3bf7 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/backend.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/backend.py
@@ -1001,6 +1001,15 @@ class DB:
         yield from self.notes.search(
             self.conn, fts_engine_query, use_stemming, highlight_start, highlight_end, snippet_size, restrict_to_fields, return_text, process_each_result)
 
+    def export_notes_data(self, outfile):
+        import zipfile, tempfile
+        with zipfile.ZipFile(outfile, mode='w') as zf:
+            with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as dbf:
+                self.backup_notes_database(dbf.name)
+                dbf.seek(0)
+                zf.writestr('notes.db', dbf.read())
+            self.notes.export_non_db_data(zf)
+
     def initialize_fts(self, dbref):
         self.fts = None
         if not self.prefs['fts_enabled']:
@@ -2572,18 +2581,21 @@ class DB:
         self.conn  # Connect to the moved metadata.db
         progress(_('Completed'), total, total)
 
-    def backup_database(self, path):
+    def _backup_database(self, path, name, extra_sql=''):
         with closing(apsw.Connection(path)) as dest_db:
-            with dest_db.backup('main', self.conn, 'main') as b:
+            with dest_db.backup('main', self.conn, name) as b:
                 while not b.done:
                     with suppress(apsw.BusyError):
                         b.step(128)
-            dest_db.cursor().execute('DELETE FROM metadata_dirtied; VACUUM;')
+            if extra_sql:
+                dest_db.cursor().execute(extra_sql)
+
+    def backup_database(self, path):
+        self._backup_database(path, 'main', 'DELETE FROM metadata_dirtied; VACUUM;')
 
     def backup_fts_database(self, path):
-        with closing(apsw.Connection(path)) as dest_db:
-            with dest_db.backup('main', self.conn, 'fts_db') as b:
-                while not b.done:
-                    with suppress(apsw.BusyError):
-                        b.step(128)
+        self._backup_database(path, 'fts_db')
+
+    def backup_notes_database(self, path):
+        self._backup_database(path, 'notes_db')
     # }}}
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/cache.py b/src/calibre/db/cache.py
index 38053b759c..5ae304fcff 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/cache.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/cache.py
@@ -15,12 +15,13 @@ import traceback
 import weakref
 from collections import defaultdict
 from collections.abc import MutableSet, Set
+from contextlib import closing
 from functools import partial, wraps
 from io import DEFAULT_BUFFER_SIZE, BytesIO
 from queue import Queue
 from threading import Lock
 from time import monotonic, sleep, time
-from typing import NamedTuple, Tuple, Optional
+from typing import NamedTuple, Optional, Tuple
 
 from calibre import as_unicode, detect_ncpus, isbytestring
 from calibre.constants import iswindows, preferred_encoding
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ from calibre.customize.ui import (
 from calibre.db import SPOOL_SIZE, _get_next_series_num_for_list
 from calibre.db.annotations import merge_annotations
 from calibre.db.categories import get_categories
+from calibre.db.constants import NOTES_DIR_NAME
 from calibre.db.errors import NoSuchBook, NoSuchFormat
 from calibre.db.fields import IDENTITY, InvalidLinkTable, create_field
 from calibre.db.lazy import FormatMetadata, FormatsList, ProxyMetadata
@@ -3009,12 +3011,18 @@ class Cache:
         from polyglot.binary import as_hex_unicode
         key_prefix = as_hex_unicode(library_key)
         book_ids = self._all_book_ids()
-        total = len(book_ids) + 1
+        total = len(book_ids) + 2
         has_fts = self.is_fts_enabled()
         if has_fts:
             total += 1
-        if progress is not None:
-            progress('metadata.db', 0, total)
+        poff = 0
+        def report_progress(fname):
+            nonlocal poff
+            if progress is not None:
+                progress(fname, poff, total)
+            poff += 1
+
+        report_progress('metadata.db')
         pt = PersistentTemporaryFile('-export.db')
         pt.close()
         self.backend.backup_database(pt.name)
@@ -3022,29 +3030,33 @@ class Cache:
         with open(pt.name, 'rb') as f:
             exporter.add_file(f, dbkey)
         os.remove(pt.name)
-        poff = 1
         if has_fts:
-            poff += 1
-            if progress is not None:
-                progress('full-text-search.db', 1, total)
+            report_progress('full-text-search.db')
             pt = PersistentTemporaryFile('-export.db')
             pt.close()
             self.backend.backup_fts_database(pt.name)
-            ftsdbkey = key_prefix + ':::' + 'full-text-search.db'
+            ftsdbkey = key_prefix + ':::full-text-search.db'
             with open(pt.name, 'rb') as f:
                 exporter.add_file(f, ftsdbkey)
             os.remove(pt.name)
+        notesdbkey = key_prefix + ':::notes.db'
+        with PersistentTemporaryFile('-export.db') as pt:
+            self.backend.export_notes_data(pt)
+            pt.flush()
+            pt.seek(0)
+            report_progress('notes.db')
+            exporter.add_file(pt, notesdbkey)
 
         format_metadata = {}
         extra_files = {}
-        metadata = {'format_data':format_metadata, 'metadata.db':dbkey, 'total':total, 'extra_files': extra_files}
+        metadata = {'format_data':format_metadata, 'metadata.db':dbkey, 'notes.db': notesdbkey, 'total':total, 'extra_files': extra_files}
         if has_fts:
             metadata['full-text-search.db'] = ftsdbkey
         for i, book_id in enumerate(book_ids):
             if abort is not None and abort.is_set():
                 return
             if progress is not None:
-                progress(self._field_for('title', book_id), i + poff, total)
+                report_progress(self._field_for('title', book_id))
             format_metadata[book_id] = fm = {}
             for fmt in self._formats(book_id):
                 mdata = self.format_metadata(book_id, fmt)
@@ -3335,9 +3347,13 @@ def import_library(library_key, importer, library_path, progress=None, abort=Non
     from calibre.db.backend import DB
     metadata = importer.metadata[library_key]
     total = metadata['total']
-    poff = 1
-    if progress is not None:
-        progress('metadata.db', 0, total)
+    poff = 0
+    def report_progress(fname):
+        nonlocal poff
+        if progress is not None:
+            progress(fname, poff, total)
+            poff += 1
+    report_progress('metadata.db')
     if abort is not None and abort.is_set():
         return
     with open(os.path.join(library_path, 'metadata.db'), 'wb') as f:
@@ -3354,8 +3370,21 @@ def import_library(library_key, importer, library_path, progress=None, abort=Non
             src = importer.start_file(metadata['full-text-search.db'], 'full-text-search.db for ' + library_path)
             shutil.copyfileobj(src, f)
             src.close()
+    if abort is not None and abort.is_set():
+        return
+    if 'notes.db' in metadata:
+        import zipfile
+        notes_dir = os.path.join(library_path, NOTES_DIR_NAME)
+        os.makedirs(notes_dir, exist_ok=True)
+        with closing(importer.start_file(metadata['notes.db'], 'notes.db for ' + library_path)) as stream:
+            stream.check_hash = False
+            with zipfile.ZipFile(stream) as zf:
+                zf.extractall(notes_dir)
+    if abort is not None and abort.is_set():
+        return
     cache = Cache(DB(library_path, load_user_formatter_functions=False))
     cache.init()
+
     format_data = {int(book_id):data for book_id, data in iteritems(metadata['format_data'])}
     extra_files = {int(book_id):data for book_id, data in metadata.get('extra_files', {}).items()}
     for i, (book_id, fmt_key_map) in enumerate(iteritems(format_data)):
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/notes/connect.py b/src/calibre/db/notes/connect.py
index 0d63170e01..c226f12936 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/notes/connect.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/notes/connect.py
@@ -60,15 +60,15 @@ class Notes:
         conn = backend.get_connection()
         self.temp_table_counter = count()
         libdir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(conn.db_filename('main')))
-        notes_dir = os.path.join(libdir, NOTES_DIR_NAME)
-        self.resources_dir = os.path.join(notes_dir, 'resources')
-        self.backup_dir = os.path.join(notes_dir, 'backup')
-        self.retired_dir = os.path.join(notes_dir, 'retired')
-        if not os.path.exists(notes_dir):
-            os.makedirs(notes_dir, exist_ok=True)
+        self.notes_dir = os.path.join(libdir, NOTES_DIR_NAME)
+        self.resources_dir = os.path.join(self.notes_dir, 'resources')
+        self.backup_dir = os.path.join(self.notes_dir, 'backup')
+        self.retired_dir = os.path.join(self.notes_dir, 'retired')
+        if not os.path.exists(self.notes_dir):
+            os.makedirs(self.notes_dir, exist_ok=True)
             if iswindows:
-                winutil.set_file_attributes(notes_dir, winutil.FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN | winutil.FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED)
-        dbpath = os.path.join(notes_dir, 'notes.db')
+                winutil.set_file_attributes(self.notes_dir, winutil.FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN | winutil.FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NOT_CONTENT_INDEXED)
+        dbpath = os.path.join(self.notes_dir, 'notes.db')
         conn.execute("ATTACH DATABASE ? AS notes_db", (dbpath,))
         os.makedirs(self.resources_dir, exist_ok=True)
         os.makedirs(self.backup_dir, exist_ok=True)
@@ -351,3 +351,16 @@ class Notes:
                     break
         except apsw.SQLError as e:
             raise FTSQueryError(fts_engine_query, query, e) from e
+
+    def export_non_db_data(self, zf):
+        import zipfile
+        def add_dir(which):
+            for dirpath, _, filenames in os.walk(which):
+                for f in filenames:
+                    path = os.path.join(dirpath, f)
+                    with open(path, 'rb') as src:
+                        zi = zipfile.ZipInfo.from_file(path, arcname=os.path.relpath(path, self.notes_dir))
+                        with zf.open(zi, 'w') as dest:
+                            shutil.copyfileobj(src, dest)
+        add_dir(self.backup_dir)
+        add_dir(self.resources_dir)
diff --git a/src/calibre/db/tests/filesystem.py b/src/calibre/db/tests/filesystem.py
index 9e2bce4a6a..085e783427 100644
--- a/src/calibre/db/tests/filesystem.py
+++ b/src/calibre/db/tests/filesystem.py
@@ -264,6 +264,9 @@ class FilesystemTest(BaseTest):
                 bookdir = os.path.dirname(ic.format_abspath(1, '__COVER_INTERNAL__'))
                 self.assertEqual('exf', open(os.path.join(bookdir, 'exf')).read())
                 self.assertEqual('recurse', open(os.path.join(bookdir, 'sub', 'recurse')).read())
+        r1 = cache.add_notes_resource(b'res1', 'res.jpg')
+        r2 = cache.add_notes_resource(b'res2', 'res.jpg')
+        cache.set_notes_for('authors', 2, 'some notes', resource_ids=(r1, r2))
         cache.add_format(1, 'TXT', BytesIO(b'testing exim'))
         cache.fts_indexing_sleep_time = 0.001
         cache.enable_fts()
@@ -281,6 +284,8 @@ class FilesystemTest(BaseTest):
             importer = Importer(tdir)
             ic = import_library('l', importer, idir)
             self.assertEqual(ic.fts_search('exim')[0]['id'], 1)
+            self.assertEqual(cache.notes_for('authors', 2), ic.notes_for('authors', 2))
+            self.assertEqual(cache.get_notes_resource(r1), ic.get_notes_resource(r1))
 
     def test_find_books_in_directory(self):
         from calibre.db.adding import find_books_in_directory, compile_rule
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/exim.py b/src/calibre/utils/exim.py
index b67fc08f20..3415a58229 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/exim.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/exim.py
@@ -222,10 +222,24 @@ class FileSource:
 
     def __init__(self, f, size, digest, description, mtime, importer):
         self.f, self.size, self.digest, self.description = f, size, digest, description
+        self.seekable = self.f.seekable
         self.mtime = mtime
-        self.end = f.tell() + size
+        self.start = f.tell()
+        self.end = self.start + size
         self.hasher = hashlib.sha1()
         self.importer = importer
+        self.check_hash = True
+
+    def seek(self, amt, whence=os.SEEK_SET):
+        if whence == os.SEEK_SET:
+            return self.f.seek(self.start + amt, os.SEEK_SET)
+        if whence == os.SEEK_END:
+            return self.f.seek(self.end + amt, os.SEEK_SET)
+        if whence == os.SEEK_CUR:
+            return self.f.seek(amt, whence)
+
+    def tell(self):
+        return self.f.tell() - self.start
 
     def read(self, size=None):
         if size is not None and size < 1:
@@ -235,11 +249,12 @@ class FileSource:
         if amt < 1:
             return b''
         ans = self.f.read(amt)
-        self.hasher.update(ans)
+        if self.check_hash:
+            self.hasher.update(ans)
         return ans
 
     def close(self):
-        if self.hasher.hexdigest() != self.digest:
+        if self.check_hash and self.hasher.hexdigest() != self.digest:
             self.importer.corrupted_files.append(self.description)
         self.hasher = self.f = None