diff --git a/electron-utils.ts b/electron-utils.ts
index d492d606a..ebaefa13d 100644
--- a/electron-utils.ts
+++ b/electron-utils.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ export async function initializeDatabase() {
 
     cls.init(() => {
         if (!sqlInit.isDbInitialized()) {
-            sqlInit.createInitialDatabase();
+            sqlInit.createInitialDatabase(true);
         }
     });
 }
diff --git a/src/services/sql_init.ts b/src/services/sql_init.ts
index afe8324e1..b03c12f51 100644
--- a/src/services/sql_init.ts
+++ b/src/services/sql_init.ts
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ async function initDbConnection() {
     dbReady.resolve();
 }
 
-async function createInitialDatabase() {
+async function createInitialDatabase(preserveIds?: boolean) {
     if (isDbInitialized()) {
         throw new Error("DB is already initialized");
     }
@@ -112,7 +112,9 @@ async function createInitialDatabase() {
 
     const dummyTaskContext = new TaskContext("no-progress-reporting", "import", false);
 
-    await zipImportService.importZip(dummyTaskContext, demoFile, rootNote);
+    await zipImportService.importZip(dummyTaskContext, demoFile, rootNote, {
+        preserveIds
+    });
 
     sql.transactional(() => {
         // this needs to happen after ZIP import,