Docs Files & images

Files and images

An Intabula vault can hold any file, not just Markdown. Images, PDFs, JSON, CSV, and everything else in a folder show up in that collection beside your notes, open in the app, and can be linked or embedded from any note. You don't sort them into kinds; each file opens the way that suits it.

Every file shows up

A collection lists its notes and every other file in its folder in one list, in alphabetical order. Sorting and the title search cover both, and you can select notes and files together to delete them. The List and Grid buttons in the toolbar show the same items as rows or as tiles, with thumbnails for images, and Intabula remembers the choice for each collection. The sidebar counts include files.

Saved table and Kanban views show notes only, because they are built from frontmatter fields, which other files don't have. Folders Intabula always ignores stay ignored: dot-folders such as .obsidian and .git, the vault's own .intabula folder, and node_modules.

Opening a file

Clicking a file opens it in the side panel, the same place a note opens:

The panel's menu has Copy link, Rename…, Move to collection…, and Delete…, and the same actions are on each file's row in the list.

Adding files

Drop files onto a collection to add them to its folder. While you write, paste or drop a file into a note: Intabula saves it next to the note and puts a link to it where the cursor is. An image goes in as an embed such as ![[photo.png]] and shows inline in the note; a pasted screenshot gets a dated name. Files you add in Finder or through sync appear on their own.

Link to a file with [[report.pdf]] or embed it with ![[chart.png]], the same syntax Obsidian uses. Renaming or moving a file from Intabula rewrites the links and embeds that point to it, in one journaled operation, as a record rename does. A link or embed to a file that isn't there shows up in the needs-attention inbox, where you can relink it to a suggested file.

Search and needs attention

Full-text search covers the text of plain-text files, so a search for a hostname finds the JSON config that holds it, and the ⌘K palette lists matching files with your notes. A JSON or YAML file that doesn't parse is flagged in the needs-attention inbox, the way a note with broken frontmatter is. See Views and search.

The agent and files

The agent sees files through list_files and reads text files with read_file. It can create or overwrite plain-text files with write_file, and rename, move, or delete any file with rename_file, move_file, and delete_file. These are writes like any other: they wait for you in manual approval mode and appear in the activity feed. The agent never reads the contents of an image, PDF, or other binary file. It can link or embed one in a note by name. Bots can list and read files but not change them.

The agent can read a .env file in your vault. Keeping a project's credentials next to its notes is a reason to put them there. The sensitive-file blocklist applies to linked folders, not to the vault. If a file shouldn't reach the model, keep it in an encrypted collection, which the agent can't read.

Encryption and sync

Encrypting a collection encrypts every file in its folder, images and PDFs included, not just its notes. Renaming, moving, or deleting a collection carries its files along, and deleting one that still holds files asks you first. Files sync the same way your notes do, because they are ordinary files in the vault folder.

On iPhone

The iOS app shows the same list of notes and files, with the same List and Grid switch. Files open in Quick Look, and text files are read-only. A file that is still in iCloud is never downloaded just to draw its thumbnail; it downloads when you open it. The phone agent can list and read files. See Sync, sharing, and iOS.