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Folders & Organization

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Bob edited this page May 7, 2026 · 2 revisions

📁 Folders & Organization

Flatnotes-Enhanced provides a powerful folder system to keep your notes organized hierarchically. Whether you're managing projects, personal notes, or work documentation, the folder feature makes it easy to structure and find your content.

Quick Start

Creating Folders

Folders are created automatically when you:

  1. Create a note with a path - Type Projects/Q4/Report as the note title to create nested folders
  2. Move notes to a folder - Use the move operation (see below) to organize existing notes
  3. Create directly in the move dialog - When moving notes, create new folders on-the-fly

Viewing Folders

  • Click the Folder icon in the top navigation to open the folder sidebar
  • The sidebar shows your entire folder structure with collapsible folders
  • Note counts appear next to each folder (shows number of direct notes)
  • "All Notes" at the top shows notes in the root directory

Understanding the Folder Structure

Nested Folders

Folders support unlimited nesting levels using the forward slash / as a separator:

Work/
  ├── Projects/
  │   ├── Q4/
  │   │   └── Report
  │   └── Infrastructure/
  │       └── Migration Plan
  └── Meeting Notes/

You can reference notes with their full path: Work/Projects/Q4/Report

Folder Paths vs Note Names

  • Folder path: Work/Projects/Q4 (the directory structure)
  • Full note title: Work/Projects/Q4/Report (folder path + note name)
  • Display name: Report (what appears in the sidebar for that note)

Managing Notes in Folders

Moving Notes

Method 1: Drag & Drop (Easiest)

  1. Hover over a note in the folder sidebar
  2. Click and drag the note onto a target folder
  3. Release to drop - the note moves instantly
  4. A success toast confirms the move

Method 2: Bulk Move

  1. Click the checkbox icon in the folder sidebar to enable selection mode
  2. Check the boxes next to notes you want to move
  3. Click the move icon (arrow pointing into folder) that appears
  4. A dialog opens showing all available folders
  5. Click the destination folder to move all selected notes

Duplicating Notes

  1. Enter selection mode (click checkbox icon)
  2. Select one or more notes
  3. Click the move icon (arrow pointing into folder)
  4. A dialog opens with a Move / Duplicate toggle
  5. Switch to Duplicate mode
  6. Select the destination folder
  7. Notes are copied to the new folder with smart naming:
    • Report → Report (copy)
    • If Report (copy) exists → Report (copy 2)
    • Each duplication adds incremental numbers, never overwrites originals

Deleting Multiple Notes

  1. Enter selection mode (click checkbox icon)
  2. Select notes you want to delete
  3. Click the trash icon that appears
  4. A confirmation dialog shows which notes will be deleted
  5. Confirm to move them to the trash (they can be restored later from the Trash page)

Creating New Folders While Moving

When the move dialog is open:

  1. Click "Create new folder…" button
  2. Enter the folder path (use / for nested folders, e.g., work/invoices)
  3. Press Enter or click the checkmark
  4. The new folder is created and becomes the move destination
  5. Your selected notes move to the new folder

Folder Sidebar Features

Expand & Collapse

  • Click the chevron (>) next to any folder to toggle its contents
  • Folders stay collapsed until you click them
  • When expanded, you see:
    • Sub-folders (nested folders)
    • Notes in that folder (with note count if any)
    • An "Empty folder" message if there's nothing inside

Expand All / Collapse All

Click the expand all icon in the sidebar header to:

  • First click: Expand all folders at once (great for browsing entire structure)
  • Second click: Collapse all folders back to their default state

Refresh

Click the refresh icon to reload the folder list from disk. Useful if:

  • Notes were added/moved externally
  • You want to see the latest folder structure
  • The sidebar is out of sync with the backend

Search Folders

When you open the move dialog, a search box lets you filter folders:

  1. Type part of a folder name
  2. The list narrows to matching folders (searches the full path)
  3. Clear the search to see all folders again

Selecting Multiple Notes

Enable Selection Mode

  1. Click the checkbox/select icon in the folder sidebar header (top right)
  2. Checkboxes appear next to all notes in the folder tree
  3. Note titles no longer have drag handles (selection takes priority)

Select & Deselect

  • Click checkboxes to select/deselect individual notes
  • Selection persists as you expand/collapse folders
  • Clearing the checkbox removes notes from the selection

Disable Selection Mode

  1. Click the checkbox icon again to exit selection mode
  2. Selection is cleared
  3. Drag handles return to note titles

Tips

  • You can't see preview icons while in selection mode (checkboxes take priority)
  • Moving to a different page doesn't clear your selection
  • Selection is stored in memory (client-side) and resets if you refresh

Smart Naming & Conflicts

Automatic Naming When Duplicating

When you duplicate notes, Flatnotes-Enhanced uses smart conflict resolution:

Original: "Report"
Destination: Same folder (root)

Result:
  ├── Report
  └── Report (copy)

Duplicate again:
  ├── Report
  ├── Report (copy)
  └── Report (copy 2)

The system increments numbers sequentially, so duplicating a copy always counts from the base name.

Moving to Duplicate Names

If you try to move a note to a folder that already contains a note with the same name:

  • The operation is blocked
  • A warning toast appears: "Note 'Report' already exists in destination folder. Skipping."
  • The note stays in its original location

Folder Organization Tips

Best Practices

  1. Use meaningful folder names - Work/Projects/2024 is clearer than Stuff/Random
  2. Keep 2-4 levels deep - Deeply nested folders become hard to navigate
  3. Sort by date or type - Either 2024/Q1/Projects or Projects/Infrastructure/Prod
  4. Use consistent naming - All lowercase, hyphens for spaces: project-name not Project-Name

Special Folders

Flatnotes-Enhanced uses these reserved folders:

Folder Purpose
_trash Soft-deleted notes (auto-created)
_archive Archived notes (auto-created)
_templates Reusable note templates (auto-created)

These appear in the sidebar but are managed specially. See their dedicated pages for details.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Currently, folder operations are mouse/touch based. Planned shortcuts:

  • Ctrl+Shift+M - Open move dialog (planned)
  • Ctrl+D - Duplicate selection (planned)

Troubleshooting

Drag & Drop Not Working

Problem: Notes won't drag between folders

Solutions:

  • Make sure you're not in selection mode (exit if checkbox icon is highlighted)
  • Try refreshing the sidebar (click the refresh icon)
  • Check that the target folder is expanded

Notes Disappear After Moving

Problem: You moved notes but they vanished

Solution:

  • Moved notes are still in the system - check the destination folder
  • If really missing, go to the Trash page to see if they were soft-deleted instead
  • Refresh the sidebar to see the latest state

Can't Create a Folder with Special Characters

Problem: Error when creating a folder with certain characters

Valid folder names:

  • Letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores: ✅ project-2024_archive
  • Spaces → use hyphens: ✅ my-notes (not my notes)

Invalid characters ❌:

  • Forward slashes (only / for nesting): bad/name/with/slash
  • Backslashes, colons, asterisks, quotes: bad*name, bad:name
  • Leading/trailing slashes: /name, name/
  • Consecutive slashes: name//folder

Duplicate Notes Showing (Copy 1, Copy 2, etc)

Problem: You duplicated a note but see old copies alongside new ones

This is normal - both old and new copies are preserved. Flatnotes-Enhanced doesn't overwrite originals. If you want to clean up:

  1. Manually delete old copies from the Trash page
  2. Or move newer versions and clean up the folder

Limitations & Known Issues

  • Bulk folder operations: Can't move/delete entire folders (only individual notes)
  • Path references: Changing a folder name requires updating note paths manually

See Also

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