+749
Completed
File and image attachments
It should be possible to attach files and images to notes, as well as link to external files.
Customer support service by UserEcho
What about exporting attachments ("save file..." action)?
-how to 'export' notes that contain attached files? As one big binary blob (.dat or .db)? The current single txt-based export file is readable with any text editor. The binary blob will be unreadable outside of CN. What if my system crashes, all my important notes are in .db format that only CN can read (proprietary format) and CN website is down so I cant download CN? Any departure from the current text-based export format (txt/xml) makes me uncomfy.
-what happens if user imports some notes and some of the 'attached' files from the notes being imported have same names as those currently in the 'special folder' and have an earlier modification date. Will CN overwrite the files in the special folder.
-should CN make a copy of attached files to store in its 'special folder'. What if I edit an attached word document from the filesystem, not through CN? How will CN know to 'sync' the changes so the newest version is always maintained in the notes attachments?
All these issues can be solved, code can be written to handle these conditions, but it is going to increase the size of the executable - it will no longer be as lean and fast because it has to handle all these conditions - code bloat due to scope creep.
If people really want file and image as notes attachments they can simply reference the file name/location as part of the note.
Regarding your concerns about not being able to read .db file: this is a regular SQlite database file which can be read by any SQLite management application, such as SQLite Manager Firefox Addon (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5817/)
So at least you'll have some kind of access to your data.
2) Notes will have unique IDs which will be used as folder names inside of attachment folder, so no such collisions will be possible.
3) The attachment folder will be inside of Dropbox folder and DropBox will automatically take care of that.
Simple file references are already possible with upcoming 1.3.
Can not wait!
http://cintanotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1997
Thank you!
But,,,,How can Attachments such as images be shown inside the note text or textarea?
Onenote is weak at tag, only searchable not browserable. Need for replacement :3
I use WikidPad for organizing my notes, in more complex structures for a more structured approach, but for the purpose of documenting ideas or facts. WikidPad, can't copy the images from the text I capture automatically, but later I can add the pictures I select to add to the document with copy and paste. In this case, WikidPad archives the image in a folder relative to the wiki document. Therefore I can always copy the documents (are text with a light markup interspersed) with its acompanying folder. Every image has a relative reference in the text.
This approach can be used in Cintanotes, which is light and avoids the incredible amount of figures and icons used in web pages, that for notes purposes are a drawback.
I like, also, the Ctrl-F12 approach, because leaves Ctrl-C free for a different purpose, allowing a selective note keeping.
My notes won't stay long enough in CintaNotes, because will be further processed. Temporary notes, will be discarded. Some notes will be transfered to WikidPad and the remaining notes, are for actions, than when fulfilled allows me to discard the note.
Therefore, Cintanotes is the first entry for the note taking process. For being fully effective and light, must be preserved its only a database approach, with recording of images when done by the user or automatically for images above some size. For simplicity should be restricted to raster images.
The notes, could reside permanently on CintaNotes or being transferred at will to a knowledge base or to an diary or log, through cut and paste.
Another element of great importance is the reference that CintaNotes attach. Although is not a completely bibliographic reference, could be enough for most purposes. Another important element is preserve the UTF-8 comliance.
Directory mapping would be nice. Something like :mdc: would become "c:\users\my dcouments\clients" directory. The directory mappings would be assigned in CN settings and used below the surface.
This would make it easy to change your "attachments and images" directory. When you move it to a seperate USB hard disk for instance you only have to change the corresponding directory mappings in CN to "find" the attachments again.
Attachements belong to the note. What you suggest is the same like having a directory for all images in all your Word Documents. It's exactly that type of storage concept that always made me loose lots of information whenever I moved everything to a new computer. My vote for storing everything in the db.
- Make the content- and link-fields of the note editing dialog a drop target for files; dropping a file will insert a link at the current cursor position.
- Allow three modes:
+ [drop]: merely a link
+ [Shift/Ctrl+drop]: move/copy the source file to a CN-subfolder, make the target's name unique by combining the original filename with the note-id
- The displayed link ("file://..." or whatever) should reflect the "mode" - external or CN-internal
- Give an alternative way to insert link by adding a browse button (with keyboard shortcut) according to the former comment.
The subfolder should be configurable, so, e. g. from dropbox-view, I can decide whether to upload the "attachments" or not. For the same (and many more other) reason(s) the files should not be included in the database. (Or should I say "must not"?)
Yet it would be very convenient to be able to work with relative file paths (relative to the base), in addition to absolute paths.
Also images should be able to add inline within the notes.
For inline images, please vote here: http://roadmap.cintanotes.com/topic/185531-imagespictures-inside-notes/
This would be a great way to keep research notes and documentation with pictures and diagrams. What I worry about is bloating the database so much that responsiveness is impaired. I would prefer to keep the image files in a relative path beneath the database file, which would still support portability.
This in combination with arbitrary file attachments would make this program incredibly powerful without sacrificing its core strength which is speed and ease of use.
The good news is that we have already started and this feature is the next in line for the next major release.