Floaters Docs → Vault

Markdown Vault

A Markdown Vault stores your notes as standard Markdown files in a folder you choose, making them accessible outside of Floaters.

By default, all of your notes are stored in one self-contained .floaters file. But you might want the ability to save each note to an individual file for use outside of the app. This could be useful to:

  • Save files to iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud storage locations for access on other devices.
  • Use other popular Markdown capable apps to view and edit your Floaters notes while still maintaining the unique features Floaters provides.
  • Import folders of notes created with other Markdown apps

Once enabled, Floaters automatically keeps your notes and the files in your vault synchronized, so changes made in either Floaters or another Markdown editor are reflected in both places. This lets you back up, organize, and work with your notes using other Markdown-compatible apps while continuing to use Floaters’ unique features.

Getting Started

The first step is to select the menu item Markdown Vault > Setup Markdown Vault. From there you'll be presented with two choices:

Regardless of which method you choose, once the vault is set up and running Floaters will keep the internal notes in sync with the external .md note files.

Option 1 - Create New Vault

This will take your current .floaters file and export all existing notes to files in a new folder.

Option 2 - Open Folder As Vault

Choose this If you already have a folder of Markdown files you'd like to import (either as a fresh .floaters file, or to merge with your current existing .floaters file). If you choose to open a folder as a vault, you'll then choose if you want to merge with the current .floaters file or just create a brand new .floaters file for that folder & vault.

Settings

During setup you'll need to decide on a few settings that affect how the vault will work.

  • Default Media Path - Local images within notes need to also be exported for the note to display correctly. If an image isn't already at a known location on disk, Floaters will export it within your vault to the default media path.
  • Note Moved to Trash in Floaters - When you move a note to the trash in Floaters, most likely you'll also want to move the corresponding note file on disk to the system trash. You can change that setting here.
  • Note Deleted in Floaters - When you permanently delete a note in Floaters, the default setting is to still move the corresponding note file on disk to the system trash. This is simply for a more conservative approach, especially since the note file most likely would already be in the system trash if your "Moved to Trash in Floaters" setting is the default.
  • Note File Removed from Vault - When you delete a file from the vault on disk OR move the file out of the vault, Floaters has to decide what to do with the not within the app. The default is to move it to the Floaters trash.
  • Add Floaters note IDs to exported Markdown frontmatter - Floaters can more accurately trash and identify notes if it prepends a floaters_id to each file within the Markdown frontmatter. Many other apps also use frontmatter for various purposes, but you can disable that here.
  • Add Vault Sections to Main List - When you are first setting up the vault, Floaters can automatically add a new section to your main list windows that will function as more of a file hierarchy view. It will display any folders within the vault and give you the ability to create folders and organize notes into folders within the app. You can also move/organize notes in the Finder and Floaters will track those changes as well.
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