Plainva User Guide
Last reviewed: 2026-08-21
Plainva is a Markdown vault editor: your notes are ordinary Markdown files in a folder (a “vault”) on your computer — no database silo, no forced cloud account. This guide explains how to work with Plainva and how the file formats work.
Contents
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | Opening or creating a vault, the interface, editor modes, tabs and split view |
| Notes & Markdown | How Markdown files work: writing, formatting, properties (frontmatter), icons, links, templates, images |
| Databases (.base) | Viewing notes as a database — views, filters, properties, relations, new entries (similar to Notion, but file-based) |
| Import from another app | Bringing notes over from Notion, Evernote, Google Keep, Simplenote, Logseq or a Markdown folder — and what each importer cannot carry over |
| OKF | The Open Knowledge Format (0.2): type, provenance and review marks, the bundle version, index.md management and the optional vault conversion |
| File Format Reference | The exact on-disk format of every vault file — for tools, scripts or an AI editing notes and .base files directly |
| Automation & Scripts | Extending Plainva without plugins: how scripts, CLI tools and AI agents read and write a vault safely |
| Backups & Version History | Automatic file versions, restoring (including deleted files) and daily ZIP backups of the vault |
| The mobile app | Plainva on Android and iOS: layout, editing, databases, sync and the safety net |
| Sync Setup | Step by step per provider: WebDAV/Nextcloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, S3 |
| Security & Sharing | Personal encrypted workspace, recovery backup, migration and locking |
| Sync Compatibility | Which services work today — directly, via WebDAV, or via the provider’s desktop client |
| Google Drive (BYO) | Setting up Google Drive sync with your own credentials |
| OneDrive & Dropbox (BYO) | Setting up OneDrive and Dropbox sync with your own app registration |
| Search | Full-text search, quick switcher, find & replace, tags |
| Tasks | The vault-wide task view: every checkbox across your notes, with status/tag/folder/due filters and one-click toggling |
| Calendar & external tasks | Connecting CalDAV/Google/Microsoft calendars, the calendar tab, meeting notes, and syncing external task lists into the task database |
| Email capture | IMAP and Microsoft mail (experimental): the sandboxed viewer, saving mails as notes/.eml/tasks, and composing and sending |
| Graph | Context graph, vault map with cleanup mode and time travel, graph as a database view |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | All keyboard shortcuts at a glance |
| FAQ & Troubleshooting | Common questions: Obsidian compatibility, conflict files, backups and more |
Core principles
- Your files belong to you. A vault is a plain folder of Markdown files. You can open, copy or back it up with any other program at any time.
- Plain Markdown is the canonical format. Even extra features (properties, icons, databases) are stored in open, readable text formats.
- Obsidian-compatible. Existing Obsidian vaults are never damaged or reformatted; Obsidian can open every file Plainva creates.