Notes & Markdown

Last reviewed: 2026-07-07

Every note in Plainva is an ordinary Markdown file (.md). This page explains how to write comfortably and what actually ends up in the file — because that is exactly what makes your notes portable: any text editor, Obsidian, or a git diff can read them.

The core principle: everything is text

Whatever you see in Plainva — formatted text, tables, properties, icons — is stored as open text:

---
type: Note
okf_version: "0.1"
tags: [project]
plainva:
  icon: "🚀"
  header_color: "#2f6f6f"
---
# My Project

A **bold** thought with a link to [[Another Note]].

- [ ] First task

The block between the --- lines is the frontmatter (YAML): that is where the note’s properties live. Below it comes the regular Markdown text. Plainva-specific presentation (icon, header color) is bundled under the single plainva: key — other programs simply ignore it.

Writing in Live Preview

Live Preview is the default mode: Markdown renders as you type yet stays editable at all times.

Type / at the start of a line to open the insert menu. It is grouped into sections:

Basic blocks — Text, Heading 1–6, Bulleted List, Numbered List, To-do List, Quote, Code Block, Table, Divider, Formula (LaTeX), Mermaid diagram
Formatting — Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Inline Code, Highlight, Emoji
Links & media — Link, Internal Link, Image (web), Internal image, Embed, Embed database, Create inline database
Document — Document icon, Header color, Insert Template
Callouts — 13 variants (Note, Info, To-do, Summary, Tip, Success, Question, Warning, Failure, Danger, Bug, Example, Quote)

More writing helpers

Selection toolbar — select some text and a small bar offers Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Inline code, Highlight and Link.
@ mentions — type @ anywhere in the text to insert a Date (Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday, or Pick a date…, stored as an ISO date), a link to a Note, or a Database embed.
Emoji — the Emoji slash command (/emoji) opens an emoji picker at the cursor; or type :name (for example :rocket) for inline suggestions. Either way Plainva inserts the actual emoji character (portable Unicode), never a :shortcode: — so the note stays readable in Obsidian, on GitHub and everywhere else. (This is separate from the note’s Document icon, which is stored in the frontmatter.)
Block handles — a handle appears to the left of each paragraph on hover: drag it to move the block, click it to open Block actions (Turn into Text/Heading/List/To-do/Quote/Code block, Duplicate, Move up/Move down, Delete block). If you drag a list next to another list of the same kind, Plainva inserts an invisible separator line  so both lists stay separate — in Markdown, same-style lists would otherwise merge despite the blank line (in Obsidian too).
Tables — rendered as a widget with click-to-edit cells. The cell display renders formatting (bold, italic, code, highlight), clickable links ([[Internal Link]], web addresses) and <br> as a line break; while editing you see the raw text. The table menu offers inserting/deleting rows and columns plus alignment (Align left/Align center/Align right).
Lists continue themselves (Enter inserts the next list marker), code blocks get language-aware highlighting, pasted content is converted to Markdown (smart paste), and headings can be folded.
Find & replace inside the current note: Ctrl+F (see Search).

Links and backlinks

Internal links: [[Note name]] (wiki link) — via the slash menu or @ with built-in note search. Classic Markdown links [text](path.md) work as well.
Backlinks: The Backlinks section in the right sidebar shows which notes link to the active one — grouped per source file, with a counter for multiple occurrences.
Rename with link care: When you rename a file in the file tree, Plainva updates every link to it across the whole vault (anchors like #Section are preserved) and reports: “N link(s) in M file(s) were updated to the new name.”

Properties (frontmatter)

The Properties section in the right sidebar shows the note’s frontmatter as a form. Add property creates new ones; every property has a Field type:

Group	Types
Basic	Text, Number, Checkbox, Date, Date & time
Choice	Select, Status, Multi-select
Lists & relations	List, Tags, Relation
Web & contact	URL, Email, Phone

Choice types can carry fixed options with a Color and (for Status) a Group/stage — these option lists are managed in databases (.base), see Databases (.base).

Two fields are protected: type and okf_version are OKF system fields managed by Plainva — the type value is selectable from a dropdown of known types, while name/field type/delete are locked (background: OKF).

Document icon and header color

Every note can carry an icon (Notion-style above the title, also visible in tabs and the file tree) and a full-width color stripe:

In Live Preview, hover above the title: Add icon / Add header color (later: Change icon / Change header color) — or use the slash commands Document icon and Header color.
The icon picker has two modes: Emoji and Icons (the Lucide icon set, with a selectable color).
Both are stored in the frontmatter under plainva: (icon, icon_color, header_color) — pure presentation that does not affect other programs.

Templates

Set a Template Folder under Settings → Vault Settings → Daily Notes & Templates. Then insert templates via Ctrl+Alt+T or the slash command Insert Template. Templates fully define the content of new files — including frontmatter: if a template brings its own type, the template wins.

Daily notes

Open Daily Note (sidebar) or a click in the Calendar creates today’s note using your date format in the configured daily notes folder, optionally from a template.

Tasks, formulas, diagrams and footnotes

Task checkboxes: - [ ] task renders as a checkbox everywhere — and in read mode you can click it: Plainva writes [x] or [ ] back into the file.
Math (LaTeX): $E = mc^2$ inline and $$…$$ as a block render as formulas in read mode AND in the live preview (KaTeX). With the caret inside a formula you see the syntax; clicking a rendered formula opens it for editing. Only source mode always shows the raw syntax. You do not have to memorize the $$…$$ block — the Formula (LaTeX) slash command (/katex) inserts it and places the caret inside.
Mermaid diagrams: a code block with the language mermaid (fastest via the Mermaid diagram slash command, /mermaid) is drawn as a diagram in read mode and in the live preview — clicking the diagram shows the code for editing:
```
```mermaid
graph TD
  Idea --> Note --> Knowledge
```
```
Footnotes: Text[^1] plus [^1]: The footnote. at the end — read mode renders the reference and the footnote apparatus with jump marks. The fastest way is the Footnote slash command (/footnote): it inserts the next free reference and jumps straight into the definition at the end of the note.

Printing and saving as PDF

The editor’s ⋮ menu and the command palette (Ctrl+P) have Print / Save as PDF…: printing always uses the read view (from live/source, Plainva switches into it first). In the system dialog you can pick “Save as PDF” instead of a printer.

Images and attachments

Inserting: slash commands Internal image (search & embed from the vault) or Image (web) (by URL). Also: simply paste an image from the clipboard (Ctrl+V) — it is saved next to the note and embedded. And you can drag files from the file explorer into the editor: images embed (![[…]]), other files are copied in and linked ([[…]]).
Viewing: image files (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, SVG, BMP, AVIF) open in the built-in image viewer with Zoom in/Zoom out, Fit and Actual size (1:1).
Editing: the Edit button opens the image editor with Crop, rotate/flip, Resize, drawing tools (Pen, Arrow, Rectangle, Text) plus Undo/Redo. Save in place or Save as copy…. Editable formats are PNG, JPG and WebP; other formats open view-only.
Other attachments open in the system’s default program on double-click.

What about Obsidian?

Everything stays standard Markdown with standard frontmatter. Obsidian opens the files fully; it shows the bundled plainva: key as a non-editable object in its properties panel — that is intentional and harmless.