Databases inside your notes
Insert a database in a note, add typed columns and rows, and open any row as a record or as a full page.
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Documentation sections
A database is a table that lives inside a note. Each column has a type (text, number, date, choice, relation and more), so Filarr knows how to show it, sort it and count it. Use one to track books, clients, invoices or the tasks of a project.
The database is saved in its note: it is encrypted and synced with it, like the rest of the note.
Create a database
-
In a note, type
/database. -
Choose Database and press
Enter.Filarr inserts Untitled database with two columns, Name and Status, and three empty rows. Status offers To do, In progress and Done, and every new row starts at To do.
-
Click Untitled database, type a title, then press
Enter.
The same menu offers Database · Board, Database · Calendar and Database · Gallery: the new database then opens on that layout.
Under the header of a new database, a Start from bar offers to fill it from a note, from pasted text, from a CSV file or from one of the Templates. Click Start empty to hide it. Later, Import, in the header, offers the same choices except the templates.
The ⋯ button of the header (Database settings) holds two more settings. Link to a vault folder… turns the database into a list of files: see Turn a folder into a database. Lightning source fills rows from a catalog of books, anime, TV shows or movies: see Fill rows automatically. Views, filters and sorts are explained in Database views, filters and sorts.
Add rows and fill in cells
- Click New row, at the top right or at the bottom of the table.
- Click a cell to type or choose a value: a date opens a calendar, a Select column opens its list of options, a Rating column fills as you click its stars, a Checkbox ticks in one click.
- Move from cell to cell with the arrow keys.
- To reorder rows, drag the handle that appears in place of the row number when you hover over it. While a sort is on, rows follow the sort and do not move by hand.
The table shows the first 100 rows. A Show … more button at the bottom loads the next ones.
Add and set up columns
- Click + at the end of the header row. A new column appears, named "Column 3" for example, of type Text, and its settings open.
- Type its name.
- Pick its type in the grid.
Click a column's header at any time to open its menu:
- Type changes the type. Filarr keeps the values already typed, even if the new type cannot show all of them.
- Edit property opens the full settings: options of a choice, target of a relation, formula.
- Filter on this column, Sort ascending, Sort descending, Calculate: see Database views, filters and sorts.
- Group by this column, on a Select column only, turns the view into a board with one column per option.
- Hide this column hides it in this view, without deleting its data.
- Insert left, Insert right, Duplicate property, and the two arrows to move the column.
- Delete property deletes the column and its values in every row.
To resize a column, drag the right edge of its header. Double-click that edge to fit the column to its content.
The 19 column types
| Type | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Text | Free text. The first Text column gives each row its title. |
| Number | A number, which the footer can sum or average. In Edit property, Format shows it in euros, dollars, pounds or as a percentage. |
| Select | One option from a list you define, each with a color. |
| Multi-select | Several options from the list. |
| Checkbox | Checked or not. |
| Date | A day, picked in a calendar or typed. |
| Person | Names you type, separated by commas in the table, or one at a time with Enter in the record. They are plain names: no one is notified. |
| URL | A web address. |
| An email address, with Send an email. | |
| Phone | A phone number, with Call this number. |
| Rating | From 1 to 5 stars. |
| Progress | A percentage from 0 to 100, shown as a bar. |
| Note | A link to one of your notes. |
| Vault file | A link to a file of your vault, chosen with Pick a file. |
| Relation | Links to rows of another database. |
| Rollup | A calculation across the linked rows. |
| Formula | A value computed from the other columns. |
| Created time | When the row was created. Filarr fills it in. |
| Last edited time | When the row last changed. Filarr fills it in. |
The grid of the column menu shows 17 types. Created time and Last edited time are in Edit property, since you never type in them. Relation, Rollup and Formula have their own article: Relations, rollups and formulas.
A Number column separates thousands, so the year 2016 shows as "2,016". For years, use a Text column.
Options of a Select or Multi-select column
In Edit property, under Options:
- Add an option, then type its name;
- click the colored dot to change its color and its Intensity: Subtle, Medium or Strong;
- click the star to make it the Default value: new rows start with it;
- click × to delete the option.
Work with a row
At the end of each row, small buttons let you:
- create a page for the row, or open it (Create page, Open page);
- Open as a page: show the row as a record on the side;
- Duplicate row, right below the original;
- Delete row. Its sub-items stay: they move up one level.
The record
Open as a page shows every property of the row, including those hidden in the view, marked hidden. The arrows at the top go to the previous or next row. From the record you can also use Create page, Save as template, Sub-item of and Add a sub-item.
A page for a row
Create page turns the row into a regular note. At the top of the note, Row properties shows the values of the row, with the name of its database. Write anything below: notes, tasks, images. The title of the page follows the row's first Text column. The next time, the button reads Open page.
Sub-items
Add a sub-item creates a row attached under this one. Sub-item of attaches the row to another. In the table, a parent row has an arrow to fold or unfold its sub-items.
Row templates
- Open a row as a record and fill in the values you reuse.
- Click Save as template, type a name, then click Save.
- Next time, click the small arrow next to New row, at the bottom of the table, and pick the template.
The × next to a template in that menu deletes it.
Large databases
The whole database is stored in its note, and each change encrypts and uploads the whole note again. Past 256 KB, a gauge in the bar of views shows the weight of the database. Past 1 MB, split it into several databases.