USER INTERFACE

Editor (experimental)

[!WARNING]

The editor is experimental and subject to change. It is built from scratch with limited capabilities. More features will be added incrementally.

Basalt opens notes read-only by default. Enable the built-in editor in your Configuration file:

[note_editor]
experimental = true

Views#

Basalt follows Obsidian's view model with a read view and an edit view. The current view is shown as a label in the corner of the Note editor pane.

View	Label	What it does
Read	`READ`	Renders the note without markdown syntax
Edit	`EDIT`	Reveals raw markdown on the line under the cursor and accepts typing

Only the line under the cursor shows its raw markdown. Every other line stays rendered while you type.

Read view#

Read view uses the [note_editor] key bindings, so it is fully configurable. These are the defaults:

Mapping	Description
`j` / `↓`	Move cursor down
`k` / `↑`	Move cursor up
`Ctrl+D`	Scroll down half a page
`Ctrl+U`	Scroll up half a page
`Ctrl+Shift+↓`	Jump to bottom of note
`Ctrl+Shift+↑`	Jump to top of note
`i`	Switch to edit view
`Ctrl+E`	Toggle to edit view
`Ctrl+X`	Save the note

Edit view#

[!WARNING]

Edit view key mappings are hardcoded and cannot be configured. Every key not in the table below is inserted as text, so Ctrl+X types an x rather than saving. Leave edit view with Esc or Ctrl+E before saving.

Mapping	Description
`Backspace`	Delete one character before cursor
`Enter`	Insert newline
`→` / `←`	Move cursor forward / backward
`↑` / `↓`	Move cursor up / down
`Alt+f`	Move cursor forward by word
`Alt+b`	Move cursor backward by word
`Ctrl+E`	Return to read view
`Esc`	Return to read view

Vim mode#

Set vim_mode = true in [note_editor]. The edit view then gains Normal and Insert sub-modes, and the mode label shows NORMAL, INSERT, VISUAL or V-LINE.

i from NORMAL enters INSERT, where the hardcoded mappings above apply
Esc from INSERT returns to NORMAL, where the configurable [note_editor] bindings apply again
Esc from NORMAL returns to READ

NORMAL is a configurable mode, so Ctrl+X saves there. It also carries the full vim preset: motions, operators, registers, undo and redo. See Configuration for the complete list.

Saving#

Ctrl+X saves the note to disk and shows a confirmation toast. It works from read view and from Normal mode in vim mode, but not while typing in edit view.

Limitations#

The edit view edits the whole note line by line. With vim mode it also supports motions, operators (delete, change, yank, paste), visual (line and block) selection, undo/redo and jumps to the start and end of the line and document.

Pasting images from the clipboard is not supported

See Known Limitations for the full list.