The Markdown copy
Superliner writes a Markdown copy of every note into exports/markdown/, so other tools can read your notes. Each file has the note's tags and fields at the top, in YAML. The copy is for reading. Superliner does not read changes made to it.
- Where
exports/markdown/in the workspace folder- Name
- One file per note, named from its title, for example
tidewatch-2-0.md - Tags and fields
- The top of each file, in the YAML frontmatter
- Edits to the copy
- Not read back. Change notes in the app
What the folder holds
| Path | What it is |
|---|---|
workspace-index.md | One list of every note, in sections: Inbox, Journal, Trash, Supertags, Fields, Saved searches and Other notes. |
<title>.md | One file per note, named from its title, for example tidewatch-2-0.md for “Tidewatch 2.0”. |
Schema/ | The supertag, field and saved-search notes, and the notes they own. |
assets/ | Attached files, each named by its SHA-256 hash and extension. Files link to them from the note. |
manifest.json and manifest.*.json | The list of files Superliner wrote, with their checksums. Superliner reads these to tell its own files from changed ones. Do not edit them. |
Notes are not nested in folders. A note's place under its parent is in the parent's Children list. Two notes with the same title in one folder are named quotes.md and quotes-2.md, in creation order, so the older one keeps the plain name. The name is at most 80 characters. When you rename a note, its file is renamed and every link to it is rewritten.
What is inside a note's file
---
id: 3F2A9C1E-…
title: "Tidewatch 2.0"
aliases: ["Tidewatch 2.0"]
created: 2026-09-14T09:30:00.000Z
updated: 2026-10-28T16:05:12.000Z
tags:
- "project"
fields:
"Budget": 18500
"Launch": "2026-12-01"
"Owner": "[[maya-lindqvist|Maya]]"
workspace-id: …
record-revision: 412
content-revision: 97
tag-ids:
- 0C1D…
template-origin: null
---
<!-- Generated by Superliner. Edits to this file aren't read back into your notes. -->
# Tidewatch 2.0
## Fields
- [Budget](Schema/budget.md): 18500
- [Launch](Schema/launch.md): 2026-12-01
- [Owner](Schema/owner.md): [Maya](maya-lindqvist.md)
## Tags
- [project](Schema/project.md)
## Children
- [ ] owned: [Book the venue](book-the-venue.md)
- owned: [Harbor Café website](harbor-cafe-website.md)The frontmatter starts with id, title and aliases. It adds created and updated when the note has those times, todo when the note has a checkbox, and only the keys that apply for a heading, quote, divider, code note or attachment. Then come tags, a list of supertag names, and fields. Last are identifiers and counters that other tools can ignore: workspace-id, record-revision, content-revision, tag-ids and template-origin.
After the title come the note's text, then the body sections. The file ends with a Structured record section, which holds the note's complete record as JSON. The Fields section repeats each field as a link to its definition in Schema/. Tags does the same for supertags. Children lists each child, with [ ] or [x] before a to-do and owned or reference before the link.
How tags and fields are written
tags lists the supertag names in alphabetical order. fields lists each field by its name, in alphabetical order. A field name that appears twice gets (2) after the second.
| Field type | How its value is written |
|---|---|
| Text, URL, email | A quoted string |
| Number | A plain number, such as 18500 |
| Date and timestamp | A quoted ISO 8601 string, such as "2026-12-01" |
| Checkbox | true or false |
| Option | The option's label, quoted |
| Note | [[file|Title]], quoted: a link to the other note's Markdown file, such as [[alice-2|Alice]] or [[Schema/person|Person]] |
| List | One line per item, indented under the field name, each starting with a dash |
| Date range | A quoted start and end, joined with a slash |
| Empty field | null |
A note with no fields has fields: {}.
When a file was changed outside Superliner
Superliner records what it wrote. If a file in exports/markdown/ no longer matches, the Markdown copy stops for that file and the status line says so. Retrying does not fix it, because the file still differs. Choose File ▸ Regenerate Markdown… instead.
The dialog asks “Regenerate the Markdown files?”, names how many files changed, and says what it will do. Choose Regenerate. Each changed file is renamed to name.conflict-<date and time>.md in its own folder, so your edits survive. Then every Markdown file is rebuilt from your notes. Your notes are not affected.
Edits to the copy are not read back
To make a change, edit the note in Superliner. File ▸ Import… reads OPML and Markdown files and folders, and shows a review before anything is written. See Import and export.
Combine it
- Tags and fields in the copyEach field you set appears in the frontmatter, written as the table above shows.
- Attachments in the copyThe copy keeps a copy of each attachment in
assets/and links to it from the note. - Know when the copy is up to dateThe status line reads Saved when the notes are saved, and says when the Markdown copy needs attention.
- ImportImport reads OPML and Markdown files and folders after a review, and the review shows what it adds.
Limits
- The index lists notes in Trash under Trash.
- The copy is rebuilt by Superliner. It is not a second place to edit your notes.