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Files, media, and documents

Cabinet is the place for files, media, and source material kept across notebooks. Pages can embed media or reference Cabinet items so the file stays connected to the writing that depends on it.

Before you start

Make a verified backup before importing large or important files. If a file is your only copy, keep the original outside Onnoir too. Cabinet helps keep source material nearby, but it should not be your only storage habit.

Step-by-step

  1. Open Cabinet.
  2. Add a local file, image, audio/video item, document, or supported reference such as a YouTube URL.
  3. Use Cabinet filters to narrow by kind, notebook, archive state, or other available context.
  4. Open a Cabinet item for its detail view.
  5. Insert media into a page from the editor media tools when you want it inside writing.
  6. Archive an item when you want it out of active Cabinet views without deleting it.
  7. Restore archived or trashed items from the appropriate restore surface when you need them again.

Supported document previews

Onnoir can preview or extract text from common document types when the local bytes are available:

  • PDF
  • DOCX
  • text files
  • Markdown files
  • text-like files such as CSV, JSON, XML, YAML, and logs

Other file types can still live in Cabinet, but they may show as unsupported for document preview or document text indexing.

Preview size behavior

Onnoir avoids loading heavy previews automatically:

  • Document previews up to 20 MB can auto-load in detail view.
  • Larger previewable documents show a Load preview action instead of loading immediately.
  • Previewable documents over 100 MB are treated as too large for in-app preview.
  • Card previews are intentionally conservative: documents and audio do not auto-load as small cards, and large media avoids eager preview loading.

What to expect

Images and smaller previewable files may show thumbnails or previews. Documents such as PDFs, DOCX files, and text-like files can show document previews when the app can render or extract them.

Search and preview are related but not identical. A document can contribute extracted text to search when indexing succeeds, while preview loading may still be manual for large files.

Safety notes

Do not treat a thumbnail, preview, or search result as proof that the full file is backed up. Use encrypted backup verification. Markdown export copies referenced media where possible, but encrypted .onbk backup is the restore path for the full library.

Readable exports and copied media should be stored according to their sensitivity. They are outside the encrypted Onnoir vault once you export or move them.

Troubleshooting

If a preview is unavailable:

  1. Confirm the file type is supported for document preview.
  2. Check whether the file is over the in-app preview limit.
  3. Confirm the local file bytes are still available.
  4. Try opening the Cabinet detail view instead of relying on a card preview.
  5. If document text search is missing, check Search for indexing status and OCR behavior.

If an embedded item says media is unavailable, check Cabinet and backup status before deleting anything.