Desktop Integration 🖥️

🌍 Languages: Deutsch · English

Edit your notes with any Markdown editor on desktop

📋 Overview

Desktop integration allows you to edit notes on PC/Mac:

📝 Any Markdown editor works
🔄 Automatic synchronization via WebDAV
💾 Dual-format: JSON (master) + Markdown (mirror)
⚡ Last-Write-Wins conflict resolution

🎯 Why Markdown?

Dual-Format Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Android App                 │
│                                     │
│  ┌──────────┐      ┌─────────────┐ │
│  │   JSON   │ ──→  │  Markdown   │ │
│  │ (Master) │      │  (Mirror)   │ │
│  └──────────┘      └─────────────┘ │
└────────┬────────────────┬───────────┘
         │                │
         ↓                ↓
    WebDAV Server
         │                │
    ┌────┴────┐      ┌────┴──────┐
    │ /notes/ │      │ /notes-md/│
    │ *.json  │      │ *.md      │
    └─────────┘      └───────────┘
         ↑                ↑
         │                │
    ┌────┴────────────────┴───────────┐
    │      Desktop Editor              │
    │  (VS Code, Typora, etc.)         │
    └──────────────────────────────────┘

Advantages

JSON (Master):

✅ Reliable and fast
✅ Structured data (IDs, timestamps)
✅ Primary sync mechanism
✅ Always active

Markdown (Mirror):

✅ Human-readable
✅ Desktop editor compatible
✅ Syntax highlighting
✅ Optionally activatable

🚀 Quick Start

1. First Synchronization

Important: Perform a sync FIRST before activating desktop integration!

Set up app (see QUICKSTART.en.md)
Test server connection
Create first note
Synchronize (pull-to-refresh or auto-sync)
✅ Server automatically creates /notes/ and /notes-md/ folders

2. Activate Desktop Integration

Settings → Desktop Integration
Toggle ON
Initial export starts - Shows progress (X/Y)
✅ All existing notes are exported as .md

3. Mount WebDAV as Network Drive

Windows

1. Open Explorer
2. Right-click on "This PC"
3. "Map network drive"
4. Enter URL: http://YOUR-SERVER:8080/notes-md/
5. Username: noteuser
6. Password: (your WebDAV password)
7. Drive letter: Z:\ (or any)
8. Done!

Access: Z:\ in Explorer

macOS

1. Open Finder
2. Menu "Go" → "Connect to Server" (⌘K)
3. Server address: http://YOUR-SERVER:8080/notes-md/
4. Connect
5. Username: noteuser
6. Password: (your WebDAV password)
7. Done!

Access: Finder → Network → notes-md

Linux (GNOME)

1. Open Files / Nautilus
2. "Other Locations"
3. "Connect to Server"
4. Server address: dav://YOUR-SERVER:8080/notes-md/
5. Username: noteuser
6. Password: (your WebDAV password)
7. Done!

Access: /run/user/1000/gvfs/dav:host=...

Linux (davfs2 - permanent)

# Installation
sudo apt install davfs2

# Create mount point
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/notes-md

# Mount once
sudo mount -t davfs http://YOUR-SERVER:8080/notes-md/ /mnt/notes-md

# Permanent in /etc/fstab
echo "http://YOUR-SERVER:8080/notes-md/ /mnt/notes-md davfs rw,user,noauto 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Access: /mnt/notes-md/

📝 Markdown Editors

Recommended Editors

1. VS Code ⭐ Recommended

Advantages:

✅ Free & open source
✅ Markdown preview (Ctrl+Shift+V)
✅ Syntax highlighting
✅ Git integration
✅ Extensions (spell check, etc.)

Setup:

1. Install VS Code
2. Mount WebDAV drive
3. Open folder: Z:\notes-md\ (Windows) or /mnt/notes-md (Linux)
4. Done! Edit Markdown files

Extensions (optional):

Markdown All in One - Shortcuts & preview
Markdown Preview Enhanced - Better preview
Code Spell Checker - Spell checking

2. Typora

Advantages:

✅ WYSIWYG Markdown editor
✅ Minimalist design
✅ Live preview
⚠️ Paid (~15€)

Setup:

1. Install Typora
2. Mount WebDAV
3. Open folder in Typora
4. Edit notes

3. Notepad++

Advantages:

✅ Lightweight
✅ Fast
✅ Syntax highlighting
⚠️ No Markdown preview

Setup:

1. Install Notepad++
2. Mount WebDAV
3. Open files directly

4. Obsidian

Advantages:

✅ Second brain philosophy
✅ Graph view for links
✅ Many plugins
⚠️ Sync conflicts possible (2 masters)

Setup:

1. Install Obsidian
2. Open WebDAV as vault
3. Caution: Obsidian creates own metadata!

⚠️ Not recommended: Can alter frontmatter

📄 Markdown File Format

Structure

Each note is exported as .md file with YAML frontmatter:

---
id: abc-123-def-456
created: 2026-01-05T14:30:22Z
updated: 2026-01-05T14:30:22Z
tags: []
---

# Note Title

Note content here...

Frontmatter Fields

Field	Type	Description	Required
`id`	UUID	Unique note ID	✅ Yes
`created`	ISO8601	Creation date	✅ Yes
`updated`	ISO8601	Modification date	✅ Yes
`tags`	Array	Tags (future)	❌ No

Filenames

Sanitization rules:

Title: "My Shopping List 🛒"
→ Filename: "My_Shopping_List.md"

Removed:
- Emojis: 🛒 → removed
- Special chars: / \ : * ? " < > | → removed
- Multiple spaces → single space
- Spaces → underscore _

Examples:

"Meeting Notes 2026" → "Meeting_Notes_2026.md"
"To-Do: Project" → "To-Do_Project.md"
"Vacation ☀️" → "Vacation.md"

🔄 Synchronization

Workflow: Android → Desktop

Create/edit note in app
Run sync (auto or manual)
JSON is uploaded (/notes/abc-123.json)
Markdown is exported (/notes-md/Note_Title.md) (only if Desktop Integration ON)
Desktop editor shows changes (after refresh)

Workflow: Desktop → Android

Edit Markdown file (in mounted folder)
Save - File is immediately on server
In app: Run Markdown import
- Settings → "Import Markdown Changes"
- Or: Auto-import on every sync (future)
App adopts changes (if desktop version is newer)

Conflict Resolution: Last-Write-Wins

Rule: Newest version (by updated timestamp) wins

Example:

App version:     updated: 2026-01-05 14:00
Desktop version: updated: 2026-01-05 14:30
→ Desktop wins (newer timestamp)

Automatic:

✅ On Markdown import
✅ On JSON sync
⚠️ No merge conflicts - only complete overwrite

⚙️ Settings