Files Preview

Files is the reading tab of the Right Panel (⌘⇧P). Open a PDF, a book or any other file from your computer and keep it next to your Canvas while you work. Books open where you left off. Select a passage or snip a figure, drag it onto the Canvas, and it lands with its source: one click later takes you back to the exact spot.

Files reads files in place. It doesn't copy them into Lino, so a file you move or delete on disk can't be opened any more.

Open a file

• Drag a file from Finder onto the empty Files tab ("Drag a file here, or choose one to start reading.").
• Click Open file (in the empty tab, in the header when nothing is open, or in More when a file is open).
• Pick it from History or Folders (below).
• Click a file link in a Card or in a Lino AI reply. A reference like src/app.ts:42 opens the file scrolled to that line.
• Choose Open in Right Panel from a local file's menu anywhere in Lino.

Supported: PDF, EPUB, images, audio, video, and text and code files (.md, .txt, .ts, .py, …). Other files show "This file type cannot be previewed in the app." with Open with default app and Show in Finder.

The open file appears as a tab next to the search field, with its name. Its menu (More file actions) has Copy path, Show in Finder and Open with default app. Click its × (Close file) or press ⌘W to close it.

History and the shelf

History lists the files you have opened, newest first. It opens by itself when no file is open; otherwise click Show History (or More → History).

• The shelf at the top shows your PDFs and EPUBs as covers. Hover a cover to see how far you've read (a bar along its foot) and an × to remove it from History.
• The list below holds every other file, with its path. Each row has More and Remove from history. Right-click a book or a row for the same file actions.
• Files that were moved or deleted are marked Missing. Clear missing removes them all; Clear all empties History.
• Type in Search files... to filter History by file name.

History keeps your last 100 files.

Folders

Folders (desktop app) lets you browse folders on your computer. Click Show Folders (or More → Folders).

• Add folder picks a folder to keep in the list. Hover a folder you added and click Remove folder to take it out.
• Folders bound to a Canvas are listed first, automatically. You can't remove them here: they go when you unbind the folder from its Canvas. See Canvas binding. Use Hide bound folders to hide them.
• Click a folder to expand it, and a file to open it.
• Type in Search files... to filter by name. Start your search with ? to search inside the files of all folders instead; results show the matching line.

Back, forward and breadcrumbs

• Back and Forward step through the files you've opened in this session. Closing a file counts as a step, so Back reopens it. You can also swipe with two fingers. See Right Panel.
• In a code, text or SVG file, the path at the top is a row of breadcrumbs. Click a folder in it to see what's inside and open a neighbouring file. Click the file's own name to Copy path.

Reading a PDF

PDFs open in Lino's own reader, fitted to the panel width, at the place you last left them.

Where you are: the reading spot pill

The pill at the bottom left shows the page and chapter, for example "12 / 248 · Methods" (or the book's own page label, like "ix / 312"). Click it to:

• Type a page in Go to page and press Enter.
• Browse the contents: the book's chapters as a tree, with the current one lit. Click a chapter to jump there. A PDF without contents shows "No contents".

Zoom

• Pinch on the trackpad to zoom around the pointer.
• Or open More → Show zoom slider for a Zoom slider (50%–300%; 100% fits the width). Click the percentage to go back to 100%.

Find

Press ⌘F with the reader focused, or choose More → Find in file. Type in Find in file; all matches are highlighted and the count shows "3/17". Enter goes to the next match, ⇧Enter to the previous, Esc closes.

Right-click a page

• Copy (with text selected)
• Copy link to this page: a link to this page, or to the selected passage
• Snip a region

Locked PDFs

A password-protected PDF asks for its password ("This PDF is locked."). Type it and click Open.

Take quotes and snips into Lino

Drag a passage

1. Select text in a PDF or EPUB. A Drag to Canvas/Card hint appears above it.
2. Drag the selection (or the hint) onto the Canvas, or into a Card you are editing.
3. On the Canvas it becomes a Card with the quote and a source chip, for example "Thinking, Fast and Slow · Chapter 3". In a Card it's inserted with the same chip.

Lino tidies the text on the way: line breaks inside paragraphs are joined, and words split by a hyphen at the end of a line are put back together. If a PDF printed its words without spaces, Lino puts the spaces back. This also applies when you copy with ⌘C.

Snip a figure

1. Hold ⌥ and drag a box over a figure on a PDF page. (Or click the snip button at the bottom right, Snip a region · ⌥ Drag, then drag.)
2. The box becomes a picture with a Drag to Canvas/Card hint.
3. Drag it onto the Canvas. It lands as an Image whose source is the book and page.

Esc or a click elsewhere discards the snip.

Go back to the source

Click the source chip on a quote Card, or the source badge on a snipped Image. Files opens the book at that page and highlights the passage or region for a few seconds.

Reading an EPUB

• Books open at the place you left them, in a centred column that reflows when you resize the panel.
• The pill at the bottom left shows your progress and chapter, for example "37% · The Voyage". Click it for the contents.
• The book follows Lino's light or dark appearance.
• Drag text or a picture out of the book just as with a PDF; the source opens the book at that passage.

Other kinds of files

A file larger than the limit shows "File too large to preview".

Tips

• Your place in each book is saved on this computer. Lino remembers it for your last 200 books.
• Files keeps running when you switch tabs or close the panel, so a podcast keeps playing; the Files button shows a speaker while it does.
• Keep a paper open in Files and your notes Canvas beside it: drag quotes over as you read, and each one keeps its page.

Related

• Right Panel
• Browser: the same drag-to-Lino for web pages
• Canvas binding