Getting Started

Getting started with MindForger.

Basics

This section aims to explain basic MindForger terminology:

• Workspace
• Notebook
• Note

In short:

• The MindForger workspace is analogous the desktop of an office desk.
  • The MindForger notebook analogous to a notepad on the desktop.
    • A MindForger note is analogous to a page with the note from a notepad.

Let's describe basic terms in more detail.

Workspace

MindForger workspace:

• ... contains notebooks
• ... stored in a directory on the filesystem
• ... has its own configuration
• ... might be empty

Notebook

MindForger notebook:

• contains notes
• organizes notes in hierarchy - outline
• can be marked with tags
• is typically devoted to a specific topic such as a project plan, family gifts or lessons learned

Note

MindForger note:

• contains text, images and links
• can link notebooks and notes (within the Workspace) and/or files and URLs
• can be marked with tags

Create Workspace

Create new workspace as follows:

1. open menu Workspace
2. choose New menu item
3. choose Workspace sub-menu item
4. New Workspace dialog is opened: - type in workspace name - feel free to modify where to store the workspace on the filesystem
5. click New to create the workspace

Create Notebook

Create new notebook as follows:

1. open menu Notebook
   • 💡 if Notebook menu is disabled, then open list of notebooks (menu View / Notebooks) or notebooks tree (menu View / Notebooks Tree)
2. choose New menu item
3. New Notebook dialog is opened: - type in notebook name - feel free modify notebook creation options and tags
4. click OK to create the notebook

Create Note

Create new note as follows:

1. open menu Note
   • 💡 if Note menu might is disabled, then open the notebook in which you want to add the note
2. choose New menu item
3. New Note dialog is opened: - type in note name - feel free modify note creation options and tags
4. click OK to create the note

Edit Note

When you are viewing a note, you can edit it using one of the options below:

• Double click the mouse preview.
• Use Ctrl-e keyboard shortcut (Linux/Win).
• Use Alt-n e keyboard shortcut (Linux/Win).

Once you finish editing the note you can save it and preview using one of the options below:

• Use Alt-⬅ keyboard shortcut.
• Click Save & Leave button at the bottom of the editor.

Fix Grammar with Wingman

While you are editing a note, you can fix grammar of the text as follows:

1. select a text withing the note editor
2. open Wingman chat window using Ctrl-/ (Linux/Win)
3. specify prompt:
   • custom prompt: type in Fix grammar: #TEXT (#TEXT is replaced by the text you selected in the note editor)
   • predefined prompt: choose Fix grammar: #TEXT from the drop down
4. click Run
5. check LLM model answer
6. if you are satisfied, then click Replace and the fixed text from the Wingman chat window will replace the text in the note

... Wingman can do much more:

• complete sentences, paragraphs or portions of the text
• reformulate / rewrite the text - formally, informally, in a slang, like a person (Kafka), etc.
• provide synonyms and antonyms
• explain

... and much more - for more details see Wingman.

Notes Outliner

An outliner is a feature used in word processing, note-taking, and organizational software to help users outline and structure their ideas. Outlining actions in MindForger allow users to create hierarchies or levels of information by, making it easier to organize and navigate through a Notebook:

1. open a notebook
2. choose and view a note in the note tree
3. open menu Note
4. choose one of the outlining actions
   • Promote
     • to move note one level up in hierarchy (depth)
   • Demote
     • to move note one level down in hierarchy (depth)
   • Move to first
     • move note to the first from the top on its level (depth)
   • Move up
     • move note one position up on its level (depth)
   • Move down
     • move note one position down on its level (depth)
   • Move to last
     • move note to the last from the top on its level (depth)

Outlining is a powerful tool that allows you to organize your thoughts and make your remarks structured, comprehensible, and scalable.

Find Note

You can find notebooks and notes using the following attributes:

• name
• text phrase
• tag

For instance, to find notes by text phrase:

1. open menu Find
2. choose Full-text search menu item
3. Search dialog is opened: - type in search phrase
4. click Search to search for notes containing the phrase
5. preview and select a note to open in the search results

Similarly, for other search options.

Delete Notebook

Notebook can be ~~deleted~~ deprecated as follows:

1. open the notebook you want to delete (be sure that you are not editing a note)
2. open menu Notebook
3. choose Deprecate menu item
4. Deprecate Notebook dialog is opened
5. click Yes to deprecate the notebook

As you can see, notebooks in MindForger are not deleted, but deprecated - they are moved to a limbo directory. To purge or resurrect deprecated notebook:

1. open menu View
2. choose Limbomenu item
3. use you file manager to manipulate the notebook

Video tutorials

MindForger video tutorials:

• 🎞 playlist on YouTube

🎞 MindForger: From Markdown editor to thinking notebook

🎞 MindForger: First steps