Browsing Views¶
The Main area has four views, switched from the toolbar (opening a note switches to a fifth, the editor).
Every view respects the current filter (tags, search, kind). Views are different ways of looking at the same data.
You pick up where you left off
The view, sort order, and grid thumbnail size you last used are remembered. If you live in the list view, that is where the next launch starts — along with the window position and size, the sidebar and details panel widths, and your list column widths.
Grid view (default)¶
The default view: a grid of thumbnails.
- The toolbar slider adjusts cell width from 96 to 320 px
- Notes and text files render their opening lines on the card — the text equivalent of a thumbnail
- Kinds without thumbnails get an icon with an extension badge
- Under each cell: the file name (one line, truncated) and tag color dots
- Favorites show a ★ badge at the top right of the thumbnail
You can show extensions too
Names in lists omit the extension by default (meeting notes). Turn on
"Show file extensions" under Settings → Appearance to get meeting notes.md,
in the grid, list, calendar, and map views
→ Settings
Virtual scrolling designed for 100,000 items keeps scrolling smooth at any size.
List view¶
For higher information density.
Columns: thumbnail (small) / name / kind / tags / size / modified.
Click a column header to change the sort order.
Resizing columns¶
Drag the divider between column headers to change a column's width — the same gesture as in Finder or File Explorer. The column that resizes is the one to the left of the divider, and all five columns are resizable, name included.
Nothing left of the divider moves
Drag the divider between kind and tags to the right and it's kind that grows. The left edges of name and kind stay exactly where they were, and tags onward simply shift right. You can size the columns left to right without earlier choices shifting under you.
- Dividers are always drawn as a faint vertical line, so you never have to hunt for one (they darken under the pointer). There's one to the right of "Modified" too — that's where you resize the last column
- Double-click a divider to reset that one column
- Right-click the column headers → "Reset column widths" to reset them all
- Dividers are reachable with Tab. Once focused, Left and Right nudge them, Shift+Left / Shift+Right move them in bigger steps, and Enter resets that column
Widths are saved per computer, not in the library, so using the same library on Windows and macOS keeps a layout that fits each screen.
When the window is wider than the columns add up to, the leftover space stays empty on the right; when it's narrower, the list scrolls horizontally. The name column never goes below 200px, so you can always tell which file a row is.
Tags appear as chips (rounded outlines) with the group color as a dot, so you can tell the category at a glance. As many are shown as the tags column has room for; the rest fold into "+N" (hover to see them all), so widening the column shows more of them. A tag name cut off with "…" also spells out in full once you widen the column — only names longer than the column itself stay truncated. Same look as Quick Open (Cmd+P).
Calendar view¶
A monthly calendar with a badge showing the item count for each day.
- Each day's badge is the full count for that day
- The "Created / Added / Modified" toggle in the header switches the date basis (default is Modified). "Added" is the date the file was imported into your Melanite library
- The previous / next month buttons (< >) move between months, "Today" returns to this month
- The year and month dropdowns jump straight to a distant month (no need to click back twelve times to reach last year). The year list covers the past 20 years plus the year of the oldest item in the library
- Click a date → a popup shows that day's items as thumbnails → choose one to jump (days with more than 200 items show the first 200, labelled "Showing the first N of M") (notes open in the editor; others are selected in the grid). Items without a thumbnail fall back to the start of the note body or a kind icon; the corner badge is the time of whichever basis is selected
- Right-click a date → "Create / Open daily note “…”" opens the note named after that date, creating it if it doesn't exist. Works on days with no items too → Writing notes
- Days that already have a daily note are marked with a note icon in the top-right corner of the cell, so you can see at a glance which days you wrote on (change the name format in Settings and the marks are recounted with the new format)
- The month and basis you were viewing are kept when you switch views — go to the grid or map and come back, and the calendar is where you left it (restarting the app resets it to the current month)
- The week start (Sunday / Monday) and the tint on Sunday and Saturday cells are configurable → Settings → Appearance → Calendar
Walking the days from the keyboard¶
Switching to the calendar view lets you move between days with the arrow keys right away.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Left Right | Previous / next day |
| Up Down | One week back / forward |
| Home End | First / last day of the month |
| Page Up Page Down | Previous / next month (same day of month; falls back to the last day if it doesn't exist) |
| Enter / Space | Open that day's list (days that have items) |
| Esc | Return focus to the calendar (or clear the current-day ring if it already has focus) |
- The first arrow press doesn't move — it just shows where you are (today in the current month, otherwise the 1st)
- Crossing a month boundary moves the displayed month too: Right on the last day goes to the 1st of the next month
- The arrow keys keep working right after you use the month buttons or the year / month dropdowns
From one file to that whole day
"Show on calendar" next to Created / Added / Modified in the Inspector's info section opens the calendar on that day and lists the files created (added / modified) on the same day. The "Created / Added / Modified" toggle follows whichever button you pressed — use Added when you want to find everything you imported on a given day.
From a date to bulk tagging¶
Press "Select these N items" in the popup to select that day's items in the grid, ready for the Inspector's bulk tag operations. The grid loads 200 items at a time, but all N are selected — you do not have to scroll to the end first.
The current tag and search filters stay applied, with the date layered on top. Clear it with the "×" on the toolbar date chip.
Clicking a tag afterwards does not drop the date chip. The two stack — "items from that day that also carry this tag" — and whatever is left gets selected again. Use the chip's "×" to drop just the date, or Cmd+Shift+F to clear everything.
Example
After importing a batch of trip photos, click the shooting date in the calendar, select all, and apply "trip" and "2026-07" in one go. (Turn on the EXIF-capture-time setting so photos line up by shooting date.)
Map view¶
Shows items that have location data as pins. → See Location & Map
Quick Preview¶
In any view, select an item and press Space to open a preview in front. Press Space again or Esc to close.
Left / Right move to the previous / next item without closing the preview (following the list's current order). A preview opened while editing a note is pinned to that note and can't be stepped through. Neither can one opened from the map view — pins have no "previous" or "next" (just Space / Esc to close).
| Kind | Preview contents |
|---|---|
| Image | The actual file at full size |
| Video | In-app playback (codecs the WebView supports) |
| Audio | In-app playback, with the artwork shown when there is one |
| Note | Rendered Markdown (read-only) |
| The actual PDF, shown as-is (below) | |
| Office | Thumbnail |
| Other | Metadata |
Viewing PDFs¶
PDFs are shown as the real file, not a thumbnail: every page is readable and you can select text.
Paging and zooming are handled by the PDF viewer built into the OS.
| OS | What you get |
|---|---|
| Windows | A toolbar with a page number box, previous/next page, zoom and search |
| macOS | Continuous scrolling (no UI for jumping to a specific page) |
Closing and stepping work the same as for any other kind (Space / Esc to close, Left Right for previous/next). Keys keep working after you click inside the PDF viewer, but the viewer's own keyboard controls (Page Down to page through, for example) are not available — scroll or use the toolbar instead.
The Inspector (right panel)¶
The display changes with the selection state.
| State | Shows |
|---|---|
| Nothing selected | Item count + "Import…" button |
| Single selection | Preview, name, tags, memo, links, location, metadata |
| Multiple selection | Bulk operations for tags, links, and location |
The Inspector stays visible while editing a note, showing the note being edited.
- Selecting a single image with EXIF shows the camera model in the info section (read from the file each time; not stored in the DB, not searchable)
Memo¶
The Inspector's "Memo" field holds free-form notes about the item.
- Saved when the field loses focus
- Memos are covered by full-text search (Finding Items)
- Available for every file kind
Search keywords for files whose contents can't be searched
PDF, image, and Office file contents aren't searchable. Write something like "invoice ClientA 2026-03" in the memo and the item becomes findable by those words. Also a good escape hatch when you don't want long file names.
Note
Memos are stored in Melanite's database and are never written into the actual file. They travel with the library folder when you copy it.
Selection¶
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Move focus | Arrow keys / Home End (first, last) / Page Up Page Down (one screenful) |
| Range select | Shift + click / arrows / Home End Page Up Page Down |
| Add individually | Cmd / Ctrl + click |
| Select all | Cmd+A / Ctrl+A |
| Clear selection | Esc |
| Open | Enter (note → editor, others → external app) |
| Context menu | Right-click |
Trash¶
Deleted items go to the Sidebar's "Trash".
- Restore — the "Restore" button in the toolbar
- Delete Forever — the "Delete Forever" button (removes the actual file too)
Links are kept while items are in the Trash; deleting forever removes them. Items cannot be dragged in the Trash view.