De-Filamental

De-Filamental takes everything Filamental added back out of a folder, and leaves you with clean Markdown files and your other files.

Where: Top bar › your project's name › Start Something… › Use What You Have › De-Filamental

What it is

When you open a folder as a project, Filamental writes a few lines of frontmatter at the top of each note: its id, name, classification, status, dates, properties and connections. It also keeps a hidden .filamental folder for your layouts and classifications. That's how the graph remembers your work.

De-Filamental is for when you're finished with a folder in Filamental, want to archive it, or opened it by mistake. It removes:

• Filamental's frontmatter from every note in the folder and every folder inside it
• every hidden .filamental folder, which goes to the Recycle Bin (the Trash on a Mac)

It never touches:

• your writing, the text of every note, [[links]] included
• properties your notes had before Filamental, and other apps' properties, such as Obsidian's tags and aliases
• notes Filamental never set up, and every file that isn't a note

How to use it

1. Click Start Something… and choose De-Filamental.
2. Choose the folder.
3. Filamental tells you how many notes it will change, and what goes to the Recycle Bin. Read the warning, then click De-Filamental.
4. When it's done, Show copies opens the copies of your notes as they were before.

If the project you have open is in that folder, it closes first and the Help Playground opens in its place. The folder also comes off your projects list.

Tips

• Filamental copies every note before changing it, into its own backups on your computer, so nothing is lost for good. Show copies takes you there.
• The .filamental folder holds files you attached and backgrounds you added in Filamental. Restore it from the Recycle Bin if you need them.
• If a note can't be changed (it's open in another app, say), Filamental lists it and leaves the .filamental folders where they are. Close the other app and run De-Filamental again to finish.
• Open the folder in Filamental again and it's set up fresh, as a folder Filamental hasn't seen.

How this helps you

Use it when you want your notes back exactly as they were before Filamental, for archiving, for handing a folder to someone who doesn't use Filamental, or to undo opening the wrong folder.

Related

• Forget, Remove or Delete a Project: lighter ways to step away from a project
• Working with Obsidian: what Filamental writes into an Obsidian vault
• How Your Files Are Stored: what a project folder holds