Nodes

Double-click empty space on the canvas, type a name and press [Enter] to add a node.

Where: Space Studio › the canvas · Left panel › Node Pages · Keys: Double-click, [Shift+Enter], [Delete], Ctrl+drag

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What it is

A node is one thing in your project: a person, a system, a step, an idea. Each one is a point on the graph and a page of notes at the same time, kept as its own Markdown file in your project folder. Connections are stored by each node's own identity number, so you can move its file between folders on disk and it stays connected.

How to use it

The node page list

Node Pages, in the Left Panel, lists every node under its classification. Click a row to select the node and fly to it. Drag a row by its grip to reorder it, onto a classification to reclassify it, or onto another node's row to connect the two (while Settings › General › Connect pages when you nest them is on, as it starts).

Creating nodes

• Double-click empty canvas. The name box opens where you clicked.
• Alt-drag from a node and let go over empty space to make a new node already connected to it.
• The quill on Node Pages adds an unclassified node, and the quill on a classification's row adds one straight into it (Add note to …).
• The Insert menu on the bottom toolbar adds link, file and bridge nodes, or a whole diagram. See Insert Menu.

New nodes start Unclassified, unless you made them inside a classification. Settings › General › Title case as you type capitalises each word of a title, leaving words typed in capitals alone.

Selecting and box-select

• Click a node to select it. Click empty space, or press [Esc], to clear.
• Ctrl+click or Shift+click adds a node to the selection, or takes it out.
• Ctrl+drag on empty canvas draws a box round the nodes you want.
• In the left panel, Shift+click selects every row between the last one you clicked and this one.
• Right-click a node and choose Select all connected to take it with its neighbours.

Selecting a node lights its connectors and rings its neighbours, while Settings › Graph › Highlight connections on select is on. See Highlighting.

Moving and pinning

Drag a node to move it, or drag any node in a selection to move them all. A node you place by hand stays where you put it while the live physics settles the rest.

Right-click a node for more:

• Pin position holds it where it is. Dark Energy, Layers and Group arrange round it, and it's kept between sessions. Unpin lets it go.
• Re-physics selection lets the live physics rearrange just the selected nodes, with everything else held still.
• Grid align selection lines the selected nodes up in a tidy grid and pauses the physics.

Renaming and subtitles

Double-click a node to rename it on the canvas, or click its title at the top of the Right Panel. [Enter] saves and [Esc] cancels. Press [Shift+Enter] for a second line, which shows as a subtitle under the title. Renaming a node updates the [[links]] to it in your other notes.

Deleting

Select nodes and press [Delete], or right-click a node and choose Delete. The selection goes as one step, so [Ctrl+Z] brings it all back: notes, position, pictures and connections. Delete note on a row's right-click menu in the left panel asks first, unless you've ticked Don't ask me again. What happens to the files afterwards is in Undo and Redo.

Tips

• On the free plan a project holds 20 nodes. Bridges don't count. When it's full, Filamental offers Insert bridge node or Go Pro. See Bridges and Plans: Free and Pro.
• To change a node's classification, pick one from Type in the right panel. Every other way is in Classifications.
• Settings › Graph › Size nodes by connections draws busier nodes larger.
• A long title wraps on the canvas rather than being cut short. If a graph feels crowded, shorten the title and keep the detail in the notes.

How this helps you

• Use the list in the left panel to enter a batch of nodes quickly, then sort them by dragging.
• Use box-select and the right-click menu to rearrange one branch and leave the rest alone.

Related

• Classifications: the kinds of node, and their colours.
• Connectors: joining nodes together.
• Notes Editor: writing the page behind a node.
• Dark Energy and Layers: arranging everything at once.