External Files

Keep PDFs, spreadsheets, and other documents organized alongside your notes in a dedicated workspace folder.

Overview

External Files lets you import and reference documents that Octarine doesn't natively support—like PDFs, Word documents, or Excel files. These files are stored in a special .files folder within your workspace, keeping them organized and ensuring they travel with your notes. When you click these references, they open in your system's default application, allowing seamless work between your notes and external documents.

How It Works

External file references are stored as frontmatter at the top of your markdown files. This keeps your references organized and sets the foundation for future frontmatter features.

Here's what it looks like in your markdown:

---
external_files:
  - 2412.10953v1.pdf
  - project-budget.xlsx
  - meeting-recording.mp3
---

# My Research Note

Today's findings from the paper...

Adding External Files

Using the Meta Sidebar

1. Open any note where you want to add external references
2. Look for the External References section in the Meta sidebar (right panel)
3. You have two options:
   • Import New Files: Click to browse and select files from your computer
   • Search Existing: Find files already in your workspace to reference

File Location

When you import an external file, it's copied to your workspace folder but remains separate from your notes. This ensures your references stay with your workspace while maintaining a clean separation between notes and external documents.

Supported File Types

Octarine comes with support for common file extensions out of the box:

• Documents: PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF, TXT
• Spreadsheets: XLS, XLSX, CSV, ODS
• Presentations: PPT, PPTX, ODP
• Audio: MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG
• Archives: ZIP, RAR, 7Z, TAR

Adding Custom Extensions

Need to work with specialized file types? Add your own:

1. Go to Settings → Files → External Files
2. Add the extensions you need (without the dot)
3. Click Add

Excluded Extensions

These file types are already natively supported within notes and cannot be added as external files:

• Markdown: MD
• Images: PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, WEBP, SVG
• Videos: MP4, MOV