Cookbook

General

Manual Install

To manually install a custom version of Dendron, first obtain the Dendron vsix file (most likely, Kevin will send you a dropbox link 😅). Afterwards, you can install it by the extended options in the extensions pane.

Checking Logs

You can diagnose most problems by checking the logs. You can view the logs using the Open Logs Command

Server Logs

Dendron has two sets of logs - client and server. The client logs you can access using the Open Logs Command. You can access the server logs by following the tutorial here.

Logs from previous session

Dendron has logs for the current session and the previous session.

You can get logs of the previous session by following instructions here

Bucket

Star/Favorite/Pin Notes

Dendron doesn't currently provide native support for this. You can download the Bookmarks extension to achieve the functionality in the interim.

Launch the command bar

This lets you execute commands inside vscode

Linux: Ctrl+Shift+P
macOS: Cmd+Shift+P
Windows: Ctrl+Shift+P

Analyze notes using elasticsearch

WARNING: this is advanced material

With Dendron, you can export your notes using the JSON Export Pod and then use that data to analyze your notes using elasticsearch.

This video walkthrough walks you through that process.

You can download the repo used in this walkthrough from github

Pre-requisites:

download and run elasticsearch

Steps:

Export your data using the JSON Export Pod
Create an index in elasticsearch (we're using version 7.9)

PUT notes
{
  "mappings": {
    "properties": {
      "created": {
        "type":   "date",
        "format": "epoch_millis"
      }
    }
  }
}

Pipe exported JSON into the newly created index.

cat /path/to/exported/notes.json | jq -c '.[] | {"index": {"_index": "notes", "notes", "_id": .id}}, .' | curl -H'Content-Type: application/json' -XPOST localhost:9200/_bulk --data-binary @-

Profit!

Some potential use cases you can do using elasticsearch and Dendron:

filter your notes by any logical combination of custom attributes
make a heatmap of notes created by date
get a full list of tags used across your vault and on a per hierarchy basis
anything else you can thin of :)

Some useful additional links:

Convert timestamps in the frontmatter

Currently, Dendron notes show timestamps in epoch time which is not the most parsable for humans. You can use the timestamp converter extension order to see a human representation of said timestamp.

Use Dendron with Anki

Anki for VSCode

Use Dendron on a separate instance of VS Code

You can use Dendron on a separate instance of VS Code by launching it with the command line flags --user-data-dir and --extensions-dir:

code --user-data-dir=/path/to/code-dendron --extensions-dir=/path/to/code-dendron-ext

Mobile Support

Dendron does not have a dedicated mobile client at this time. There are numerous mobile markdown editors that can be used to view and edit Dendron notes. Some popular options are listed below:

Most mobile apps do not have git support.

If you are on iOS, you can follow the instructions here to sync your git backed Dendron with any note taking tool on iOS.
If you are on Android, you can read this writeup by one of users on having Git Sync on Android devices

WebClipper

You can use the markdownload-markdown-web extension to clip content as markdown from Chrome.

Regex

To get familiar with regex syntax, try regexr is a great place to experiment with different queries.

Markdown Preview

Prevent newly opened files from replacing the preview pane?

Set the following option in your workspace settings

"markdown-preview-enhanced.automaticallyShowPreviewOfMarkdownBeingEdited": true,

Customize Theme

To change the color theme, you can update the markdown-preview-enhanced.previewTheme vscode setting

Customize CSS

You can see instructions for customizing css here

VSCode

Use Dendron with a current folder

1. start by initializing a workspace

From dendron.topic.commands

Go to text →

Initialize Workspace

shortcuts: none

Create a new workspace

1. by default, dendron uses a vaults folder underneath your workspace to store you vaults. Update your settings and change vault to the path of your current notes (alternatively, you can also copy your current notes into vault)

"folders": [
    {
        "path": "vault"
    },
    ...
],

1. Run > Dendron: Reload Index for Dendron to pick up changes

Access Dendron Workspace from multiple windows

There are usually two scenarios:

you want two windows of different workspaces
you want two windows of the same workspace

for 1, create a new window and initialize a new workspace in some directory that is different from your first workspace
for 2, you have a few options
- a. initialize a new workspace in a different directory. open the settings using > Open User Workspace settings (JSON). change the folder to the path of your vault in the initial workspace. run > Reload Window for the changes to take affect
- b. use a different version of vscode to open the same workspace (eg. vscode insider, vscodium, vscode regular). you need to do this because vscode will re-use the same window when opening the same workspace

Change the sorting order in the Outline Panel

Click the three little dots next to outline to change the sorting order. You can sort by Name (alphabetical) or Position (linear order)

Change the sorting oder in the Explorer Panel

See instructions here

Drag and Drop files into Dendron

To drag files into Dendron, open the workspace pane on the side to drag and drop. We currently recommend you only do this for non-markdown files that you want to link to inside your vaults.

Enable Table of Contents

When viewing your notes locally, you can view the toc either from the outline view or by toggling the preview

From dendron.topic.workbench
Go to text →
From dendron.topic.preview
Go to text →
You can toggle a table of contents from the preview pane using a button toggle.

Issues
- Preview does not persist between reloads/restarts
  - Workaround: Always show preview of md being edited

Publishing

Incremental Builds

You can do incremental builds from Jekyll and Dendron

when previewing the site locally, add the incremental flag
```
bundle exec jekyll s --watch --incremental
```
when building the site, also add an incremental flag
- NOTE: you'll need rsync installed to use the incremental flag

dendron-cli buildSite --wsRoot {path/to/ws} --vault {path/to/vault} --incremental

Automatically Update Site while editing

The following instructions cover how to update your local preview everytime you make a change to your notes

From dendron.pro.dendron-cli
Go to text →
```
npm install -g @dendronhq/dendron-cli
```
have jekyll watch your site-root

cd {your-site-root}
bundle exec jekyll s --watch

use nodemon to watch your vault

npm install -g nodemon
nodemon --watch {path/to/vault} --ext md dendron-cli buildSite --wsRoot {path/to/ws} --vault {path/to/vault}

NOTE: you can combine this with incremental builds to have the best editing experience

Publish password protected site using AWS Amplify

You can click here to see a demo of the end result.

You can access the site with username: dendron, password: hierarchy.

NOTE: this requires hosting your site on AWS. For most people, this will end up costing you a few cents a month.

Setup your github repo

Create a new github repo using this template.
In your Dendron workspace, remove the docs directory and clone your newly created repository
```
cd {your-workspace}
rm -r docs
git clone {your-repo} docs
```

Setup aws

Create an aws account
Login to your AWS account and go select the Amplify Service
Follow the instructions here to connect your github with your amplify
Follow the instructions here to restrict access to your site.
Verify that your site is now password protected

Publish your notes

Update siteRepoDir in dendron.yml with the location of your github directory

Your dendron.yml should look similar to the one below

site:
    copyAssets: true
    siteHierarchies:
        - root
    siteRootDir: docs
    usePrettyRefs: true
    siteRepoDir: docs

Run > Dendron: Publish to build your notes for publication and push your notes
Your notes are now published privately behind a password