Workspace & File Tree
Open any folder and browse your markdown files from the sidebar. No file manager needed, and no import step. Inkwell reads the folder you already have on disk, so your files stay exactly where they are, in plain text, owned by you.
How it works
- Click Open Folder in the sidebar (or on the welcome screen)
- Pick a folder. Inkwell lists all
.md,.markdown, and.txtfiles - Click any file to open it in a new tab
- Your workspace persists between sessions
Because the workspace is just a folder on your disk, there is nothing to sync and nothing to upload. You can keep your writing in a Git repo, a Dropbox folder, or a plain directory, and Inkwell works the same way over all of them. Double-clicking a .md file in your operating system opens it in Inkwell directly, thanks to file association handling.
What you get
- Flat file listing with files alphabetically sorted, clean and simple
- Active file highlighting so the file you're editing is visually marked
- Folder name in sidebar so you always know which workspace you're in
- Tabs for keeping several documents open at once and moving between them
- Auto-refresh so switching back to Inkwell updates the tree if files changed externally
Your workspace and open tabs are remembered between sessions. Inkwell persists this state locally in a SQLite-backed store, so reopening the app drops you back exactly where you left off, with no account and no cloud.
One folder at a time, on purpose
Click Open Folder again to switch to a different folder. Your previous workspace is replaced. Inkwell focuses on one folder at a time, by design. It is a writing tool, not a vault or a knowledge-base manager. There is no graph view, no nested project tree, and no configuration to manage. Open a folder, write, close it.
If you are setting up for the first time, the getting started guide walks through opening your first workspace. To see how this fits the rest of the editor, browse the full feature list.