--- title: "Notes and Obsidian" description: "Link notes to live cells and send the table and notes to your vault." canonical_url: https://scratch.itsryan.me/docs/notes-and-obsidian --- # Notes and Obsidian **Click Notes to show or hide the current sheet’s notes. The default shortcuts are ⌘J to show or hide Notes and ⌥⌘J to switch focus between Notes and the grid.** [Change the shortcuts](https://scratch.itsryan.me/docs/shortcuts.md). ## Move Notes Drag the **Notes** header grip to the left, right, top or bottom edge of the grid window. Drop it outside to put Notes in its own window. Drag the grip back to a highlighted edge to dock. Click the grip for the same options without dragging. The floating editor follows the current sheet and keeps its window position when you hide and show it. [Move or detach panes](https://scratch.itsryan.me/docs/grid.md#move-or-detach-panes).

Notes moves from the right of the grid to the bottom and back.

## Resize Notes Drag the dotted divider to change how much room each pane gets. Double-click to reset it or press Escape during a drag to cancel. The palette offers **Widen Notes**, **Narrow Notes** and **Reset Notes Width** at the sides. At the top or bottom, use **Taller Notes**, **Shorter Notes** and **Reset Notes Height**. Resize floating Notes from its window edge. Scratch remembers a size for each dock across sheets and launches. When the window is short or narrow, Scratch can temporarily shrink Notes to leave room for the grid. Widen or grow the window to get that space back. Hide Notes and reopen it on the same sheet to continue from the same selection and reading position. The docked pane reveals from the divider when motion is enabled. ## Format a note Use the toolbar for headings, bold, italic, lists, checklists and inline code. Click a checkbox to mark it done. ⌘B and ⌘I also work in the notes editor. Scratch shows headings, emphasis, bullets and checkboxes while saving the Markdown source. Move the caret into a list line to edit its markers directly. Use **Show Notes Markdown Source** in the command palette to edit the markers, then **Show Formatted Notes** to switch back. ## Annotate a cell or range With Notes open, select plain text and Option-drag from inside the selection to a grid cell. Drop inside the current grid selection to annotate that range. Scratch links the selected text to the annotation and confirms the cell address. Click the underlined text in Notes or open the annotation in the grid. Both open the same editor, and edits appear in both places. Use ⌘Z from the grid to undo the link and restore the original note text. Select a cell or range and choose **Annotate Selection** in the command palette. Start typing as soon as the editor opens. Write up to 2,000 characters and click **Save** or press ⌘Return. A marker appears at the top left of the first cell. Click the marker or select its cell and click **Annotation** in the grid footer. The **Annotations** button at the bottom of Notes lists the sheet’s annotations. Use **Find Annotations** in the command palette to search by address or text. Annotations are saved with the workbook, and Undo can restore a deleted annotation. To link an annotation you made before this update, select its matching text in Notes and Option-drag it onto the same cell or range. ## Put a live result in a note Select a range and Option-drag from inside it into Notes. The insertion marker shows where the live table will land. Add Shift for a live chart or Command for a range link. The label beside the pointer identifies the item before you drop it. Press Escape to cancel or ⌘Z in Notes to undo the insertion. Select a cell and press ⌥⌘L to insert its live value. Hover over the value to see its sheet, address, displayed result and formula. Click it or press ⌥Return on the selected note link to go to the source. Press ⌃⌘← or choose **Back to Note** to restore the note selection and scroll position. The command palette also inserts cell and range links, live tables, bar charts, and fixed value snapshots. Pick a source sheet and address to link across sheets. **Find Notes Referencing Selection** finds links in the current sheet’s notes. A live table previews up to six rows and four columns. Copy or send the note for the full table. A chart accepts one row or up to two columns and previews up to eight positions. Click a bar to open its source cell. Markdown exports include the chart’s source data as a table.

Insert the selected budget cells as a live table in Notes, alongside the chart.

## Repair a note link Scratch saves a stable reference for each live note link. Renaming a sheet and editing its values preserve the link. If you delete the source sheet, use **Restore Deleted Sheet** to recover it and reconnect the link. To point a link to a different range on the sheet that contains the note, select the new range and choose **Relink Note Source**. Choose the link to update. Use Undo in Notes to restore its previous target. ## Send the table and notes Use **Send to ryn** or its shortcut (⇧⌘J by default). Scratch saves a dated copy under `Scratch/Sheets` and appends the table and notes to today’s daily note. Hover over **Send to ryn** to see the vault, delivery mode and included cells before you send. Once Obsidian confirms the delivery, the pane keeps the note name and an **Open** button. Use **Open Saved Sheet in Obsidian** in the Notes menu to open the dated copy. Sending the same sheet again updates its saved copy and leaves one daily note entry when the content is identical. Choose **Send Selection and Notes** in the palette to append just that range and its notes to the daily note. Choose **Save Sheet to Obsidian** to update just the saved sheet copy. The handoff uses the Obsidian command line and the configured vault’s Daily Notes settings. The local preview targets the `ryn` vault by default. [Set up the Obsidian CLI](https://obsidian.md/help/cli).

The Notes pane shows the Send to ryn button and a receipt with the daily note date.

## Save a dated sheet note Open **Scratch → Sheets** in Obsidian’s file explorer. Each saved sheet has its own named note with the table, notes and save date. Add your own Obsidian content outside Scratch’s generated section so it survives a resave. The first save creates **Scratch Sheets.base**. Open it from the command palette to find saved sheets by name and date. The table and linked values are snapshots at export time. To refresh them, save the sheet again from Scratch. A saved note uses the sheet’s current sort order and includes rows hidden by a filter. Use **Copy Markdown** or **Save Markdown File** in the notes menu to take the same notes elsewhere. ## Edit a table in both Scratch and Obsidian **Yes, Obsidian edits can come back to Scratch.** Edit the note under `Scratch/Editable Tables`, then run **Sync Editable Table with Obsidian** again. Sync runs on demand for the current sheet. Dated copies under `Scratch/Sheets` and entries in your daily note are snapshots. In Scratch, choose **Sync Editable Table with Obsidian** from the command palette or the Notes menu. The first sync creates a separate note under `Scratch/Editable Tables` in your configured vault. Use **Open Editable Table in Obsidian** to open it again. Edit the cells in either app, then run **Sync Editable Table with Obsidian** again. Scratch combines edits to different cells. If both apps changed the same cell to different values, Scratch shows the Scratch and Obsidian values side by side. Click an address to jump there, choose a value for each cell, then click **Apply and Sync**. If either value changes before you apply, Scratch shows the updated conflict. Use **Review Obsidian Changes** in the Notes menu or command palette to reopen the review. You can undo a pull in Scratch with ⌘Z. Use Obsidian’s **Live Preview** to edit the rendered table or **Reading view** to read it. If an older synced note shows Markdown pipes, run **Sync Editable Table with Obsidian** again to refresh its layout in place. In Source mode, Obsidian shows the raw Markdown. Keep the **Editable table** heading and **Open in Scratch** link so Scratch can find the table on the next sync. Install the **Power Tables** community plugin to recalculate compatible formulas in Obsidian. The first row is row 1 in both apps. Keep the table’s row and column count fixed when editing in Obsidian. To extend it, add cells at the right or bottom in Scratch and sync. The editable table can use up to 64 KB of Markdown. Formulas with complex quoting and Power Tables cell styles can stop a sync until you simplify those cells. The command syncs cell values and formulas on demand. Sort in Scratch and sync to send the new row order. Sync compares cells by address, so sync any Obsidian edits before sorting to reduce conflicts. Use **Save Sheet to Obsidian** or **Send to ryn** to include your Scratch Notes in a dated copy. You can write in the editable note above or below the table. ## Open an export in Scratch Click **Open in Scratch** in an exported note to return to its source. A sheet export opens the sheet. A selection sent to the daily note opens the selected range. Open the Scratch app once so macOS can recognise its links, and use the workbook that contains the original sheet. ## Search your Obsidian vault Choose **Search Obsidian Vault** in the command palette, then type at least two characters from a note’s title or text. Results show a matching snippet and the folder, which helps when two notes have the same title. Press Return to open the result in Obsidian or ⌥Return to insert its link into Scratch Notes. The first search builds a local index in memory. Scratch refreshes it when vault files change. Search covers the first 128 KiB of each Markdown note and shows up to 20 matches. If the vault is unavailable, open it in Obsidian and choose **Retry Vault Lookup**.