Docs/Notes/Images

Images

Drop a picture into a note and it just shows up. The quickest way to add one is to drag it in or paste it from your clipboard — Minerva keeps a copy with your notes so it's always there. Images appear inline as you read, and a click enlarges them to full screen.

Adding an image

There are three easy ways to get an image into a note.

Drag and drop
Drag a picture into the note. Grab an image file from your desktop or a folder and drop it where you're writing. Minerva tucks a copy away with your notes and drops the image in at your cursor.
Paste
Copy an image, then paste. Take a screenshot or copy a picture from the web and paste it in with ⌘V (or Ctrl+V). It appears right away.
Type a link
Point to an image you already have. If a picture is already in your notes, or lives online, you can write a link to it yourself (see below).

Paste or drop the same picture twice and Minerva reuses the one copy it already has, so your notes stay tidy.

Writing an image link by hand

To type an image link yourself, use this shape: an exclamation mark, a short description in square brackets, then the location of the picture in parentheses.

![System architecture](architecture.png)

The description in the brackets is the picture's caption for anyone who can't see it, and it shows as a tooltip when you hover. The part in parentheses can point to a picture stored with your notes or to a web address.

To set the size a picture is shown at, add a width after a | in the brackets, in pixels — or a width and a height. This is the same way Obsidian writes it, so notes you bring over keep their sizes:

![System architecture|400](architecture.png)
![System architecture|400x300](architecture.png)

A picture wider than the page is shown at the page's width; the size you wrote stays as it is.

Viewing images

As you read a note, images show up right in the flow of your writing. Click one to open it full screen so you can see the detail, then click away or press Esc to close it.

To resize a picture, drag the handle at its bottom-right corner; it keeps its shape. From the keyboard, tab to the handle and press Alt+← / Alt+→, and Alt+0 — or a double-click on the handle — returns it to its natural size. Minerva writes the new width into the image link for you, and ⌘Z undoes it. Web pages, PDFs and published sites show the picture at the same size, and a Markdown export keeps the |400 just as you wrote it.

A picture displayed inline within a note. Clicking it opens a full-screen view so you can inspect the detail without leaving your writing.
An image in a note, and full screen

Supported formats

You can add the most common kinds of picture:

PNG
Crisp and supports transparency. Best for diagrams, screenshots, and graphics.
JPEG
Smaller files. Best for photographs.
GIF
Supports animation, which plays as you read.
WebP
A modern format that keeps files small.
SVG
Line art that stays sharp at any size. Great for diagrams and icons.
AVIF
A newer format with excellent quality at small file sizes.

Pictures can be up to 5 MB each. If you have something larger, shrink it in your image editor first.