Object views
A note can hold a live view of your typed notes — the same list, table, gallery, map, board, timeline or calendar you get when you open a type from the Objects panel. It shows the notes as they are now, every time you open it, so a page about a trip can carry a map of every place you've noted for it without you keeping a list up to date.
Adding a view to a note
Start from the view itself: open a type from the Objects panel (or View Objects on a folder), then arrange it the way you want — pick a layout, sort it, choose columns, add filters. Then use one of the two buttons in its header:
Both give you exactly the same thing: the view's layout, sorting, columns, folder and filters, all kept. You can paste the same view into as many notes as you like.
How it looks
In the editor, a view is a short block of text naming the type and how to show it. A Place map limited to one folder looks like this:
```object-view
{
"typeId": "place",
"layout": "map",
"folder": "trip/prague"
}
```You don't need to write or read this yourself — Save as note and Copy as markdown write it for you. In the preview it becomes the real view, and clicking a row, card or pin opens that note. Right-click a row, card or pin to tag it, untag it, or set or clear one of its fields without leaving the note — the same menu as in the view's own tab, for that one note (see Changing notes from a view). The view's own filter controls and folder chip stay in its tab, so in a note you see just the notes it shows.
The simplest way to change what a view in a note shows is to open the type's view, arrange it the new way, and copy or save it again in place of the old one.
A view sits in a box 360 pixels tall. To make it taller or shorter, drag the handle on its bottom edge, or click into the view and press Alt+↓ / Alt+↑; Alt+0 or a double-click on the handle puts it back. The new size is written into the note as a "height" line in the block, so ⌘Z undoes it like any other edit.
A view is as wide as the note's text unless you say otherwise. The handle on its right edge makes it wider or narrower — Alt+→ / Alt+← from the keyboard. A wider view grows to the right, past the end of the text, as far as the edge of the pane, while the text around it stays at its usual reading width. That's the room a board with many columns or a long timeline needs. The width is written as a "width" line, and Alt+0 on the handle or a double-click puts the view back to the text's width. A view wider than the window you open it in is drawn as wide as the window allows, and the note keeps the width you chose.
A board in a note
A Kanban board goes into a note the same way, and takes its arrangement with it: which field makes the columns, the order you dragged them into, and whether empty columns show. A Project board grouped by status, with done moved in front of active and empty columns hidden, looks like this:
```object-view
{
"typeId": "project",
"layout": "kanban",
"groupBy": "status",
"columnOrder": [
"done",
"active"
],
"showEmptyColumns": false
}
```"groupBy" names the field; without it, the board uses the type's first choice field. "columnOrder" puts the columns it lists first, in that order, and any it leaves out follow in their usual order; "" stands for No value. "showEmptyColumns" appears only when it's turned off. Each line is written only when it differs from the default, so a board you haven't rearranged is just its type and layout.
In the note, the board is for looking at. Its columns, counts and cards are the live ones, and clicking a card opens that note, but cards don't drag and have no Move to ▸, and the column headers have no menus. To move a card, open the type's board itself.
A timeline in a note
A timeline goes into a note with the stretch of time it was showing, as a "from" and a "to". A timeline of Events from 100 BC to the end of AD 14 looks like this:
```object-view
{
"typeId": "event",
"layout": "timeline",
"from": "-0099",
"to": "0014"
}
```Both are dates written the way an event's are, at whatever precision suits: a year (1960), a month (1975-06), a day (1969-07-20), or a time (1969-07-20T14:05) for a view zoomed in to hours. Years before 1 CE take a minus sign, so -0099 is 100 BC. "from" starts at the beginning of what it names and "to" runs to the end of it, so "to": "0014" takes in all of AD 14. A "to" with a time is that moment. Leave out both and the timeline fits itself to its events, which is what a timeline you haven't zoomed saves. Leave out one and that side fits to the events. A "to" that comes before the "from" is ignored along with it, and the timeline fits all its events.
A timeline of a type with more than one date field also carries its Date by choice, as "dateBy": the name of the field it places notes by. A timeline of Books by when they were published, in the 1960s, looks like this:
```object-view
{
"typeId": "book",
"layout": "timeline",
"from": "1960",
"to": "1969",
"dateBy": "published"
}
```Leave "dateBy" out and the timeline uses the type's first choice: date if it has one, otherwise its first date field. That's what a timeline saves when you haven't picked a field. A "dateBy" that doesn't name one of the type's date fields, including Event's end, is ignored the same way. Only an Event dated by its date draws bars from its end; by any other field, each note is a point.
In the note, the timeline is for looking at. It shows the saved range without the −, + and Fit buttons, and scrolling or dragging doesn't move it. The keyboard still steps from event to event, and ⏎ and a click still open them. To look at a different stretch of time, open the type's timeline, zoom it there, and save it again.
A calendar in a note
A calendar goes into a note with the month it was showing, as a "month", and its Date by choice, if it has one, as "dateBy". A calendar of Events for December 2026 looks like this:
```object-view
{
"typeId": "event",
"layout": "calendar",
"month": "2026-12"
}
```"month" is a year and a month, written the way a date is, so -0043-03 is March 44 BC. Leave it out and the calendar opens on the current month, whenever the note is read; that's what a calendar saves when you've pressed Today. Anything that isn't a month, such as a whole date or just a year, is ignored the same way. "dateBy" works as it does for a timeline: the name of the date field that places the notes, left out for the type's first choice. A Books calendar for June 1925 by when they were published looks like this:
```object-view
{
"typeId": "book",
"layout": "calendar",
"month": "1925-06",
"dateBy": "published"
}
```In the note, the calendar is for looking at. The ‹, Today and › buttons still page through the months, and the keyboard still moves from day to day and opens a day's list, but paging changes only what you see, not the "month" in the note. Clicking an event opens it, and right-clicking one tags it or sets its fields. Events don't drag and have no Move to date…, and ⌘Z undoes nothing there; open the type's calendar to reschedule. To save a different month, page to it there and save again.
It stays current
Add a place, fill in a location, or change a field, and the view in your note shows it the next time you look. Renaming or moving a folder doesn't break a view that was limited to it — the view follows the folder to its new name.
In exports and on the web
When you export a note as a web page or PDF, or publish it as part of a website, its views appear as they do in the preview — a table is a table, a gallery is cards, a board is a read-only board, its columns wrapping onto the page and each card a link to its note, a timeline is a still drawing of its saved range, each event a link to its note and approximate dates marked as such, and a calendar is a still grid of its saved month. The timeline's undated events are listed after it, and a very crowded one shows its first 30 lanes and a note of how many more there are. A calendar lists every event in its day, however many there are, so a busy day makes a taller row rather than a +N more nobody can click, and each event links to its note. Its bands and Undated list follow the grid, approximate days are hatched with a key, and its weeks start on the day your own settings say. A map becomes a still picture framed just as the preview frames it, at the height you gave it, with the map's credit line beneath. A view you made wider keeps its width on a web page, extending past the text as it does in the preview and scrolling sideways if the browser window is narrower than it. In a PDF, the page's width is the limit: the view is drawn to fit, a timeline scaled down and a board's columns wrapping. If the map can't be drawn — say you're offline when you export — the places are listed as a table instead, so the page never shows an empty box.
A Markdown export keeps the view as the text you'd see in the editor.