Comments

• harr

  10:22AM edited 10:31AM

  The plugin works well. I've been using it for a few months.

  Unfortunately the name VirtFolder is misleading. The plugin doesn't create virtual folders, it displays nested notes. The plugin adds a navigational pane that reminds me of the "Folgezettel" pane in Daniel Lüdecke's app ZKN3, formerly known as Zettelkasten.

  How does VirtFolder work?

  It looks for a property in YAML frontmatter that points to a parent note. In my test vault I chose the name vf_parent. VirtFolder can either show the filename or a custom property. I chose the propertyvf_title in the plugin's settings:

  

  This is how folgezettels look in VirtFolder:

  

  And these are the same notes in the standard file navigator view:

  
• harr

  2:22PM edited 2:36PM

  It's difficult to map all aspects of Folgezettel structure with VirtFolder.

  How would you indicate that branch 9/8,1, 9/8,2, … is separate from branch 9/a, 9/8b, …?

  

  For comparison this is how I would lay out facsimiles of the same Luhmann zettels:

  
• harr

  2:30PM edited 2:34PM

  VirtFolder's greatest strength is that you can move zettels around with your mouse. The plugin automatically updates the property vf_parent, when you drag a zettel to another location.

  I recommend to use the plugin without Luhmann numbers.
• Ngungu

  2:45PM edited 2:47PM

  @harr Thanks for the clarification in your 1st reply. When I read about the plug-in I also wondered about the name when no virtual folder is mentioned. Have you brought this to the attention of the dev?

  As for your question in your 2nd reply, I cannot answer it as I am still new to the Zettelkasten system of note-taking.
• harr

  2:50PM

  @Ngungu said:
  (…) I also wondered about the name when no virtual folder is mentioned. Have you brought this to the attention of the dev?

  Not yet. Good idea!
• harr

  3:07PM edited 3:21PM

  @Ngungu said:
  (…) I am still new to the Zettelkasten system of note-taking.

  No worries. You found the right plugin. :-) VirtFolder will help you make sense of Zettelkasten!

  • You can change note titles and parent-child relationships on the fly. I don't like to change filenames often, because of all the dependencies with other notes. But I enjoy fine-tuning the note-titles in YAML frontmatter so that the structure tells a story.
  • Note titles don't have to conform to your operating system's naming conventions (they can include characters like colon and question mark).
  • Note titles don't need to work as identifiers. You can pick an awkward filename like 20260527123456.md and still have a human-friendly title in VirtFolder
  • The outline view of notes works independently of folders in your file system.
  • Drag and drop.
  • Less need for additional structure notes. VirtFolder provides the kind of overall structural backbone that makes Luhmann's numbering system so valuable. But unlike Luhmann numbers, you are flexible and can rearrange the structure any time.
• Ngungu

  3:37PM

  @harr Good points, many thanks.