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Fundamental Elements

Card​

Concept and Use Case​

  • A card is your note, as well as a container for knowledge and ideas. All cards are stored in the Card Library App. In addition to native Note Cards, Journal Cards, and Highlight Cards, Heptabase also supports importing specific file types into the card library, including: PDF Cards, Video Cards, Audio Cards, Image Cards, and so on.

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Basic Operations​

  • You can type / in the card editor to add any types of blocks you want: headings, lists, to-dos, toggles, tables, images, audio, videos, files, PDFs, code snippets, math equations, and dates.

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  • You can type @ in the card editor to mention other cards, and you can see all the block-level backlinks in the info section of the card. These interconnected cards together form a knowledge network that belongs to you.

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Whiteboard​

Concept and Use Case​

  • A whiteboard is your space for thinking. Consider it as an unlimited desktop for placing cards to help you learn and research the topics you care about. When you have many cards on a whiteboard, you can create sub-whiteboards for researching subtopics under the main topic.

  • Whiteboards do not own cards. All cards belong to the Card Library. When you are researching a topic on the whiteboard, you can import related cards from the Card Library and place them on the whiteboard. You can also create new cards on the whiteboard, and these cards will be directly stored in the Card Library.

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  • The same card can be placed on multiple whiteboards at the same time. This is similar to how our brain works - the same concept or knowledge can appear under different topics. You can see in the card's Info section which whiteboards the card appears on. If you click on a whiteboard name, it will automatically open the whiteboard and focus on the location of the card, allowing you to easily recall the thinking context of the card.

    Fundamental Elements

Basic Operations​

  • You can right-click in the blank space of the whiteboard to create different types of objects to help you think. These include: creating cards to record ideas and knowledge; creating text to capture fleeting thoughts; creating mind maps to quickly brainstorm and clarify your thinking; creating journals to plan for the next week; creating sections to group whiteboard objects; and creating sub-whiteboards to organize knowledge of sub-topics.

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  • You can right-click on whiteboard objects to select the advanced operations you want to perform on them. These include changing color, activating mindmap mode, exporting files, viewing edit history, adding tags, moving to other whiteboards, opening as new tabs, etc.

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  • If you want to change the position and color of multiple whiteboard objects at once, or perform advanced batch operations on them, you can click the blank space of the whiteboard and drag a selection box to select multiple objects all at once.

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  • When you're on a whiteboard, you'll see a toolbar at the left that provides quick access to essential whiteboard tools. The toolbar includes tools like:

    • Select: Select and move objects on the whiteboard
    • Note card: Create a note card on the whiteboard
    • Upload files: Upload text or PDF files on the whiteboard
    • Connect: Draw arrows to connect cards and other objects
    • Text: Create a text element on the whiteboard
    • Section: Create sections to group related objects
    • Search: Search for content only on the whiteboard
    • And more whiteboard tools (Journal, Calendar, Mindmap, sub-whiteboard, and whiteboard shortcut)

AI Chat & Actions​

Concept and Use Case​

  • AI Chat lets you chat with AI models, using your cards, whiteboards, PDFs, videos, journals, and other content as context. This way, AI answers are based on your own knowledge base. When you get a helpful response, you can drag it onto the whiteboard or save it as a note card for future reference.

  • AI Actions let you perform quick operations on cards using AI. You can translate content, create summaries, generate mindmaps from card content, or build your own actions with custom prompts to make repetitive tasks easier. Fundamental Elements

Basic Operations​

  • You can click on the Chat button in the upper right corner of a whiteboard or card tab to open the chat panel. You can then start a chat with your current tab, and the Heptabase app will automatically add it as context. Fundamental Elements

  • You can use the "+" button on the left side of the chat input box, or type "@" in your message to add cards, whiteboards, sections, PDFs, or other content as context. AI will reference these materials when answering your questions, and provide citations showing which paragraphs the answer came from.

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  • When you get a helpful response from AI, you can drag the message onto the whiteboard. Once placed, you can edit these messages or add your own annotations, and connect them with other cards to build deeper understanding of the topic.

  • You can hover over any card on the whiteboard to reveal AI action buttons. Click an action to perform operations like translating the card's content, creating a summary, or generating a mindmap. AI will create a new card with the results on the whiteboard.