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User Interface Logic

Top: Research a topic and Apps​

User Interface Logic

  • You can think of Heptabase as an operating system, and the upper part of its left sidebar displays a "Research a topic" button and all the default installed Apps. Each App has a specific purpose, and all Apps share the same card database.

  • At the very top of the left sidebar, you'll find the Research a topic button. Clicking it opens an interface where you can upload various types of content, including PDFs, YouTube links, documents (.docx, .txt, .md), and images. After uploading, simply click Start research on a new whiteboard, and the system will:

    • Turn all your uploaded content into cards and create a new whiteboard with all of them on it.
    • Automatically parse PDF content and download YouTube video transcripts.
    • Open the chat right sidebar and suggest questions based on all your cards on the whiteboard, so you can start asking the AI about this whiteboard.

  • Below the Research a topic button is an overview of each App in Heptabase:

    • Inbox: Every card you create via the Cmd + N shortcut, the mobile app, or the web clipper will show up here so you can organize them later. You can also see all unfinished to-dos across your cards. If you use collaboration and a collaborator mentions your name in a thread, you’ll receive a notification here.
    • Journal: See all your journal cards here. Use your daily journals to quickly capture ideas and to-dos.
    • Whiteboard: See all your whiteboards here. You can create sub-whiteboards and use them to build a comprehensive visual structure for complex topics you’re learning and researching.
    • Card Library: See all your cards here. When you open a card, the info panel shows which whiteboards it appears on, along with its tags and properties.
    • Tag Database: See all your tags here and group them into different collections.
    • Highlight: See all the highlights you’ve made on PDF cards or imported from Readwise. If you don’t have any highlights, this app won’t appear.
    • Chat: See all your chats here. These can be private AI chats or shared chats with collaborators.

Bottom: Tabs​

  • The lower half of the Heptabase left sidebar is the "Tab System." When you click the New tab button, you'll see a screen similar to Google Search. Here, you can search for cards or whiteboards to open them as tabs, enter a URL or search Google to open a web tab, or paste a YouTube link to open a YouTube video tab. When you expand a card from the card library, it will open as a card tab. Similarly, whiteboards and tags will each open as new tabs. User Interface Logic
  • The design of the Heptabase tab system is very similar to traditional browsers, including the following types of tabs:
    • Normal Tab: When you open a card, a whiteboard, or a tag, it will open into a normal tab, and you can close it at any time by clicking on the cross button.
    • Web Tab: You can open any website directly inside Heptabase as a web tab (desktop version only) using global search or the new tab button. This allows you to browse web content while taking notes and chatting with AI about what you're viewing, keeping everything integrated in your workspace.
    • Pinned Tab: You can pin frequently opened tabs, keeping them always open at the top of the left sidebar. User Interface Logic
    • Tab Folder: When you have many pinned tabs at the top of the left sidebar, you might consider adding a tab folder to organize these pinned tabs. User Interface Logic
    • Tab Group: You may consider creating tab groups to separate different use case. For example, you can create a tab group for "Work" and "Life", and when you need to access notes related to life, you go to the "Life" tab group and view all the normal tabs, pinned tabs, and tab folders in this group. User Interface Logic

When you open a Heptabase tab, you'll see several buttons in the top-right corner. These buttons let you open the apps or tools you want on the right side of the tab. Below is an introduction to each app and tool that can be opened in the right sidebar:

  • Chat: You can view all chats in the Chat app. If you're on a card tab or a whiteboard tab, you can also show only the chats related to the current tab.

  • Card library: You can browse all cards in the Card Library. When you click a card, it opens in the side panel as a reference. For example, you can keep the cards you'll reference open on the right while writing. If you're on a whiteboard tab, you can also drag cards directly onto the whiteboard.
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Additionally, you can use the AI suggestions filter to see cards related to your selected cards, helping you discover relevant cards across your space. User Interface Logic

  • Journal: You can freely switch between different days’ journal cards in Journal.

  • Highlight: This app appears only on PDF card tabs and whiteboard tabs. On a PDF card tab, it shows all highlights and annotations of that card. On a whiteboard tab, you can drag selected highlights onto the whiteboard.
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  • Table of contents: This tool appears only on card pages and whiteboard pages. On card pages, you can see the hierarchy of headings; on whiteboard pages, you can see the hierarchy of sections.
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  • Info: This tool appears only on card tabs and whiteboard tabs. It shows the creation time, last edited time, and other cards that mention this tab. On card tabs, you can also see the word count, tags, properties, and all whiteboards that include this card.
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  • Whiteboard location: This tool appears only on card pages. It lets you know on which whiteboards—and where on them—the current card appears.
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  • Insight: This tool appears only on card pages. If the card is lengthy (e.g., long-form writing, book notes, transcripts), you can use the AI Insight feature to quickly grasp all key insights in the card. The feature chunks the original content into units of about 300 characters and summarizes one key insight for each chunk, with each insight linking back to its source chunk. This feature is in early testing and has a monthly usage limit.
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  • Task: This tool appears only in Journal. You can see all to-dos that are due on that day and are still incomplete.
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Global Tool​

Use Cmd + O to open Global Search, where you can search all cards, whiteboards, chats, and tags in Heptabase. You can also search Google or YouTube directly from Global Search and open websites as web tabs within Heptabase.

Global Search includes advanced filters that allow you to:

  • Choose which card types to search for (note cards, PDF cards, video cards, image cards, etc.)
  • Specify whether to include text elements and mindmaps from whiteboards, chat messages, or web content in the search results.
  • Sort results by relevance or time.

User Interface Logic

Command Palette​

Use Cmd + K to find all quick actions and their keyboard shortcuts in Heptabase.

User Interface Logic