Export, saving, and updates
Inkstone edits plain Markdown files in place, so most of the time there is nothing to export — the file on disk is already the document. Export is for handing a document to something that doesn’t read Markdown.
Give a document to someone who doesn’t use Markdown
Section titled “Give a document to someone who doesn’t use Markdown”Export acts on the document in the pane you’re working in, so click into the right tab first.
Click the share button in the toolbar — the box with an arrow coming out of it, just right of the … button — and pick one:
| You want | Pick |
|---|---|
| A page anyone can open in a browser | Export HTML |
| A paginated file to print or attach | Export PDF |
| Styled text to paste into Mail or Pages | Copy as Rich Text |
All three hand over what you were looking at, theme and all — math set properly, code coloured, tables and images in place.
Export a web page
Section titled “Export a web page”Video and audio don’t travel with the page. They stay as links to the files on your Mac, so they play for you and for nobody else — send the video or audio file alongside the page, or leave it out of the document you export.
Everything else goes inside. Export HTML gives you one self-contained file, images and all, so you can move it, zip it, or mail it and it still looks right at the other end.
Export a PDF
Section titled “Export a PDF”Your theme comes along, edge to edge: a dark theme prints dark. Switch to a light theme before you export anything headed for a printer.
Export PDF breaks the document into US Letter pages, and links stay clickable.
Paste into Mail or Pages
Section titled “Paste into Mail or Pages”Copy as Rich Text puts styled text on the clipboard, ready to paste anywhere that accepts it.
Equations are the exception: they arrive as their original source, $x^2$, not as set math. When the equation has to look set, send an Export PDF or Export HTML instead. Rich text is the right choice when the equation is headed back into another Markdown editor, where $x^2$ is what you want.
Saving
Section titled “Saving”| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Save | Cmd+S |
| Save As… | Shift+Cmd+S |
A draft you have never saved has no file yet — press Cmd+S to give it one. Close it with text in it and Inkstone asks first rather than dropping it.
Everything else saves itself. Inkstone writes the file as you type, and again whenever you leave the document — switch tabs, switch workspace, close the window, quit. To take saving over yourself, turn off Settings > General > Editing > Auto-save documents; the window subtitle then reads Edited until you press Cmd+S.
When another app changes the file
Section titled “When another app changes the file”Edit an open file somewhere else — another editor, a sync service — and Inkstone notices. It asks, with three buttons: Reload takes the other version, Keep Mine keeps what’s in the editor, and Always Reload takes it and stops asking.
Neither answer loses anything. The version from the other app is kept in File > Revert To whichever button you press, so Keep Mine is undoable.
To decide once and for all, use Settings > General > External Changes > When file changes on disk: Ask, Always Reload, or Always Keep Local.
Go back to an earlier version
Section titled “Go back to an earlier version”Old versions stay on this Mac. Copy or sync the document somewhere else and its history doesn’t come with it.
Open File > Revert To:
| Item | What you get |
|---|---|
| Previous Save — date | The most recent saved copy; the date tells you which |
| Browse All Versions… | The system version browser |
| Delete Version History | Every stored copy of this document removed, after a confirmation |
Browsing stands the current document on the left with past ones stacked on the right. Text that exists only in the old version is highlighted, text that exists only in the current one is struck through, so you can see what restoring would change. Restore from there, or press Escape to back out.
Restoring saves where you are first, so a restore you didn’t want is itself one restore away from undone.
Two settings under Settings > General > Editing: Keep local version history, on by default, and Remove versions, which ages old copies out after a day, a week, two weeks, a month, a year — or never, if you set it to Manually.
Keep Inkstone up to date
Section titled “Keep Inkstone up to date”Nothing to do. Inkstone checks on its own and offers a new build when there is one; Inkstone > Check for Updates… asks right now. Every update is signed, and one that doesn’t verify is refused.
If a build misbehaves, Help > Report an Issue… opens a bug report with your version, build number and macOS version already filled in.