Open a folder or Obsidian vault from Files

1. 1Go to Settings ▸ Workspaces and tap Open a Folder from Files….
2. 2Pick the folder in the Files picker. For an Obsidian vault, pick the vault's top folder.
3. 3Wait while Opening… shows. A large vault takes longest the first time.

There are two other ways in. The New Workspace sheet has Open a Folder from Files Instead…. Today shows a Use Your Own Notes card while the sample is open.

The workspace's row names where it lives, such as iCloud Drive · Obsidian, iCloud Drive or On My iPhone. Folders held by other apps' file providers show as Files.

If you see That folder is one of Nokko’s own, you picked a folder inside nokko's app storage. Choose that workspace from Settings ▸ Workspaces instead.

• Opening adds nothing of nokko's own. It keeps its index and per-device settings in its own app storage, so no .nokko folder appears.
• Your edits go straight into the `.md` files. Check off a task in nokko and the line changes where it is. Obsidian sees the same file.
• Starting a timer is one exception. It creates a hidden .nokko/clock/ folder, so your timer can follow you through that folder.
• An iCloud conflict is the other. nokko writes a conflict copy beside the note, as described below.
• Changes from other apps are picked up while nokko is on screen, and again when you come back to it. It also checks every 30 seconds.

Boards, notes and the Inbox work as they do in any workspace. See Obsidian Tasks and Dataview for how an existing vault reads.

iCloud Drive can keep a note in the cloud with only a placeholder on your device. nokko never waits on one. It asks iCloud for the Markdown file, never the attachments, and carries on with what it has.

• A note nokko has read before keeps showing its last known contents.
• Settings ▸ Sync counts them in the text under the section: 3 notes are still downloading.
• Opening one that has not arrived says it is still downloading from iCloud, and that it opens once it is on this device.
• A change to one is refused with Nothing was changed — try again in a moment.

If the count does not fall, check that the device is online. Nothing is lost while you wait.

When two devices change the same note while apart, iCloud keeps one version as the file and hides the others. nokko brings each hidden version out as a copy beside the note, and leaves the current note alone:

Website (conflict from Laurynas's iPhone, 4 Nov 14.05 3fa9c1).md

Go to Settings ▸ Sync ▸ Conflict Copies. Each copy offers Keep This Copy, Keep the Original and Compare. In Obsidian the copy is an ordinary note until you resolve it. See people and conflicts.

nokko holds a saved link to the folder you picked. If the folder moves, is deleted or its app signs out, the link breaks. Today then shows Show Nokko “name” Again.

1. 1Tap Show the Folder….
2. 2Pick the folder in Files, wherever it is now.

If you delete nokko and install it again, it starts on its sample with no list of workspaces, so use Open a Folder from Files… again.

nokko picks up where it was, with the same workspace and the same place in your list. If you pick a different folder, that one becomes this workspace's folder. Nothing in any folder is changed by this.

To stop using a folder, swipe its row in Settings ▸ Workspaces, tap Remove, then Remove from This iPhone (or iPad). That needs a second workspace to fall back on. nokko forgets the folder, and every file stays where it is in Files. This differs from a nokko workspace, whose files go to nokko's trash for thirty days.

These are two separate things that both say iCloud:

If the Mac shares the same folder through GitHub, a server or nokko's iCloud, that line names it, for example The Mac also shares this folder on GitHub. The iPhone or iPad still uses the provider, not that connection.

The app says two different things here. On iPhone and iPad, nokko says a vault in iCloud Drive works as it is. On the Mac, the same folder still brings up a warning. It says files can be replaced underneath nokko, and that a local folder is the safe choice.

Both are true for their device. The iPhone and iPad coordinate every read and write with iCloud, handle placeholders, and turn iCloud's hidden versions into conflict copies. The Mac reads the folder directly, as it always has, and does not do those last two things.

• You mostly work on iPhone or iPad beside Obsidian: a Files folder is a good fit.
• You work daily on the Mac and want your phone in step: keep the workspace in a local folder and use nokko's own sync.
• You use the same iCloud Drive folder on both: it can work, but take the Mac's warning seriously. Check Conflict Copies on the iPhone or iPad after working on both.