Edit a profile as Markdown
Open a profile document as Markdown, follow the shape ZotLit enforces, and read the faults the Problems area reports.
Edit the profile document itself when you would rather type Markdown than use the Workbench tabs. A profile is an ordinary note in your vault, and ZotLit keeps it editable even while it reports a fault.
Open the document as Markdown
Open the document in Obsidian's Markdown editor
In the file explorer, open the profile document like any other note. From the Workbench, select Source to edit the complete document in one editor, or open the pane menu and select Open as Markdown, which saves the document first and then switches that pane to Obsidian's Markdown editor.
Edit the document and save
Type the change and save the file. ZotLit keeps the document editable, so a fault never costs you the text.
Return to the Workbench
The view header carries Switch to template workbench view, which reopens the same document in the Workbench, with its preview and its problems.
The shape ZotLit enforces
A profile document has four parts, in this order: the manifest, the note source, an optional managed block, and the Annotation Section. Profile document carries each part, its boundaries, and a sample file.
Before you save, these must all be true:
- The first line of the file is exactly
---, and one later---line closes the manifest. idis 12 letters or digits, and no other profile document in the folder carries the same one. Profiles that share an ID are all excluded from ZotLit.- The note source holds at most one managed block, opened with
{% managed %}and closed with{% endmanaged %}. ZotLit re-renders that block alone when you update a note, and leaves the rest of the source as you wrote it. See Literature notes and the managed region for what an update rewrites. - Exactly one
--- zotlit:annotation ---line appears, after the note source. - A document with
id: defaultcarries neither Match conditions nor bindings. - The properties ZotLit writes belong in the manifest, not in a note. See Frontmatter for the entry forms, the merge strategies, and the reserved keys.
What the Problems area reports
A document that breaks one of those rules is never rejected. Fix it where you type: ZotLit keeps the document editable and lists each fault in the Problems area at the bottom of the Workbench pane, with the recovery it suggests. Work through the entries and save; the area recomputes as you edit, so an entry clears once the document no longer breaks its rule.
| What breaks | The Problems area reports |
|---|---|
| The file does not open with a manifest | This file is not a profile document. |
| The manifest is not valid YAML, or a key fails validation | The manifest is not valid. |
A manifest partial is named annotation | The partial name 'annotation' is reserved for the annotation section. |
| The note source holds more than one managed block | Your note has more than one managed block. |
| The managed block is not opened and closed correctly | The managed block is not opened and closed correctly. |
| A section header other than the annotation line appears | This line is not a profile section header. |
| The Annotation Section is absent | This profile has no annotation section. |
| The Annotation Section appears more than once | This profile has more than one annotation section. |
The Problems area also offers Copy error report, so you can paste the whole report into a bug report. See Collect debug logs for the rest of that report.
See also
Profile document
The manifest, the note source, the managed block, and the Annotation Section.
Frontmatter
The properties a profile writes into a note, and how it merges them.
Template Workbench View
The tabs, the preview, and the modes that edit a profile.
Profiles
What a profile is, and how a note keeps the one that made it.
Last updated on