Ingrid docs

Start here

Open Ingrid and choose New. Start with one note, then put a grid inside it.

Shortcuts use Cmd/Ctrl for Command on macOS or Ctrl on Windows and Linux, and Option/Alt for Option or Alt. Hold keys joined by + together.

Grids and tiles

A grid holds rows and columns of tiles. Any tile can contain a child grid, adding another level.

Navigate

No text caret. Arrows move between tiles; structural commands act on the current tile or selection.

Edit

A caret appears. Typing changes the text; arrows stay within it.

Mode

The footer shows Navigate or Edit. Click it to enter or finish text editing.

Mode indicators: Ingrid → Opts → Workspace controls the footer status and optional inline indicator. The inline indicator starts off; preferences stay on this device.

Select tiles or words

• Tiles: drag from a tile that is not being edited, or use Shift+Arrows. Option/Alt-drag selects tiles even when starting in text.
• Words: drag inside the active text editor. Crossing into another tile changes to tile selection.
• Selection highlight: Grid outlines the rectangle; Bubble marks each selected tile.

The With selection bar offers Copy, Cut, Wrap and Delete. Copy and Cut use Markdown; their arrows offer other formats.

Open Select in Actions for Row / Column / Grid / Extend / Clear. They finish text editing and return to Navigate; copy shortcuts work while they have focus.

Tabs, panes and views

A tab shows one view of a grid. A pane holds tabs in one area of the window. Click a tab or inside a pane to make it active; the toolbar, Find and Undo act there.

• Open another grid: Open, New and Import add a tab. In Open Grid, the Open button’s arrow also offers Open Here, which replaces the current tab, and Open in New Pane, which adds a pane to the right.
• See the same grid twice: choose New View for a pane to the right, or use its arrow for In New Tab. Both views share edits and Undo. Each keeps its own cursor, Focus and folds; this does not make a copy of the grid.
• Focus on a branch: Focus works in the current pane. Its arrow can open the focused branch in a new tab or pane.
• Name the grid or its view: right-click a tab or use the chevron at the end of its tab strip. Rename Grid… changes the grid’s name. Rename Tab… adds a name for that view after the grid name. Edit Grid Details… opens the same grid’s details.
• Arrange or close views: drag a tab to another tab strip or a pane’s edge. Maximize Pane fills the workspace; Restore Panes brings the arrangement back. The tab’s × closes that tab; Close Pane (N Tabs) closes every tab in that pane. Closing a view does not delete its grid.

Reloading restores this browser tab’s arrangement. Workspace layout and view positions stay on this device; Sync carries grid content between devices. Reopening a grid that is already open adds another view of it.

Navigate and edit

Reloading restores the browser tab’s workspace, including each view’s Focus and folds. Opening a grid that is not already in the workspace starts at its overview. Fold changes belong to the view; they do not change the saved grid or another view.

Enter and finish text editing

Undo reverses edits; its tooltip names the next operation. Delete removes tiles in Navigate. Backspace deletes text only.

Open a tile’s editor

• Text, Header, Todo or Link: click the content or padding to edit inline.
• Code, Math or Diagram: one click selects the preview. Double-click, choose Edit or press Cmd/Ctrl+E to open the editor from either mode.
• Checkboxes, links and media: their toggles, destinations, playback and resize controls keep their own actions.

Tile actions appear on hover or tile focus and stay available on touch devices. A current-tile marker alone does not keep them visible after focus moves to the toolbar.

Change the tile type

H2 Sound notes image audio Check the frequency const hz = 440 javascript

Type in the top bar groups choices into Text, Code & Diagrams, and Media. Tile Inspector shows a full-name Type dropdown and, where applicable, a label with the language or diagram engine.

1. Choose a type. Choosing Code, Math or Diagram does not open its editor.
2. For Header or Todo options, hover the dropdown row or click its arrow. With keyboard focus, Enter sets the type and Right Arrow opens options.
3. Choose Heading 1, 2 or 3, or Toggle Complete. Choosing the same type again keeps the current level or completion.

The Type menu stays available. Open Edit when you are ready to write; empty and unavailable diagrams show a compact message above their controls.

Right-click: Web uses the browser’s menu inside grid content. Right-click a workspace tab for its Tab Menu. Desktop also has a tile menu through right-click or Shift+F10 in Navigate.

Build structure

Fold and unfold a branch

Transpose rows and columns

Transform opens the structural actions, with Row, Column, Children and Levels groups. Show explanations adds a companion that explains the hovered or focused command; inspecting it does not apply the command. Undo reverses structural edits.

• Fold a branch: click Fold or press Cmd/Ctrl+.. Hold Option/Alt while clicking Fold, or press Option/Alt+., to include all descendants.
• Add a child grid: press Shift+Enter.
• Focus on a tile: choose Focus or press Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Focus becomes highlighted while the view is inside a tile. Esc steps back; ROOT returns to the overview.
• Add a row or column: choose Insert → New, or press Option/Alt+Enter for a row south and Cmd/Ctrl+Enter for a column east.
• Select a block: drag a non-editing tile or use Shift+Arrows in Navigate. Option/Alt-drag selects tiles explicitly, including from text.
• Indent or outdent: press Cmd/Ctrl+] or Cmd/Ctrl+[.
• Wrap a selection: press Cmd/Ctrl+G.

Delete groups the commands for removing tiles, rows and columns. Delete Row North/South removes the current row and chooses which neighboring row receives focus; Delete Col West/East does the same for the current column. The direction does not select a different row or column to delete.

Paste text, tiles and images

Mon	Read
Tue	Write
Wed	Review

Insert → New creates blank tiles. Insert → Paste inserts clipboard content north, south, west, east or as children. Opening the panel does not read the clipboard; choosing a Paste direction does.

What gets pasted

• One line of text: Cmd/Ctrl+V inserts it at the caret.
• Multiline text: becomes rows of tiles.
• Copied Ingrid tiles: use Insert → Paste to preserve their structure. Tile data takes precedence over an image representation of the same clipboard content.
• An image: creates an Image tile below a text tile, or attaches to an existing Image tile. Paste is one operation with Undo and Redo.

Image limit: 1 MiB. Use an image link for larger files. If reading or saving fails, Ingrid reports the failure without inserting an empty tile or old clipboard content.

Style and grid defaults

Style the current tile or selection

Style applies font, size, alignment, text color, fill, border and Emphasis immediately. Whole-tile bold, italic, underline and strikethrough also affect newly typed text. The Text action bar formats selected words independently.

• Color: the button shows the chosen color; stripes mean mixed values.
• Border: Width and Color share a menu.
• More: opens the full palette and custom colors. Closing a color menu leaves Style open.

Arrange a tile’s children

Render controls each tile’s children. Tile Inspector keeps the same Style and Render controls open while you work across tiles.

Horiz / Vert

Place children beside / below the parent content.

Grid / Bub

Join cells / separate them into bubbles.

Mixed selections have no pressed choice. New blank tiles copy the parent’s explicit Render choices; pasted and moved tiles keep their own settings.

Copy, transfer or clear settings

Style and Render each have a floating Preview and these actions. Each change is one Undo.

• Edit → Copy / Paste: copy and paste that category’s settings.
• Edit → Transfer To: apply the current tile’s settings to related tiles. No prior Copy is needed.
• Clear: reset that category. Its arrow offers related scopes.

Rename a grid or change its defaults

1. Choose Grid Details at bottom-left, or use Tab Menu → Rename Grid… to open Metadata with the grid name selected.
2. Use Metadata for Name and Description, or Appearance for Render and Text defaults. Switch tabs without losing your draft. The previews sit beside the controls; Clear resets that section’s draft. Recovered lists saved fragments when available.
3. Choose Apply to commit the draft. Cancel discards it. The close button, Escape or clicking outside a changed draft asks whether to apply or discard.

Below Name and Description, Metadata shows read-only Created, Last saved, Tiles, Storage and Cloud Sync details. Reopen the panel to refresh them. The panel keeps the same size when you switch tabs.

Scope: defaults affect tiles without their own overrides. Styling a parent’s text does not restyle its children.

Undo and export: Undo reverses default-style changes together, but not Name or Description. Export uses the committed grid; apply a Grid Details draft first.

Save and Sync

Check local saving

Edits save automatically to browser storage. The bottom-right Saved control opens Save state details. Its caption stays fixed: a check badge means saved, dots mean saving, a dot means unsaved, ! means a failed save, and ? means a conflict. The tooltip and accessible label name the current state. Activate the control for details, retry or recovery.

Ingrid requests persistent storage when supported, but the browser controls that storage. Keep a separate backup.

Sign in / Sign up

Ingrid’s features and behavior may change.

1. Open Account at top-right, choose Sign in / Sign up, and enter your email.
2. Enter the one-time code Ingrid sends you. The same flow creates an account or signs in to an existing one.
3. Sign in on another device to sync your grids there.

Subscribe or manage your plan

Sync includes a 14-day free trial, then costs US$5 a month plus applicable tax. Local use does not require a plan.

Open Account → Subscribe to pay through Polar. After checkout, Ingrid checks your access and shows Subscribed. If access is still being checked, choose Check access; do not purchase again.

Choose Account → Manage to view invoices or cancel renewal in Polar. Canceling renewal keeps paid Sync through the current billing period. When Sync access ends, your local grids remain available for editing and export.

Reconnect your account

If Ingrid asks you to authenticate again, choose Account → Sign in again. This renews the same account without clearing your local grids. If the first download was interrupted, use Retry or Continue setup to finish setup.

Sign out

Signing out removes the local synced copy from this device. Ingrid saves pending edits, checks Sync and asks for confirmation first. Export a separate copy before discarding unsynced edits. If Ingrid warns about local recovery or source drafts, choose Cancel and resolve them first: a grid backup does not include that recovery.

Import, export, and backup

Move one grid

Choose Import or Export in the top bar; open File first on a narrow screen. Export includes committed edits and does not apply a Grid Details draft.

• Ingrid JSON: preserves Ingrid structure and supported embedded media.
• TreeSheets XML: exchanges compatible structured grids with TreeSheets.

Back up every grid

1. Choose Ingrid → Opts → Data → Backup → Full Export.
2. Keep the downloaded backup, which includes all grids and their media, outside this browser’s storage.
3. To restore it, choose Import backup. Ingrid validates the complete file before writing, preserves existing grids, and adds new grids or copies where needed.

Automatic backup reminders are currently off.

Keyboard reference

Help in Ingrid, or Cmd/Ctrl+/, opens these Docs in a separate tab. Your grid stays open. Use Search Docs above to find a topic, command or shortcut.

Arrow keys move the tile cursor in Navigate and stay within text while editing. Escape closes one working popout at a time before changing grid mode or navigation. The Tile Inspector stays open. Desktop-only actions are marked below.

Find a control

Select tiles for their actions, or select words for text formatting. Text in the Tile group also opens Bold for selected tiles and Insert Link at the caret. Use Style for whole-tile appearance. F6 focuses the visible action bar; Esc returns to the grid. Working panels stay open for repeated actions.

Toolbar labels: Ingrid → Opts → Workspace → Toolbars → Show toolbar labels. Labels start on; this device remembers the setting for both bars.

Navigate mode (no caret)

Edit mode (caret)

Both modes

Rows & columns

Selection

Tile

Text

Code, Math and Diagram editors

History

Data safety

• Export backups regularly, especially before clearing browser data or changing browsers.
• Do not assume browser storage is the same as a file on disk. Private browsing and storage cleanup can remove it.
• If Sync reports a conflict, Keep both is the safe default. Ingrid keeps local edits until you choose. Close the message to decide later; the Saved control’s conflict badge reopens it.
• Before signing out, use Export my grids first when Ingrid offers it.

Desktop and native files

Ingrid Desktop is in private testing, with no public signed download yet. Use the web app for current production work.

Native .ingrid files

Editable SQLite files containing the grid and embedded media. Image paste stores its bytes in the file; validation and conflict checks protect writes.

Export for Web / Import Web Grid

Exchange compatible JSON with the web app.

Import Legacy Ingrid ZIP

Convert older archives to the native editable format.