Feature Request: Bulk Export

[Cubenaut]

Would be nice to be able to bulk export folders (including subfolders) and/or to click select what items to export and zip them for download.

[gamosoft]

Hello there, thanks for writing this up. I do understand the request, but I want to understand the actual improvement we may get out of it.
For instance, since (mostly) is self-hosted, you do (or should) have access to where your notes are stored directly, right? Maybe mapping the folder? I mean, if it doesn't bloat too much it could be, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel. 😉

What is your use case?

Kind regards.

[Cubenaut]

Hey, I use ND mostly as a fancy text editor for personal documentation (selfhosting and the like) and step-by-step instructions on how to do stuff.
I normally export them as HTML and save them to folders with other files relating to the documentation, I also put them on flash drives for offline use. I keep my ND instance private, so I don't use the share link outside of my own devices much. I have files of notes on ND for work and projects, and if they need sharing, I export it and send to those in need of it.
I do keep the stuff on ND and reference from there + plus edit, but I also tend to use the HTML as a fancy read only document outside of it if that makes sense.
A current example: I keep a folder on my pc that is google drive backed for how to set up my selfhosted stuff, I will occasionally export my current documentation of over 30 services and replace the old documentation in it, but that currently requires me going to every note and exporting it instead of just bulk exporting once.
The data folder is currently available via ssh, and I could maybe set it to be easily accessible from my pc for transfer, but the notes are stored as .md so it's pretty raw compared to .html.

[gamosoft]

The API side of this is done on a branch (feature/archive-endpoint), not merged yet: an endpoint that zips a folder (or the whole vault) with the raw .md files and attachments exactly as they sit on disk. It doesn't include system hidden files/folders on purpose, those starting with a period (.), so for example the sharing tokens are not leaked etc, just the "data" of your vault.

Where I'm not sure is about UI. At the moment you open one note at a time, so multi-select would mean a lot of changes to click multiple ones, and I don't want to clutter the sidebar to get there. That's the reason I went with folders only for now, a folder is already a thing you can see in the tree, so it needs almost no new UI, and it gives me the backend to build on once I work out a way to expose the rest without it getting in the way. But even then I'm not sure about adding yet another button here is the way to go:

And considering we live inside a browser, I don't want to hijack the right-click mouse button...

If you have ideas on the UI side, please let me know.

Right now you can do things like:

curl -OJ http://localhost:8000/api/archive?folder=test-data

And works (again, once merged, but you can download the feature branch if you want to mess around)

[Cubenaut]

Just folders is perfectly fine; the unwanted notes can be deleted afterwards if needed.

For the UI the only way I think you could have it not clutter with a fourth option is to maybe combine the edit, delete and archive button like what you've done with the new note button (serve a dropdown for all of the options). It can be a gear Options button.

The archive only does .md right? So would there be any possibility for .html? I quite like that format as a means of documentation presentation. Have it as a 5th option to the Options button or as a setting for how archive functions for .md (i.e.: keep as .md, convert to .html, or keep as both formats). The setting example would help with potential conflicts of other non .md files in the folder if there was an archive as .html button (currently drawings).

[gamosoft]

The archive isn't .md files only, it takes the folder exactly as it is on disk, with drawings, pictures, attachments (PDF, media) and anything else in there is zipped as well.

HTML "bulk" export is more complex than it looks, though. The single-note export inlines images as base64, turns wikilinks into dead links and replaces audio/video/PDFs with placeholders, so a folder of those would be big, missing some media, and the notes wouldn't link to each other, which is what you'd actually want for documentation (I'm guessing). Doing it properly means rewriting the links to point at the .html files and keeping media as files next to them, which is really a static site export. I think it's way overkill and covers a very niche case?

Maybe a custom script (out of scope for ND) to generate such static website is the way to go here?

About the dropdown still unsure, let me think a bit more on that.

[Cubenaut]

I use no linking of other resources in ND for my regular documentation as a fancy text document (or other fancy stuff that depends on the data folder), it's pretty much .md work and I view it with .html as a final copy. I didn't think of the other parts pertaining to what is lost when you export it because of that mindset.

With the dropdown, you can have a setting for the user to choose: the extra button, the dropdown, or selecting what goes into the dropdown (limiting to not having new notes in there as it has its own dropdown). Don't know how much of a change is needed for that, but it does give the user the options for preference. The default width of that column section might need a bump if it gets too cluttered with buttons.