Notes: support for attachments / images [$106]

[violoncelloCH]

It would be nice to have some kind of attachment support to add an image or another file to a note

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BountySource is no longer directly supported or endorsed by this repository. See #547 for more information. There is, however, an existing $136 open bounty on this issue.

[stefan-niedermann]

If the markdown renderer would support [image](url)-format, one could upload an image via drag and drop. The file gets a UUID as name and will be stored in the same folder where the corresponding note file is. After a successfull upload, the notes app can create the markdown with [original-filename-without-extension](generated-uuid.extension) and the image gets rendered.

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Update: Deck is using a very similar mechanism to store attachments, we should orientate there.

[eemantsal]

Any news? Nowadays we take notes with much more content than just text, especially since we all have mobile devices with cameras. I think is a rather basic feature.
There's a desktop application for creating MD notes, Qownnotes, that creates a file named "Media" inside the folder of the note and saves there all the pictures we embed; then, in the note, there's just a link to the corresponding file in that "Media" folder. Seems rather uncomplicated (from a non programmer point of view, heheh).

[eemantsal]

The other day I was reading the issues of this application and saw here that @stefan-niedermann said that the server app was lacking an API that would make possible media support for the mobile app.
I thought Hr. Niedermann was referring to the Nextxloud server app, so there I went to bother NC developers to ask them for media support. @nickvergessen kindly clarified my confusion telling me that is was an NC Notes app issue, not an NC server's, so, here I'm back.

Since I see that @korelstar has already taken this issue into account there's no more necessity to insist on this feature, but I'd like to comment an idea from @jancborchardt that he's taken from the IOS app iA Writer, an idea to be considered once NC Notes web app will support media content, of course.
The normal procedure to insert, for example, an image in a Markdown note would be using ![Alt text](image_url), but as Mr. Borchardt comments about iA Writer, said app saves all the attached files in the same folder than the .md files, and you just have to type a sort of path to the attached filename, something like /image.png (no dot before, just the slash) and there you go.
I commented to him that the idea is nice, but would be better with a variant: To me, having all the media files mixed up in the same folder of the .md files can become a real mess if you have many notes with a few images each and need to do some file browsing in your notes folders. I prefer the storing structure that Qownnotes follows: it creates a folder named Media inside each notes folder, and then it stores all the multimedia content there, so, when you browse through your notes folders, yu see all your MD files together, and if want to open or edit any, there you have them clearly at your sight, and then you have said Media folder with all the pictures and such appart, wich seems clearer and more organized to me.
I think that if the app could read /filenameand "translate" internally to media/filename it could display the attachments for each note withouth making our notes folders a messy "dump" for text files, images, audios... whatever, and at the same time keep that easy syntax.

In any case, whatever is the file storing model, I'm with Mr. Borchardt that the /filenamething is much handier than the habitual MD tag. I hope you may consider it.

Regards.

[jancborchardt]

Yep, can only repeat what @eemantsal mentioned about iA writer. They use the /filename.png syntax to directly integrate images from the same folder (or subfolders).

[Spartachetto]

I understand that my habits are different, yet usually I do NOT keep my images and files in the same folder of my notes.

So for me it would be good to have the possibility to refer to any file stored in my Nextcloud instance via a simple syntax.

A big usability bonus would be a tooltip that helps generating the syntax (a file selector that provides as output the right syntax).

Two further improvements:

• autocomplection that proposes the previously used path when I use the syntax to cite a file a second time in a single note
• a way for the app to memorize the last used path for that note; in this way if I reopen the note and reuse the file picker, I get the previously used path as a suggestion

[jancborchardt]

@Spartachetto development always needs to happen in small steps. :) And the first step is as we describe. Supporting images which are somewhere else is something for a further step.

And an image outside of your Notes folder could for example be referred like

![](../Pictures/hedgehog.jpg)

And combined with the #200 context-based formatting popover we can have a filepicker for inserting images. :)

But all with time – and resources. Any contribution is welcome, or donations on Bountysource towards the issues: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/43586252-support-for-attachments-images

[Larsene]

Contribution to bountysource done. thanks for this app, and as said, an images/attachement features would be great :-)

[chr0max]

😭 I really want to dump OneNote!

[TobiasDev]

Are there any updates for this? Eg. can I somehow add images to a note that gets updated to something like a "resource" folder or such within notes?

[korelstar]

No, sorry. No progress seen.

[Larsene]

what a pity ! i'll increase the bounty on it...

[iSpeeX]

To be sure, it's a nearly basic feature noawadays for note taking apps. Thanks to the Nextckloud structure, as everybody said before, we could integrate any file. But the truth is that the most important are images.

[stefan-niedermann]

@SpeeX you can contribute by starting a Pull Request or increasing the bounty if you are not a developer. Please note, that a rewrite is currently done to VueJS in a branch if you want to create a PR :rocket:

[jcgerhard]

Hello Devs and Users,
are there any news on this feature? The only thing that prevents me and my collegues to use the notes app is the lack of image and attachement support!
This is absolutely mandatory for a modern note-taking tool. Im my case, we need to document technical workflows that need a lot of screenshots. So...PLEASE...add image support to the notes app!

[avuton]

If you're going to complain about the lack of this feature, please do us all a favor and put your money where your mouth is (add to the bounty). Asking for features to be implemented over and over is not a developer motivator.

[TobiasDev]

Is it possible to add this issue to IssueHunt? I already have money attached there and sadly can´t move them to bountysource. :( I understand if you don´t want two different places for this, just figured I´d ask.

[korelstar]

The link to bountysource was configured by @jospoortvliet. Maybe he can help?

I have no experiences with IssueHunt, but may be you can create the issue and post a bounty over there, too. We could link this from here.

[boistordu]

so how much do we need to add as money for a general media feature? Since when we need to be as precised as a photo.
Can we specify which step would be smaller between :
1/ add a reference link like someone asked but which would require the use of a external tool most probably to get the image to print it to the screen
2/ add the possibility to just upload the file in the same directory where the note is store and which would be whatever media or attachments. And then the responsability to open this attachment would be tied to the client of the API which can be a mobile app, a webbrowser or whatever it can be?

Because now we have 106$ for this feature but we clearly don't know which form it would take and I'm ready to wire whatever money it is necessary to make this thing happen after how much? 3 years of discussion.

For my part I would clearly need something that could see any attachments, audio or any other things. But since it's a note app, it should be at least audio and photos.

[korelstar]

For the server/web app (this repository), this will be fixed by implementing #331, since the "Text" editor already supports images (for open issues regarding this feature see the "Text" repository).

However, we will have to add some functionality to the API for 3rd party apps. Here, we have to think about which way for saving images/attachments should be supported. Currently, there are two ways of inserting images using the "Text" app:

1. Insertion using the image button from the toolbar: you can chose an image from your Nextcloud and a link to that file is inserted. That link uses the preview functionality.
2. Paste an image from the clipboard directly to the text using CTRL+V: the image content is directly inserted into the note file (base64 encoded). This increases the note's file size heavily.

Manual insertion of image links with relative paths is not supported, yet.

I think we have to put up with what the Text app provides or create new issues/PR for the "Text" app if this is not sufficient.

For this app, we would have to implement a good API that supports all available types of image integrations. I think it would be best if images would be transferred on a separate stream to (mobile) clients in order to keep text synchronization fast. But the technical details have to be defined/discussed.

[frankgerhardt]

Manual insertion of image links with relative paths is not supported, yet.

I can't even link/embed an image in the same directory as the note? I'm giving up. I thought making links is the deal breaker but not being able to embed images is it.

[CongAn]

I hope someone will develop it.

[lyallp]

I can insert an Image using existing notes app but it is a bit fiddly.

![Media/Thunderbird-CardBook-AddressBook-Properties-DisplayName.PNG](/core/preview?fileId=54462&x=1536&y=864&a=true)

I retrieved the URL using the Files App, right clicking the image and copy/paste the URL after the domain and using that as my URL in the note.

Tedious but if you really want insert image functionality, this workaround should do.

[rca]

I'm on a Mac and am looking to see if nextcloud is a viable alternative to Apple's suite of tools; in this case the Notes app.

For this particular issue, when taking notes in Apple's notes app I can take a screenshot that gets cached in the clipboard and paste it into the note using the cmd+v shortcut. In my opinion, this is the usability level to strive for when considering this feature.

I understand there are potential workarounds, but I presume it's the case for most people that they simply want to jot a thought down before it disappears, and while markdown* is great, for this use-case it gets in the way.
Thanks.

• I am a huge fan of notes being markdown, so don't take this comment out of context. I really like the ability to use markdown, but I am also used to very intuitive apps in the same space.

[Metagit]

Is there any news about an option to insert pictures? It seems people are asking for that feature since 2017... I am really trying to degooglify my life and regain control over my data without becoming an apple user but things like this are killing me.
I just paid 3€ for this app, which is of course nothing. You guys deserve much more. But still: beeing able to attach pictures to a note is an absolute must in 2021. Otherwise, very very unfortunately, this app is basically not an option... :(
Is there a way to get notified once it supports images / attachments? I really want to use it as part of my nextcloud suite.

[1989gironimo]

Is there any news about an option to insert pictures? It seems people are asking for that feature since 2017... I am really trying to degooglify my life and regain control over my data without becoming an apple user but things like this are killing me.
I just paid 3€ for this app, which is of course nothing. You guys deserve much more. But still: beeing able to attach pictures to a note is an absolute must in 2021. Otherwise, very very unfortunately, this app is basically not an option... :(
Is there a way to get notified once it supports images / attachments? I really want to use it as part of my nextcloud suite.

You can simply subscribe to this issue and get notified if it has been closed.

[stefan-niedermann]

@Metagit please use GitHub reactions 👍 to show that you are affected by the same issue. Commenting without providing new information will slow down the development because this kind of issues are hard to read and understand.

I just paid 3€ for this app, which is of course nothing. You guys deserve much more.

That's wrong. You paid for the Android client and not for this app. Thank you for the rating by the way, always appreciate this kind of communication. Always motivating.

Is there a way to get notified once it supports images / attachments?

Yes, you can subscribe to GitHub issues (also without commenting). So you will get notified automatically now. You also can watch the changelog

[Metagit]

That's wrong. You paid for the Android client and not for this app. Thank you for the rating by the way, always appreciate this kind of communication. Always motivating.

Sorry man. I'm just frustrated that pretty much every nextcloud app has major flaws / downsides like this and therefore are simply not a viable options for daily use. I actually felt bad for leaving that rating because I don't want to be ungrateful nor disrespectful but at least it could prevent people from buying it and then having to ditch it because of the same reason.

By the way: I will try to mark my own comment here as off-topic because what you said absolutely makes sense.

[stefan-niedermann]

@elsiehupp I collapsed your comment (no offense) because this issue is already quite crowded and the proposed solution is what i already suggested in my first comment.

I just added $15 to the bounty.

Please read the pinned issue "Don’t use bountysource anymore! ". @korelstar maybe you should remove the bounty sums from the issue titles.

[elsiehupp]

Several people have mentioned borrowing strategies from other Markdown solutions, but it might be preferable to choose one with which to develop and maintain actual cross-compatibility. That is, it could be nice if Nextcloud Notes supported using the sync folder of Joplin or QOwnNotes as a backend, specifically in the context of file attachments.

Something else to add is that one route to implementing this might be borrowing from Joplin's codebase, since Joplin is written largely in JavaScript and TypeScript, which overlaps with Nextcloud Notes' use of JavaScript (but not its use of PHP).

I added $15 to the bounty, but apparently we're not supposed to be using that anymore...