[Kechos23]

Desktop Linked Workspace: original files, folder workflows and draft protection

This updates the reviewed Linked Workspace proposal with the requested hierarchy, actions and safety behavior. It depends on the separately proposed shared persistence/reliability changes; those are not presented as defects introduced by Linked Workspace.

User-facing behavior

• Group Vault, Linked Workspace and Secret Workspace under WORKSPACES. Use file-symlink / folder-symlink for real linked sources, keeping normal Vault icons unchanged.
• Provide Link file, Link folder and Create new linked file actions in the desktop toolbar and Linked Workspace menu. Keep creation separated from linking existing sources.
• Show source paths on hover instead of crowding file names. Use compact, distinct conflict/missing-source indicators with explanatory tooltips.
• Keep local recovery drafts separate from Vault storage, preserving linked-folder hierarchy. Saving the original is explicit; automatic persistence does not write the source.
• Support layout-independent Ctrl+S. Save As appends .md when needed and proposes the document name. A Vault export keeps its Vault document and focuses the new linked document; a linked Save As keeps both linked documents.
• Support linked file/folder conversion to independent Vault copies, including existing sidebar HTML dragging. Preserve folder hierarchy and original external files. Vault folder Save As creates a separate linked folder without merging into an existing destination.
• Keep conversions independent: reopening/rescanning the original can create a linked entry without consuming a Vault copy. Explicit rescan can restore entries previously excluded by removal/conversion.
• Use consistent status toasts and centered confirmations for consequential choices. Original-save confirmation has a preference to skip subsequent ordinary confirmations; conflict protection remains active.
• Keep the default Vault Welcome content unchanged. Identify unmodified built-in guides using metadata and use book-open-text for both guides. Update only the Linked Workspace guide.
• Allow middle-button tab closing in the shared web/desktop interface.

Safety and failure handling

• Capture live primary/split editor input before refresh, save, conversion and workspace maintenance, rather than relying on the debounce having finished.
• Preserve a local draft when a source changes, disappears or returns. Recheck relevant draft/source state after confirmation; cancelling does not discard the draft.
• Establish watchers for newly saved linked files. Persist bulk-removal exclusions before discarding records, and fail without a success message when persistence fails.
• Treat imported backup paths as data, not authorization to write external files or create watchers. Restored drafts need explicit relinking.
• Bound native file reads and folder scans; serialize relevant operations and report partial export/conversion results accurately.

Platform and limits

Linked-source actions require desktop native APIs and are hidden/disabled in the web app, including Docker-served deployments. Browser recovery content remains usable without reconnecting local paths. Native development/manual evidence is Windows-based; macOS/Linux native behavior is not claimed verified.

This branch uses the official Neutralino 6.5.0 runtime/client pins. Standard external HTML file drops remain Vault-copy imports. Native path drops, single-instance integration and the experimental pointer fallback are proposed separately in draft #269.

Scan limits: 10,000 Markdown files, 40,000 entries, 2,000 directories, depth 32, 20 MiB per Markdown source, 200 MiB staged content and a 60-second scan budget. Recovery is not a backup. Native APIs do not provide an atomic compare-and-write/no-overwrite guarantee, so a race with another process cannot be completely eliminated by application-side checks.

Validation

• 117 unit tests passed.
• Full Chromium run: 495/495 passed after the Media/Table focus-race fixes, before final locale completion. After completing the catalogs, 16 focused Chromium tests passed for localization/typography, desktop Save, action icons and web isolation; static validation also passed.
• Locale audit passed: 15 catalogs × 1,580 keys, with aligned placeholders and reviewed finite exceptions for legitimate unchanged terms. Actual English fallback labels were translated and internal toast IDs/search tokens/selectors were removed from extraction. Native-language quality still benefits from native-speaker review.
• The user accepted Windows smoke tests on the final official-runtime review executable: language switching/document preservation, Save/Save As, external conflict handling and folder conversion. Native macOS/Linux, Firefox/WebKit and comprehensive native failure/race testing remain unverified.

Review dependency

Depends on shared safety/reliability PR #279. Because this cross-fork PR still targets upstream main, its full diff currently includes that baseline. For the Linked Workspace-only changes, use the incremental comparison. After #279 merges, I will rebase onto the resulting upstream baseline.

[Kechos23]

All good from my side. I still think that the open book icon fits better for the welcome files and makes them stand out from the actual .md files that users would like to edit and view but stil it is your call at the end

Issue Resolved

[ThisIs-Developer]

Thanks for all the hard work and collaboration on this PR!

We've made several improvements together, and I believe all previously reported issues have now been resolved. The Linked Workspace feature looks much more polished and stable.

[ThisIs-Developer]

@Kechos23 Thank you so much for your patience and for taking the time to work with me and accommodate my preferences!

I also really appreciate your suggestions, especially the idea of using the guide icon. I genuinely value that kind of feedback. Markdown Viewer is built for the community, and I believe every community member's suggestions matter. I always try to listen, test things myself, and make improvements based on what works best. That's why I decided to go with your guide icon suggestion. 😊

I've personally reviewed and polished the feature several times, making a few small adjustments based on what I felt was needed. But the core feature still stays true to your original vision.

Thank you again for bringing this idea to life and collaborating with me throughout the process! Feel free to check out the latest changes.

Linked Workspace will be available in an upcoming desktop release very soon! 🚀❤️