Linked folders

A vault can contain a folder that is really a symbolic link (macOS, Linux) or a junction (Windows) to a folder somewhere else on the same computer. Pellet follows it: the notes inside show up in the vault under the link’s name, they’re indexed and searchable, and you can edit them, link to them, and put them on boards — while the files stay where they are on disk.

Only if you know why you want this

Linked folders are for people who already use symbolic links and have a reason to. They are not the way to share a folder between vaults or to “add” a folder you’d rather just move in. Used carelessly they can lose or corrupt data — most of the rules below exist because something would otherwise go wrong. If you’re unsure, move the folder into the vault instead.

Making one

Pellet doesn’t create links; your operating system does. With the vault closed in Pellet, in the vault folder:

• macOS / Linux: ln -s /path/to/the/folder "Name in vault"
• Windows (junction): mklink /J "Name in vault" C:\path\to\the\folder
• Windows (directory symlink, needs Developer Mode or an administrator prompt): mklink /D "Name in vault" C:\path\to\the\folder
• PowerShell: New-Item -ItemType Junction -Path "Name in vault" -Target C:\path\to\the\folder

Open the vault and the folder appears with a small link icon after its name. Hover it to see where it points. Settings → Vault health lists every link and says why any were refused.

You can also create a link while the vault is open — Pellet notices and lists it within a few seconds.

The rules

Pellet follows a link only when all of these hold. A link that breaks one is left alone — nothing inside it is listed — and you’ll see a message saying which rule.

• Only folders. A link to a single file is ignored.
• The target is outside the vault. A link to a folder inside the same vault would list the same notes twice, and Pellet would not know which one you meant.
• The target doesn’t contain the vault. A link to the vault’s own parent folder (or the vault itself) is a loop.
• Targets don’t overlap. Two links to the same folder, or one link to a folder inside another link’s target, would put one file at two paths. The first link (by name) wins; the other is ignored.
• One level deep. A link inside a linked folder is not followed.

Never synced

Linked folders are left out of Device sync — entirely

Nothing inside a linked folder is sent to your other devices, and nothing your other devices send lands inside one. Pellet treats the folder as belonging to wherever it really is, not to the vault.

If the folder was already synced before you turned it into a link, your other devices keep the copy they have, and this device stops sending changes to it. Settings → Device sync lists it under the files that can’t sync. If you later remove the link, the folder is gone from this vault as far as sync can tell — that counts as deleting it, and your other devices will follow, with the usual confirmation for a large folder.

This is deliberate and stricter than the folder merely “not playing well” with sync: a linked folder can be a drive you unplug, a folder another program owns, or something far too big to replicate to a phone.

Desktop only

Phones and tablets ignore links — the folder simply isn’t there on mobile, whether you sync or open the same folder from a cloud drive. A vault opened through the iOS Files app or Android’s document picker can’t contain links in the first place.

When the target isn’t there

Unplug the drive, rename the folder, or lose the network share, and the linked folder stays in your vault — dimmed, empty, marked unavailable when you hover it. Its notes disappear from lists and search until the target is back, then return on their own. Nothing is deleted on either side.

Moving and deleting

• Deleting a note inside a linked folder moves it to this vault’s trash like any other note, and Restore puts it back. If the linked folder is on a different drive, the note is copied across and then removed at the source.
• A whole folder can’t be moved into or out of a linked folder, and neither can a folder inside a linked folder on another drive be moved to the trash. Pellet says so rather than half-copying a tree. Move the files instead, or do it in Finder or Explorer.
• Deleting the linked folder itself offers Remove link. Only the link is removed; the folder it points to and everything in it are untouched, and nothing goes to the trash (a link in the trash would still be live). Recreating the link is one command.

What to expect elsewhere

• File history is kept in this vault under the link’s path. Rename or remove the link and the history for those notes doesn’t follow it. Two vaults linking the same folder keep separate histories.
• Search by meaning re-indexes the folder’s notes when its target comes back after being unavailable.
• The local API and MCP: if you allow an AI agent a folder that is a link, you’ve allowed it the folder the link points to.
• Reveal in Finder / Explorer on a note inside a linked folder shows you where the file really is.
• Same name, two files: when a note in a linked folder has the same name as one in the vault, a plain [[link]] by name prefers the vault’s own file.