Thinky: A Comprehensive Guide 🚀

Welcome to Thinky, an innovator’s notebook for the digital age. This guide will get you up and running quickly.

Windows

Most of your work happens inside windows. There are two kinds: editors and PDFs.

Editor windows are where you can write anything you want. Take notes, brainstorm ideas, anything you want.

PDF windows are where you read and annotate documents.

Every window belongs to a workspace (see below).

Adding New Windows

• Editor – Click Add Editor. Choose an existing editor or create a new one.
  • Changes to a shared editor appear in every workspace where it is open.
• PDF – Click Open PDF and select a file.

Closing Windows

Click the red X in the window’s top-right corner.

Minimizing Windows

Click the icon.
Minimized windows appear in the bar at the bottom; click any icon there to restore it.
Use the global / buttons (bottom-right) to restore or minimize all windows at once.

Rearranging Windows

Drag and drop to reorder windows—minimized or not.

Resizing Windows

Drag the right edge to expand or shrink.

Window Control Bar

• Title – Double-click to rename
• Tags – Click the tag icon to add tags
• Zoom – Click the magnifier to focus on this window’s workspace
• Minimize – Send the window to the minimized bar
• Close – (Not shown on the primary editor) closes the window

Workspaces

Thinky lets you keep multiple contexts open simultaneously—no more closing one project to open another. You can create any number of workspaces and switch between them instantly.

What Is a Workspace?

A workspace is a set of windows (editors or PDFs) that are open together—minimized windows still count as open.

Workspace Hierarchy

Workspaces form a tree, like folders on your computer. A workspace can contain child workspaces, allowing unlimited depth. This means you can create any workspace setup you want. Organize to your heart's content.

Suggested Workspace Patterns

• One workspace per project
• Sub-workspaces for project areas or phases
• One workspace per PDF (plus an editor for notes)
• A workspace with several editors to separate ideas by topic

Don't feel like you have to follow these example patterns. This is just one way to do it that I've found works well for me. (Yes, I personally use Thinky as well)

The Workspace Editor

Each workspace has a workspace editor that cannot be deleted (only minimized).
Child workspaces’ editors also appear in the parent; deleting one deletes its child workspace.

Adding Workspaces

• Click Workspaces → Add to create a workspace in the current location.
• Right-click an existing workspace to add a child.
• Creating a new editor with Add Editor automatically creates a connected child workspace.

Deleting Workspaces

Right-click a workspace in the Workspaces view and choose Delete.

Managing Workspaces

In the Workspaces view you can:

• Rename a workspace
• Move: use cut/paste or drag-and-drop to reposition within the tree

Managing PDF Files

Thinky’s PDF library is central to reading and annotation.

Opening the File Manager

Click PDF Files in the Control Bar.

Uploading Files

Click the icon in the File Manager, then choose one or more PDFs from your computer.

Opening Files

• Double-click a file in the File Manager, or click Open PDF in the Control Bar.

File Folders

You can create folders in the File Manager to organize your PDFs. The folders you create in the File Manager are a separate organization system from your workspaces.

Working With PDFs

Thinky helps you organize what you read by letting you annotate passages and tag them.

Navigating PDFs

• Use arrow buttons or enter a page number.
• Click to open the Table of Contents (if available).

Creating an Annotation

Select text → right-click → Highlight.

Deleting an Annotation

Right-click the highlighted text → Delete.

Tagging an Annotation

Right-click selected or annotated text → Tag.
Choose one or more tags (Thinky creates the annotation first if needed).

Tag Hierarchy

Tags are arranged in a tree—organize by category, project, or any system you like.

Managing Tags

Click Tags in the Control Bar to open the tag organizer.
Right-click or drag-and-drop to add, delete, rename, or move tags.

Notes on Annotations

Right-click an annotation → Note to add personal notes.

The Item Finder

Several of the things you do in Thinky (Adding editors to workspaces, opening PDFs, selecting tags) will use the Item Finder.

The Item Finder consists of a search bar with a list of results. In some cases, selecting an item will open that item. In other cases, such as tagging, it will toggle whether that tag is connected to the item being tagged.

The Item Finder has a sense of which directory you are in. Above the search bar you will see a list of directories that you are inside, all the way back to the "Home" directory.

Here are the ways that you can control the Item Finder:

• Press "Backspace" with an empty seach bar and you will go "up" one level in the directory structure
• Press "/" when a directory name is in the search bar and you will step into that directory
• Press "Tab" with a partial directory name in the search bar to autocomplete and step into a directory
• Use the arrow keys and "Enter" or your mouse to select an item

The Annotation Library

The Library is where your reading and annotation work comes together.

Opening the Library

Click Library in the Control Bar.

Choosing What to Search

Use the dropdown to search Annotations, Documents, or Editors.

Filtering Results

• Content – e.g., annotation text or document body
• Tag / Folder / Workspace – pick an item; choose Exact match or Include children to expand the scope

Working With Results

• Maximize – Click the expand button for more details
• Open – Right-click → Open
• Edit Tags – Click the tag icon

Filter Management

• Save: store the current filter for later use.
• Load: choose a saved filter from the dropdown.
• Clear: reset all active filters.

Misc Features

Undo / Redo

Use the toolbar buttons to undo or redo recent actions (major operations like move or delete are undoable).

Settings

Click to open the Settings menu.

Advanced Tips

• Vim users can turn on vim controls in the settings menu. This turns on a vim emulator in the Editor windows. You're welcome.
• Vim users might also enjoy using Ctrl-j/k to navigate the results in the Item Finder

Bug Reports 🐞

Thinky is powerful, but you may still encounter issues.
Please email bug reports to mail.thinky.app@gmail.com.
Include screenshots/video and clear steps to reproduce the problem.