Notebooks are the primary structural units of Arka. They are not just folders; they are multi-dimensional containers designed for deep organization, secure sharing, and visual clarity.
Intelligent Hierarchy
Organize your knowledge with precision. Notebooks allow you to category-cluster your notes, making it easy to manage multiple projects, study topics, or personal archives within a single workspace.
- Universal Grouping: Collect notes, sketches, and files under a single thematic umbrella.
- Workspace Logic: Move notebooks between personal and team workspaces as your projects evolve.
- Count & Context: Instantly see how many items are inside each notebook directly from your dashboard.
Creating your first notebook
Starting a new project is easy. Follow these steps to create a secure container for your thoughts:
- Access the Notebooks Page: Click the Book icon in your sidebar or navigate directly to the Notebooks tab.
- The New Notebook Button: Click the purple + New Notebook button in the top right corner of your dashboard.
- Customize & Encrypt: In the modal that appears, enter a Title and Description. These are automatically encrypted using your workspace keys.
- Identity & Brand: Pick a signature Emoji and Color to help you distinguish this notebook in your library.
- Set a Cover: Use the built-in search to find a professional Unsplash cover or upload your own to make the project feel unique.
- Tags & Creation: Add any relevant tags for organization and hit Create to launch your new project space.
Zero-Trust Security
Privacy is built into the metadata. Every notebook in Arka is protected by layered encryption to ensure your organization structure remains private.
- Metadata Encryption: Notebook titles and descriptions are encrypted on the client-side before they ever reach our servers.
- Unique IVs: Every notebook uses a unique Initialization Vector (IV) for its title and description, preventing pattern matching attacks.
- Key Management: Access to a notebook is mathematically tied to your workspace keys, ensuring that even if a database is breached, your structure remains unreadable.
The Visual Command Center
Arka uses visual cues to help you identify work faster. Customize every notebook to fit your personal or team brand.
- Expressive Emojis: Set a custom emoji as the notebook icon for instant identification in the sidebar.
- Dynamic Covers: Search millions of high-definition images from Unsplash or Pixabay directly from the notebook settings, or upload your own professional header.
- Vibrant Colors: Assign specific colors to notebooks to color-code your workflow (e.g., Red for Urgent, Blue for Research).
Secure Workspace Sharing
Collaboration in Arka is granular. You can share entire notebooks with specific workspaces without exposing your entire account.
- Workspace Badging: Shared notebooks feature a clear 'Shared' badge, showing exactly which teams have access.
- Permission Sync: When you share a notebook, titles and tags are re-encrypted for the target workspace members automatically.
- Central Management: Use the Share Modal to add or remove workspace access in real-time.
Smart Discovery & Views
Find what you need in seconds, no matter how large your library is.
- Dual View Modes: Switch between a beautiful visual Grid View (ideal for covers and icons) and a high-density List View (best for large archives).
- Advanced Sorting: Order your library by 'Most Recently Updated', 'Creation Date', or alphabetically by Title.
- Seamless Search: Our semantic search works across notebook metadata, allowing you to find containers by intent, not just exact keywords.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Notebook
Organize your projects with secure, high-fidelity containers:
- Go to the Notebooks page and click the purple + New Notebook button.
- Enter a Title and Description (Note: These are locally encrypted instantly).
- Pick a signature Emoji icon and assign a Color for visual organization.
- Select an Unsplash cover image to give your project a professional look.
- Click Create and start dragging existing notes into your new project space.