Overview - Syntax
Looksyk uses Markdown as the primary syntax for writing notes.
Additionally, Looksyk supports some custom syntax for specific features:
Links
[[a link]] creates a link to a page, typing [[ opens the content assist in "insert link mode"
Page- / Block-properties
Properties are name-value pairs that reside within your documents. Primarily, they are associated with specific blocks, though in some queries they are also linked to the entire page.
key:: value creates a block property with the key key and the value value. Please note the two colons and the
following space ::
Page properties can be defined at any position in a block.
Currently, the following features use block properties:
- Boards use block properties to assign cards to columns (see Boards)
- The query
plot-propertyuses page properties to plot their values over time (see Query plot page property) - The query
tableuses page properties , to create columns and cells across documents (wiki sites and journal entries). (see Query table)
Emojis
Insert emojis with :emoji: (all emojis from openmoji available)
Lists in blocks
Lists inside of blocks are supported.
- Unordered lists are supported with
*(and not with-, because-starts a new block) - Ordered lists are supported with
1.,2....
Navigation and Editing
-
Ctrl+Enter creates a new block
-
Ctrl+Space (alternative 1: Shift + Space, alternative 2: ⌥ meta + Space, alternative 3: Ctrl + k e.g. for MacOS / Arch) opens the content assist
- With open markdown block -> "insert mode"
- With no open markdown block -> "navigation mode"
-
Alt+Left Navigate to the previous page
-
Alt+Right Navigate to the next page
-
Ctrl+R Refresh the current page
-
Ctrl+Shift+F opens the content assist in "search mode" (case-sensitive search across all pages and journals)
-
Ctrl++ / . and Ctrl+- zoom in and out, Ctrl+ 0 resets the zoom
-
tab and reverse tab increase and decrese the indentation of the current block. This shortcut can be disabled via the configuration.
Page names and hierarchy

Every tag [[myTag]] links to a page with the name myTag
To create a hierarchy, use the / character in the page name. [[myTag / mySubTag]] creates a page
mySubTag with the parent tag myTag
and the parent tag myTag
You can navigate to the parent page by clicking on the parent tag in the page header
You can query the page hierarchy with the query page-hierarchy (see page hierarchy)
Favorites
You can mark a page as favorite by clicking on the star next to the page title. Favorites are displayed in the sidebar. You can reorder the favorites by dragging them
Code-Blocks
- Code block start with three backticks and the language name (e.g. ```rust)
- Code blocks are highlighted with highlightjs. For proper highlighting, the language name must be provided
- Code blocks can be inserted with the query
insert-file-content( see render assets)
Todos
- Todo-blocks are blocks with a leading
[ ]for todo or[x]for done. The rendered block has a checkbox that can be toggled - You can query todos with the query
todos(see todos) - A todo block can be associated with a tags.
- The todo is always tagged with the tag of the page it is on. If the todo is
on a page with the tag
myTag, the todo is also tagged withmyTag. - Furthermore, the todo can be tagged with a custom tag. All tags that are in the todo block are associated with the todo.
- All tags in previous blocks that have a lower indentation will also be associated with the todo.
- The todo is always tagged with the tag of the page it is on. If the todo is
on a page with the tag
HTML in Markdown
You can use HTML in Markdown, but it is not recommended. If you want to style your markdown, simply pack them in a
<div> with a css-class and style them in the user-theme.css file.
Please note, that double-line breaks in the markdown file gets rendered in a <p> tag, and all existing "manually"
added tags get automatically closed.
If you want to wrap your tag across multiple lines, o you can use <br> to create line breaks.
The html gets sanitized, so you cannot use any script tags or other potentially dangerous HTML tags.
History
Looksyk has a history feature that allows you to navigate to the previous and next page. The history is stored in the local storage of the browser and is not synchronized with other devices.
The history is displayed in the sidebar and can be dropped. The history is limited to 5 visible entries, but all entries are stored in the local storage.