Pages & Workspace

What Are Pages?

Pages are the heart of Thoughtful. Think of them as smart documents that combine the flexibility of a note-taking app with the structure of a project management tool. Each page has:

• Rich content: Write in markdown with support for headings, lists, tables, tasks, and more
• Properties: Structured data like status, owner, due date, and custom fields
• Hierarchy: Nest pages under other pages to create a logical structure
• Real-time collaboration: Work together with your team, seeing changes as they happen
• AI awareness: Your AI assistant understands your pages and can help create, edit, and organize them

Unlike traditional documents, pages in Thoughtful are designed to be living documents that evolve with your work. The AI assistant can read your pages, understand their context, and help you keep everything organized.

Creating Pages

From the Sidebar

The quickest way to create a page is from the sidebar:

• Click the + New Page button at the top of the pages panel
• Give your page a title
• Start writing or let the AI help you get started

As a Child Page

To create a page nested under another:

• Right-click on a page in the sidebar
• Select Add child page
• Enter the title and optional subtitle

Child pages inherit context from their parent, making it easy for AI to understand the relationship between your documents.

Through AI

Simply ask your AI assistant to create pages for you:

> "Create a page called 'Q1 Planning' with sub-pages for each team"

The AI will create the structure and can even populate initial content based on your instructions.

Page Types

Thoughtful supports three types of pages:

Regular Pages

Standard pages for notes, documentation, meeting minutes, or any freeform content. These use a rich text editor with full markdown support.

Database Pages

Database pages work like Notion databases. When you create a database page:

• Define a schema: Add custom columns like text, number, date, select, multi-select, or person fields
• Child pages become rows: Pages nested under a database inherit its property schema
• Table view: See all children in a sortable, filterable table
• Custom properties: Each child can have values for every column in the schema

This is perfect for:

• Task trackers with status, priority, and assignee
• Content calendars with publish dates and categories
• Team directories with roles and contact info
• Project portfolios with budgets and timelines

File Pages

Store and edit code files directly in Thoughtful. File pages support:

• Syntax highlighting for common languages (TypeScript, JavaScript, JSON, etc.)
• Real-time collaborative editing
• Full text search across file contents

Page Properties

Every page has built-in properties that help you track and organize your work:

Status

Track where each page stands in your workflow:

• Idea - Early concept, not yet started
• Not Started - Ready to begin but not in progress
• On Track - Active work proceeding as planned
• At Risk - May miss deadlines or have blockers
• Off Track - Behind schedule or blocked
• Completed - Work is done
• Paused - Temporarily on hold

Owner

Assign a team member to be responsible for a page. You can assign:

• Existing team members
• Contacts (people you've added but who haven't joined yet)

Due Date

Set a target completion date for time-sensitive work.

Blockers

Link pages that are blocking progress on the current page. This creates a dependency relationship so you can track what needs to happen before work can continue.

Custom Properties (Database Pages)

For database pages, define custom columns:

Organizing Your Workspace

Hierarchy and Nesting

Create logical structures by nesting pages:

To move a page:

• Drag and drop in the sidebar
• Or right-click and select Move to...

Linking Between Pages

Use @mentions to create links between pages:

• Type @ in the editor
• Search for the page you want to link
• Select it from the dropdown

Linked pages are clickable and help AI understand relationships in your workspace.

Focus Mode

When you need to concentrate on a specific area:

• Right-click a page in the sidebar
• Select Focus here

This filters the view to show only that page and its descendants. Click Exit focus to return to the full view.

Real-Time Collaboration

Thoughtful uses CRDT (Conflict-free Replicated Data Type) technology to enable seamless real-time collaboration:

What You'll See

• Live cursors: See where your teammates are typing, with their name and a colored cursor
• Instant updates: Changes appear immediately, no need to refresh
• Presence indicators: Avatars show who's currently viewing each page
• Offline support: Keep working if you lose connection; changes sync when you're back online

How It Works

Unlike traditional autosave, Thoughtful uses Yjs for collaborative editing. This means:

• No "someone else is editing" warnings
• No merge conflicts to resolve manually
• Changes from multiple people integrate smoothly
• Your work is continuously saved

Reconnection

If your connection drops:

• You'll see a "Reconnecting..." indicator
• Your edits are preserved locally
• When connection returns, everything syncs automatically
• If reconnection takes too long, you'll see a notification

Comments and Suggested Changes

Adding Comments

To leave feedback on specific text:

• Select the text you want to comment on
• Click the comment button that appears
• Write your comment and submit

Comments are anchored to the text they reference, so even if the document changes, comments stay with the relevant content.

Comment Threads

Comments support threaded replies:

• Click on a comment highlight to view the thread
• Add replies to continue the conversation
• Resolve threads when feedback is addressed

Suggested Changes

When reviewing content, you can suggest changes instead of editing directly:

• Switch to Suggesting mode in the editor toolbar
• Make your edits as normal
• Your changes appear as suggestions (deletions struck through, additions highlighted)
• The page owner can accept or reject each suggestion

This is perfect for:

• Editorial review of documentation
• Collaborative editing where approval is needed
• Asynchronous feedback on drafts

AI and Pages

Your AI assistant has deep integration with pages:

Reading Pages

AI can read any page to understand context:

> "What's the current status of Project Alpha?"

The assistant will look at the page properties, content, and related pages to give you a complete picture.

Creating and Updating

Ask the AI to make changes:

> "Create a new page under Engineering called 'API Documentation'"

> "Update the status of the Q1 roadmap to 'completed'"

> "Add a due date of next Friday to all unfinished tasks"

Organizing

Let AI help restructure your workspace:

> "Move all archived pages to an 'Archive' folder"

> "Create a database page for tracking customer feedback"

Content Generation

AI can help write and edit content:

> "Write an outline for this feature spec"

> "Summarize the key points from this meeting notes page"

> "Expand the architecture section with more detail"

Keyboard Shortcuts

Archiving and Deleting

Archiving

When you're done with a page but want to keep it for reference:

• Right-click the page
• Select Archive

Archived pages are hidden from the main view but can be restored. Access them from Settings > Archived Pages.

Deleting

To permanently remove a page:

• Archive the page first
• Go to Settings > Archived Pages
• Select the page and click Delete permanently

When deleting a page with children:

• Delete all: Removes the page and all descendants
• Keep children: Moves children to the deleted page's parent

Tips for Effective Pages

• Use hierarchy thoughtfully: Create meaningful parent-child relationships that reflect how information relates

• Leverage database pages: When you have structured, repeating data, a database page makes it sortable and filterable

• Keep pages focused: Each page should have a clear purpose; split large pages into focused children

• Use properties: Status, owner, and due date help you and the AI track what needs attention

• Link generously: @mentions create a web of connected knowledge that helps AI understand context

• Comment instead of editing: When reviewing others' work, comments preserve the original while providing feedback

• Let AI help organize: Periodically ask the AI to review your structure and suggest improvements