---
title: File Tree And File Management
description: Work with local folders, Markdown files, and file actions in Iliad.
category: Workspace
order: 40
---

# File Tree And File Management

Iliad opens a normal folder on your Mac as a workspace. The file tree is a view of files on disk, not a separate vault or database.

> Image to add: file-tree-management.png - Sidebar file tree with a Markdown file context menu showing duplicate, rename, copy path, reveal, and move to Trash.

## What It Does

- Opens Markdown files in the editor.
- Creates new Markdown documents and folders.
- Renames, duplicates, and moves files or folders to Trash.
- Copies paths and reveals files in Finder.
- Opens non-Markdown files with the system default app.
- Moves files or folders by dragging them into another folder or the workspace root.
- Shows a document's comments file as a **Comments · N** row under the document you have open.
- Marks documents changed, created, or deleted by another tool, so you can review them.

## How To Use It

Use the sidebar buttons to create a document or folder. Use the file or folder context menu for duplicate, rename, copy path, reveal in Finder, or move to Trash.

Click a Markdown file to edit it. Click a non-Markdown file to open it outside Iliad.

Use the topbar back and forward buttons to move through recently opened Markdown documents.

To move an item, drag it in the file tree and drop it on a folder or the workspace root. Iliad does not overwrite an existing destination.

## What To Expect

Markdown edits autosave to the real file. File operations happen in the workspace folder. Moving to Trash uses the operating system trash instead of permanently deleting immediately.

A document's comments file (`name.comments.md`) follows it. Renaming, moving, duplicating, or trashing a document in Iliad does the same to its comments. The comments row can be opened, revealed in Finder, or moved to Trash, but not renamed or moved on its own. Since v0.4.0, a `name.notes.md` file is an ordinary document.

## Limits

- Iliad is focused on Markdown editing. It can open other file types externally but does not edit them in the main editor.
- Duplication works for files. Folders can't be duplicated.
- Drag moves reject unsafe targets, including same-folder moves, collisions, hidden paths, symlinks, and moving a folder into itself.
- File operations can fail if the file was moved, deleted, locked, or changed by another app.
- Names ending in `.comments.md` are reserved for comments files. Iliad will not create or rename a document to one of them.
- Renames and moves made outside Iliad (for example by an agent) do not carry comments files along.