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GettingStarted

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Michael Butscher edited this page Jan 23, 2021 · 1 revision

What you need to know for a first quick start

  • Download the installer for Windows [http://groups.google.com/group/wikidpad/web/home here] or [http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/wikidPad/1161949996/1 here]. Or go to InstallLinux or InstallMacosx. Install.
  • Don't be scared by WikidPad's many features: The basics are very simple. Don't worry about the complex features in the beginning. You will grow into it later.
  • The main tree in WikidPad does not work like an outliner. If it confuses you, turn it off for now, you will understand it later.
  • To get yourself started:
  • Create yourself a wiki by clicking on "New" in the menu "Wiki". When you're asked for the database format I recommend "orginal sqlite" which will store in plain text files.
  • For now see WikidPad as a collection of text files. If you want to write something down about some topic, press CTRL-O (O like "open"), type the name of the topic and press enter. Now write down your notes. (Bonus: You can put headings into the text by starting a line with "++".)
  • If you want to see your notes on a topic, press Ctrl+O and type what you are looking for. Or use the search box in the main window for full-text-search.
  • You can insert links from one topic to another by putting the name of a topic in square brackets. Like [My software]. (Bonus: CTRL-Space auto-completes]

That's all you need to start out!

Another nice, more detailed tutorial: http://www.medicalnerds.com/how-to-make-notes-efficentlywith-wikidpad/

Short Getting started with WikidPad's tree and more advanced features

Stolen from: http://geekanddiva.com/archivedwiki/gtdonwikidpad.html

  • Find the ScratchPad and on it type a wikiword in PascalCase
  • as long as there are two upper-case letters (and at least one lower case letter) in the word, it will work
  • Note that it is automatically underlined
  • Wait for the auto-save, and take a look at the outline: the new page has appeared as a node under the ScratchPad (works since !WikidPadCompact 1.5.5u beta and !WikidPad 1.20beta2)
  • Click on the newly created link, and you will find yourself on the new page
  • Return to the ScratchPad, highlight the link, and cut it
  • Look at the outline: ''the page has vanished!'' (don't panic)
  • Go to the home page, paste your link there, and see how the outline is redrawn again
  • Now click on Views in the outline (you might have to wait for a refresh, or press Ctrl+S to save).... the new page now appears there under parentless-nodes (Was undefined-nodes in v1.8rc13_1)
  • Take a quick look at the other special functions showing up under the View section of the tree
  • Take a look at the Wiki Settings page and get a quick preview as to how you'll be tagging and annotating your pages
  • Just as a teaser, write the following first two lines on any page except the wiki settings page, and the next two lines on a different page, and see what happens in the tree (and then leave these texts in the wiki to use later in the tutorial): 
todo.email:Jo about keys
[Current:this week]

todo.home:mend chair leg
[complete:041229]

(The uppercase C in Current is a hack to make it appear at the top of the outline list.)
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