Asking for a Friend - UX

[pyz0123-cpu]

Hi there — I’m a fairly new Trilium user and I’m really enjoying exploring the system. I had a couple of questions I haven’t been able to figure out from the UI or the documentation.

1. How do I hide a note?
   I’ve been told that Trilium supports hidden notes, but I can’t seem to find where that option lives. I’ve checked the side panels, settings, and context menus, but I’m clearly missing something. If there’s a specific place or method to do this, I’d really appreciate a pointer.

2. Is there a list of valid attributes somewhere?
   I’ve heard that Trilium uses attributes/labels to categorize or control note behavior. I can see the Attributes panel, but I don’t see a reference or list of which attributes are available or what they do. Is there a built‑in way to browse them, or is the list documented somewhere?

I’m asking as a new user because I want to make sure I’m not overlooking something obvious. If these features are intentionally more advanced, that’s totally fine — I just want to understand the intended workflow.

Thanks for any guidance you can offer!

[dosubot[bot]]

To hide a note's children in Trilium, right-click the note in the Note Tree and choose Advanced → Hide subtree. This collapses all child notes from the tree view, making navigation cleaner—especially for notes with lots of children. You can reveal them again by right-clicking and selecting Advanced → Show subtree. For collections like Kanban Boards or Tables, this hiding is often enabled by default and can be toggled in the Options menu under the note's title or via the same context menu. If you want to hide notes using labels, you can add an inheritable #archived label and enable "Hide archived notes" in Tree settings (bottom left); this hides them from the tree but keeps them searchable and accessible if needed. There are also plugins and labels like #child:hidden for more advanced hiding options. For privacy, marking a note as "protected" hides its title from the recent notes list unless you unlock it with your password.
Details and screenshots here.

Trilium uses attributes (labels and relations) to control note behavior, appearance, and workflow. There isn’t a built-in browser or full list in the UI, but some attributes are documented in the wiki (like #toc for table of contents). The most complete list is in the codebase, where built-in attributes include things like inbox, archived, disableVersioning, hidePromotedAttributes, readOnly, widget, shareHiddenFromTree, toc, and more. Some are marked as "dangerous" and have special effects (for example, run, customRequestHandler, or widget).
See the full list and types here.

These features are part of Trilium’s standard workflow, but attribute-based customization is a bit more advanced and often used by power users or for automation. The UI for hiding subtrees is designed to be accessible to everyone, while attribute management offers deeper control if you want it.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[pyz0123-cpu]

Sorry -- I don't see it there anymore --> To hide a note's children in Trilium, right-click the note in the Note Tree and choose Advanced → Hide subtree.

[dosubot[bot]]

The "Hide subtree" option should still exist in the context menu when you right-click a note in the Note Tree, under Advanced → Hide subtree, for both normal notes and collections. If you don't see it, double-check that you're running a recent version (v0.102.0 or later) and that you're right-clicking a note that actually has children. For collections like Kanban or Table, hiding is often enabled by default and can also be toggled via the Options button under the note's title in the new layout. More details and screenshots are in the official documentation and feature PR.

If the menu option is still missing, you can use workarounds: add an inheritable #archived label to the parent note and enable "Hide archived notes" in Tree settings (bottom left), or use a plugin that hides all children with a #child:hidden label (plugin details). These methods keep subtrees out of view in the tree.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[pyz0123-cpu]

Thanks! I’m on Trilium 0.101.3 and I don’t see Advanced → Hide subtree anywhere in the right‑click menu. Is this option only in older versions, or has it moved in the new UI?”

[dosubot[bot]]

The 'Advanced → Hide subtree' option isn't available in Trilium 0.101.3—it was introduced in version 0.102.0, so you won't find it in your current UI and it hasn't moved elsewhere in your version source.

For 0.101.3, you can hide large subtrees by adding an inheritable #archived label to the parent note and enabling "Hide archived notes" in Tree settings (bottom left). This hides the children from the tree but keeps them searchable and accessible if needed details.

There's also a plugin workaround: add a #child:hidden label to the parent note, then use a custom JS note (#run=frontendStartup) and a CSS note (#appCss) to hide children in the tree and lists. This doesn't hide the expander arrow itself, but it does reduce sidebar clutter. More info and setup steps are in this discussion.

If you want native subtree hiding, consider upgrading to 0.102.0 or later. Let me know if you want step-by-step instructions for either workaround!

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[pyz0123-cpu]

Boy — my friend, the new user, is really confused now.

He was just trying to figure out how to hide a note or its children from the tree. Between version‑specific behavior, special labels, Tree settings, and custom JS/CSS workarounds, he’s decided he’s going to stick with CherryTree for now.

This does make me wonder how many new users quietly bounce off here without ever saying anything.

[pyz0123-cpu]

Um... excuse me ... when did Trilium go to .102.x -- I thought I had the latest version??

[dosubot[bot]]

Trilium hasn't officially released version 0.102.x yet—it's only available as a nightly or pre-release build right now. The latest stable release is still 0.101.3, which is why you don't see the new features in your version. References to 0.102.x in docs or discussions are about features in the nightlies, not the stable release. You can always check the latest releases (both stable and nightly) at the official releases page: https://github.com/TriliumNext/Trilium/releases/
Source

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[pyz0123-cpu]

Ah -- so officially - the only way for a new non-beta tester to hide a note is to use an attributes button - that they probably do not know about - and type in an attribute - where they have no full documented list to choose from- and thus could type it incorrectly and it would never work. Got it!

[pyz0123-cpu]

You know, you could always re‑institute the top menu and give new users a straightforward way to discover functionality.

[eliandoran]

If by the top menu you are referring to the ribbon, then no, the ribbon is not a straight-forward way to discover functionality. From what I've noticed from user tests, people have a hard time understanding the ribbon and find the whole bunch of icons confusing; this is why we switched to the New Layout. Nevertheless we didn't hide any functionality in the new layout, it's all reorganized and we are actively working to expose more system attributes to the user via the UI.

[pyz0123-cpu]

Just to clarify my original point: I wasn’t referring to the ribbon specifically. I meant the classic top menu bar (File / Edit / Note / Tools / etc.). That older pattern isn’t about visual style so much as discoverability. Even if the ribbon can be confusing, the menu bar has a long history of giving new users a predictable place to look for functionality, regardless of how the UI evolves.

I understand that the New Layout reorganizes things, but from a discoverability standpoint, a visible menu bar still provides a simple, universal map of what the application can do. Without it, new users often don’t know where to start looking — especially when features are distributed across side panels, context menus, and attributes.

I’m not arguing for the ribbon; I’m just noting that the classic menu bar solves a different problem. If the long‑term plan is to surface everything cleanly through the UI, that’s great — I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t overlooking an existing option to enable the menu bar for users who rely on that model.

[eliandoran]

How do I hide a note?
I’ve been told that Trilium supports hidden notes, but I can’t seem to find where that option lives. I’ve checked the side panels, settings, and context menus, but I’m clearly missing something. If there’s a specific place or method to do this, I’d really appreciate a pointer.

The concept of archived notes is pretty similar to hidden files that you commonly see in file managers. Right click a note in the note tree and select Archive. From the tree settings (at the bottom of the tree) you can then hide those archived notes.

Another way to "hide" your notes is to protect them, doing so will not just hide it but require a password to unlock them, making it more suitable for sensitive or personal data.

What @dosu mentioned is a new way to hide the children of a note, especially children of a collection which can grow in size thus making the tree cluttered. That is not released yet, but dosu saw it which can indeed cause some confusion.

Is there a list of valid attributes somewhere?
I’ve heard that Trilium uses attributes/labels to categorize or control note behavior. I can see the Attributes panel, but I don’t see a reference or list of which attributes are available or what they do. Is there a built‑in way to browse them, or is the list documented somewhere?

Built-in/system attributes are a more advanced feature of Trilium, so generally it's not necessary to learn about them as a user who is just starting. Our goal is to have all the system attributes adjustable through the UI, which we already did for example for archived or templates.

Nevertheless, there is auto-completion when typing in the attributes pane, as well as a list of predefined labels and relations.

[pyz0123-cpu]

I think part of my confusion came from seeing both the “Archive” option and the underlying hidden/child:hidden attributes in the Attributes panel. Since attributes seem to be the foundation for a lot of Trilium’s behavior, I wasn’t sure whether “hidden” was meant to be a user‑facing feature, an internal flag, or something that will eventually be replaced by a UI toggle like Archive and Template.

Your explanation makes sense: Archive is the supported way to hide notes today, Protect is the secure option, and the new hide‑children feature isn’t released yet. I appreciate the clarification.

If the long‑term plan is to surface more of these behaviors through the UI, that answers my question — I mainly wanted to confirm whether I was overlooking a documented attribute or an intended workflow. If there isn’t a reference yet, having one in the future would definitely be helpful.