This page explains how to manipulate the note tree in TriliumNext, focusing on moving notes.

Drag and Drop

You can easily rearrange the note tree by dragging and dropping notes, as demonstrated in the example above.

Importing files

A file or archive can easily be imported into Trilium just by dragging it inside the note tree.

Note that a drag & drop always imports with safe import on, meaning that some features such as scripts are disabled in the upcoming notes. To bypass that, use the dedicated import feature (right click → Import into note).

Unlike the import dialog, the drag & drop also has some basic auto-detection of the import. For example, dragging a .zip file with a .obsidian folder in it will automatically trigger a dedicated Obsidian import.

Keyboard Manipulation

Trilium offers efficient keyboard-based manipulation using the following shortcuts:

• Ctrl + ↑ and Ctrl +↓: Move the note up or down in the order.
• Ctrl+←: Move the note up in the hierarchy by changing its parent to the note's grandparent.
• Ctrl+→: Move the note down in the hierarchy by setting its parent to the note currently above it (this action is best understood through a demo or hands-on experience).
• ← and →: Expand and collapse a sub-tree.

Context Menu

You can also move notes using the familiar cut and paste functions available in the context menu, or with the associated keyboard shortcuts: CTRL-C ( copy), Ctrl + X (cut) and Ctrl + V (paste).

See Note tree contextual menu for more information.

Tree Settings

Click the tree icon in the tree toolbar to open the tree settings popup. It contains the following options:

• Hide archived notes: When enabled, archived notes are not shown in the tree.
• Automatically collapse notes: When enabled, notes are collapsed after a period of inactivity to keep the tree tidy.
• Follow active note: When enabled (default), the tree automatically scrolls and expands parent nodes to keep the currently active note visible. When disabled, the tree is fully detached from navigation — only the background highlight of the active note is updated, but the tree viewport and its expanded/collapsed state are never changed by navigation. Use the crosshair button to manually jump the tree to the active note at any time.

Keyboard shortcuts

The note tree comes with multiple keyboard shortcuts to make editing faster, consult the dedicated Keyboard shortcuts section.