The .notespace format

A .notespace file is a UTF-8 JSON workspace, the format NoteSpace uses for backups. Notr reads and writes it with the same names, types and limits, so a backup made by either app opens in the other. Notr uses it for backups and imports; its own storage is SQLite.

Conventions

• Property names are camelCase.
• Enums are numbers.
• Colors are ARGB as unsigned 32-bit numbers: 4286593715 is 0xFF803AB3.
• Dates are ISO 8601 with an offset, such as "2026-09-28T15:18:00.123456+02:00". Notr writes at most six fractional digits; it reads any number.
• Binary data is base64.
• Text offsets (start, length in marks) are UTF-16 code units.
• Unknown properties are ignored, and missing ones take their defaults.

Structure

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "revision": 42,
  "notebooks": [{
    "id": "…", "title": "My notebook", "color": 4286593715,
    "sectionGroups": [{ "id": "…", "title": "Research", "parentId": null,
                        "color": 4288832184, "isCollapsed": false }],
    "sections": [{
      "groupId": null, "id": "…", "title": "Getting started", "color": 4287652792,
      "pages": [{
        "id": "…", "title": "Welcome", "created": "…", "modified": "…",
        "level": 0, "isFavorite": false, "isCollapsed": false,
        "paper": 0, "paperColor": 4294967295,
        "blocks": [ … ], "ink": [ … ], "versions": [ … ]
      }]
    }]
  }],
  "trash": [{ "sectionId": "…", "deleted": "…", "page": { … } }],
  "settings": { "selectedPageId": "…", "darkMode": false, "horizontalTabs": false,
                "ribbonCollapsed": false, "zoom": 1 }
}

Blocks

{
  "id": "…", "kind": 0, "x": 48, "y": 145, "width": 600, "height": 52,
  "text": "A little space for your big ideas.",
  "format": { "fontFamily": "Segoe UI", "fontSize": 27, "bold": true, "italic": false,
              "underline": false, "strike": false, "color": 4285542560, "highlight": 0,
              "alignment": 0, "bullets": false, "numbered": false },
  "marks": [{ "start": 2, "length": 6, "format": { … }, "link": "https://…" }],
  "checked": false, "tags": ["Important"], "cells": [["A", "B"], ["1", "2"]],
  "data": "iVBORw0…", "fileName": "photo.png", "mediaType": "image/png"
}

A mark's format is complete, not a difference from the block's. Where marks overlap, the later one wins.

Ink

{ "id": "…", "points": [{ "x": 1, "y": 2, "pressure": 0.5 }],
  "color": 4284955319, "width": 3, "tool": 2 }

For shapes, the first and last points are opposite corners (or the ends of a line).

Versions

{ "id": "…", "created": "…", "description": "Saved version", "json": "{…page…}" }

json is the page as JSON, without its own versions. id is Notr's: NoteSpace ignores it, and versions without one get a new ID when read.

Enums

Validation

Every file is validated completely before it's used; a file that fails is refused with a message, and nothing is replaced. The rules are in notr-core/src/validate.rs and groups.rs:

• schemaVersion must be 1.
• Every notebook, group, section, page, block and stroke ID is non-empty, at most 100 characters, and unique in the whole workspace.
• Titles are at most 500 characters.
• A group's parent and a section's group must be groups of the same notebook; groups can't form cycles or nest deeper than 8.
• Page level is 0 to 2. Versions: at most 20 per page.
• Block geometry: x and y from 0 to 100,000; width 24 to 20,000; height 12 to 20,000; all finite.
• Block text: at most 2 MiB (UTF-16); marks at most 10,000 and inside the text; tags at most 100 of at most 200 characters; at most 500 rows of at most 50 cells of at most 100,000 characters; data at most 16 MiB.
• Formats: font size 6 to 144, alignment 0 to 2, family at most 200 characters.
• Strokes: width 0.1 to 100; at most 100,000 points each and 2,000,000 per page; points finite, within ±100,000, pressure 0 to 1.
• Counts: 100 notebooks, 1,000 sections and 1,000 groups per notebook, 10,000 pages, 100,000 blocks, 2,000 pages in the trash.
• zoom is 0.25 to 4.
• The file is at most 32 MiB.

Older NoteSpace files without section groups or isCollapsed load as ungrouped and expanded.