Note DB switcher; Developing a UI to start a Brand new notebook - without the demo

[pyz0123-cpu]

I have been using Trilium notes for about 6 months now and really enjoy it. I had a couple of suggestions that may or may have not been considered.

Suggestion 1 - Many people like to have separate notebooks. They may have one for work, one for personal use, one for church or outside organization tasks. It would be nice to have a UI that would easily allow them to switch between notebooks. Surely, you could have all the notebooks bunched together into one giant notebook - which I am sure some people do. But for those who do not want to mix their business with their personal things - it would be nice to be able to have separate notebooks and an easy way to switch from one to the other without using the command line switch (if even works). I attempted to build such an app and had it working almost 90% - but - the demo notebook got in the way -- see suggestion 2.

Suggestion 2 - Today, when a user wants to generate a brand new notebook, the software looks inside the trilium-data folder to see if a DB exists, and if it does not - it automatically presents the user with a demo notebook no matter what. That is OK - if you are a new user and never used the product. But if you are a long time user - and want to generate a brand new BLANK notebook - no can do. You must start with the demo and strip out all the demo notes. As part of suggestion 1 above, I attempted to make a UI app that allowed the user to: either select which notebook they wanted by it's name - OR they could generate a brand new notebook. This is very similar to how other note-taking apps work. The problem is the demo notebook gets in the way. It would be nice to have a clean way to generate a BLANK NEW notebook - without the demo notes.

Thank you for your consideration.

[eliandoran]

Hi,

Glad to hear you are enjoying Trilium. :)

Suggestion 1 - Many people like to have separate notebooks.

I've prototyped a database switcher for the desktop app. It works but it needs a lot of polishing so it's currently not on the roadmap, but I'm not against the idea either.

Suggestion 2 - Today, when a user wants to generate a brand new notebook, the software looks inside the trilium-data folder to see if a DB exists, and if it does not - it automatically presents the user with a demo notebook no matter what

This is not the case since v0.104.0, where the initial setup asks you whether you want to have the demo notes or not. Starting with the upcoming v0.105.0, you will also be able to remove your existing database and start from scratch directly from the app.

[ecodiv]

Will removing a DB also remove the backups (preferably not)?

[eliandoran]

It won't as far as I know, since it asks if you want to do a backup right before resetting the dstabase.

[Nriver]

I'd recommend using portable mode.

In portable mode (via the trilium-portable script / batch file or by setting the TRILIUM_DATA_DIR environment variable), Trilium stores the entire data directory — including the SQLite database (document.db), backups, config, etc. — right next to the application itself instead of in the usual system location (%APPDATA%, ~/.local/share, etc.).

This makes it easy to:

• Keep completely separate notebooks (work / personal / other) simply by having multiple folders, each containing its own Trilium copy + its own data directory.
• Switch between them by launching the corresponding portable instance.
• Carry a notebook around on a USB drive if you want.

You can also achieve a similar multi-notebook setup without full portable mode by creating simple launch scripts that point TRILIUM_DATA_DIR (and optionally TRILIUM_PORT) at different folders.

[pyz0123-cpu]

Thanks Nate. I was aware of these alternatives. But most other note taking apps have a UI that allows changing notebooks from within the app, and allow you to start a brand new notebook as well. For example: Menu item: File. Submenu items: New, Open (choose from an explorer type menu), Recent (list existing files you have recently opened before). Just that simple menu addition saves a ton of time building additional structure/scripting. Trilium’s current multi‑notebook workflow is technically possible, but ergonomically clunky. Again, this is just an observation/suggestion - I think it would be a really excellent addition to the software. I realize it is a bit more difficult, technically, because of the DB structure, but I think it could be done. And - as you probably already know, this is standard in Joplin, EverNote, OneNote, and AllMyNotes Organizer (which I would consider the closest competitors to Trilium).

…

On Wed, Aug 19, 2026 at 2:47 AM Nate River ***@***.***> wrote: *I'd recommend using portable mode.* In portable mode (via the trilium-portable script / batch file or by setting the TRILIUM_DATA_DIR environment variable), Trilium stores the entire data directory — including the SQLite database (document.db), backups, config, etc. — right next to the application itself instead of in the usual system location (%APPDATA%, ~/.local/share, etc.). This makes it easy to: - Keep completely separate notebooks (work / personal / other) simply by having multiple folders, each containing its own Trilium copy + its own data directory. - Switch between them by launching the corresponding portable instance. - Carry a notebook around on a USB drive if you want. You can also achieve a similar multi-notebook setup without full portable mode by creating simple launch scripts that point TRILIUM_DATA_DIR (and optionally TRILIUM_PORT) at different folders. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#11076?email_source=notifications&email_token=B5IAVH5PQIUUZGDE267PT4D5KVZTJA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCOBQG44DENBUUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-18078244>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B5IAVHYKFHUS2XIRA5BJUDD5KVZTJAVCNFSNUABHKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4TEMJRGE2TAOJ3IRUXGY3VONZWS33OHMYTANRTHE2TCNNBOYBA> . Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/B5IAVH7XM2G6DOFYRJ3JOSD5KVZTJA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCOBQG44DENBUUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVJTG633UMVZF62LPOM> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/B5IAVH2VL5F3WG4PYYA3DML5KVZTJA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCOBQG44DENBUUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVZTG633UMVZF6YLOMRZG62LE>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[pyz0123-cpu]

So I’ve been experimenting with a small Flutter app that acts as a notebook switcher for Trilium. While testing, I discovered that the .deb package ignores both the --data-dir command‑line switch and the TRILIUM_DATA_DIR environment variable. No matter what I pass, it always loads:

~/.local/share/trilium-data

I verified this by creating multiple empty notebook folders and launching Trilium with different --data-dir values and environment variables. In every case, the .deb version still opened the default data directory.

Because of this behavior, a selector/switcher app cannot switch notebooks when Trilium is installed via the .deb package.

My question is: does the AppImage version honor TRILIUM_DATA_DIR or --data-dir when launched from an external process?
If so, a switcher app would be feasible for AppImage users even though it isn’t possible with the .deb version.

Thanks for letting me know.

[eliandoran]

@pyz0123-cpu , there is no --data-dir command line switch, please refer to the documentation.

TRILIUM_DATA_DIR environment variable does work regardless of platform. If you are trying to run multiple instances of the app, you also need to set up a different TRILIUM_PORT otherwise running a second instance will simply focus the first one.