How boards map to folders

Every board is a real folder. Every file and folder on your board is the real thing, not a copy or a link, so anything you do to it on the board happens in the folder, and anything you do in your file manager shows up on the board.

Two levels, not all of them

A board draws the folder’s own contents, plus the contents of the folders inside it. Anything deeper appears as a plain folder.

flowchart TB
  subgraph disk["On disk"]
    direction TB
    D1["Project/"] --> D2["brief.pdf"]
    D1 --> D3["Assets/"]
    D3 --> D4["logo.png"]
    D3 --> D5["cover.jpg"]
    D3 --> D6["Raw/"]
    D6 --> D7["shoot-01.cr2"]
    D6 --> D8["shoot-02.cr2"]
  end

  subgraph drawn["Opened as a board"]
    direction TB
    B1["Project/"] --> B2["brief.pdf"]
    B1 --> B3["Assets/"]
    B3 --> B4["logo.png"]
    B3 --> B5["cover.jpg"]
    B3 --> B6["Raw/"]
  end

  disk ==> drawn

  classDef cut stroke-dasharray: 5 4;
  class B6 cut;

Assets/ is one level down, so the board lays its contents out for you. Raw/ is two levels down, so it appears as a plain folder you can open, pin, rename or style, but its files are not drawn on the board.

Turning off the extra level

To have a folder sit on the board as a single folder instead, select it in edit mode and untick Show Folder Contents. It then behaves like Raw/ above, with its own icon and name settings. See Folder settings.

Going deeper

To work inside Raw/ properly, make it a board of its own. See Nested boards.

Keeping up with changes

Deskboard watches your folder while the board is open. Add, rename, move or delete something anywhere else and the board updates. You do not need to reload it.

What is not a file

Widgets, your arrangement, the theme, the wallpaper and your annotations belong to the board, not the folder. They never appear as files on your board or in your file manager. See Where Deskboard stores things.