A set of options in the File ▸ Watch allows the creation of various types of watched folders linked to external applications. The result is a form of AutoFetch operation.
Multiple watched folders of the same source type (e.g. more than one Notes folder) are allowed though be mindful heavy use of this feature may affect overall performance, i.e. he feature is not designed as a fully-synced system but rather for importing/updating some external data.
A watched folder is always added at root level in a document (and should not be moved elsewhere). This is for necessary design considerations re performance. Likewise the watched destination is envisaged as a single item or small collection of items and not a large hierarchy of folders/files.
The prototypes of watched notes specify that watched notes are imported with a $TextBackgroundColor of white, even if dark styles, since external documents are most likely compatible with light background colours.
Notes imported from watch folders respect ziplinks-style '[[' markup. To disable ziplinks in a watched folder note, set $Ziplinks to false. To disable ziplinks throughout a watch folder, set $Ziplinks for the folder to false.
Legacy support note: watched folder support for Evernote was discontinued in v9.0+ due to internal changes in Evernote.
Refresh timing: all watched folders are refreshed when the TBX document is opened. Then, while the document remains open, the folders are refreshed periodically on their own cycle. The frequency of that cycle is not documented and no force refresh mechanism is known.
From v9.5.0:
- When watching a folder in Finder, notes that correspond to deleted (or moved) files are now shown with their names struck through by automatically setting $NameStrike to
true. - Watched folders of all kinds are checked more frequently.
- When a file in a watched folder is checked, its $LastFetched is now updated even if the note is unchanged. The note's $NotesModified attribute continues to reflect the modification date of the file.
From v9.7.2:
- Notes in watched folders should update to reflect changes in the remote document, even if $ReadOnly remains set.
- Watched folders update documents if they have have been modified since they were previously fetched.
There are currently 3 forms of watched folder: