docFreak FAQ why? | download | latest things What is docFreak? In short: a combination of a Word processor, Knowledge base and Note taking app for the desktop (not for mobile phones/tablets). It is a new way of making, viewing, maintaining, distributing, publishing and sharing documentation, notes and knowledge content. You can use docFreak WITH or WITHOUT your existing Office programs (like Word, Pdf reader, OneNote and Wiki based software). docFreak does not use the cloud and does not need the Internet to store your work. docFreak is a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. To be more specific: With docFreak you create documents as any other word processor (like Microsoft Word and LibreOffice's Writer) but with much less overhead and with lots of more real world usefull functionality. docFreak allows you to create documents, notes and pop-up notes in a multi-tabbed fashion and alows this content to be mixed with other Microsoft office, LibreOffice, image, photo and audio/video files. However your content (documents, notes, pop-up notes, office and other files) are stored into 1 single file all together. By default this file is called docFreak.db (but you can rename it.... read on...) and its content is visualized by a tree. Each tree item can be hyperlinked with any other tree item. In other words, each document and note can be hyperlinked with any other document and note inside your docFreak. This is the basis to hyperlinking (which is only a matter of drag and drop). On top of your documents and notes you can also add other files to the mix like: Pdf, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, compressed folders, Zip, Visio (and much more... including audio and video files). Everything you add from your file manager (which is a matter of drag and drop too), is copied into and becomes part of your docFreak(.db). It also becomes visible inside the tree and as such can be hyperlinked with anything else inside that same tree. Your single docFreak.db file then contains: the tree, your documents, notes/pop-up notes, the office documents you added as well as audio and video (if these are added too). As you might know by now, all is inside a single file. It is important to undestand and to remember this property. docFreak does not point to the originals on your file system but saves copies inside docFreak. Because it is a single file you can easly send it to somebody else who can then view it with a free to download docFreak. If you want only a portion of the tree to be shared, you can create a secured package from specific items you select from the tree and send that as a docFreak package to somebody else that has docFreak installed. The docFreak.db can be attached to Wiki's, Microsoft Sharepoint, Jira, Confluence and the likes based groupware. Instead of your loosly coupled and fragmented Word, Pdf and Excel files, you ONLY add 1 single file with all those same files packed/hyerplinked in it to your groupware. You might have an idea now but keep on reading the more technical questions below. On which platform does docFreak run? On Windows 7x up to Windows11 (all on 64bit only). On Linux (Mint20/21, Ubuntu 20/22, any other Linux variants (see Downloads). On macOS 12x or higher on Intel For M1/M2 systems, Rosetta2 is needed. Why would I use docFreak (I already have Word or Writer)? docFreak works with Word as well.... If that does not convince you then the best way to see the difference is to download and experience docFreak by using it. Is docFreak a replacement of Word or Writer? No it is not but you can use it as a replacement if you do not use the bells and whisthles that so many people don't use either in Word. You can still use Word or Writer and add their files to docFreak because searching and hyperlinking with other related content is something Word and Writer cannot do well at all. Is docFreak a desktop app? Yes. Is there a cloud version of docFreak? No but might be developed in the near future. Does docFreak need an Internet connection? No, not at all. Does docFreak contain advertisements? No, not at all. Do I need to register to use docFreak? No but then it will after a few weeks, work as a viewer only. Can I use docFreak without a license? Yes you can. When you download docfreak there is always an active license in it that will work for at least 14 days and allows you to do anything with the content. After a few weeks, you can only view (not modify) the contents until you buy a (one time purchase or subscription per year) license. Therefor you can always use docFreak as a viewer without a license. What happens when the license expires? docFreak will then act as a viewer (you can view but not edit the content). As a viewer docFreak is free of any charge. What happens if a license expires and I buy a new one? Then you will be able to add and modify content again. Can I create and use another db file? Yes you can. The default db is called docFreak.db. You can rename, copy and move that one to any name you like (but.... not to a name with spaces in its name or folder name). Can I create and use more than one db file? Yes you can. Copy with your file manager (like Windows Explorer, Linux Dolphin or macOS Finder) the docFreak.db to any other name you like (without spaces in its name). Even with the same license? Yes. Can I delete the built-in help/start with an empty db file? Yes you can. Use the Create empty DB option from the main menu. How to create a new default db (empty but with built-in help)? Copy with your file manager the dbinit.dat file to a file name with a name of your choice (again without spaces in its name) and give it a .db extension. Example: to create an empty db with built-in help use your file manager to copy dbinit.dat to MyNewEmptyToo.db Can I create a folder inside the root (top level) of the tree? Yes and no..... Create the folder inside another folder first (for example inside the New folder) and drag the just created folder to the root/top level. Can I create more the one level deep inside the tree? Yes, you can (as deep as you need). Can I organize the tree the way I want? Yes, you can: create folders with levels, move, remove, copy and shortcut tree items/folders. My documents and notes are not saved, what am I doing wrong? Save your changes/edits by a RIGHT mouse click on the tab handles (then select Save). You can also press Ctrl-S or Cmd-S to save all tabs at once. Can I use rich formatted text with different fonts, sizes and attributes (bold, italic etc etc)? Yes you can. You can even create styles to format text with a mouse click. How do I import a Word file to docFreak? Use your file manager to select 1 or more files and drag them to the tree. The files are then copied into your docFreak automatically. Can I export contents inside docFreak? Yes you can export as Word, Writer, Pdf, Html and markdown. Can I create hyperlinks to office files? Yes but only if you drag them to the tree first. Can I use my file manager like Windows Explorer to drag files to an open tab/editor? Yes you can. When you select images they are inserted into the editor and shown as an image. When it contains office files then they are inserted as a link into the editor. Due to a bug it is better to drag the files to the tree first and from there to the editor (the regular text color is then restored). Note: everything you drag is copied into your docFreak and then shown in the tree. Sometimes when I create a hyperlink the color of the hyperlink affects the normal text after the link. How to prevent that? Insert(drag) as much as possible from the tree to the editor because that way the text after the link will have the normal text color. If you create a hyperlink by a drop operation from your file manager, the hyperlink color might affect the text thereafter. You can prevent the hyperlink color affecting the text thereafter by adding additional spaces and position the cursor in front of the extra spaces before you drop from your file manager. What happens when I click on a hyperlink that points to an office file (like Word)? Keep in mind that it might look that it points to a Word file but in reality it loads the copy of that Word file from your docFreak db into Word. So it will open Word for you. When you make changes to the Word document, it will be noticed by docFreak. This way you can docFreak use as a launcher of all kind of files. What happens when I click on an item inside the tree? If it is a native docFreak document or note, it is opened and shown inside a tab of docFreak. If it is something else like Pdf, Excel or Word (for example) then it opens the correpsonding program for you. I cannot play my audio or video files with docFreak, what am I doing wrong? docFreak will use the multi-media player installed on your OS. If you did not install a media player, install one of your choice. I downloaded docFreak for Linux but it does not start or gives an error message? docFreak needs to be installed into your Home folder like /home/JohnDoe. Start a cmd line terminal and run ./setup_docFreak and follow the instructions. You can trouble shoot the starting of docFreak by starting ./docFreak.bin from a cmd line terminal like: cd $HOME/docFreak; ./docFreak.bin. It might show error messages that give a clue about where to search for. Also... check the content of docFreak.desktop file. That one is used to start docFreak from your desktop. You can also edit that one to change the location where you want to start docFreak from (but you should be familiar with basic Linux commands). I downloaded docFreak for macOS but it does not start or gives an error message? docFreak needs to be dragged to your Home folder (press Cmd-Shift-H to open your Home folder like /Users/JohnDoe) and drag docFreak to it. From there you can start docFreak. How do I remove/delete a tree item from the tree? Select on or more tree items you want to be removed and press Ctrl-D. The built-in Help suggest that you can use Ctrl-Y but that does work only inside the editor. How do I remove a single line inside the editor? Select the line you want to delete and press Ctrl-Y. How do I add keywords or tags to a tree item Select the tree item you want to add keywords or tags to. Press Ctrl-Shft-K, a new tab is displayed. Hover your mouse just above the Add tag button, an input text field will light up. Enter your keyword, tag or keyword/tag phrase in it. Press the Add tag button. Repeat if you want to add other keywords Press Save to activate all added keywords. Press the listbox (between the Delete and Save button) to show all keyword tags. How do I create a working style? Be sure that your docFreak uses the OS environment where it runs on. Below the one time only steps: Check the setup -> OS environment, press Set defaults for OS and after that Save defaults for OS. Next go to the Fonts tab and select your default fonts and press Save. The fonts you select here are connected to the DF and MF buttons. Then creating styles Go to the Styles tab and be sure that you have the following Style names (by default they should be there): H1 (Header1 style settings that is connected to H1 button) H2 (Header2 style settings that is connected to H2 button) H3 (Header3 style settings that is connected to H3 button) Where H1 is the biggest header style and H3 the smallest header style (but still a bit bigger then regular text). If you do not have them, create them (use the New button) as H1, H2 and H3 (do not use other names yet). When you create a style it is upmost important that you select ALL text inside the style preview (the box below the Hyperlink text color and Hyperlink background color). Use the format options (Bold, Italic, Underline, font name and font size boxes) and the options inside the Style tab itself to format the preview. Press Save, the Style is saved. Repeat this step for other styles you want and keep in mind that the Preview text must be selected each time you create a style. Note that the preview text can by anything as long as you select ALL text inside the preview and as long you use the format options of docFreak to format the style. The best way to experience this luxury and comfort is to download docFreak (no need to register) and try. contact