Browse Scient Docs File previews

File previews

File previews let you inspect the project’s documents, data, code, figures, and other outputs without leaving Scient. Files linked in chat open inside Scient first. Project files keep their editable Files-panel behavior. Files elsewhere in the connected environment open in a read-only side panel or, for HTML, the integrated browser.

Browse workspace files

The Files tree loads folders as you open them. Useful project material remains visible whether it is Git-tracked, ignored, or named with a leading dot. Low-level machinery such as version-control data, dependency stores, temporary caches, and private Scient runtime state stays out of the ordinary view.

The bar above the tree searches file names and offers New, which creates a Markdown or LaTeX document in the selected folder (or the folder of the selected file). Right-click a folder for the same choice under New document here. Connect lists the services a folder can keep in sync with. Overleaf… links the selected folder to an Overleaf project, or brings one in as a new folder (see Overleaf); Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox are coming soon. Right-click a folder for Connect to ▸ Overleaf…. Linked folders carry Overleaf’s leaf. The ⋯ Files menu refreshes the tree, expands or collapses every loaded folder, and sets file visibility. The tree does not watch the disk, so use Refresh files after changing files outside Scient.

Manage files and folders

Right-click a file or folder for New File, New Folder, Cut, Copy ▸ (the item itself, its Path, Relative Path or Mention), Paste, Duplicate, Rename… and Move to Trash. A new file or folder appears with its name ready to type. With several items selected, the menu acts on all of them and says how many. Drag files or folders onto a folder to move them into it, or onto a file at the top of the tree to move them to the project’s top; hold Option (Alt) to copy instead. With the tree focused, mod+c, mod+x, mod+v, mod+backspace or Delete, mod+shift+n (new folder) and F2 (rename) work as in Finder or Explorer.

To bring in files from elsewhere on your computer, drag them from Finder or Explorer onto a folder in the tree, or right-click and choose Add Files… or Add Folder…. Scient copies them in and leaves the originals where they were. This works when the project is on the computer you are using; for a remote project, copy files there with that computer’s own tools.

Open with lists every app your Mac offers for the item, its default first, then the code editors Scient found. On Windows, Other App… opens Windows’ own Open With window. Linux has no app chooser shared by its desktops, so Open with lists the code editors only.

When a name is taken, Scient asks: Replace moves the existing item to the Trash, and Keep Both gives the new one a numbered name. Nothing is deleted for good: Move to Trash uses the computer’s own Trash (the Recycle Bin on Windows), so items can also be put back from there. mod+z in the tree undoes the last change made from Files, and a Trash notice offers Undo for a few seconds; on Windows, restore from the Recycle Bin instead. Open editors are saved before their files move, and open tabs follow a renamed or moved file. Scient’s own records and tool folders, such as .scient and .git, stay as they are.

The same file list can sit beside other side-panel tabs too, such as a browser page, Sources, or a Scientific computing session. Use the folder button at the end of the tab strip, or mod+alt+e. One switch covers every tab, project files and PDFs included. Clicking a file opens it in its own tab. Diff keeps its own file list, and a panel too narrow for both shows the page alone.

Files and file tabs keep a short history. Back and Forward sit at the start of the tab’s header and light up once there is somewhere to go: after Files opens a file, after a path crumb opens a folder, or after a file opens from another tab, including a tab that was already open. While the keyboard is in the tab, mod+[ and mod+] do the same. The history lasts while Scient is open.

The Files menu offers two visibility levels:

  • Project files is the default. It includes durable managed source files, records, receipts, and history below .scient/sources.
  • All workspace internals also shows technical machinery such as version-control data, dependency stores, caches, source operations, and staging.

The choice lasts for the current workspace session. Managed and tool-owned files open read-only in Files; use their owning Scient surface when you need to change them.

Filename search filters the existing tree. Scient uses the project index to discover matches in unopened folders and loads only their ancestor folders. Ignored paths that have not been browsed may not appear in search.

What appears in Files does not change what an agent can access and does not add file contents to a conversation. Those boundaries are enforced separately when an action reads or shares a file.

In a project file’s header, select the project name or any parent folder to browse that folder, drill into its subfolders, and open a nearby file. The final file name identifies the current file and is not a navigation control.

Right-click a file tab to copy either its project-relative path or its full path. For a remote project, the full path belongs to the connected environment rather than the computer displaying Scient.

Workspace and chat-linked host-file previews follow changes made on disk. The compact reload action in the file header remains available for an immediate retry or manual refresh; it turns once when clicked. If automatic updates pause, that action is highlighted and its tooltip explains that reloading will retry them. A failed read keeps the last available preview visible while reporting the problem.

The Files tree, Git status, and working diff also refresh after the agent finishes a file-changing tool or command. Unsaved source edits remain protected.

To rename an open project file, click its name at the end of the file header. The name is selected without its extension, so typing a new name keeps the file type; a path such as drafts/notes also moves it. Renaming waits while unsaved edits are being saved, and never replaces an existing file. Renaming a LaTeX file that another document includes says so: update the line that includes it. Links to the file from other documents are not updated.

Current limitation: automatic refresh follows the exact known path. If the file is renamed or moved outside Scient, reopen it from its new location; Scient does not yet relocate an already open file automatically.

  • Markdown files open as rendered documents. Writable project Markdown is directly editable in that rendered surface; formatting controls appear without replacing it with a second preview. Use the source/rendered control in the file header when exact Markdown text is needed; Scient remembers that preference. A link to a specific Markdown line opens source so the requested line can be shown. Relative image paths resolve from the Markdown file’s folder, including nested folders; inline sizes and alignment are preserved.
  • In an editable table cell, Enter starts a new line in the same cell without paragraph spacing. Tab and Shift-Tab move between cells. While the caret is in a table, the footer shows the table actions (add row, add column, column alignment) and a More table actions menu, which includes Select whole table.
  • A thin footer stays under an editable Markdown document. On the right it shows where the caret is, for example “Heading 2” or “Table · row 3, column 2”, and the word count: “1,284 words”, or “12 of 1,284 words” while text is selected.
  • In the formatting tools, Insert lists what a Markdown file can hold. The last menu, Document, holds Find & Replace, which opens a bar under the formatting tools, and Keyboard shortcuts, which opens the list of writing shortcuts.
  • Code blocks and HTML/YAML/TOML source boxes stay directly editable and offer Wrap lines and Copy code in their headers, matching chat. Wrapping follows Settings → Word wrap, which defaults on. A block’s wrap button changes only that block; changing the setting applies the new preference to open blocks. Copy includes the current code without adding Markdown fences. Code headers use the same colored language icons or filename titles as chat. HTML tags and attributes, operators, and punctuation are highlighted in the editor. Code boxes have a subtle border and the same thin scrollbar as math.
  • Standalone Markdown images expose floating viewing controls. Use Edit details for the image source and alternative text; Apply saves one change and Cancel leaves the document unchanged. Click an image to place the caret in its caption, or click the caption to choose a text position. One outline surrounds the image and caption while editing. Captions save as you type; Enter or Escape leaves the caption, and Undo remains available. An image without a caption shows an empty field when clicked or after Add caption; leaving it empty does not change the document. Typing before or after a standalone image creates a separate paragraph, so text stays above or below the image and its caption. Add caption on an image mixed with prose places that image in its own paragraph and opens its caption without discarding surrounding text. Linked badges and table images keep their compact presentation and link behavior.
  • Images, Mermaid diagrams, Plotly, and Vega-Lite share quiet Expand and More controls. Copy, downloads, and source/details actions live in More. Move controls exposes a handle; drag it or use arrow keys, then press Enter or Escape to finish. Reset controls position restores placement. Plotly exploration tools remain directly accessible. Vega-Lite keeps its authored interactions and a direct reset control; expanded viewers retain zoom, fit, and exploration controls.
  • Reference-style images share their source and title with a Markdown definition. Edit shared reference opens that definition; Make independent explicitly separates this occurrence. Alternative text remains local to the image. Replace image keeps the original until upload succeeds, and Remove from document never deletes the file. Copy, expand, background, and retry actions do not edit Markdown.
  • Text files larger than the preview limit open read-only. In rendered Markdown, task checkboxes are also non-interactive so a partial preview can never replace the complete file.
  • HTML files open in the integrated browser. To edit the HTML, right-click the file in the file tree and choose Open source.
  • If the integrated browser is unavailable or an HTML preview fails, Scient opens the source instead.

Word (.docx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) files open in a reader with the PDF reader’s controls: the page number and steps, zoom (buttons, pinch, the PDF reader’s zoom keys, Fit width and actual size), a sidebar of pages, and search (⌘F), which marks every match. Their text can be selected, copied and quoted (see Message Scient). A very long document shows its first 1,000 pages, a paragraph or table too long to lay out quickly ends the preview there, and a header or footer that long is left out; each says Preview limited. Open the file in Word or PowerPoint for the rest. An open file reloads only when the file itself changes, not each time the agent runs a command, and a file opened again returns to the page and zoom it was left at. The last two PDF, Word or PowerPoint files you left in the file panel stay open in the background, so switching back to one shows it exactly as you left it, without drawing it again. Scient keeps them within a memory budget that follows your computer’s memory; a very long document may be opened afresh instead. A file changed while you were away shows its new version when you come back.

To save a project Markdown file as a PDF, expand the editor’s formatting tools and choose More actions → Export → PDF. Scient saves your latest edits, exports exactly that saved version with its project images, and asks where to save the PDF; choose Open on the notice to read it in Scient’s reader. Front matter at the top of the file is not printed; its title, if any, titles the PDF. Missing, remote, or unreadable images appear as labelled placeholders and are listed under Export notes at the end of the PDF. On Windows, the PDF leaves out the file’s project images for now and lists them in the notes. PDF export needs the Scient desktop app; in a browser the menu item explains that it is unavailable. An agent can do the same for a file you name with an explicit output path, except on Windows.

Choose More actions → Export → Word instead for an editable .docx of the saved file (Word export needs Pandoc; the first export offers to install it). Images that cannot be embedded appear as labelled placeholders and are listed in the Exported with notes notice. On Windows, as with PDF, Word leaves out the file’s project images, and any bibliography file its front matter names, for now and lists them there; the rest of the document exports.

In a project conversation, an agent can also turn an existing project HTML file into a PDF. Scient builds it with local project assets, opens the generated PDF in its reader, and preserves the HTML as the editable source. Remote assets are not loaded during this controlled build, so keep required styles, fonts, data, and images inside the project. A compatible Scient Desktop must be connected while Scient performs this Chromium build.

Direct files outside the current project support:

  • images, including SVG, with pan and zoom;
  • PDFs in the full Scient reader, including remembered reading state;
  • rendered Markdown, including math, Mermaid diagrams, and Vega-Lite charts;
  • syntax-highlighted source and text, including TSX, Python, MATLAB, R, JSON, CSV, and LaTeX source;
  • browser-supported audio and video; and
  • a stable file-information view for formats that do not yet have a rich preview. On the primary desktop environment, the header can still open the file in a preferred editor.

Text previews are read-only and limited to 2 MiB. Large files show that limit explicitly. An optional line target is revealed once after the source view is ready.

HTML runs normally in Scient’s integrated browser, including JavaScript, network requests, navigation, and relative local CSS, scripts, fonts, data, images, and media. A packaged site that assumes it is hosted at a web-server root (for example, references /assets/app.js) should be opened through its development or static server; a standalone local document should use relative asset paths.

“In the connected environment” is important for remote sessions: an absolute path refers to the remote host, not the desktop Mac or PC. Remote files can be previewed through Scient, but desktop-only editor actions are not shown.