Skip to content
Lighthouse

Groups & Extras

Groups & Extras

Section titled “Groups & Extras”

Lighthouse organizes each project’s files the way Ulysses does: into Groups (folders that can nest) containing Sheets (your notes), plus a single Extras group set aside for material that isn’t part of the word count.

The Core Concept

Section titled “The Core Concept”

Every subfolder inside a project’s root becomes a Group in the Library. Selecting a group shows its notes — its Sheets — in the column beside it. Groups can nest inside other groups, just like folders.

One group is special: Extras. Every project gets one automatically, and its contents are excluded from word counts.

My Novel/                (project root)
├── Chapters/             ✅ Group — counts toward your goal
│   ├── Act 1/            ✅ Nested group — counts
│   └── Act 2/            ✅ Nested group — counts
├── Notes/                ✅ Group — counts toward your goal
└── Extras/                excluded — research, character sheets, outlines

Everything under the root counts except Extras. There’s no per-folder toggle to configure — Extras is the one exception, and it’s provisioned for you the first time you open a new project in the Library.

Why This Matters

Section titled “Why This Matters”

Imagine a novel project without any exclusion:

My Novel/
├── Chapters/           (50,000 words — your manuscript)
├── Research/           (30,000 words — character notes)
└── References/         (20,000 words — historical facts)


Total: 100,000 words

If your goal is 80,000 words, this shows 125% complete — but you’ve only written 50,000 words of actual prose. Put the research and reference material in Extras and your project total becomes exactly 50,000: 63% of goal, an honest number.

Working with Groups

Section titled “Working with Groups”

Creating a Group

Section titled “Creating a Group”
  • Click the + icon in the Library header to add a top-level group, or
  • Right-click an existing group and choose New group to nest one inside it

Either way, a dialog asks for a name and an icon before the folder is actually created — nothing is added to your vault until you click Done.

Editing a Group

Section titled “Editing a Group”

Right-click any group and choose Edit group… to rename it or change its icon. Renaming updates the underlying folder (and any goals or icons you’ve set) via Obsidian’s own rename, so links elsewhere in your vault stay intact.

Nesting

Section titled “Nesting”

Groups can contain other groups to any depth — a “Chapters” group might contain “Act 1” and “Act 2”, each with their own sheets. The Library shows a chevron next to any group with subgroups; leaf groups show no chevron but keep the same alignment.

Deleting a Group

Section titled “Deleting a Group”

Right-click and choose Delete. This deletes the underlying folder and its contents from your vault via Obsidian, so treat it like deleting a folder anywhere else in Obsidian.

Working with Extras

Section titled “Working with Extras”

Extras behaves like any other group — you can add subgroups inside it, and its header has hover-revealed icons for adding a new group or collapsing the whole section. The only difference is that its word counts never contribute to the project total, goal ring, or heatmap.

Use Extras for:

  • Research and reference notes
  • Character sheets and worldbuilding
  • Outlines and planning documents
  • Anything you want in the project but don’t want inflating your count

Sheets & Titles

Section titled “Sheets & Titles”

A Sheet is just a markdown note inside a group. In the Sheet List, each sheet’s title is derived from the first line of the file — Ulysses-style — with the filename shown as a secondary detail (and in the tooltip), since Obsidian relies on filenames for links even though the display title doesn’t.

FAQ

Section titled “FAQ”

Q: Can I rename or move the Extras group? A: Extras is tracked as a single subfolder path on the project; if you rename its folder in Obsidian, Lighthouse follows the rename automatically.

Q: Can I have more than one Extras group? A: No — Extras is a single designated folder per project, matching Ulysses’ model.

Q: Do nested groups inherit anything from their parent? A: Only membership in the project (and Extras exclusion, if nested under Extras). Goals and icons are set per-group.

Q: What happens to files directly in the project root, outside any group? A: They’re counted as part of the project total and shown ungrouped at the top of that level’s Sheet List.

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”