---
title: "Favorites"
description: "The star as a lens over your file tree: quick access to the notes, folders, and projects you've marked."
---

# Favorites

Favorites in Notarium is a **lens over your file tree**, not a separate section. The star (★) in the left rail doesn't take you to a new page — it narrows the tree down to what you've marked: notes, folders, and projects. It's a handy "short list" of the things you come back to most often.

## How it works

Favorites live per [space](/docs/concepts/spaces-and-projects/) and are stored on the server (in the metadata database), separately for each user — so they sync across your devices and browsers. The only thing kept locally (in the browser) is whether the lens is currently on. On the rail, the star and the **Files** icon are mutually exclusive: exactly one of them is highlighted, and only within the files section (not on the dashboard, not in the graph, not on the settings page).

- **Turn the lens on without leaving the page.** If you're already in the files section (reading a note or looking at the Feed), clicking ★ filters the tree down to your favorites and highlights the star **without changing** the current surface — you keep reading the same note, the tree just got narrower.
- **Opening a favorite note doesn't reset the lens** — you stay in "Favorites" mode.
- **Back to the full tree** — click the **Files** icon: the tree and the highlight switch at the same time. Moving to a service surface (Graph, Agents, Trash, Settings) also quietly resets the lens.

> [!note] Favorites are links, not copies
> Starring something doesn't move or duplicate it. It's a marker placed over existing notes, folders, and projects; the file itself stays where it is in the tree. You remove the mark the same way you added it.

You can favorite not just an individual note but a whole **folder** or **project** — the lens shows them together. For how the rail and the file tree work overall, see [Navigation](/docs/guides/navigation/).