Read-Only Locks
Lock a note, or a folder and everything in it, when it should stay exactly as it is: a signed contract, a finished report, reference material you hand to an AI agent but never want it to edit.
Locking and Unlocking
Right-click a note or a folder in the sidebar and choose Lock note or Lock folder. Choose Unlock note or Unlock folder to undo it. Inside an open note, the same toggle sits in the ⋯ menu at the top of the page.
A folder lock covers every note and subfolder in it, including notes added to it later from another device. A note inside a locked folder is unlocked by unlocking the folder.
What a Lock Does
A locked note opens read-only wherever it is shown: its own page, a canvas card, and a project's overview. A small lock line above it says so, and the body, title, tags, properties, and suggested tags cannot be changed.
Journal entries follow the folder they are saved in. When you lock the journal folder (it appears in the sidebar when the journal setting Show in sidebar is on) or a folder above it, every journal day opens read-only with the same lock line, including days that have no entry yet.
A single journal entry cannot be locked from the menu. To lock an entry, lock its folder.
Everything that would change a locked note is refused:
- typing in the editor, applying a template, restoring an older version,
- turning Set local only or Disable local only on the note,
- adding, renaming, or deleting its attachments, including setting a cover image,
- renaming, moving, or deleting it, or the folder it sits in,
- creating, renaming, or deleting anything inside a locked folder, including importing files into it or filing an inbox item into it or onto a locked note,
- every AI agent write: the note and folder tools,
vault_desktop_write, and HTML artifacts. The agent is told "The owner made this note read-only.", for a locked folder too. "Always allow" approvals do not change this.
Vault-wide changes such as renaming, merging, or deleting a tag, or updating links after a rename, skip locked notes and carry on with the rest.
Changing the journal Date format renames every journal file, so it is refused as a whole when any journal entry it would rename is locked, or a rename would move one into a locked folder. Settings shows "The owner made this note read-only.", the old format stays, and no file is renamed. Unlock the folder, then change the format again.
Canvases cannot be locked. They live in a folder that does not appear in the sidebar.
Other Devices
Locks sync with your other devices. Edits made to a locked note on a device that does not know the lock yet, for example one running an older version of Memry, still arrive. The lock stops changes made on this device; it does not throw away changes that come in through sync.
When your sync server does not know locks yet, the lock stays on this device and the rest of your changes keep syncing. Memry sends the lock again once the server is updated.
A folder lock is stored by the folder's path. Renaming a locked folder is refused here, but a device running an older version of Memry can still rename it. The lock then stays on the old path and no longer covers the renamed folder. Lock the folder again under its new name.
Edits From Outside Memry
Memry also marks the file of every locked note read-only on disk, so most editors and command-line tools refuse to save over it.
If a locked markdown note is changed or deleted anyway, Memry keeps the changed text as a version in the note's version history, writes the locked text back, and tells you which note it restored. This also happens at the next start when the change was made while Memry was closed.
A lock does not cover everything outside the app:
- Renaming or moving a locked note's file outside Memry, for example in Finder or with
mv, is not reverted. The rename or move syncs to your other devices. - Only markdown notes are written back. A locked PDF, image, or other file that is deleted outside Memry is not restored, and the delete syncs.
- A locked note's attachments are protected only inside Memry. Their files are not read-only on disk, so other programs can change or delete them.
Going Back to an Older Version of Memry
A version of Memry without locks ignores them, but locked files stay read-only on disk. To edit one of them there, unlock it in a current version first, or give yourself write access again: on macOS or Linux run chmod u+w on the file, on Windows uncheck Read-only in the file's Properties.