Build a connected reading workflow

Lar works best when a source is more than a loose page. Give books a consistent Type, keep web sources as Weblinks, and connect ideas with links, tags, and Relations.

What you will build

• a Book Object Type for books and long-form reading;
• Weblink Objects for articles and online sources;
• a Collection for an explicit reading list;
• a repeatable note structure;
• connections to People, Projects, Ideas, Quotes, or Definitions.

1. Add the Book Object Type

1. Open New → Add object type.
2. Choose the Book preset.
3. Review the schema and create the Type.

The shipped preset includes:

• title and description;
• author;
• rating, from one to five stars;
• recommendedBy;
• medium, with Paper, E-book, and Audiobook options;
• tags, a Notes body, and a Cover image relation.

The preset is a starting point. Add a status or finished-on property if you genuinely use it across every Book; use tags or a Collection when the grouping is more flexible.

See Create and edit an Object Type and Properties.

2. Create a reading template

Create a Book with a body like:

## Why I am reading this

## Main argument

## Notes and highlights

## Questions

## Connections

## What changes after reading it

Save it from ⋯ → Save as template. Mark it as the Book Type’s default if you want every new Book to start this way.

Keep the template light. It should prompt useful thinking without turning every reading session into form-filling. See Templates.

3. Build an explicit reading list

Create a Collection under the Book Type, such as Reading next or Course reading. Add Books manually when membership itself is the decision you want to preserve.

Use a Saved Query instead when membership should recalculate from properties—for example, every Book with rating empty, or a future status property set to Reading.

Removing a Book from a Collection does not delete it. See Collections and Search and the command palette.

4. Capture articles and web sources

Use Quick Capture for a URL, or capture from the browser extension or another configured channel. URL captures become content you can review in Captures before deciding what they are.

For a useful source:

1. Open its Capture preview.
2. Convert or keep it as the appropriate Weblink/source Object.
3. Add tags.
4. Link it from the relevant Book, Project, or Idea.
5. Archive the Capture when triage is complete.

Lar’s Weblink reader can preserve the source as an Object with its own notes, preview, and backlinks. See Quick Capture, Process Captures, and Files and media.

5. Import highlights you already have

Lar ships reading integrations for:

• Readwise, using your access token to sync highlights, with one Weblink per source and highlights in its body;
• Kindle, importing a local My Clippings.txt file, with one Weblink per book and no upload required for that file flow.

Open Settings → Integrations and choose the service. Test token-based connections before syncing. Imported reading material lands as local Objects that you can tag, link, and edit.

Do not create a duplicate Book automatically just because a Weblink source exists. Link the imported source from your Book Object when you want both the bibliographic record and captured highlights.

6. Take connected notes

While reading:

• write your synthesis in the Book body;
• create [[wikilinks]] to existing Ideas, People, Projects, Definitions, and Quotes;
• use ![[transclusion]] when another Object should be visible inline;
• use ((block references)) for a specific passage;
• add a small set of consistent tags.

Create a separate Idea, Quote, or Definition Object when it deserves an independent identity and backlinks. Leave ordinary observations as blocks in the Book when they only make sense there.

See Links and transclusion, Tags, and Objects and Types.

7. Rediscover what you read

Several shipped surfaces support review:

• Search a title, author, alias, or phrase from the body.
• Open a Book’s Backlinks to see where it has been used.
• Open Related Content for Objects sharing tags or links; with semantic indexing enabled, meaning-based similarity joins the ranking.
• Use Graph to follow connections across Books, People, Projects, and Ideas.
• Open the Book Type and switch among List, Table, Board, Gallery, or Wall layouts as appropriate for its schema.

See Graph and related content and Layouts and Saved Views.

8. Add a review reminder

Use ⋯ → Set reminder… on a Book or source when you want to revisit it at a specific time. The reminder appears in Upcoming and fires through Lar’s notification system.

A reminder is better than a “read later” tag when time matters. A Collection is better when you want a curated queue without a deadline. See Reminders and notifications.