Manage Local Reference Files and Images in a Text Editor Tree

A durable local writing project gives manuscript, reference, and image files separate roles. Keep chapters under chapters/, research under refs/, and visual assets under images/. Resolve relative links from the manuscript's folder, then verify both stale and new paths after anything moves.

The purpose is not a decorative tree. It is the ability to open chapter seven months later and understand where its timeline, cast note, and map are located.

Design a tree that explains itself

Use eight chapter files, C01.md through C08.md. Give the reference folder five descriptive files: characters.md, timeline.md, places.md, terms.md, and sources.md. Give four images subject-based names such as city-map.png, room-layout.png, letter-front.png, and route-sketch.png.

Avoid names such as ref1 or IMG_1234 when the filename is the only clue visible in the tree. Add a date only when it helps distinguish versions, for example timeline-2026-09.md.

Write down the six links you expect

A small design sample can include three reference links and three image or source links:

For an image, write alternative text that conveys its contribution, such as “Story map showing the old city and river,” rather than repeating city-map.png.

This inventory is the expected state. It becomes an observed result only after all six links have been opened or inspected in the working copy.

Move one asset without losing its users

Before a move, count every use of the old path. Move one copied image to its new folder. If the editor presents a reference-update plan, inspect the affected files before approving it.

After the move, search the workspace for the old path and require zero results. Search for the new path and require the expected occurrence count. Finally, open the referencing chapter and confirm that the image or link resolves.

The decision rule needs all three checks. Zero stale paths alone can mean that references were deleted rather than repaired.

Documented Rune Studio scope

Rune Studio's current Mac documentation describes a file tree for manuscripts, references, and images. It also describes reference-path updates after moving or renaming files within the app, focused on Markdown image and link syntax inside txt, text, md, and markdown files.

External URLs, page anchors, operating-system aliases, and references outside the workspace are not equivalent cases. Do not generalize the feature to every file type or link form.

What the recorded operation actually did

The prepared tree included eight chapters and four images. One image, images/I1.png, had three occurrences in one chapter. The image was moved to assets/I1.png.

The path change was then performed as a separate search-and-replace operation: three occurrences of ../images/I1.png became ../assets/I1.png. The final counts were zero old paths and three new paths.

This demonstrates a manual repair with a verified count. It does not demonstrate that the move command itself automatically rewrote those references.

What remains unverified

The recorded operation did not inspect all five proposed reference files, all six links, the naming convention, or image alternative text. The complete tree above is a concrete setup to test, not a completed measurement.

It also did not observe the documented in-app automatic update from move prompt through rewritten files. Test that sequence on a copy in your installed version. If the app reports and applies all three updates, record it as an automatic update. If it does not, use explicit search and replacement and describe it as manual repair.

A boundary that prevents misleading instructions

Automatic tracking and manual replacement lead to the same desired counts, but they are different operations. Keep the wording aligned with what you saw. In either case, finish with old-path search, new-path count, and a resolved link.

Rune Studio's current Mac file-tree and reference features are described on the Rune Studio website.

A local project remains understandable when the tree explains the roles, filenames explain the subjects, alt text explains the images, and every move ends with a two-direction path check. That is a stronger definition of “managed” than simply seeing all the folders in one sidebar.

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