Bob Refs inspector

The inspector sits beside the Refs list at 760 pt and above. List layout, keys, and cards are in Bob Refs. Preview page size is Settings › References › Preview highlights per page (1–20, default 5); see Settings.

Inspector¶

The inspector fills instantly from the list item, then upgrades lazily: after the selection settles for 120 ms it loads the PDF's intrinsics and bob ref show <note path> -f json concurrently, canceling the previous load on every move. ref show results keep an LRU of 32 keyed by note path and snapshot time; intrinsics cache by file path, size, and mtime in memory (64) and under ~/Library/Caches/org.bobs.bob-mac-capture/refs/ (1,000 entries plus one thumbnail PNG each). What each kind shows:

When a library refresh lands while Bob Refs is visible, the selected inspector re-hydrates in place, keeping its selection, scroll position, and revealed page (clamped if the feed shrinks). Old content stays until the new notes and intrinsics are ready; a hidden panel hydrates when shown.

Papers, articles, and docs show a page-1 thumbnail (fixed space is reserved while it loads, so nothing jumps) and the outline: 150 × 194 pt beside the facts in the wide layout, 112 × 145 pt above them in compact. Both draw from the one 300 × 388 px image the loader caches. Papers also show the Abstract excerpt; articles and docs show no excerpt. The wide layout sets the title in semibold title2 (3 lines) and the summary and quotes in body (quotes carry 3 pt of line spacing and clip at 6 lines); compact keeps semibold title3 (4 lines), callout quotes at 4 lines, and today's spacing.
Chats keep the kind tile and lead with the outline plus the Bottom-line excerpt: the first paragraph (or up to 3 bullets) under Bottom line, TL;DR, Summary, Executive summary, or Key findings.
Every hydrated row adds reading time to Pages ("22 · ≈ 70 min · 3 Pomodoros", 230 words per minute, Pomodoros of 25 minutes), Tasks ("2 open") from ref show, the top-level outline headings (up to 6), and your annotations in one HIGHLIGHTS section in note order: ordinary highlights, image highlights, and standalone notes. A highlight that carries your comment, an attached image, or an unresolved image shows a pale-yellow note card marked with the sticky-note glyph; the header's note chip counts those cards, and the disclosure row says how many hidden entries carry notes and, when hidden entries hold resolvable images, how many images (+12 more · 3 with notes · 2 images · ⌃D shows 5 more). Image highlights render in the quote slot (the 2 pt yellow rule on the left) fitted to the column, never upscaled, with a reserved frame from the file's header so Ctrl-D's follow-tail never jumps. Attached images sit inside the note card, 8 pt apart, fitted to the card's inner width. A missing, unreadable, or unresolved image is a one-line "Image unavailable" row with the file's base name, never a box. If a header succeeds and the bitmap later fails, the reserved frame stays and the unavailable caption sits inside it. Standalone notes join the feed as note cards with no quote. A tucked < group stays one HIGHLIGHTS entry under its page-range label: each piece renders like an ordinary highlight — its quote with the 2 pt yellow rule and its own note card — with each follower opening at a dashed seam captioned with its page. The header's note chip counts one card per commented piece, and VoiceOver exposes one element per piece ("Highlight, continued on Page 12: …"). The Copy card keeps the group together: each piece's quote followed by its own Comment: lines, with a blank line between pieces. When bob ref show includes sections, HIGHLIGHTS draws those titles, @tag · N counts, and descriptions as native headers without changing annotation indices, paging, or keyboard numbering. A populated section's header sits on its first shown member; empty sections (and sections whose members are all filtered out) ride with the next member, and a trailing empty set appears after the last revealed entry once every annotation is visible. With no annotations the HIGHLIGHTS container still shows the empty scaffold. Ungrouped entries follow an OTHER HIGHLIGHTS N caption when any usable sections exist; an unknown section id joins that tail with no invented heading. A header restarts the page-label run even when the next member repeats the previous page. The disclosure row adds · N sections when hidden entries carry section starts (counting those headers, not Other), and VoiceOver names the section on each member while keeping headers as their own headings. Older bob responses with no sections keep today's flat feed. Same-page entries share one page label. Quotes render balanced ** runs as semibold full-ink words over a thick, rounded gold underline — one bar per laid-out line, never under the spaces at either end of a phrase. The Copy card highlight picker uses the same look, with underlined words lifting to primary ink on the italic secondary rows. VoiceOver announces the underlined phrases after the quote. The clipboard and every Copy payload keep the raw ** Markdown. A hover tooltip on a highlight shows its full text. The preview shows the first page (5 by default, Settings › References › Preview highlights per page); the disclosure row (+N more · ⌃D shows …) or Ctrl-D while that row is visible reveals the next page of highlights until all show. Revealed pages reset on selection changes and when the user changes the page size. They survive a show. A new-reference reset clears them like Ctrl-C. The preview also keeps its scroll position across shows and while the Copy, Rename, or Link to Today card is open. Page labels show as bob writes them (Page 1 stays Page 1).
Chats name consolidated reports and researcher drafts in the byline from the stem (__final, __x).
The Reading task fact names where the reference's task lives: the book symbol, the real parent route, and the lane label (sase · Next), or Archived · done/sase_done once archived. Parent captions use the real route; only frozen v1 rows keep the legacy _ref-stripping (obsidian_ref reads as obsidian).

Honesty rules: absence stays absence (facts omit their row); a publication date is not a file date; a highlight count is not progress; git dates carry "≈"; reading time is an estimate. A locked PDF reads "Preview unavailable: encrypted"; any other PDF failure reads "Preview unavailable". When ref show fails the basic inspector stays and adds a dim "Notes unavailable". Page counts and outline headings feed back into the ranking signals, so rows gain N pp and search can match headings.

The ⌘K actions menu pops up below the selected row (at the list's center when the row frame is unknown): Open in Highlights (↵), Close Tab (⌃X, matched Tabs rows), Open Note (⌘↵), Open Reading Task (⌃↵, only when bob reports a reading task), Reveal in Finder (⌥↵), Copy… (⌘Y), Rename… (⌘⇧R), Link to Today… (⌘N), Mark as Seen or Mark as New (⌥N, Ready and Next rows), Open Source URL (only with urls), Open Narration (only with audio, in the default app), Open in Default App, Refresh Library (⌘R), and Scan for New References (⌘S, last; disabled while a scan runs). Copy…, Rename…, and Link to Today… open their matching cards. ⌥N flips NEW in place; ineligible rows beep. A seen row stays in NEW until the next unfrozen ranking.