If you save the file with just text, you can save it as md. However, if I try to save it after inserting an image, it will be in .panda format.
Perhaps you have also included an image file in the file. However, I can’t edit it from other editors with this. Isn’t it possible to save the file as pure Markdown?
Hi there,
Panda read and write in pure Markdown if there are no images/files attached to your document, as text files can only contain “text” 
If you add an image or a file to the document, the format is changed to .panda, which is an open format: Textpack which is a zipped TextBundle.
This is a common format used to bundle text and images/files together, there are other editors who support it, but you can always unzip it and extract your Markdown file and your attachments.
We’re trying to use open formats and let you in full control of your data, we’re also open to any suggestion on this matter.
Let me know what you think about this!
Best.
5 Likes
Why not use the established .textbundle extension then?
3 Likes
I agree, I also do not like the image embedded in the md. The file gets bigger and automatic text modifications and mass editing is more difficult, also this might not be so scalable if hundreds of images are in. I am writing e.g. a daily logbook in a md file where a lot of screen shots are added. In 2020 these were 180 images. Why not using a mechanism where the subdirectory is named like the file. and use relative links?
The only caveat here is if the document is renamed or text is moved from one markdown to another here the links need to be adapted and the images moved.
Just tried it, backuped my logbook file (size 128k) including 190 referenced images via relative link.
- Opened md file with Panda
- dragged and dropped two new images in
- file was renamed to .panda
- File size increased to 450 kb
- Was not able to open file with Typora and Sublime anymore, imported to Bear, file got corrupted.
*** Restored file from Backup**
+1, the fact that it saves it as a .panda file is a problem as I can’t open it with other apps anymore. I would like to keep all my note files in MD format so they can still be opened by other editors. This would break that workflow.
I’m a little torn on this because I do love how simple it is to just drag images in and have them actually be stored in the file itself and preserved nicely (versus just linked, add hassle of attachments subfolder, etc.)… but it is a pretty big problem to have the format be “proprietary” .panda file, especially with Bear being separate as well.
Overall I would ask: Are there other options available here besides saving as .panda? As @gnome.irdan asked, can it be .textbundle instead? (And is that format understood by other editors?) Another behavior I’ve seen, for example in Obsidian, is that when you drag an image it saves the image into an attachments folder and then creates an MD image ref to it.
2 Likes
It would be much more useful if the editor just used .textbundle extension when multimedia is added to the markdown file instead of a zipped textbundle which is not portable without decompressing. I don’t think the benefit of compressing any textual document outweighs the pros of portability. Compared to big data, I don’t see why panda documents need to be compressed.
Hi there,
Many thanks for taking the time to leave us a post. I can see that this is your first timing posting on this forum, so welcome to the community!
I consulted a member of the development team on the above. The problem with .textbundle is that it’s a folder, so it’s not possible to share it via email/messages/or any other way that involve files.
If you need to share a folder, you need to zip it to send it to someone else, so .panda (which is just a .textpack renamed) is much more handy to use.
There are also other factors such as Panda in it’s current form it’s just an app to test the new editor.
The final version of Panda might work differently, but we’re focusing on Bear 2.0 right now.
Hoping this helps! 