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Live blocks

Change the numbers once. Every document that shows them follows.

A live block is part of a document that comes from another file: a spreadsheet’s table in a Word report, a total in the middle of a sentence, a drawing in a note. When the source changes, Golem Docs writes the new result into every document that shows it.

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Garden plan

Four new beds along the south fence this spring. So far they have cost $214.

What each part cost, from the budget:

ItemCost
Seeds$38
Soil and compost$96
Cedar boards$80
Total$214
Kept up to date from the spreadsheet
A spreadsheet’s table, in a Word document. The table and the total in the sentence both come from the budget. Here they’re read-only, with a label naming their source.
A drawing of the app, not a recording. It works the same on the web, on your computer and on your phone.

Make one in three steps

  1. Copy as Live Link. In a spreadsheet, select a table, a range or one cell and choose Edit › Copy as Live Link. It works in documents too, for a table, a section or a bookmark.
  2. Paste it anywhere. Into a Word document, a note, another spreadsheet, a PDF form or a drawing. It shows what the source shows, with the source’s number formats, in the style of the document around it.
  3. Keep working. Change the source and every document that shows it is updated, in order, even a document that shows a document that shows it. A change that doesn’t touch a block writes nothing.

The result is in the file.

## Spring costs

<!-- golem:live Garden budget.xlsx#Spring stamp=3f9a2c1e -->
| Item | Cost |
| --- | ---: |
| Seeds | $38 |
| Soil and compost | $128 |
| Cedar boards | $80 |
| Bean trellis | $45 |
| Total | $291 |
<!-- /golem:live -->
An ordinary table to every other app

A live block writes what it shows into the document itself. Word, Obsidian, GitHub and your ai all see an ordinary table, with numbers that are current.

In a note, typing ![[Garden budget.xlsx#Spring]] makes one, so your ai can add a live block by writing a single line, and Golem Docs fills it in.

How to connect your ai ›

Any source, in any document

What a block can show

  • .xlsxA table, a range, a named cell or a chart
  • .csvA whole file, filtered and sorted
  • .docx .mdA section, a bookmark or a table of another document
  • .mdA field from a note’s front matter
  • .pdfA form field’s value, or a page as a picture
  • .svg .pngA drawing or a picture

Where it can go

  • .docx .odtWord and OpenDocument: a table, a value in a sentence, a picture
  • .md .htmlNotes and web pages
  • .xlsxSpreadsheets: the cells fill from where you paste, and formulas can use them
  • .pdfPDF forms and pages: a field filled in, a text box, a picture
  • .svgDrawings: a group you can move and scale
  • .pdfA PDF copy of a document, written again whenever the document changes (File › Live PDF Copy)

Blocks that need no spreadsheet

Insert › Live Block works things out from a folder of notes, with no formulas and no code.

A list of a folder’s notes. A character list or a reading list, with front matter fields as columns, sorted and filtered.
A count with a goal. Words in a novel or notes in a folder, and how far you are from where you want to be.

There’s also a timeline of notes by a date in their front matter. For anything else, there are scripts: a small TypeScript file in your vault, written by you or your ai, that runs in a sandbox and sees only what you allow.

Built to be trusted

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