siyuan-note/siyuan · critical

encrypted document in ordinary notebook

Error message

encrypted document in ordinary notebook: %s

What it means

While scanning an ordinary (non-encrypted) notebook, the walker reads a .sy document and detects ciphertext via util.IsCiphertext(data). Encrypted documents are only valid inside encrypted notebooks, so the relink scan aborts rather than parsing data it cannot authenticate or correctly index.

Solutions

1. Move the encrypted document back into its encrypted notebook (via the app's move feature, not manual file copies).
2. Unlock/decrypt the document in the encrypted notebook using its key, then relocate the decrypted version if a plain copy is needed.
3. Restore notebook metadata so the notebook is correctly recognized as encrypted if that is its true state.
4. Do not attempt to hand-edit or strip the ciphertext — that breaks authentication and recovery guarantees.

_, err := model.RelinkAsset(old, new, dry)
if err != nil && strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "encrypted document in ordinary notebook") {
    // move the document back to its encrypted notebook or decrypt via the app
}

When it happens

Trigger: A .sy file inside a regular notebook contains encrypted content — typically because the document was moved/copied out of an encrypted notebook, the notebook was switched from encrypted to ordinary, or an encryption envelope was applied but the notebook is not registered as encrypted; the scan calls filelock.ReadFile then util.IsCiphertext and fails with the absolute path.

Common situations: Copying documents between an encrypted notebook and a normal notebook via the filesystem instead of the app; restoring a partial backup that mixed encrypted and plain documents; misconfigured workspace where notebook metadata marking encryption was lost.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a compatible type" / "cannot merge" errors: when a value's type doesn't match what the library requires — this error's family across 65 libraries.

Related errors

• encrypted assets are not supported
• 26
• Access to encrypted notebook data is not supported via this…
• accessing assets in encrypted notebook
• Argon2id KeyLength must be 32

AI-assisted analysis of siyuan-note/siyuan@9f775e8a12 (2026-09-19). Data as JSON: /api/errors/11eb09e7f8661877. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at kernel/model/asset_relink.go:164

				}
				if strings.HasPrefix(entry.Name(), ".") || entry.Name() == "storage" {
					return filepath.SkipDir
				}
				return nil
			}
			if !strings.HasSuffix(entry.Name(), ".sy") {
				return nil
			}
			if err := p.observe(absPath); err != nil {
				return err
			}
			p.reportProgress(absPath)
			data, readErr := filelock.ReadFile(absPath)
			if readErr != nil {
				return readErr
			}
			if util.IsCiphertext(data) {
				return fmt.Errorf("encrypted document in ordinary notebook: %s", absPath)
			}
			if readErr = treenode.CheckSpecJSON(data); readErr != nil {
				return readErr
			}
			if !json.Valid(data) {
				return fmt.Errorf("invalid document JSON: %s", absPath)
			}
			var header struct {
				ID         string `json:"ID"`
				Properties struct {
					Title string `json:"title"`
				} `json:"Properties"`
			}
			if readErr = json.Unmarshal(data, &header); readErr != nil {
				return readErr
			}
			titles[header.ID] = header.Properties.Title
			if !p.mayContainReferences(data) && !bytes.Contains(data, []byte("NodeAttributeView")) {

View on GitHub (pinned to 9f775e8a12)