How to add images and PDFs
This page is a normal Markdown file under content/—it is built and published with the rest of the site. Use it as a template for images and PDFs on other pages.
This page shows the usual patterns for images (shown on the page) and PDFs (opened or downloaded when clicked). Replace the example filenames with your own.
Where to put files
Put images and PDFs in an attachments folder next to the Markdown file they belong to (not in docs/, which is for Quartz tooling only).
For this how-to page (which lives at content/howto-images-and-pdfs.md), the example folder is:
content/attachments/Upload these two example files there (same names as below):
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
exImage.jpg | Example photo |
exPDF.pdf | Example PDF |
On GitHub: browse to content/attachments/ → Add file → Upload files.
Locally or in Cursor: copy the files into content/attachments/.
Keep files reasonably small. Do not commit huge videos or datasets; link to lab storage instead (see the repository README).
Site layout reminder
Top-level areas under content/ are siblings in the sidebar (e.g. Reference vs McHenry Lab Protocols). You can nest topic folders inside them. For any note, put an attachments folder in the same directory as that note, for example:
content/McHenryLab Protocols/Some Topic/my-note.md
content/McHenryLab Protocols/Some Topic/attachments/scan.pngThis page uses content/attachments/ because the note itself sits directly in content/.
Embed an image (shows on the page)
Standard Markdown (works everywhere: GitHub, VS Code, Cursor, Obsidian):
Live example (after you add exImage.jpg):
Obsidian-style wikilink (also works in this site if you prefer):
![[attachments/exImage.jpg]]Use a relative path from the .md file. If the note is content/Some Area/My Note.md, use content/Some Area/attachments/ and paths like attachments/yourfile.png.
Link a PDF (click to open or download)
Markdown link:
[Open the example PDF](attachments/exPDF.pdf)Live example:
Wikilink style:
[[attachments/exPDF.pdf|Open the example PDF]]Browsers usually open PDFs in a new tab or download them, depending on settings.
Quick reference
| Goal | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Image on page |  |
| Clickable PDF | [link text](attachments/filename.pdf) |
| Same, wikilink | ![[attachments/filename.jpg]] — labeled links: see Wikilink style under PDFs above |
After adding or changing files, commit and push to main; the site rebuilds automatically.