Per-Molecule Metadata
The Metadata Editor lets you record naming and descriptive information for your work. It has two scopes: document metadata that applies to the whole canvas, and per-molecule metadata that applies to one connected structure. The editor picks the scope automatically based on your selection when you open it.
Opening the editor
Open the editor from the File menu with Document Metadata…. It is also reachable from the canvas right-click menu and from the Edit metadata link inside the SVG export dialog.
When you open the editor with exactly one whole molecule selected (every atom of a single connected component, nothing extra), it scopes to that molecule and the header reads Molecule Metadata. Otherwise (no selection, a partial selection, or more than one molecule) it scopes to the whole document and the header reads Document Metadata.
Document metadata fields
Document scope provides these fields:
- Title (auto-generated from the formula if left empty)
- Molecule Name
- Common Names (comma or semicolon separated)
- Description (auto-generated if left empty)
- Author
- Notes (saved in the file but never exported)
Per-molecule metadata fields
When the editor scopes to a single molecule, you get:
- Name
- Common Names (comma or semicolon separated)
- Formula with a lock button
- SMILES with a lock button
- Description
- Notes (saved in the file, not exported)
Formula and SMILES are computed from the structure by default. Typing in either field locks it to your value. Click the lock button to toggle: locking freezes the current value, and unlocking re-computes the value from the structure and refills the field. Per-molecule metadata is keyed to the molecule’s atom set, so editing that structure can detach the stored metadata.
Where metadata is used
Metadata is saved inside the .mkit file. It is also embedded in SVG exports: the title and description become the SVG title and desc elements, and author and common names are written as namespaced mk: metadata. Document metadata is embedded only for full-canvas exports; selection and region exports use the molecule formula instead. The Notes field stays in the file and is never written to exports.