[BUG] File Comments arent working

[cptvincer]

My main interest in HiNote is making file comments more then commenting highlights- i got hyped when i saw the feature...
Upon installing HiNote they work- they show up...

But everytime Obsidian closes, upon restarting, FILE NOTES ARE GONE.

Highlights still show and comments on highlights also show- it seems commenting highlights are saved and reload properly. Only the file comments seem to either not really save or failing to load/be recalled.

Installed on windows 10 desktop, Obsidian version 1.10.6, plugin version 0.5.2

I dont know if its relevant (if it caused the bug)- on my first test of the plugin i failed to notice if file comments were gone, but i tested 2 things- how it would behave with comments toward deleted files, how the 'clear orphened data' would behave and if other filetypes (beyond .md files) could also receive comments... the comments on other filetypes behaved just like the bug, they seemed to work but disapear on relaunching Obsidian.

In case my test couldve been the cause of the bug i unninstalled HiNote and deleted its extra folder- so i did a full removal (the plugin folder inside .obsidian/plugins was gone, as well as the hidden .hinote folder on the vaults root), reinstalled the plugin... and file comments still arent really saved.
Do hinote saves any type of data on the system, beyond the vault? Did i really removed all data when i deleted the .hinote folder?

PS: this is an bug issue, but i just wanted to add that it would be great if HiNote could save file comments for any filetype. If i understood correctly comments are saved in jsons by the plugin itself, on its own folder, and the comments that show up when we open files are actually filtered by the filename... of course highlights can only work on .md files (maybe canvas too) - but i imagine it would be simple to allow file comments for any filetype. Would be great having HiNote being useful when opening pdfs, or even adding a comment to an image on the vault...

PS 2: i also wanted to check the flashcard feature (when i come back to using Hinote, waiting to solve this bug) but checking the website i dont think i can buy the pro. Im on Brazil, one payment method i couldnt even figure out, the other one (alipay i think?) seems to require a chinese passport to even create an account... anyway im hoping HiNote will solve my needs and if it does i would very much want the flashcards too but i cant get pro. Any chance for a more international payment method available?

[CatMuse]

Thank you very much for the detailed and thoughtful feedback — it was extremely helpful for identifying the issue and understanding your use case more clearly.

Here are my responses to your points:

1. File comments not being saved
   After reviewing the code, I can confirm that this is indeed a real bug. During a recent refactor of the old and new storage logic, file comments were not being properly persisted. This is an obvious issue on my side, and I’ve already identified the cause. I’ll fix this as soon as possible in an upcoming release. Thank you for catching and reporting it.

2. How HiNote stores data
   Currently, all core data related to highlights, comments, and flashcards is stored in the .hinote folder at the root of the vault.
   Data related to plugin settings (from the Settings panel) is stored separately in the plugin’s data.json file.
   So yes — when you deleted the .hinote folder, you effectively removed all main HiNote data.

3. Supporting file comments for any file type
   This is a great suggestion. At the moment, HiNote only supports comments for .md files. Expanding file-level comments to any file type (such as PDFs or images) makes a lot of sense and would be very valuable in practice.
   This is something I’ll seriously consider and evaluate for future versions. Thanks for the idea.

4. International payment options
   If you switch the website language to English and proceed with the purchase, HiNote uses Gumroad as the payment platform. Gumroad supports PayPal and other internationally available payment methods, which should work in Brazil.
   If you ran into issues before, I recommend trying it this way.

Thanks again for taking the time to write such a thorough report and for your interest in HiNote. I really appreciate the support 🙏
Feel free to reach out again if you have more feedback or ideas.