Documentation

Notebook Basics

What notebooks are, how cells work, and your first run in InkRider.

This guide is for people who are new to notebooks or want a quick primer on how they work inside InkRider. If you already live in .ipynb files, start with Already Use Jupyter? Meet InkRider instead.

What Is a Notebook?

A notebook is a document made of ordered cells. Each cell is a small unit of content that InkRider can run or render independently.

  • Code cells contain executable code (usually Python). When you run a code cell, InkRider sends the code to a kernel — the engine that actually executes it — and displays the result in an output area below the cell.
  • Markdown cells contain formatted text. They are rendered for reading, not executed as code.

Notebooks run sequentially: when you run cell 3, it can use variables and imports created in cells 1 and 2. If you change an earlier cell, re-run the cells that depend on it so their outputs stay correct.

For the general Jupyter notebook model, see the official Jupyter documentation.

How InkRider Uses Notebooks

InkRider is a notebook workspace inside Microsoft Word:

  • Notebooks open in the add-in panel beside your document, not in a separate application window.
  • The default format is .ipynb, shown as a visual cell grid (like JupyterLab).
  • Cell outputs can stay in the panel or be placed in the Word document via anchoring — InkRider's core workflow for live documents.
  • Notebooks are stored in your browser (IndexedDB) and can optionally be embedded inside the .docx file for portability.

Create Your First Notebook

  1. Open Microsoft Word and launch the InkRider add-in.
  2. Sign in if prompted.
  3. Click New at the top of the add-in, then choose Notebook.
  4. A new tab opens (for example, "Notebook 1").
  5. You see one empty Python cell with a code editor.

You can also import an existing .ipynb file via drag-and-drop or the clipboard.

Run Your First Cell

Type a simple calculation in the first cell:

total = 12
unit_price = 4.5
grand_total = total * unit_price

grand_total

Then:

  1. Press Run on the cell toolbar, or press Shift+Enter.
  2. Wait for the output. The first run may take longer while InkRider starts the runtime.
  3. The result (54.0) appears in the output area below the cell.
  4. Change total to 20 and run again — the output updates.

The last expression in a code cell is displayed automatically. Use print() when you want explicit text output.

Cell Types You Will Use First

Language Purpose
Python Calculations, data processing, text generation
Markdown Headings, prose, bullet lists; supports {{ expression }} for live values — see Markdown Interpolation

InkRider also supports Raw, HTML, R, and JavaScript cells. See Notebooks, Scripts, and QMD Files for the full reference.

Common cell operations

Every cell supports:

  • Run — execute the cell (Shift+Enter)
  • Add cell above / below — insert a new cell
  • Delete — remove the cell
  • Move up / move down — reorder cells
  • Change language — switch between Python, Markdown, and other types

Cell order matters. This example shows why:

# Cell 1
name = "InkRider"

# Cell 2 — uses the variable from Cell 1
f"Hello, {name}!"

If you run Cell 2 before Cell 1, you get a NameError. Run cells from top to bottom when setting up a notebook for the first time.

Put Output in Your Word Document

Running a cell shows output in the add-in panel. To make that output part of your Word document:

  1. Place your cursor in the document where the output should appear.
  2. Run the cell to generate the output you want.
  3. Anchor the cell output to that location in Word.

When you re-run the cell with updated data, the anchored region in Word updates automatically. This is how InkRider replaces manual copy-and-paste workflows.

For the full anchoring guide, see Cell Anchoring.

Save and Persistence

  • Notebooks auto-save to browser storage (IndexedDB). They survive page refreshes as long as you use the same browser profile.
  • To make a notebook travel with the document, embed it inside the .docx. See Embedding Notebooks in DOCX.
  • To bring in work from elsewhere, see Importing Notebooks and Files.

Choose a Runtime

InkRider needs a runtime (and kernel) to execute code:

Runtime Best for
JupyterLite (default) Getting started; no local Python install
Jupyter Server (Pro) Full pip/conda environments, local files, databases

You select the default runtime in Application Settings → Runtime. See Runtimes and Kernels for a comparison, and JupyterLite Runtime for browser-runtime limitations.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Running cells out of order. If outputs look wrong, run all cells from the top (or restart the kernel and re-run). See Runtimes and Kernels — Session Management.

Expecting desktop Python packages in JupyterLite. Packages with C extensions (many data-science libraries) may not work in the browser runtime. Use micropip for pure-Python packages, or connect an external Jupyter Server.

Forgetting to anchor before sharing. Output that only exists in the add-in panel is not in the Word document. Anchor outputs you want colleagues to see.

Switching browsers. Notebooks in IndexedDB are tied to your browser profile. Embed notebooks in the document or export them if you need to move between machines.

Glossary

Term Meaning
Cell A single unit in a notebook (code, markdown, etc.)
Kernel The process that executes code for a notebook session
Runtime The environment InkRider uses to run kernels (JupyterLite or Jupyter Server)
Output area The region below a code cell where results are displayed
Anchor A link between a cell's output and a location in the Word document
Session A running kernel instance that keeps variables in memory between cell runs
VFS InkRider's virtual filesystem where notebooks and data files are stored

Next Steps

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