Notes and folders

This page is for the person who writes the notes. It covers how to make, name, sort, move, find, and remove a note.

Make a note

Select All notes or a folder name to choose where a new note goes. Then select New note, the plus button above the tree, or New note in the command palette. You can also use New note in this folder in a folder menu. The note opens at once with a name such as New note, and the cursor is in the note, so you can write at once. A new note goes to your server when a connection is there. Until then the sidebar marks it Local.

Name a note

Start a new note with a heading, for example # Trip to Lisbon. When you pause, the note takes the heading as its name. While the name is still the name that the heading gave, it follows the heading when you change it. When the folder already holds a note of that name, the note takes the name with a number after it, for example Trip to Lisbon 2. A note that starts with text and not with a heading keeps its name. Links to the note from other notes follow a new name.

To give a note a name of your own, select the name, which is the last part of the line at the top of the screen, and type. The name is kept when you press Enter or select something else. Enter then puts the cursor in the note. Press Escape to keep the name that the note had. A name that you type stays when the heading changes. A daily note keeps the name of its date.

A name needs no .md ending. If you type one it is removed, because every note is already a Markdown file.
A name holds only the file name. It cannot contain a slash. Use Move to folder to place the note in a folder, or New note in this folder to make a note that starts there.
A backslash and a name another note already uses are refused, with one sentence on the note. The last good name stays.

Make a folder

Select All notes or a folder name to choose the parent. Then select New folder, the folder button beside New note, or New folder in the command palette. Type one child name and select Make folder. Select the chevron beside a folder to expand or collapse it.

Expand all folders, the last button above the tree, opens every folder. When a folder is open, the same button is Collapse all folders and closes every folder.

A folder is only a path. A new folder writes nothing to the server. It stays visible on this device, becomes real as soon as a note lives in it, and stays after a note delete.

Sort the notes

Select Sort notes above the tree and select an order:

Name, A to Z and Name, Z to A put the notes in alphabet order.
Date created, Newest first and Date created, Oldest first use the time you made each note.
Date updated, Newest first and Date updated, Oldest first use the time you last changed each note.

The order applies to the notes in each folder. Folders stay above the notes, in alphabet order from A to Z. This device keeps your order until you select another one.

Each row of the tree has a menu. Open it with the button at the end of the row, with a right click on the row, or from the keyboard with Shift + F10 or the Menu key.

A note row offers Open, History, Publish, Rename, Move to folder, Duplicate, Copy link, Export as Markdown and Move to Trash. Copy link puts the address of the note on the clipboard. The address opens the note for a person who signs in to your account. To share a note with other people, use Publish.
A folder row offers New note in this folder, New folder in this folder, Rename, Move to folder, Publish and Move to Trash.

Move and rename

Drag a note or a folder onto another folder, or onto All notes to move it to the top. Move to folder in the menu of a row, and in the note menu in the header, marked Note actions, does the same with the keyboard.

To rename a row, select it and press F2, or select Rename in its menu. The name becomes a field in the row. Press Enter to keep the new name, or Escape to keep the old one. When you move away from the field, the row also keeps the new name, and the focus stays where you moved it. Renaming a folder renames the path of every note inside it. A move or a rename is refused when a note or a folder of that name is already there, and when a folder would move into itself. The reason appears as one line at the foot of the tree. After Enter, the field stays open, so you can type a different name. After you move away, the row keeps its old name. Press F2 to try again.

Select several notes

Hold Ctrl, or Cmd on a Mac, and select rows to add them to a selection. Hold Shift and select a row to select every row between it and the last row you selected. Shift + Down and Shift + Up do the same from the keyboard, Space adds the row that has the focus, and Ctrl + A selects every row. The open note is part of the selection when you start it.

The menu of a selected row then acts on the whole selection: Move to folder moves every selected note and folder, and Move to Trash moves them all to Trash. You can also drag a selected row to move the whole selection. Press Escape to clear the selection. A plain select of a row also clears it.

Move through the tree with the keyboard

The tree takes one stop of Tab. Up and Down move between rows, Home and End go to the first and the last row, Right opens a folder and Left closes it or goes to the folder above. Enter opens a note or selects a folder. Delete moves the selection to Trash. When a row leaves the tree, for example after Move to Trash or Move to folder, the focus goes to the next row.

Find a note

Select Search in the header, or press Ctrl + P. Type a few words. Notes whose name matches come first, then notes whose text matches, with a short excerpt around the match. An empty box lists the notes you changed most recently.

Search works the same in every language. Each word also finds the longer words that start with it, so plan finds planning. A letter with an accent finds the same letter without one, so cafe finds café. Search reads the text as you see it in Read mode, so a link address and a Markdown mark do not count.

To search inside the note you have open, use Ctrl + F in the editor, or Cmd + F on a Mac. A band opens above the note. Type in Find, then press Enter for the next match and Shift and Enter for the one before it, or select Next and Previous. Select all selects every match. Type the new text in Replace with and select Replace or Replace all, or press Enter in that field. Match case, Regular expression and Whole word change how the text matches. Press Escape or select the close button to close the band. Ctrl + H, or Cmd + Option + F on a Mac, opens it with the replace field.

Link one note to another

Type ]( to get a list of your notes, and select one to insert a link. [[ opens the same list and also inserts a normal Markdown link, so the file stays readable in any other editor.

You can also type a whole wiki link, such as [[Plan]], [[Plan|the plan]] or [[Plan#Next steps]], as you do in Obsidian. When you type the last ] and a note of that name is in the workspace, the editor changes it to a normal link. A paste of plain text does the same. A wiki link that names no note stays as you wrote it.

Select a link to open it. The pointer changes over a link, so you can see what one click does. To change the text of a link, move the cursor into it with an arrow key, or select the text beside it. The link then shows its Markdown source and you can edit it. Alt + Enter opens the link at the cursor.

See what links to a note

Links to this note is at the side of the open note. It lists the notes that link to it. Select a name to open that note. Select the title of the list to collapse it or to open it again. A note that nothing links to says that no notes link here.

The list works without a connection, because this device reads your notes and answers. It then says that the links come from this device. A link that you type is in the list before you save it. A narrow window hides this side panel.

Remove a note or a folder

Open the menu of a note row or a folder row and select Move to Trash, or press Delete in the tree. The note menu in the header and the command palette offer the same action for the open note. The action runs at once. A bar offers Restore for a few seconds. A folder action moves every note under the folder to Trash. See Trash.