There is no iOS app yet, but adding an iPhone/iPad app is planned. If you would like to stay in the loop about a future iOS app, feel free to sign up for the newsletter below.
The app comes with a subscription. A free plan is avaiable so that you can try the app without any risk before you upgrade to pro. You can find pricing details on the front page and in the Mac App Store (the price you see in the App Store varies a bit depending on local currency exchange rates and taxes that might apply).
Your notes are yours forever. No matter your subscription status, the app remains fully functional for existing notes. You can always open and edit your notes and you will continue to receive free app updates and support. For adding new notes, the limits of the free edition apply.
iCloud is not yet supported, but this is will come. If you want to stay in the loop about new features, feel free to sign up for the Noteship newsletter below.
To create a new notebook, choose File > New > New Notebook from the menu bar. Each notebook is saved as a folder on your Mac and the name that you pick is used as the name of the new folder. To reveal the notebook folder in Finder, Control-click on an empty area in the notebook outline on the left and choose “Show in Finder” from the shortcut menu.
To open an existing notebook folder, choose File > Open Existing Notebook Folder from the menu bar.
To add a new note or folder, choose File > New > New Note or New Folder from the menu bar or click on the Add button in the toolbar. New items are added below the currently selected item in the notebook outline on the left. If the selected item is a folder and that folder is expanded, the new item is added inside that folder at the ends of its contents. You can tell if a folder is expanded or collapsed from the triangle icon. Press the right arrow key to expand the selected folder and the left arrow key to collapse the folder or click on the triangle icon.
There are a number of ways to add external files as attachments to a note or a folder. Control-click on the note or folder in the outline on the left to open the shortcut menu and choose Attach File. Alternatively you can also simply drag a file from Finder to a note or folder. Beware that this will move the file into your notebook folder. To copy the file instead, press and hold the Option key. Notice how a Plus icon appears in this case indicating that the file will be copied instead of moved.
To rename a note, file, or folder, select it in the outline on the left and press the Return key or Control-click it and choose Rename from the shortcut menu. For notes you can also edit the title directly. Press the Return key to confirm the change. Notice how the note’s name then updates automatically in the outline on the left. When you rename an item through the app, the app takes care that all links in other notes are updated to use the new name of the note. This does not happen if you rename a note or folder directly in Finder while the notebook is closed. Please be aware of this and rename items through the app instead. Remember that each note is saved as a simple file on your Mac. The note’s title is used as the name of that file. Some characters, like the colon symbol, are not allowed in file names and are automatically replaced with a special sequence of symbols and letters, for example “4%3A” for a colon symbol. All of this happens automatically and there is nothing you have to do. Just be aware that his happens so that you are not confused by these percent sequences.
You can change the order of notes, files, and folders and move them in and out of folders by dragging items to the desired location in the outline on the left. You can even add notes as sub-notes to other notes. The same works for external files and attachments. If you have a PDF document as part of your notebook, you can add sub-notes and even folders to that PDF by dragging them onto the PDF. As with renaming an item, the app keeps track of the new location and updates all notes that link to the item you just moved. This does not happen if you move an item in Finder while the notebook is closed. You could end up with broken links so please reorganize your notes through the app instead. Sub-notes of other files: Each note is saved as a file on our Mac and each folder as a folder. There’s a slight technical problem here: files can only be added to folders. When you add an item to a note, the app creates a new folder for the note’s attachments. The name of that folder is based on the name of the note only that the file extension is separated by an underscore character instead of a dot.
Each note has a date assigned to it. That date is used as part of the file name of the note. To change the date, open the note and click on the calendar button next to the note’s title. Behind the scenes the app updates the file name of the note to use the new date. Same as with renaming a note, the app automatically updates all links in other notes to use the new date.
See: Add attachments/external files
To see a preview of an external file or note attachment, simply select it in the outline on the left. To edit the file you have to open it with its default application. Choose File > Open with Default App from the menu bar.
In order to edit an external file or attachment, you have to open it with its default application. Move the cursor above the preview of the file and click the “Open” button that appears in the bottom right of the preview or choose the menu item File > Open with Default App from the menu bar.
To import a Markdown file or a folder of Markdown notes, choose the menu File > Import > Plain Markdown File or Folder. Please note that importing Markdown is still somewhat limited as the app does not yet support all of Markdown's formatting options (such as code blocks and blockquotes). If you notice any problems while importing or would like to request support for a specific format, please get in touch.
To import a Obsidian vault folder, choose the menu File > Import > Obsidian Vault Folder. Please note that importing from Obsidian is still somewhat limited as the app does not yet support all of Obsidians's formatting options (such as code blocks and blockquotes). If you notice any problems while importing or would like to request support for a specific format, please get in touch.
To import a Dendron vault folder, choose the menu File > Import > Dendron Vault Folder. Please note that importing from Dendron is still somewhat limited as the app does not yet support all of Obsidians's formatting options (such as code blocks and blockquotes). If you notice any problems while importing or would like to request support for a specific format, please get in touch.
Each note is saved as a file, each folder as a folder on your Mac. Even the notebook itself is saved as a simple folder. You can reveal each note/folder/attachment in Finder. Control-click the item in the outline on the left and choose Show in Finder from the shortcuts menu. Notes that have attachments are accompanied by a special folder to hold those attachments. The attachments folder has the same name as the note itself only that the file extension is separated by an underscore character instead of a dot. Folders sometimes contain a special file named “_contents.ncts”. This file contains metadata about the folder and the items inside the folder such as the order of notes. Do not remove that file. If you copy a folder, include this special file to preserve the order of notes in the folder.
Notes that have attachments are accompanied by a special folder to hold those attachments. The attachments folder has the same name as the note itself only that the file extension is separated by an underscore character instead of a dot. The same applies to files with attachments.
The file name of each note starts with the date when the note was created in the form of “YYYY-MM-DD”, for example: “2021-08-15 My note.htnote”. This is done so that when you sort the files in Finder, notes are sorted by the date they were created (or the date that you chose to use). You can see the file name of a note by revealing it in Finder (Control-click the note in the outline and choose Show in Finder from the shortcuts menu). You can change the date of a note by clicking the calendar button next to the note’s title.
You can set a custom icon for each note/file/folder in the notebook outline on the left. The icon is saved as part of the note’s file name and represented as an emoji symbol. For example, a note with the title “My Note” and the bookmark icon will have the file name name: “2021-08-15 🔖 My Note.htnote”. The icon is added as part of the file name to make the notebook’s representation in Finder resemble the notebook inside the app as closely as possible.
You can reveal your notes in Finder. Since each note is saved as simple file on your Mac, you are in full control over your data. You can move, rename, copy, delete these files as you wish. While a notebook folder is open within the app, changes that you make in Finder are reflected in the app right away. For example, if you add a file to a folder that is part of a notebook, the outline updates automatically to show the new file. ⚠️ One thing to be aware of is renaming and moving files in Finder. While the app is open, it will detect these changes and update linked notes as needed. However, detecting changes made in Finder is not 100% reliable and if the app is not open, changes will go unnoticed. To ensure that linked notes are always updated, rename and move notes only through the app.
Control-click the item in the outline on the left and choose Show in Finder from the shortcuts menu.
To insert a link to another note or file, type “@“ followed by the name of the note. You can link to notes and other documents/files. Each note that is mentioned in other notes has a list with backlinks at its end. All links are automatically updated when you change the title of a note within the app. If you rename a note in Finder while the app is open, the app tries to update linked notes as well. ⚠️ If the app is not open and you rename or move a note in Finder, changes will go unnoticed and you will end up with broken links. Try to always rename/move notes through the app itself.
You can add links between notes inside the content of a note. If you click on a link to open the linked note, you will notice a section at the end of the note called “Mentioned in:”. This section contains a list of all other notes that link to this particular note. These entries are called “backlinks”, because they take you back to the original note.
Control-click the item in the outline on the left and choose Change Icon… from the shortcuts menu.
Control-click on an empty area in the outline on the left and choose View Options > Use Top Level Folders as Section Headers. A section header is simply a folder at the top level in the notebook folder. It behaves like a regular folder. You can rename it and move items in and out.
The calendar view in the bottom left shows if notes exist for a given day. Click on a day to show a list of all notes for that date.
To format text, select the text and click on one of the formatting buttons in the upper toolbar.
To insert an image into a note, drag in the image from Finder or a web page. You can also paste an image from the clipboard by pressing Cmd-V.
To turn a line into a heading, place the cursor on that line and click on the Heading button ¶ in the upper toolbar.
Click the Field button “F:” in the upper toolbar to insert a field. You can also type the name of the new field followed by a colon, then press the Tab key.
Click the Calendar button in the upper toolbar or type “@“ followed by the word “reminder”. On the day of the reminder, the app will show a notification and a badge next to the note in the outline with the number of due reminders and open to dos. Please refer to “Permanent reminder alerts” to have notifications remain on screen until dismissed.
On a new line, type two square brackets followed by a space “[] “ or click the List button in the toolbar to insert a todo or task list.
On a new line, start the line with either an asterisk “*” or “1.” to start a new bullet or numbered list. Alternatively you can click on the List button in the toolbar.
Open the note and click on the calendar button next to the notes’s title.
On a new line, type two square brackets followed by a space “[] “ or click the List button in the toolbar to insert a todo or task list.
Click the Calendar button in the upper toolbar or type “@“ followed by the word “reminder”. On the day of the reminder, the app will show a notification and a badge next to the note in the outline with the number of due reminders and open to dos. Please refer to “Permanent reminder alerts” to have notifications remain on screen until dismissed.
By default, notifications for due reminders are shown as “banners”. They appear in the upper-right corner and go away automatically. If you prefer reminder notifications to stay on screen until you dismiss them, open the System Preferences > Notifications > Noteship and change the alert style to “Alert” (also confirm that notifications from Noteship are allowed at all above the alert style settings).
In the list view you can sort a column by clicking on the column header. If you click on the Title column, you can sort results alphabetically ascending and descending. If you click a third time, notes will be sorted by their open to do and due reminder count. This provides a quick and handy way to find notes with open to dos or due reminders.
The app suggests various types of content as you type. For example, if you type the hash symbol, “#“, the suggestions menu opens with a list of existing tags. If you type “@“, the suggestions menu opens with options to insert a link to another item or a reminder. If you press the Esc (Escape) key at the beginning of an empty line, the suggestions menu opens with choices to insert fields and headings used in other notes that also contain the tags used in this note (if the current note does not contain tags, the menu will be empty).
The spreadsheet view shows the metadata fields of the selected items in a table. To open the spreadsheet view either select a folder or a note that contains sub-notes or perform a search via the location bar. Then click on the View button to the right of the location bar and choose “as Spreadsheet”. The spreadsheet view makes sense for items of the same kind that share a common set of metadata fields. Fields can become very powerful when combined with tags. Let’s say you tag your meeting notes with “#meetingminutes” and you keep the meeting duration as a field “Duration”. You can now search for “#meetingminutes" and get an overview of the duration of your past meetings.
A one page summary combines sections from multiple notes on a single page. All sections must have the same heading in order to be included. For example, let’s say you keep monthly project review notes, each with a section “Lessons Learned”. A one page summary for “Lessons Learned” would show these sections from multiple notes on a single page.
You can organize your notes with #tags. A tag starts with “#” followed by a single word. To find all notes for a specific tag, type the tag in the location bar or click on a tag inside a note. Recommended use: Use tags to indicate a specific property of a note (e.g. #important) or to express that the note is “of a certain kind”, for example: #contact, #recipe, #meetingminutes.
Tags become very powerful in combination with fields. When you tag a new note, all fields (and headings) used in other notes with the same tag become available via the suggestions popup and in the suggestions sidebar. Let’s say you are adding a new contact. Add a new note and tag it with #contact. Then press “Esc” at the start of a blank line to see all suggested fields from other notes tagged with “contact”. This makes it very easy to create notes with the same structure. You can also add suggested fields and headings from the sidebar on the right.
Click inside the location bar or press Cmd-L. Now type the text you are looking for. Searching for tags works as well as searching for dates in the format YYYY-MM-DD. You can switch from the results list to the Spreadsheet or One Page Summary views by clicking on the View button to the right of the location bar.
Click on the View button to the right of the location bar to change to the Spreadsheet or One Page Summary perspectives.
Type the tag including the “#” into the location bar.
Type the date in the form of YYYY-MM-DD into the location bar.