The Library: Folders and Notebooks

Now we'll move to the Library. It is the visual front door of your notes: folders drawn as colored folders, notes drawn as small sheets of paper, and — inside a folder — shelves of highlights and study sets. The app opens here, and the Library toolbar button (⌥⌘0) brings you back from anywhere.

The Library header

At the top level the header reads Library. Inside a folder it shows a back chevron (a left-pointing arrow, far left; hover: "Back to all folders") followed by a breadcrumb ① — one button per folder in the chain, each with its colored icon and name. Click any of them to go up.

On the right, left to right:

• Highlighters ② (a highlighter icon; only inside a folder). Opens the folder's pen editor — the set of highlighter pens this folder uses (chapter 6). Hover: "This folder's highlighters — red here can mean something different than red elsewhere".
• Columns ③ (a three-column icon). Switches the grid to a sortable table; while the table is showing the same button reads Grid. Shortcut ⌘3, or View › As a Table.
• Sort ④ (up-and-down arrows). A menu: Manual, Name, Date Modified, Date Created, Size. Hidden while the table is showing, because the table sorts by its column headers.
• New ⑤ (a plus, drawn as a blue button). A menu with New Note and New Folder.

Folder tiles and note tiles

Folders come first in the grid ⑧, then notes. A folder tile is a folder silhouette in the folder's color with its icon in the middle and a small badge showing how many notes it holds. A note tile is a live miniature of its first page.

• Click a folder to open it; click a note to open it in the editor.
• Arrow keys move the selection tile by tile; Return opens the selected tile; Escape goes up one folder level.
• Delete (⌫ or ⌦) moves a selected note to the Trash at once, and asks before trashing a folder.
• After you right-click a tile that was not selected, a dashed grey ring marks it until your next click.

Right-click a folder

Open, Export as One PDF… (every note in the folder becomes one PDF book), New Note, New Folder Inside, Rename, Move to Folder (a submenu: Not in a Folder, then every folder), Color (a submenu of colors), Icon (a submenu of icons), Reveal in Finder, and — after a divider — Move to Trash.

Right-click a note

Open, Rename, Move to Folder, Reveal in Finder, then — after a divider — Lock This Note or Unlock This Note (protects the note behind Touch ID or your password; disabled when the Mac has neither) and Archive or Unarchive (chapter 12), and finally Move to Trash.

Renaming in place

Choose Rename on a tile and a name field appears directly under it, replacing its label. Type the new name, press Return to keep it or Escape to cancel.

The shelves inside a folder

Open a folder that has notes and two shelves appear above the grid.

The Highlights shelf ⑥ shows one tile per highlighter pen that collects, with the pen's name and how many marks it has in this folder. Hover: "Everything marked Formulas inside this folder. Click a line there to jump to its page." Clicking a pen tile opens Collections scoped to this folder (chapter 8) — this is the way into Collections.

The Study shelf ⑦ (caption "Study" with a graduation-cap icon) holds four tiles with counts: Flashcards, Recall, Quiz and Exam. Each opens the study window for this folder in that mode (chapter 9).

Making a folder

Click New › New Folder (or right-click a folder and choose New Folder Inside, or press ⌥⌘N). The New Folder sheet asks for:

• Name — a text field, placeholder "Accounting".
• Color — nine dots; the color tints the folder everywhere.
• Icon — a grid of symbols; pick one that says what the folder is about.
• Cancel or Create (Return).

Making a note

Click New › New Note, or right-click a folder and choose New Note, or use the New Note button in an empty folder. The New Note sheet asks for:

• Name — placeholder "Chapter 9".
• Paper — a segmented choice of paper styles: Blank, Ruled, Squared or Dotted.
• Color — five dots for the paper's tint.
• Margin rule — a checkbox for the vertical margin line.
• Start from the copied text / link / picture — a checkbox that appears only when your clipboard holds text, a web address or an image; tick it to begin the note with that.
• Cancel or Create (Return).

The note opens in the editor as soon as it is created. ⌘N skips the sheet and makes an "Untitled" note in the selected note's folder.

The Columns view

Press ⌘3 or click Columns. Every note becomes a row in a table with the columns Name, Folder, Modified, Created, Pages and Tags. Click a header to sort. This is the view that answers "what have I not touched since September?" Double-click a row to open the note; press ⌘3 again to return to the grid.

Empty states

• A brand-new folder with nothing in it: Your Library is Empty — Make a folder for a subject — Biology, Accounting — then notes inside it. with New Note and New Folder buttons.
• An empty folder: Nothing in Accounting II yet — Add a note, or another folder to break it down further. with the same two buttons.

Errors

Any Library action that fails — creating, renaming, moving, trashing, changing a color or icon — shows the Could Not Open That Folder panel with the system's reason and the buttons Create My Notes Folder and Choose Another Folder…. In practice this means the notes folder itself has become unreachable (an external drive unplugged, a permission changed).

Maya sets up her semester

Maya clicks New › New Folder, types "Accounting II", picks teal and the building icon, and clicks Create. She repeats for "Business Communication", "Data Communication & Networks" and "System Analysis". Then she opens Accounting II, clicks New › New Note, names it "Chapter 10", keeps ruled paper, and clicks Create. The note opens; the Library breadcrumb now reads Library › Accounting II. Later, right-clicking the Accounting II folder and choosing Export as One PDF… will give her the whole course as one book.

Summary

• The Library shows folders and notes as tiles; the header has back/breadcrumb, Highlighters, Columns, Sort and New.
• Right-click a tile for Open, Rename, Move to Folder, Color/Icon (folders), Lock (notes), Reveal in Finder and Move to Trash.
• Inside a folder, the Highlights shelf opens Collections and the Study shelf opens the study window.
• New Folder and New Note sheets choose name, color, icon or paper.

Common mistakes

• Looking for Collections in a menu — click a pen tile on the Highlights shelf.
• Pressing ⌘N and wondering where the note went — it is "Untitled", in the folder of the note you had selected.
• Deleting a folder by accident with ⌫ — Cocoa asks first; the Trash keeps it if you confirm.

Best practices

• One folder per course or project; nest a folder inside for weeks or units.
• Give folders distinct colors and icons — the same color tints their notes in the sidebar.
• Use Sort › Date Modified or the Columns view to find what you have neglected.

Keyboard shortcuts used

Related features to learn next

• Chapter 4, Your First Note — what you see when a note opens.
• Chapter 6, Highlighters and Pens — the folder's pen editor.
• Chapter 12, Organizing and Moving Notes — moving, renaming and the sidebar.