Your First Note

Now we'll move to the editor. Click a note in the sidebar or the Library and the detail area becomes a sheet of ruled paper with your writing on it. This chapter explains everything around the page — the header, the page itself, the status bar, zoom, pages and page breaks, the outline and page thumbnails — and how the note saves itself.

What you see

The editor header

The header ① reads like a breadcrumb: Library (a left chevron; click it to go back, shortcut ⌥⌘0), then a › and one button per folder in the chain with its colored icon, then the note's title. When the outline column is hidden, an Outline toggle (an indented-list icon) sits at the far left of the header.

On the right ②: Files (a paperclip, with the file count when the note has files; ⌥⌘P) opens the files panel (chapter 7); Share (a square with an arrow) offers the macOS share sheet for the note; and, at the very end, a small grey indicator that briefly reads Saved after a save, Exported after an export, Prompt copied, Added to Calendar, Card made — 3 in “Terms”, and so on.

The page

The page ④ is drawn as sheets of paper on a desk: rules, a margin line if you chose one, page numbers, and a folded corner on dog-eared pages. Text sits on the ruled lines. Click anywhere below your last line and the cursor lands on that line — no need to press Return a dozen times.

The status bar

The status bar ⑤ runs under the page. Left to right:

• Page 2 of 5 — click it for the Go to Page popover (a Page field, "of 5", and a Go button); shortcut ⌥⌘G.
• 312 words, or selection: 40 words while text is selected — click for the Word Count popover; shortcut ⇧⌘I.
• The note's location.
• Focus or Typewriter labels while those modes are on.
• 131% — the zoom. Hover: "Zoom — pinch the trackpad, or ⌘+ and ⌘−. Click for 100%." Clicking it returns to 100%.

Hide or show the bar with View › Show Status Bar (⌥⌘/).

Typing, and saving

Just type. Cocoa saves your note to its file as you go — you never have to remember. ⌘S (File › Save) saves at once and shows Saved in the header. Every few minutes while you write, a version is kept for thirty days (chapter 13, Version History).

Cocoa also capitalises the first letter of a sentence as you type, and checks spelling: after a misspelled word a small card appears under it with the suggested fix, Ignore (a minus in a circle) and Add to Dictionary (a plus in a circle). Press Tab to accept the fix, or Escape — or just keep typing — to leave the word as it is. Spelling options live in Settings › General (chapter 14).

Paper

Each note has its own paper, chosen when it was created and changeable at any time in the Inspector (toolbar button, ⌥⌘I):

• Style — Blank, Ruled, Squared or Dotted. On squared paper, Tab moves the cursor to the start of the next square and you can click any square to type there — handy for tables of figures by hand.
• Color — the paper's tint.
• Margin rule — the vertical margin line on or off.
• Size, Line spacing (a slider, in points), New page per heading ("One heading, one lecture"), and Length (how many pages the note currently is).

Each setting shows where it came from — This note, the folder's name, or Default — and a small back-arrow appears when you have changed a row, to revert it. Make This the Folder Default writes the note's paper into the folder so every note there follows it (hover: "Every note in Accounting II that has not been restyled follows this."); Follow the Folder Again drops the note's own settings.

Pages and page breaks

The note is one continuous document, paginated for you: text that no longer fits flows onto the next sheet. Two ways to view it:

• Continuous (⌘1) — the sheets scroll past like paper on a desk.
• One Page (⌘2) — a single sheet at a time; Next Page ⌥⌘↓ and Previous Page ⌥⌘↑ turn it.

Start a new page on purpose with Navigate › Insert Page Break (⌘↩). Turn on New page per heading in the inspector to start every heading on a fresh sheet.

Zoom

⌘+ and ⌘- zoom the page; ⌘0 is actual size; Fit Width ⌘9 and Fit Page ⌘8 fit the sheet to the window. Pinching the trackpad works too. Zoom is zoom — text size on the page comes from heading levels, not from a font-size menu.

The outline and the page thumbnails

The outline ⑥ is a column of the note's headings with their page numbers; click one to jump there. It is hidden when a note opens; show it with the Show Outline toolbar button, the Outline toggle in the header, View › Show Outline, or ⌃⌘O. Empty, it reads No Headings — Headings appear here as you write them.

The page thumbnails ⑦ are a rail of live miniatures down the left side for flipping through a long note; View › Show Page Thumbnails, ⌃⌘P. Off by default.

Three ways to write without distraction

• Focus Mode (⇧⌘D) dims every paragraph but the one you are writing.
• Typewriter Mode (⌃⇧⌘T) keeps the line you are typing at the same height on the screen.
• Enter Full Screen (⌃⌘F).

Both modes show a label in the status bar while they are on; they are checkmark items in the View menu.

Dog-ears

Fold the corner of the page you are on with Dog-Ear This Page — the bookmark icon on the format bar, Marks › Dog-Ear Page, or ⌥⌘B. Dog-eared pages are listed under Bookmarks in Collections (chapter 8).

Links to other notes

Type [[ and a note's title, closing with ]], to link to it. Hold ⌘ and click the link to open that note. If no note has that title, an alert asks There is no note called “Balance Sheets” — links resolve by title — with Create It and Cancel. The other direction shows in the inspector's Links Here panel: Linked notes that point here, and Mentioned notes that name this one without linking, each with a Link it button.

Renaming and locking

Rename a note from the Library (right-click › Rename) or the sidebar; the title in the header follows. Lock a private note from the Library (right-click › Lock This Note): it then shows This note is locked. Unlocking lasts five minutes of inactivity. with an Unlock button that asks for Touch ID or your password. The file itself stays readable in Finder; the lock gates reading it in Cocoa.

When the note changed somewhere else

If another app — or iCloud on your other Mac — changes the file while you have unsaved edits, an orange bar appears above the page: This note changed on disk — You have unsaved changes here too. Neither version is thrown away. with Show Difference, Use Theirs, Keep Mine (Return) and an × to decide later.

Maya writes Chapter 10

Maya opens her new note and types a title line, presses ⌃⌘1 to make it a heading, and writes. The header's indicator flashes Saved. She presses ⌃⌘O: the outline shows "Stockholders' equity · 1". At page three she presses ⌘↩ to start the next topic on a fresh sheet. Finished for the day, she folds the corner with ⌥⌘B so tomorrow's page is a click away in Bookmarks.

Summary

• The header shows where you are and offers Library, Files, Share and the saved indicator.
• Notes save themselves; ⌘S saves now and shows Saved.
• Paper, size and spacing live in the Inspector (⌥⌘I), per note or per folder.
• Continuous ⌘1 or One Page ⌘2; page breaks with ⌘↩; zoom with ⌘+ ⌘- ⌘0.
• The outline (⌃⌘O) lists headings; the page rail (⌃⌘P) shows thumbnails.

Common mistakes

• Looking for a font-size menu — size comes from heading levels; ⌘+ zooms the view.
• Expecting the outline to be open — it starts hidden on every note; press ⌃⌘O.
• Writing [[Title]] with a typo, then wondering why it offers to create a note — links match titles exactly.

Best practices

• One note per chapter or lecture; headings for each topic, so the outline is a table of contents.
• Choose the folder's paper once with Make This the Folder Default.
• Dog-ear the page you stopped on.

Keyboard shortcuts used

Related features to learn next

• Chapter 5, Formatting Text — the format bar.
• Chapter 6, Highlighters and Pens.
• Chapter 7, Files, PDFs and Slides.