Notes

The Notes tab is a view for notes only — the same .md files as in the Documents tab, in the same place in the folder tree, but without the documents in between. You choose a note and it is in the middle: choosing means opening, without tabs. Move on to the next one and the previous one is saved.

The five areas#

From left to right, each with a fixed digit — Alt with the digit jumps there, even into a collapsed area, which opens:

Hold Alt for a moment to see the digits on the areas. Settings → Operation turns this off or sets it to always show — then a digit can also be clicked.

Rubrics and folders share the sidebar on the left; drag the border between them with the mouse or move it with ↑/↓ when it has the keyboard; a double-click resets it. The sidebar, the side panel and the task page collapse via the small arrow at the top of their edge and then stand as a button on the side rail — with icon, word and digit; a click on it or Alt with the digit brings them back, and Alt with the digit of a panel that currently has the keyboard collapses it. Ctrl+Shift+F12 collapses every panel (and brings them back): only the list and the note remain.

Rubrics and folders#

The rubrics are computed from your notes: a note with project/… is a project, with area/… an area, with entity/person a person, with entity/<kind> knowledge of that kind; a note with thread: is correspondence, everything else a loose note. Empty rubrics are left out, rare kinds of knowledge sit behind More with their count. Pinned notes are bookmarks on notes (Ctrl+B in the list pins and unpins), own views are the saved searches from the Documents tab — here they show only the notes they match.

The folders are the same tree as in the Documents tab, only without files. The folder of the note in the middle is marked and expanded. A click on a folder shows its notes, including subfolders.

The list and search#

Typing in the list starts the search (or /): it searches the rubric or folder, titles before full text — first the notes whose title contains every word, then those whose text does, with the spot in the excerpt. The best title is at the top and therefore already open. ↑/↓ moves even from the search field, Return goes into the text, Esc clears the search and gives the keyboard back to the list.

If the rubric finds nothing, Search all notes appears at the top with the number of hits outside — Return searches everywhere. If there are hits here and more outside, the same row appears below the hits. If no note is called what you searched for, the last row offers New note “…” and names the folder it will be created in.

The icon next to the search field switches the list to compact (titles only) or back to excerpts.

Find and replace in the note: Ctrl+F in the text opens a search bar above the note, as in the Documents tab — ↓/Return jumps to the next match, ↑ to the previous one, Cc matches case, .* searches with a regular expression. Ctrl+R opens Replace with below it: Return replaces the selected match and moves on, Replace all (Ctrl+Return) takes every match, and one Ctrl+Z undoes it all. A second Ctrl+F takes the term into the list's search field, across every note (the button “Search all notes” does the same); a third one from the search field comes back to the bar — also in the note you picked in the meantime, because the bar stays open. Esc first clears the term, then closes the bar; only the next Esc goes to the list.

Create, move, pin#

• New note: the icon above the list, N in the list or Ctrl+N from anywhere in the tab. It is created in the marked folder — the chosen folder, otherwise the folder of the note in the middle. If it does not fit the rubric, the list shows its folder.
• Move: drag a note from the list onto a folder — or press V (Ctrl+Shift+M) in the list, choose the target among the folders and press Return; Esc cancels.
• Pin: Ctrl+B in the list.
• Rename: F2 in the list or “Rename …” in the right-click menu. The dialog shows the name without .md; if the note's heading was the old name, it takes the new one. If the name already exists in the folder, nothing changes. Links in other notes ([[…]]) do not follow — they point nowhere until you adjust them.
• The name follows the title — only for a new note: a new note is created at once, as “New note” or with the text from the search field. If you change its heading, the file takes that name — when you leave the note (to the next one, another tab, another window), not while you type; if the name exists, it gets a number (“Title 2”). This holds while it is open: once you have left it, it keeps its name, and only F2 renames it.

Creating, moving and renaming are one step each in the history; Ctrl+Z in the list undoes it — for the name after the title together with the save that belonged to it.

Saving automatically#

In the Notes tab you do not save yourself: a note is saved when you leave it — moving to the next one, switching tabs, when the window loses focus and on quitting. Every save is a version in the history. The same holds in the Documents and Tasks tabs; you can switch it off for all three together under Settings → Retention → Save automatically when leaving. A changed note then stays open unsaved when you move on (not saved in the list) until you press Ctrl+S.

But it is saved only while the disk still holds the version you started from. If another computer has changed the note in the meantime (Syncthing), leaving it overwrites nothing: the note keeps your text, the list says not saved, and a strip above the text says what happened. Then you decide: Load other version, discard mine discards your change, Ctrl+S saves your version deliberately — the other one is kept among the versions. If the file was deleted from outside, leaving the note does not quietly create it again.

The side panel#

On the right are the relations of the note — the same building block as on the right in the Documents tab (Documents, Relations). A document from there opens in place as a preview, another note read only — Open in the middle makes it the note in the middle. Mails, contacts, tasks and events open in their tab.

The task page#

For a project or area note, the page of the task under the cursor stands on the right (Alt+6) — the same page as in the Tasks tab: due date, appointment, cadence, the task's note, its documents and history. It follows the cursor; on no task, a placeholder remains. A document of the task opens in the side panel. The × collapses the page, the button at the edge brings it back.

To edit two notes at once, open one in its own window (the icon on the right of the editor toolbar); the middle then shows a button that brings it back.

The bar above the text#

Above the text there is a format bar as in Word — the same as in the mail draft. On the left the paragraph type: it shows what the line at the cursor is (text, heading 1 to 6, bullets, numbered, task, quote); a click opens the list, a choice turns the line into it. Next to it bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, highlighter, the lists, the checkbox, quote, link, table, horizontal rule and image. When space is short, paragraph type and view stand in one row at the top and the buttons below. If even that row is too narrow, buttons move from the right into More ▾ at the end of the button row — first Letter, then link, table, horizontal rule and image, then the alignment; bold, italic and the lists always stay. In the menu they show their icon and key and do what their button does. “Insert table” lives only in the bar; “Format” (align tables) keeps its key Ctrl+Shift+F.

Horizontal rule: the button (also “Insert ▸ Horizontal rule” in the right-click menu and “Insert horizontal rule” in the command palette, Ctrl+K) puts a line on a row of its own, with a blank line before it. If you type --- directly under a line of text and press Return, the blank line is added for you: without it the line above would be a heading 2 for Markdown — Word, Obsidian, the preview — not a rule. At the very start of the note the rule is written as ***, because --- in the first line starts the header with the properties.

On the right you choose the view of this note: Text, Markdown (headings in their size, marks visible) or Source (everything as text, no widgets or chips). The choice holds for this note until you close it. A note opens in Text; if you prefer Markdown or Source, set it in the settings under “View of new notes”. At the foot of the editor a quiet line names the main keys. The editor follows the color scheme (Settings → Appearance): in the light one the text sits on white and the marks take the colors of IntelliJ Light, in the dark one those of Darcula.

Text is the view for everyone coming from Word: a typeface as in a letter, headings large and without #, bold without asterisks — even where your cursor is. When you type **, you see the asterisks until you close the emphasis; then they disappear. A link shows only its title. Code stays in a fixed-width font so the columns line up. The cursor skips what is hidden: a click in front of a heading, Home and ↑/↓ put it at the start of its title, ← there goes to the line before, → at the end of a link jumps over its target. The file still holds Markdown, character for character — Ctrl+Shift+Q shows it to you and takes you back.

Lists and quotes in Text: - becomes a bullet (hollow on the second level), 1. a quiet number; a long item wraps under its text, not under the bullet. Return continues the list, Tab indents the item, Return on an empty item ends the list. A quote (> ) stands with a bar on the left and in a quieter typeface, without >. The cursor always stays after the bullet, number or bar: Home and a click in front of it put it at the start of the text. Checkboxes (- [ ]) look as in Markdown. In Text the gutter shows no line numbers — Word has none either — but the arrows for folding, the bookmarks and a quiet “H2” at a heading.

Tables in Text are written as in Word: the table stays a grid while you write in it. A click into a cell puts the cursor where you clicked; the cell is then a field with a frame, and the gutter quietly says “Cell”. What you type goes into that cell — only its line changes in the file. Tab goes to the next cell (its content selected, typing replaces it), Shift+Tab back, Return to the row below, ↑/↓ one row up or down, ←/→ at the edge of a cell into the neighbouring cell, Home/End to the start or end of the cell. In the last cell Tab adds a row, so does Return in the last row; if the last row is empty, Return ends the table. Esc leaves the table downwards. When you jump with Tab or Return, the table is aligned in the file. Backspace at the start and Delete at the end of a cell do nothing — the bars between the cells stay where they are. If you type a vertical bar |, the file gets \| (so it stays a character and does not start a new column), and a line break becomes a space when pasting — a pasted table, too, becomes one line in the cell. The right mouse button on a cell still offers inserting, moving, deleting, aligning and sorting rows and columns. While you are in a cell, the foot of the editor says: “Tab next cell · Return next row · Ctrl+Shift+Return insert row · Esc leave”. Ctrl+Shift+Q shows the table's source; in Markdown it still turns into source at the cursor.

Adding rows and columns: Ctrl+Shift+Return inserts an empty row below the cursor's row, the cursor stays in its column — the same as “Insert row below” in the right-click menu. With the pointer over a table or your cursor in it, a quiet + shows next to the header and below the last row: the right one adds a column at the end, the lower one a row; the cursor is then in the new cell. Ctrl+Z undoes both.

Selecting in a cell works as in a text field and stays in the cell: drag with the mouse (even if the pointer leaves the cell), double-click a word, triple-click for the whole cell, Shift+click, Shift+←/→ (with Ctrl word by word), Shift+↑/↓ to the start or end of the cell. Ctrl+A first selects the cell, a second Ctrl+A the whole note.

Wide tables: each column is as wide as its content, at most a little over half the width; anything longer wraps inside its column. If there is not enough room, the widest columns get narrower first — if it is still too tight, the table scrolls horizontally, and the edge says how many columns are hidden on the left (“← +2”) or right (“+1 →”). When the cursor is in a hidden column, the table scrolls there by itself.

Alignment#

Three buttons in the bar set the paragraph at the cursor left, centered or right — as in Word; the one that applies is pressed. The keys are those of Google Docs: Ctrl+Shift+E center, Ctrl+Shift+R right, Ctrl+Shift+J justify. The same key again (or the same button) takes the alignment away — left is the default and has no key of its own. With several paragraphs selected, all of them are aligned. Headings, quotes and lists follow (a list always as a whole); in a table, a code block and the head of the note there is nothing to align. On an empty line you align before you write. The same is in the right-click menu (Alignment ▸ Left · Centered · Right) and in the command palette (Ctrl+K twice, then “center”, “right”, “justify” or “left”).

Justify has no button: Undan does not hyphenate, and without hyphenation long words tear gaps into the line. The key is there anyway — a paragraph of short words looks fine.

In the file the alignment is written the way pandoc knows it: ::: {.center} above the paragraph and ::: below it (.right, .justify). In Text you do not see these lines; the margin quietly says “centered”, “right” or “justified” at the cursor line, and the foot names the key that takes the alignment away again. Backspace at the start of the paragraph removes it (below). In Markdown the lines stand there in grey, in Source like everything else. The preview and printing set the note the same way, as a letter. The same holds in the mail draft, there too without the ::: lines.

Letters#

You write a letter as a note — or the AI writes it for you. What makes a letter is in the Letter button at the end of the bar (a card with a letter and an arrow; in a narrow column under More ▾ → Letter ▸) and in the right-click menu under Letter ▸:

• Address — select the lines of the address and choose “Address”: it stands on the left on a quiet background, line by line.
• Info block — reference, date, phone: quiet and right-aligned. Directly below the address, both stand side by side as in a DIN 5008 letter.
• Columns — select two to four paragraphs and each becomes a column side by side (good for a letterhead); a single paragraph gets an empty column next to it to write in.
• Space — 1 cm of empty space above the paragraph at the cursor. Change the height in Markdown (height=2cm).
• Signatures — one name per paragraph, with room for the signature and a line above it; two names stand side by side.
• Header and Footer — at the top or bottom of the letter, quiet behind a line. First page only toggles that for the header or footer your cursor is in.
• Fixed — a block that stays as it is on the way to Word and back.
• Field: page · pages · date — at your cursor. Only printing sets the value (“Page 1 of 2”, today's date); in the text the field is a quiet chip.
• Remove block — removes the building block at the cursor, the text stays.

The block your cursor is in carries a check mark in the menu; the same entry again removes it. Without a selection an entry means the paragraph at the cursor; on an empty line it creates an empty block to write in. If your selection only half covers a block, the entry doesn't work — nothing is split that you didn't ask for. Each step is one Ctrl+Z. The first block also writes type: letter into the note's header in the same step (without a header it creates one) — that is how the check knows it is a letter; if the header already has another type (note, project …), it stays, and the quiet hint at the foot tells you once. The command palette (Ctrl+K twice) has the same entries (“Address”, “Field: date” …); they have no keys, but you can give them some in the settings. The mail draft has no building blocks — a mail doesn't know them.

In the file a block is written the way pandoc knows it: ::: {.address} above the lines and ::: below, the address as a line block (| Erika Example per line — so the lines stay lines in Word too), a field as []{.field type=page}. In Text you don't see the ::: lines, only their effect, and the margin quietly says what the paragraph is (“Address”, “Info block”, “Column 2”, “Footer · first page”); the | strokes of a line block are not — its lines stand close together like a paragraph with hard line breaks. In Markdown fences and fields are grey, in Source everything is as it is in the file. The preview and printing set the letter: address and info block side by side, the space as space, the signature with a line, header and footer behind a line. The preview has no pages and shows “Page” and “Pages” as placeholders and today's date; printing sets the real numbers.

Images#

You insert an image as in Word: with Ctrl+V (a screenshot), with the image button in the bar (“Image from file …”, also from your computer) or by dragging it from your file manager or browser into the note. It goes into the image store of the notes and appears at your cursor. An image that already lies in the archive is not copied — it is referenced by its path. If you drag a document (PDF, Word …) into a note, it stays outside, and the line at the bottom says so: documents enter the archive through the inbox.

• Select: a click on the image selects it as a whole — a frame in the cursor colour, the steps Small · Medium · Full width at the top right (above a narrow image, in a row of their own), a small square at the bottom right. Delete or Backspace removes the image, Ctrl+Z brings it back; Esc, ↓ or → put the cursor after it, ↑ or ← before it. A click next to the image ends the selection.
• Size: drag the square at the corner with the mouse — the image gets wider or narrower, never wider than the column and never larger than it is. When you let go, the width is written into the note ({width=300px} after the image); dragged all the way it means “full width”. The steps do the same with one click.
• Caption: below the image stands its description. In the Text view you click into it and write in place; Return continues below the image, ← at its start and → at its end leave it, Backspace at its start selects the image. If an image has no description, nothing stands below it while you read; on the selected image a quiet “Caption …” appears — click it and write. The same in the context menu on the image: Write caption.
• Position: {.left} or {.right} after the image puts it on the left or right; without it the image is centred.

In the Text view images always show as images; in Markdown only when “Images in the editor” is on in the settings — there a click next to the image shows its line ![…](…). Notes that still carry image sizes as ![Floor plan|300](…) (like Obsidian) read as before; only when you change the size does Undan write the new form.

Backspace at the start, line blocks#

Backspace at the start of a line first takes away its form, as in Word: a heading becomes text, a list item a line without a bullet, a quote loses its >, an aligned paragraph its alignment. Only the second Backspace joins the line to the one before. At the start of a table cell it does nothing. The same in all three views.

You write an address as a line block: in the file every line starts with | — so the lines stay lines in Word too. In Text you do not see the bars, in Markdown they stand there in grey. Return continues with | on the next line, a Return on the empty line ends the block.

Notes in both tabs#

A note stays where it is — the Documents tab shows it in its tree as before, with preview and editor. If the same note is open in both tabs, it is one buffer: what you type here is there too. A note you open from another tab (a link, the relations) opens in the Notes tab.

Keys#