Notes

Write notes in Markdown, or in a Formatted view of the same text.

A note is Markdown text. Its first line is its title, and it is saved as you type. Write the Markdown yourself, or switch to the Formatted view, which shows the headings, lists and links and turns each change back into Markdown.

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Markdown and Formatted views

The Markdown view is the text itself, with plain characters for structure: # for a heading, ** around bold, - before a list item. The Formatted view shows the same note with its formatting, and you can write in it directly. Both views change the same Markdown, and the toolbar works in either.

Title: A note's first line of text is its title in the list. There is no separate title field to fill in.
Saving: Changes are saved as you type, and the status above the text reads Saving… and then Saved. Ctrl/⌘ S saves at once.
Word count: The number of words in the note is shown above the text and changes as you write.
Signed out while writing: If you are signed out with a note open, the note says it was not saved and keeps your text. It will be saved when you sign in again in another tab and return to it.

Formatting, links and pictures

Notes read CommonMark Markdown with GitHub's additions: tables, checklists, strikethrough, and web addresses that become links without any markup. HTML typed into a note is left out when it is shown.

Toolbar: Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Heading, Subheading, Quote, Bullet list, Numbered list, Link, Insert image and Insert separator. Ctrl/⌘ B and Ctrl/⌘ I work while the editor has focus.
Links: Link opens a drawer for the text to show and a web or email address.
Pictures: Insert image opens the image picker, with the pictures already in Your images and a way to upload new ones. A picture pasted into the text is uploaded to Your images and added to the note.
Pasting formatted text: Text pasted into the Formatted view keeps its headings, lists, links, bold and italic. Tables, checklists and line breaks written in Markdown are kept when you edit in the Formatted view.

Checklist lines become To-dos

A checklist in a note is part of its text: - [ ] is an open line and - [x] a ticked one. When a line needs a date, a reminder or someone to do it, turn it into a To-do.

Choose → To-do
In the Formatted view, each unticked checklist line shows → To-do. Selecting it will create a To-do with the line's text in the note's Personal or team.
The line is ticked
The line will be ticked in the note, so the note no longer shows it as open while the To-do does.
The To-do links back
The To-do's page has a link to the note under its title. It can then have a date, a repeat, a reminder and, in a team, an assignee, like any other To-do.

The note list, Corkboard view and keyboard shortcuts

The list beside the editor shows every note in Personal or the selected team, newest first. Corkboard view shows the same notes as cards, and selecting a card opens that note.

N: Writes a new note.
C: Shows or hides the corkboard. Esc also closes it.
Esc twice: Switches between the note list and the editor. In the list, ↑, ↓ and Enter move through the notes and open one.
?: Lists the page's shortcuts, as does the keyboard-shortcuts button in the page bar.

Export as Markdown

Notes are stored as Markdown, and they download as the same Markdown.

One note: Export as Markdown and Export as .txt, in the open note's More menu and the ⋯ menu on each row of the list, download that note's text as a .md or .txt file named after its title.
Every note: Export notes, below the list, downloads every note in Personal or the selected team as a .zip of Markdown files, one for each note.

Notes and Documents

Notes is for writing kept as Markdown. Documents has its own editor for formatted text that someone receives, prints or signs, with page layout, comments, suggested changes and Word import and export.

Write your first note.

Create a Magpie account, open Notes and choose New note.

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