🎉 Welcome to Notesnook

🌱 The private workspace for your life 🌱

✈ About Notesnook

🛡️ Notesnook is a free (as in freedom) & open source note taking app focused on user privacy & ease of use.

🛡️ To ensure zero knowledge principles, Notesnook encrypts everything on your device using XChaCha20-Poly1305 & Argon2.

🛡️ Notesnook is our proof that privacy does not (always) have to come at the cost of convenience.

🛡️ Our goal is to provide users peace of mind & 100% confidence that their notes are safe and secure. The decision to go fully open source is one of the most crucial steps towards that.

⚛ Getting Started With Notesnook

🎯 Notesnook works on all your devices — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. You can download the apps here. Or you can use the web app ➝ app.notesnook.com

🎯 You can use Notesnook offline without creating an account. However, if you want to sync your data across devices, please create an account first.

🎯 To create your first note click on the + icon (circle) on top.

✨ The Rich Text Editor

Notesnook offers a clean and beautiful place to write your thoughts with all the features you might expect from an Editor. You can find the options for these features either in the editor toolbar or in the + menu

Collapsible headings

• When you hover over a heading, Notesnook will show you an option > to collapse them.

Editor customization

You can customize the editor toolbar in Settings ➝ Editor ➝ TOOLBAR. It will also give you an idea about the features availble.

Shortcuts

• You can find all the shortcuts with ctrl + / (windows) or cmd + / (macOS) .

• The arrow up (⇧) in the shortcut list refers to the shift key.

• Please replace ctrl with cmd if you are on macOS for the shortcuts discussed below.

• You can also find a list of shortcuts in the help documentation.

Text styles

• You can write text in bold, underline, italic, strike-through or with a highlight.

Horizontal rule / Divider

• It is the horizontal line you see above the ✨The rich text Editor heading.

• It's a great feature to divide your note into different sections.

Bullet lists

• You can create bullet lists from the 3 line icon on the editor toolbar

  • You can nest a bullet list with the tab key or the indent icon on the mobile app. It should be one of the first icons you see when you click on a bullet list ▸☰

Numbered/Alphabetical list types

1. Numbered lists can help you keep track of the number of elements in the list.

   1. Numbered lists like all other lists can be nested.

   2. Again you can find all the lists in the editor toolbar.

Task lists

• Want to create a grocery list 🥕 — Task lists are a great tool for this.

  • As always use the tab key to nest task lists.

Check lists

• Checklists are a trimmed down version of task lists.

  • Every user has different taste and Notesnook has something for everyone 😉.

Outline lists

• Outline lists can help you keep your notes clean by making a collapsible list.

  • To nest the lists ➝ press enter to create next lists element and press tab to nest it.

  • On mobile you need to use the first 2 options in the editor toolbar which appear when you click on an outline list ▸☰

  • You can try putting as many things as you want in outline lists. Be it a table or an image, Notesnook can handle them all 😄

  • Down the line we will explore more features similar to collapsible headings and outline lists (collapsible lists).

Code block

print("Hello, World!")

You can use code blocks to write code with beautiful color profiles or you can use the copy feature to copy text with one tap e.g., links.

You can also write inline code ➝ <> icon in the editor toolbar or use a backtick (`) followed by the text you want to write and then close it with another backtick.

Math and formulas

Try clicking on the formula 👆

👉 You can also write beautiful inline formulas with the f_x option in the editor toolbar.

For example: e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0

Callout

Quote

At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet.

\footnotesize \rightarrow \mathrm{\color{grey}Plato}

Image and attachments

You can either drop the image into Notesnook or you can use the shortcut ctrl+shift+a to attach an image. You can also add an image from an URL.

Embed

You can embed a link into text. Just highlight the text, then paste (ctrl+v) the link you copied or use the link icon in the editor toolbar. You can also use the option via the + icon in editor toolbar to embed YouTube videos, Tweets etc.

Tables

Bi-directional note link

You can link a note to another note with this feature. Select some text then you can either use the option from editor toolbar (⿻) or you can use the shortcut ctrl+shift+k.

Left to Right | Right to left

Notesnook supports both Left ➝ Right and Right ➝ Left writing. You can switch it from the editor toolbar » icon ¶.

Table of Contents

This feature gives you an overview of the note. All the headings are listed in a table which makes it easier for you to navigate through a note with a lot of content. Just click on a heading and it will take you to that part of the note.

To access table of contents ➝

• Mobile: Click on the 3 dots icon ⋮ in the note editor.

• Desktop: Click on the Hamburger icon ⋮☰ near the Monograph icon at the top.

Command Palette

• The command Palette brings all important note related actions together for quick actions. You can open it with the shortcut ctrl+shift+p

• Use the shortcut ctrl+p to quickly open a note, notebook or a tag.

More features in the editor settings

• Settings ➝ Editor.

• Title Format: You can change what title the app gives to your new notes.

  • $date$: Current date.

  • $time$: Current time.

  • $timestamp$: Full date and time without any spaces or other symbols (e.g., 202305261253)

  • $count$: Number of notes + 1.

  • $headline$: Use starting line of the note as title.

• Double spaced lines: If you feel the space between two lines is too much then you can try turning this setting off.

• Font Ligatures: Ever wondered what if -> turned into →? Well now it can. Just turn on the font ligatures setting. (Only available in desktop/web apps)

  • Try pressing backspace after the shortcut has been converted to the symbol.

    Shortcut	Symbol
    ->	→
    <-	←
    >=	≥
    <=	≤
    !=	≠
    ==>	⟹
    --	—

🛡️ Security

🌱 Security through obscurity does not work — Notesnook is completely Open Source 🌱

🔑 Passwords ➝ VERY IMPORTANT.

• In Notesnook, everything is protected with your account password first and foremost.

• If you forget your account password and do NOT have a backup that is NOT ENCRYPTED, all of your data will be gone.

• If you lose your password, Notesnook allows you to restore your account (and encrypted backups) with the "Recovery Key".

• When you login to the app for the first time, Notensook will ask you to save your Recovery Key.

• The Recovery Key changes every time you change the password, so it's important to keep it up to date.

• We HIGHLY recommend storing your password and Recovery Key in your password manager. Where the chance of losing them is ~ 0.

🔐 Encryption

• Algorithms & cryptographic library

  • XChaCha-Poly1305-IETF (for encryption/decryption)

  • Argon2 (for password hashing & PKDF)

    • argon2i for PKDF

    • argon2id for password hashing

• libsodium

On all three platforms we use the same exact library for all cryptographic functions. This ensures data integrity across platforms.

❃ For more details please visit https://help.notesnook.com/how-is-my-data-encrypted

❃ You can verify the encryption claims at https://vericrypt.notesnook.com/

⚙️ The Vault

• Notesnook is a private notes app. All your notes are encrypted and secure by default. However, you can still add an extra layer of security and encrypt your most important and sensitive notes by adding them to a vault.

• Adding notes to private vault is useful when you do not want anyone to read your notes, even if they have access to your phone.

• You can think of the vault in Notesnook as a safe, in your safe. Notes that are in the vault (the safe in a safe) are protected twice, once by the outer safe (Notesnook), and again by the inner safe (the vault). This means that if someone had your access to your unlocked device and went looking around in Notesnook, they would not be able to view the contents of notes in the vault. However, some information (like tags and title) will be visible on the note item.

• If you forget the vault password, then all notes that are in the vault will be gone, and you can choose to delete the vaulted notes when you delete the vault. Deleting the vault requires your account password, not the vault password.

• PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU SAVE YOUR VAULT PASSWORD SOMEWHERE SAFE. YOU CAN NOT RESTORE THE NOTES IN YOUR VAULT IF YOU FORGET THE VAULT PASSWORD.

🔄 Backups

• Backups in Notesnook are a copy of your account data at the time the backup was made.

• A backup can add and replace parts of your account data. If a note exists, it will be restored to the version in the backup. If a note existed, but doesn't anymore, it will be readded.

• If you deleted a note from both the Notes section and Trash section then you can restore it from a previous backup containing the note.

• The backups also save note history.

• You can import backups to the web app while logged out. Full backups (containing attachments) cannot currently be imported while logged out.

• PLEASE KEEP REGULAR BACKUPS OF YOUR DATA.

🌷 Themes

Along with a simple and intuitive interface Notesnook has many and we mean a lot of beautiful themes created by the wonderful members in our community.

➤ To explore themes, please check ⇨ Settings ➝ Appearance.

• We understand that different people have different requirements, so if you prefer something different or just want to play around with themes, you can create your own with the Theme Builder.

• To get started, please refer to the help documentation first. It's as easy as picking some colors 😊

📎 Attachments

• All attachments in Notesnook are accessible by opening the attachment manager

  • 💻 Desktop: Settings ➝ Profile ➝ Attachment Manager.

  • 📱 Mobile: Settings ➝ Manage Account ➝ Manage Attachments.

• More than one note can have the same attachment associated. You can see all associated notes for an attachment by right clicking on it.

• Orphaned attachments are attachments that are not used in any notes. You can clean them up if you do not want them. They are NOT automatically deleted.

🚀 Monograph

• Monographs enable you to share your notes with anyone in a single click. Once a note is published as a monograph, you get a public URL which you can share with anyone. They don’t need to download Notesnook or install any extra software — it’s just like a blog, only simpler.

• Published notes can not be deleted. To delete a published note, please unpublish it first.

To publish a note ➝

• 💻 Desktop/Web

  • Right click on a note

  • Click on Publish from Note properties to open publish note dialog.

  • Click on Publish button to publish note.

  • Copy the URL and send it to the recipient.

  • You can manage this with the cloud icon on top of the editor when you are in the specific note.

• 📱 Mobile

  • Tap on Three dot (⋮) button on a note.

  • Tap on Publish to open Publish note sheet

  • Tap on Publish button to publish note.

  • Copy the URL and send it to the recipient.

💡 Tips

Expand Notes list for more details.

On top of the notes list near the PINNED row, click on the ☰ icon to switch to a detailed view of notes.

Specll check

To toggle spell check in specific notes, right click on the the empty editor space and click on the "Spell check" option.

Markdown shortcuts ⚡

Markdown shortcuts (premium ⭐) are a great tool to write your thoughts with lightning speed. You can find them here. To enable markdown shortcuts: Settings ➝ Editor ➝ Markdown shortcuts

Secret shortcut for checklists and callouts.

• You can use the shortcut - + space {it will create bullet list first} + [] + space to create a Checklist.

• You can easily create Callouts with the shortcut > + callout name e.g., info + write the heading text + enter. If you press enter at the end of >info Title it will create a blue callout.

Shortcuts for outline lists and task lists.

• ctrl+shift+o can create Outline lists.

• [] + space or ctrl+shift+t can create Task lists.

Filters in search

Ever wondered how to find notes that are not in any notebook? Filters help you in exactly those cases. For example, you can accomplish this task with in_notebook: false. It will give you all the notes that are not in a notebook. If you want to find a certain word or sentence in such notes, try your query followed by in_notebook: false.

• content: <text>

• title: <text>

• favorite: <true|false>

• pinned: <true|false>

• locked: <true|false>

• archived: <true|false>

• readonly: <true|false>

• tag: <text>

• color: <text>

• edited_after: <date>

• created_after: <date>

• created_before: <date>

• edited_before: <date>

• in_notebook: <true|false>

• tagged: <true|false>

• colored: <true|false>

🤝 Community

Notesnook has a strong, friendly community of members. If you’re interested in getting involved, please follow these links to connect 😊

• Discord

• Reddit

• Telegram

• Mastodon

• Twitter/X

• Blog

Notesnook is a consumer driven company and your voice matters a lot. Any feedback, even if it's the smallest grievance or suggestion, please don't hesitate to let us know. Your words are worth more than gold 💛

🌟 Help and Support

• We are very active on Discord and Telegram. So if you are facing any issues then the fastest channels for a resolution would be these two.

• However, if you want support via email (especially billing related) then please send your query to [email protected]. We will make sure to reply ASAP.

• We also have help documentation available which could come in handy if you want to explore Notesnook in depth. Please visit https://help.notesnook.com/

❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎❤︎