Notes

Notes are private quick notes for the thoughts that come while you write or read — a line to jot down now and sort out later, filed automatically under the project or story you were in.

Jotting down a note #

Open Quick notes with Ctrl + Shift + Q (Cmd + Shift + Q on a Mac), or with the Q button at the edge of the screen. It works in the builder, the library, the tutorials and your account pages.

Type the thought and press Enter to save it; Shift + Enter starts a new line. Under the box, the note shows where it will be filed. Esc closes quick notes.

If you would rather not see the button, turn off Show Q button for quick notes under Settings → Workspace. The shortcut keeps working.

Can other people in my project read my notes? #

No. Notes are yours alone. Nobody else in the project can read them, including the project's owner — they are the margin of your notebook rather than part of the book. For ideas the whole project should see, use a brainstorm board.

Where a note is filed #

A note remembers where you wrote it: the project you were working in, or the published story you were reading in the library. The note shows that place as a link, so you can get back to it later. If you lose access to a project, its notes keep their text but no longer name it.

In quick notes, the chips above the list switch between All your notes and the ones filed where you are now.

Tagging notes #

Type # and a word anywhere in a note to tag it — #ending, #research — or use Add a tag to find one you have used before or create a new one. A note takes up to eight tags. Pick a tag on any note, or in the filter above the list, to see only the notes that carry it.

There are no folders: a tag is all the filing a note needs.

Where do I find all my notes? #

On the Notes page of your account. All notes, at the foot of quick notes, takes you there. The page has room to work through a long list:

Search your notes finds text and tags.
The tag chips narrow the list to the tags you pick, and the place chips to Everywhere or one project or story.
Edit opens a note for changes; Ctrl + Enter saves them and Esc cancels.
Notes and Archived switch between your current notes and the ones you deleted.

How do I get back a deleted note? #

Open Archived on the Notes page and press Restore on the note. Deleting a note moves it there, and it can be restored for 30 days. After that it is removed for good.

Sending a note to a brainstorm board #

While a brainstorm board is open, each note in quick notes has Send to brainstorm. It puts the note's text in the board's quick-capture inbox, ready to drag onto the canvas.

How do I turn a note into an idea for the project? #

Use Move to Ideas on the note. It asks first, because a note is private and an idea is not: its text and tags become an idea in the project, signed with your name, which everyone who can open the project's Ideas sees, and the note goes to the archive. If the idea cannot be saved, the note stays as it was. The action is there on every page of a project that has the Ideas module on, for notes written in that project or outside any, when your role may write ideas.

What happens to notes if I close my account? #

They are deleted with it. Notes are personal, not project content, so they go with your account — unlike the chapters and characters you contributed to somebody else's project, which stay with the project. See account and security.

Tips #

Write first, file never. The note files itself under the project you are in; a tag is enough for anything else.
Tag as you type. A #tag in the middle of a sentence counts the same as one added from the button.
Keep one tag for the next session. A #next tag on the thoughts you want to act on gives you a short list to open with.
Use the shortcut while reading. Quick notes works in the library too, so a thought about someone else's story is filed under that story.
Move shared ideas to a board. When a note is something your co-writers should see, send it to a brainstorm board.

Brainstorm — put ideas where the whole project can see them.
Ideas — the project's inbox for ideas, reviewed and turned into records.
Keyboard shortcuts — the other keys that work across the app.
Account and security — what closing your account removes.
Publishing — how stories reach the library, where quick notes work too.