Formatting, tables and writing

Every command writes Markdown into the text: you can always see and fix the marks in the code editor, or with the cursor on them in WYSIWYG.

Format

On the Mac in the Format menu; on iPhone and iPad in the “Aa” menu of the toolbar and in the bar above the keyboard.

• Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Code, Highlight: with a selection they add or remove the marks around it; without one they apply to the word under the cursor, or leave empty marks with the cursor in between.
• Heading: from Body Text to Heading 6, on the selected lines.
• Bulleted List, Numbered List, Checklist, Quote: add or remove the mark at the start of each selected line.
• Increase Indent and Decrease Indent (⌘ ] and ⌘ [): indent list items.

Shortcuts are listed in Keyboard shortcuts. The same heading and list menu also opens from the block type on the left of the status bar.

Insert

On the Mac in the Insert menu; on iPhone and iPad in the “Aa” menu and in the + button above the keyboard:

• Link: [text](url). If you selected an address, it becomes the destination and the cursor moves to the text.
• Link to a Note: [[…]], with suggestions from the folder’s notes.
• Image: ![description](…).
• Table: three columns and two rows, with the first header selected.
• Code Block, Formula, Mermaid Diagram: around the selected lines, or empty at the cursor.
• Footnote: the [^n] reference at the cursor and the note at the end of the document, with the cursor in the note.
• Divider: a --- line.

Lists and quotes

Return in a list item or a quote continues the mark on the new line (numbers go up, checkboxes start empty). Return on an empty item removes the mark and leaves the list. Tab and ⇧ Tab on list items indent and outdent them.

Tables

With the cursor in a table:

• Tab moves to the next cell, ⇧ Tab to the previous one;
• Return moves to the row below and adds one after the last; Return on an empty last row leaves the table;
• Format Table (⌥ ⌘ F) aligns the columns in the text;
• Add Row, Add Column, Delete Row, Delete Column;
• Move Row Up/Down and Move Column Left/Right, on the Mac with ⌥ ⌘ and the arrow keys;
• Align Left, Align Center, Align Right for the cursor’s column (from the status bar menu; on the Mac also in Format › Table).

On the Mac the commands are in Format › Table and in the status bar menu; on iPhone and iPad in the Edit Table menu above the keyboard and in the status bar menu.

Pasting

Text copied from a web page or from a formatted document (headings, bold, links, lists, tables) becomes Markdown when you paste it. Text coming from a code editor stays plain text, and inside code blocks the text is always pasted as it is. On the Mac, Edit › Paste and Match Style always pastes plain text.

Images pasted or dropped into the text are saved as files next to the note: see Folders and linked notes.

Word goal

In the status bar, the word count is also a button: click it to open Word Goal, type the number and choose Set. The goal is written into the document’s front matter (goal: 1500), so it travels with the file; Remove Goal removes it (and the front matter, if it was left empty). With a goal, the status bar shows a ring and “135 of 600 words”.

Focus Mode and Typewriter Mode (Mac)

In the View menu:

• Focus Mode (⌃ ⇧ ⌘ F) highlights the block you’re writing in and dims the rest;
• Typewriter Mode (⌃ ⇧ ⌘ T) keeps the cursor’s line in the middle of the window.

Bigger Text and Smaller Text (⌘ + and ⌘ -) change the font size of WYSIWYG and the code editor in every window; Actual Size (⌥ ⌘ 0) goes back to the defaults.

Spelling and punctuation

Spell checking is on at first; Smart Quotes and Dashes is off, because straight quotes and hyphens matter in Markdown. Change them in Settings › Editor › Writing.