Writing and formatting

Text containers

A page's text lives in text containers, boxes you place anywhere below the page header.

A container grows to fit its text as you type. Notr keeps what you type as you go: a short pause (under half a second) commits the text to the page's history, and the page is saved shortly after.

Inside a container the editor works as on the rest of the Mac: arrow keys, ⌥ and ⌘ with arrows, Shift to select, double-click for a word, triple-click for a line, ⌘A, ⌘C, ⌘X, ⌘V, and input methods and dead keys. ⌘Z undoes typing within the container; once there is nothing left to undo there, ⌘Z undoes the page's history. Tab inserts four spaces.

Formatting

Formatting applies to the selected text while you're editing a container. With no selection, or with the container selected but not being edited, it applies to the whole container.

The fonts offered are the system font, Helvetica Neue, Arial, Avenir Next, Georgia, Times New Roman, Palatino, Menlo, Courier New and Chalkboard SE. Pages written with NoteSpace's Windows fonts show them in the nearest Mac font: Segoe UI, Open Sans and Calibri in the system font, Cambria in Georgia, Consolas in Menlo.

Paragraphs and styles

Alignment, bullets and numbering always apply to the whole container.

To-dos

Home › To Do Tag turns the selected text container into a to-do with a check box, or back into plain text. With nothing selected it adds a new to-do. Click the check box to tick it; a ticked to-do is struck through.

Search can list open or completed to-dos across all notebooks.

Tags

Important (★) and Question (?) on the Home tab add or remove a tag on the selected container. Tags show to the right of the container. Find Tags lists every tagged note and to-do, in all notebooks, and opens the one you choose.

Links

Insert › Link (⌘K) asks for an address, which must start with https://, http:// or mailto:. The selected text becomes a blue, underlined link; in an empty container the address itself is inserted as the link.

⌘-click a link to follow it, whether or not you're editing the note: a web link opens in your browser, a mail link in your mail app, and a page link goes to the page.

Links to pages

Type [[ in a note and a list of pages opens under the cursor; keep typing to narrow it (letters only have to come in order, as in the command palette). ↑ and ↓ choose, Return or Tab links the page, Esc closes the list and keeps what you typed. The [[ and your text become the page's title as a link. If no page has the title you typed, the list offers Create page "…", which adds an empty page with that title to the current section and links to it without leaving the page you're on.

Insert › Page Link (⇧⌘K) does the same from a list of pages: the selected text becomes the link, or without a selection the page's title is inserted as one.

A page link follows the page, not its title: it still works after the page is renamed or moved, though its text stays as it was written. If the page is deleted, ⌘-click says so. The page header lists the pages that link to the page you're on, Linked from: up to three by name and the rest as a count; click one to go there.

Links are kept in .notespace backups and web and mail links in HTML and Markdown exports; page links are exported as plain text.

Sums

End a line in a note with = and Notr works it out, showing the answer in grey just after it: Server rent: 450 * 12 = shows 5 400. The answer follows as you type. Press Tab with the cursor after the = to write the answer in as ordinary text.

• Text before the last : on the line is a label and is ignored.
• + - * / ^ (also − × · ÷), parentheses and %: 200 * 15% = is 30, and 200 + 15% = is 230.
• Numbers may group thousands with spaces (2 450) and use a comma or a point for decimals. A number like 1.000 (or 1,500 where your Mac uses a point for decimals) could mean a thousand or one, so a sum holding one gets no answer. The answer uses the separator the sum used, or the one from your Mac's region settings, rounded to twelve significant digits, with thin spaces between thousands.
• A line without an operator (2024 =), with a mistake in it, or that divides by zero shows nothing.

The grey answer isn't part of the note until you insert it: it isn't saved, searched, exported or seen by NoteSpace.

Dates, times and symbols

Insert › Date, Time and Date & Time type the current date or time at the cursor. Insert › Symbols asks for any characters (such as ✓ → ★ © Ω π ∑ ± ∞) and types them. If no text is being edited, Notr edits the selected text container or adds a new one.

Dividers

Insert › Divider adds a horizontal line below the lowest note on the page.

Templates

Insert › Templates creates a new page in the current section from a template:

Paper

View › Page Setup sets the page's paper: Plain, Rule Lines, Grid Lines or Dot Grid, and a Page Color.

Word count

Review › Word Count shows the words and characters on the page (text and table cells), and how many note containers and ink strokes it has.