Getting started

Open a collection, create your first note, and learn the layout.

Opening your first collection

HelloNotes works on a collection: an ordinary folder of Markdown files. There is no import, no library format and no database — you simply point the app at a folder.

  1. Launch HelloNotes. On a first run you are offered a welcome sheet.
  2. Choose Open a Collection (or ⌘O at any time).
  3. Pick any folder containing .md files — or an empty folder to start something new.

An existing Obsidian vault works as-is: choose the vault folder and it opens directly, wiki-links, tags, aliases and front matter intact.

The layout

The window has three columns:

  • Sidebar — your collections, quick actions (new note, today’s note, graph, assistant), bookmarks and tags.
  • Note list — the folder tree of the focused collection, or search results when you are searching.
  • Editor — the note itself, with a status bar along the bottom.

Several collections can be open at once; the one you last clicked is the focused collection that new notes are created in.

Creating your first note

  1. Press ⌘N, or click New Note in the sidebar.
  2. A file is created in the focused collection and opened for editing.
  3. Type as you would in any Markdown editor. Formatting appears as you type — see The editor.

The first heading becomes the note’s title in the list. To rename the file itself, use Note ▸ Rename… (⇧⌘R) — links to that note elsewhere in the collection are rewritten for you.

Saving

There is no save command, because there is nothing to remember to do. Edits are written to disk automatically a moment after you stop typing, and always when you switch notes, close a window or quit. The status bar shows Saved when the file on disk matches what you see.

If a note changes on disk while you are editing it — a sync client, another app, another device — HelloNotes tells you rather than silently picking a winner, and lets you reload or keep your version.

Where to go next