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Unleash the power of Snownotes by digging into our docs. All the way from getting started, signing up, creating your first notes, and importing from other text editors to formatting tips and tricks, keyboard shortcuts, and other advanced topics.

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Getting started

Creating an account

Sign up using your email and password, or use your GitHub or Google account. Once logged in, you'll be taken straight to your workspace.

Your first note

Click the + button in the toolbar to create a new note. Start typing — your first line will automatically become the title.

Auto-save

Everything you type is automatically saved after a brief pause. There's no manual save button — just write, and Snownotes takes care of the rest.

Import notes

Import notes from other apps like Obsidian, Notion, Bear, and Upnote. Snownotes supports both plain text and Markdown files for batch import. Open Settings → Account → Import to import notes.

Just paste it into Snownotes

Snownotes supports pasting notes in various formats like plain text, rich text, and even markdown script. This is handy for quickly saving text generated by other apps and services, including AI tools.

Desktop layout at a glance

Desktop and mobile

Snownotes works in both desktop and mobile and everything in between. The app's layout varies to take advantage of each platforms' strengths, but the core functionality remains the same.

Desktop layout

On desktop, your workspace has three areas: the Sidebar on the left, where you find quick ways to filter and organize your notes. The Document list in the middle, where all your notes live and where search and filtering results are shown. The editor lives on the right side of the app. You can chnage the width of the editor and the document list by dragging the divider between them. On mobile, the layout is more compact, with the sidebar and document list stacked on top of each other.

Desktop sidebar

Toggle the sidebar by clicking the Snownotes logo or the sidebar icon. The sidebar shows your categories and tag cloud.

Resizable columns

Drag the dividers between columns to resize them. Your preferred widths are remembered between sessions.

Split view

Open two notes side by side by clicking the split view button. Drag documents between the two editor slots. A colored bar at the top shows which slot is active.

Mobile layout at a glance

Mobile layout

On mobile, the layout is more compact. Here, the document list is your home. Here you find your notes and can search and filter. Tap on a note to edit it. The editor opens up in a full screen window allowing you space to write. To go back to the Document list again, hit the back arrow on the top left hand side.

Pages & blocks

Block-based editing

Every element in your note — paragraphs, headings, lists, tables — is a block. Use the drag handle on the left of each block to reorder them.

Slash commands

Type / anywhere to open the slash menu. Insert headings, code blocks, tables, todos, blockquotes, images, horizontal rules, and list types without leaving your keyboard.

Headings

Create headings by typing # followed by a space (## for H2, ### for H3), or select from the slash menu.

Paragraphs

Just start typing. Press Enter to create a new paragraph.

Blockquotes

Type > followed by a space, or use the slash menu. Great for callouts and highlights.

Code blocks

Type ``` to create a code block with syntax highlighting. Supports many programming languages.

Images

Insert images via the slash menu. Images are stored and displayed inline in your note.

Horizontal rules

Type --- or use the slash menu to insert a divider between sections.

Rich formatting

Markdown shortcuts

Snownotes supports Markdown shortcuts. Use **bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~, `code`, and more — they're converted to rich formatting as you type.

Bold

Select text and press Ctrl/Cmd-B, or wrap with **double asterisks**.

Italic

Select text and press Ctrl/Cmd-I, or wrap with *single asterisks*.

Underline

Select text and press Ctrl/Cmd-U.

Strikethrough

Wrap text with ~~double tildes~~.

Highlight

Highlight important text using the toolbar or keyboard shortcut.

Inline code

Wrap text with `backticks` for inline code.

Links

Paste a URL onto selected text to create a link, or the editor will auto-detect URLs as you type.

Subscript & superscript

Apply subscript or superscript formatting from the toolbar.

Todos

Creating todos

Type [ ] (bracket-space-bracket) followed by a space to create a todo item. You can also use the slash menu.

Checking off

Click the checkbox to toggle a todo item between done and not done.

Sub-todos

Press Tab to indent a todo item and create nested sub-todos. Press Shift-Tab to outdent.

Reordering

Drag todo items to reorder them within the list.

Tables

Creating tables

Use the slash menu to insert a table. Choose the number of rows and columns you need.

Editing cells

Click any cell to start typing. Use Tab to move to the next cell, Shift-Tab to move back.

Resizing columns

Drag the column borders to resize columns to your preferred width.

Adding rows & columns

Use the table controls to add or remove rows and columns.

Lists

Bullet lists

Type - or * followed by a space to start a bullet list. Use the slash menu for more options.

Ordered lists

Type 1. followed by a space to start a numbered list.

Nesting

Press Tab to indent a list item, creating nested lists. Press Shift-Tab to outdent.

Organization

Categories

Create categories from the sidebar to group related notes. Each category can have a custom name and icon. Click on the Edit button to edit and reorder your categories.

Tags

Type #tag anywhere in a note to add a tag. Tags are automatically extracted and shown in the sidebar. Click a tag in the sidebar to filter your notes. You can also tag notes quickly using the context menu.

Color

Assign a color to any note from the document menu. Colors are great to make some notes truly stand out.

Pinning

Pin important notes to keep them at the top of your document list, regardless of sort order.

Archiving

Archive notes you want to keep but hide from your main view. View archived notes using the Archived filter. You can also archive notes quickly using the context menu. Note that archived notes will not show up in searches and filtering unless you specifically add the Archived filter.

Sorting

Sort your document list by title, date created, or date modified, name, size, or color — ascending or descending. Use the sort button at the bottom of the document list.

Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl/Cmd-K

Search

Ctrl/Cmd-P

Open the quick switcher to jump between notes.

/

Open the slash command menu (when editing text).

Tab

Indent a list item or todo.

Shift-Tab

Outdent a list or todo item.

Alt/Opt-↑

Move a list or todo item up.

Alt/Opt-↓

Move a list or todo item down.

Import & Export

Import notes

Import notes from other apps like Obsidian, Notion, Bear, and Upnote. Snownotes supports both plain text and Markdown files for batch import. Open Settings → Account → Import to import notes.

Export/copy notes

You can export notes using the top-right menu in the document list. Select Share and then one of the copy options to copy the note to your clipboard. You can copy the note as plain text, as rich text, or as markdown script.

Print

Print notes quickly either to a printer or to a PDF file using Snownote's print function. Click on the settings menu in the editor's top right corner and select Share and then Print

Settings

Appearance

Switch between light and dark mode from the settings menu or the theme toggle in the navbar, or set to Auto to let your operating system decide.

Typography: Set font size, line height, and note width

Adjust the editor font size, line height, and note column width. Note column width can also be changed from the editor by grabbing and dragging the drag handle to the right of the title.

View options

In the view option tab you can customize many aspects of how Snownotes appears and behaves.

Time

In the time tab you can set the default time zone and time and date format

Account

In the account tab you can log out from your current session and well as import notes in a variety of formats

Security & privacy

Authentication

Snownotes uses traditional email and password sign-in, but you can also use OAuth via GitHub and Google for more secure sign-in. If you sign up using these services, no passwords are stored on our end.

Sessions

Your session is managed with a secure token stored in a cookie. Sessions expire automatically for your protection.

Your data

Your notes are stored securely on our servers and are only accessible to you when logged in.

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