Create Your First Note
Use the + button in the toolbar to create your first journal (⌘⇧N). Once you have a journal, you can create as many notes as you like.
If you prefer some top-level organisation, right-click a journal and create folders to group related notes.
After creating your first note (⌘N), use the toolbar (⌘⇧Y) to format your content. If you’re familiar with Markdown, you can switch to Markdown mode and edit formatting directly.
A useful shortcut to remember is
⌘E, which cycles through Edit Modes: WYSIWYG and Markdown.
MinkNote is fully keyboard-optimised. See Keyboard Navigation & Shortcuts for a full list.
Adding Tags
Use the Tags button (⌘T) in the toolbar to tag your notes.
Tags are stored in the note’s Frontmatter. You can choose to show or hide front matter in Preferences → Appearance.
Note: If you edit an external Markdown file, ie not created in MinkNote, you won’t get the option to
tagorfavouritethat note until you add Frontmatter (Note > Add Frontmatter).
Edit Modes
MinkNote offers two editor modes that you can cycle through using ⌘E:
- WYSIWYG (default) lets you format content using the toolbar, with changes reflected instantly. This is a rich text editing experience where you see exactly how your content will look.
- Markdown mode is ideal if you’re comfortable with Markdown syntax. It uses dynamic styling so notes look similar to WYSIWYG, while still showing the underlying Markdown for precise control. This mode is perfect for those who prefer to work directly with Markdown formatting.
See the Markdown Guide for full details.
You can also use a Side-by-Side layout (available in Preferences → Appearance), which displays Markdown and rendered output simultaneously for instant feedback while you write.