Notes. A notebook that stays yours.

How to use Notes

Notes is a Markdown notepad that keeps any number of notes in your browser. You type in plain text or Markdown, flip to a formatted preview, and every change saves itself a moment after you stop typing. It suits quick drafts, meeting notes, checklists and snippets you want to keep without an account.

Step by step

1. 1
   Start a note

   Press + New note. On your first visit a blank note is created for you. Give it a name in the Note title field, or leave it blank and the first line of the note becomes its title in the list.

2. 2
   Write in the Write tab

   Type in the large box. Plain text works, and Markdown adds formatting: # for headings, **bold**, *italic*, backticks for code, a hyphen at the start of a line for a bullet list, 1. for a numbered list and > for a quote.

3. 3
   Check the preview

   Press Preview to see the note formatted, then Write to go back to editing. Links in the preview open in a new tab.

4. 4
   Let it save

   There is no save button. The label under the editor shows Saving… while you type and Saved once the note is stored, next to the word and character count.

5. 5
   Find and switch notes

   The sidebar lists every note, newest edit first, with its date and the start of its text. Type in Search notes… to filter by title or text. On a phone, tap a note to open it and use ← Notes to return to the list.

6. 6
   Export, back up or delete

   Export .md downloads the open note as a Markdown file. Export all (.json) saves every note in one backup file, dh-notes.json, and Import .json adds the notes from such a file. Delete removes the open note after you confirm.

Reading the preview

• Supported Markdown: headings from # to ######, bold, italic, inline code, fenced code blocks with three backticks, bullet and numbered lists, quotes, horizontal rules, links and images. Links can point to web (http and https), mail and relative addresses, and images to web or relative addresses or an embedded data:image picture; anything else, such as a javascript: address, shows as plain text.
• Lines next to each other join into one paragraph with line breaks kept. Leave a blank line to start a new paragraph.
• Tables and checkboxes are not rendered and show as plain text, and indented list items appear as one flat list. Your text is still kept exactly as you typed it.
• Export .md puts the note title at the top as a # heading when you set one, and names the file after the title.

Tips and common mistakes

• Back up with Export all (.json) now and then. Clearing your browser's site data, or using a private window, removes the notes.
• Import .json adds notes alongside the ones you have. It does not replace them, so importing the same backup twice gives you two copies.
• Notes stay on one browser on one device. To move them to another computer, export a backup here and import it there.
• Delete cannot be undone, so export a note first if you might want it later.
• If the page says it could not save, browser storage may be full. Export a backup and delete notes you no longer need.

Privacy and limits

Notes are stored only in this browser's local storage, under the key dh_notes_v1, and are never uploaded. Open tabs of the page stay in step with each other. An image you add with Markdown is loaded from its own web address whenever its note is opened, even before you switch to Preview, so that site sees the request.

Back to the tool

Everything a notepad should do.

• Write in Markdown, headings, bold, italic, inline code, fenced code blocks, lists, quotes, links and images, and flip to a rendered preview in one click.
• Keep as many notes as you like in a persistent sidebar, sorted by last edit, with the title derived from the first line when you don't set one.
• Search every note instantly by title or body content as you type.
• Autosave as you type, a live word and character count and an honest Saving…/Saved indicator, no save button to remember.
• Export a single note as .md, back up everything as one JSON file, and import a backup to restore notes in any browser.
• Private by construction: notes live in your browser's local storage only, they even sync between open tabs without touching a server.

Frequently asked questions.

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