MESSAGES + FILE COURIER
Talk beside the source.
Direct and team messages and channels, a + file action in one-to-one chats (up to 200 MB per file, with progress), and automatic file deletion after 24 hours.
Messaging guide →Features
Write it, shape it,
finish it together.
One line in a note feeds the editor, hierarchy, map, tasks, schedule and conversation — To-dos and the project tree take you back to that line; the calendar opens its note.
WRITE THE DETAIL. KEEP THE SOURCE.
Formulas, calculations and figures
in one record.
Start with plain text or Markdown. Add headings, checklists, tables, files, figures, equations, chemical formulas, reagent math and comments only when the work asks for them.
- Structure that travels.Headings, lists, tables, code, links, collapsible blocks, Markdown import and export.
- Research tools.Automatic chemical subscripts (lab codes like IC50 and OD600 left alone), a reagent calculator, figure frames, TeX math, and conversion of ruled-table images into editable tables.
- A record that holds.Live cursors, paragraph authorship, review mode, roughly 10-minute version history, finalized records and witness signatures.
SWITCH VIEWS. KEEP THE CONTEXT.
The work changes shape.
There is one place to go back to.
See the same tasks and notes as a hierarchy, a relationship map, action cards, a structured table, or a calendar. To-dos and the project tree open the original task line; the calendar, schedule table and map open the linked note.
Read the whole project at a glance.
Project → notebook → note → task, with live completion, owner, due date, status, filters, and direct source navigation.
Draw why things are connected.
Arrange notes and private memos, then style explicit links with labels, solid or dashed lines, arrows, width, and color.
See the next move—and where it came from.
List, cards, and boards keep the path back to the source line while adding owners, custom status, due dates, repeats, handoffs, and reviews.
Treat the schedule like structured data.
Reorder and resize columns, nest groups, filter, sort, calculate, and add typed properties without detaching the task from its note.
Make the commitment visible.
Month view, range bars that show their end date, D-Day, today and week progress, weather, quick add, and natural-language due dates share one schedule. Apple Calendar events can be imported too.
FROM THE MORNING DIGEST TO THE TODAY BOOKMARK TAB.
Today finds you
before you look for it.
The day starts without opening the calendar. Today's schedule arrives as a push at the time you choose (Korea time), and on a Mac the Today bookmark tab on the left screen edge and a desktop calendar widget show your progress. Click any date and its board opens, split into multi-day and single-day work.
- Morning digest.On work days, at the time you pick: today's schedule, overdue items, and pending handoffs in one push.
- Mac Today bookmark tab and desktop widget.Move the pointer to the left edge of the screen and today's progress slides out as a vertical tab; click it to open the list. The desktop calendar widget shows a day's work when you hover a date.
- Day board.Multi-day and single-day items as cards with D-Day, end date, and time. Click a card to open its note.
- iPhone.A Live Activity shows today's status on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island (in the iPhone app from the App Store).
IMPORT, LINK, DELEGATE.
Bring in the schedules
and tools you already have.
Drop in an Apple Calendar .ics file or an iCloud subscription link: recurring events in the range you pick are expanded and previewed, then added to the calendar note. Events already imported with the same ID and date are skipped. It is a one-time import, not live sync. Reusable phrases become snippets. Scripts and AI agents read and write notes through the Markdown API.
- Apple Calendar import.An .ics file or a webcal link. Recurring events are expanded; pick a range, preview, then import.
- Snippets.Reusable phrases stored on your account. Pick one from the
/menu or type;shortcutand a space to expand it in place. - Markdown API.Personal tokens list and read notes as Markdown, create notes, and append to them, so agents like Claude Code can work with your lab notebook directly.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer cnk_…" \
-H "Accept: text/markdown" \
https://commonnote.app/api/v1/notes/<note-id>
HAND OFF THE WORK, NOT JUST A MESSAGE.
Context should arrive
before the question does.
CommonNote connects the conversation to the note and the task, so a teammate can act without reconstructing the background.
HANDOFF + REVIEW
Send an actionable brief.
Choose the recipient, deadline, and handoff memo. The teammate gets a high-priority notification, a message thread, and a direct path back to the original task.
Handoff guide →Presence with provenance.
See who is in the note, where they are editing, who wrote which paragraph, and what changed between versions.
DEEP WHEN YOU NEED IT. QUIET WHEN YOU DO NOT.
The fundamentals are not add-ons.
Every layer is there to remove a handoff, a duplicate entry, or an avoidable loss of context.
Notes
- Markdown and rich text
- Tables, files, figures, code, TeX
- Snippets, icons, fonts, note paper
- Templates, tags, covers, locks
Collaboration
- Live cursors and paragraph authors
- Review mode, comments and permissions
- Direct and team messages
- File courier and notifications
Execution
- List, cards, boards, and reviews
- Hierarchy and relationship map
- Handoffs and open-the-source-line
- Repeats and natural-language dates
Planning
- Calendar, day board, schedule table
- Apple Calendar import and weather
- Morning digest, bookmark tab, widgets
- D-Day, ranges, typed properties
Records
- Version history and restore
- Finalization, acknowledgment, signatures
- MD, HTML, PDF, and ZIP export
- Encrypted backups and a status page
Specialized tools
- Chemical subscripts and reagent math
- Figure frames and math blocks
- Formula and rollup properties
- Markdown API and personal tokens
HOW IT DIFFERS
What you used to stitch together,
built into CommonNote.
Notes apps, chat apps and to-do apps are each good at their own job, and some products include a few of these capabilities natively. This compares CommonNote with a workflow where notes, conversations and tasks live in separate tools.
| The job | In CommonNote | Example workflow with separate tools |
|---|---|---|
| Find a task’s context | Open the source line from a task in To-dos or the project tree — you land on the exact line of the note where it was written. | Follow a description or link in the to-do app back to the right note. |
| Follow up on a request | Hand off with a memo and due date; see seen, unseen, accepted and declined. Unseen handoffs get one follow-up after 4 hours (08:00–21:00 Korea time), and long-stalled ones are shown first. | Ask in chat, add a to-do separately, then ask again to confirm. |
| Lab notation and math | Chemical subscripts with lab-code exceptions, a reagent calculator, figure frames and TeX math inside the editor. | Paste results from a calculator or figure tool into the note. |
| Keep the reviewed version | Finalize a record to store that version and a SHA-256 hash; colleagues add witness signatures. Versions save automatically about every 10 minutes while you edit. | Put dates or version numbers in file names; collect sign-off by email or chat. |
| Close out comments | In review mode, comments archive themselves once everyone who needs to confirm presses ✓. | Check separately who has read each comment. |
| Start the day | A workday morning digest, the Mac Today bookmark tab and widgets show today’s work first. | Manage notifications and widgets app by app. |
| Freedom to leave | MD, HTML or PDF per note, a ZIP of current notes and attachments (MD, HTML or Word-compatible .doc), and a read-write Markdown API. Version, signature and chat history are not in the ZIP. | Varies by product. |
This is not a feature comparison with any specific product. It contrasts CommonNote with an example workflow using separate tools; some products offer parts of this natively, others through settings or integrations.
When CommonNote may not be the right fit
- You want files only on your own computerCommonNote syncs with a server. During a brief disconnect, open notes stay editable and sync when that session reconnects (some changes may need recovery review). A local folder is not the source of truth.
- Your organization requires SSO and detailed audit logsEnterprise single sign-on such as SAML isn’t offered today. You get personal account controls — signed-in device management, passkeys and an account-security activity log — but no document-level audit trail.
- You need a certified electronic lab notebookFinalizing a record stores content hashes and signatures; it is not certified against any specific regulation.
FIND THE FEATURE. FINISH THE TASK.
A guide organized around
what you are trying to do.
More than 70 articles, each taking one job from start to finish, with exact menu paths, shortcuts, limits and troubleshooting steps.