Find the feature.
Finish the task.

Choose the shortest path into your work.

CommonNote can be a quiet personal notebook or a connected team workspace. You do not need to configure every layer before writing.

Five-minute setup

1. Create one notebook for an active area such as Website launch, Semester, or Client work.
2. Create a note and write the outcome, evidence, decisions, and next actions.
3. Use a checklist for actions. Add @tomorrow or choose a due date when timing matters.
4. Open To-dos to confirm the task appears with its Source Thread.
5. Only then create a project, share the note, or add properties if the work needs them.

Write, find, and connect source material.

Notes are the durable source. Tasks, project nodes, messages, and calendar items should lead back here instead of becoming detached copies.

Express the work without changing tools.

Select text for inline styles. Put the cursor in a block for headings, lists, quotes, code, tables, equations, and collapsible sections.

Work in the same note without hiding authorship.

Presence shows who is connected; live cursors show where they are working; block authors preserve who contributed the text.

1. The note owner opens Share, enters a username, and chooses editor or view-only access.
2. When both people open the note, participant avatars and connection state appear in the header.
3. Live selections and cursors use participant colors. Changes sync without a manual save.
4. Turn on Authors to see the author attached to each block.
5. Select a passage and use Comments when the discussion belongs to exact text.
6. Use version history before restoring or comparing a substantial change.

Send work as an actionable brief.

A handoff carries the task, recipient, deadline, instructions, and a route to the source. It is not just a forwarded sentence.

1. Open list or card view and choose the task’s paper-plane action.
2. Select one or more recipients. Their open-work count helps you avoid blind assignment.
3. Choose today, tomorrow, Friday, next week, or a custom due date.
4. Write the outcome, constraints, and where feedback should be left in the handoff memo.
5. Send. CommonNote creates a high-priority notification and a direct-message record with an Open task route.
6. Use Handoffs to follow who sent, accepted, or passed the work onward.

Review instead of handoff

Use a review request when ownership is not changing and you need a decision on completed work. The reviewer can complete the review or request changes; the source task keeps the review state.

Talk and transfer files beside the work.

Messages are for coordination; note attachments are for durable storage. The visible + button in the composer opens the file courier.

1. Open Messages and choose a person or team already connected through your workspace.
2. Press Enter to send; use Shift+Enter for a new line.
3. Press + or Send a file now, then choose a file. One file can be up to 200 MB.
4. Keep the panel open long enough to confirm upload progress reaches delivery.
5. The receiver downloads from the message bubble. Filename, size, and delivery time remain in the conversation.
6. Transferred file bytes are deleted automatically after 24 hours.

Bring your history without flattening it.

CommonNote rebuilds notebooks from source folders where possible and carries supported attachments with the imported notes.

1. Keep the original export untouched before importing.
2. Upload the file and read the success, skipped, and error counts.
3. Inspect a representative note with nested folders, internal links, images, and checklists.
4. After validation, download a complete CommonNote workspace ZIP as a recovery baseline.

Read structure and reasoning in two different ways.

The hierarchy answers “where does this belong?” The relationship map answers “why are these things connected?” Both use the same project scope.

Build the hierarchy

1. Create nested notebooks, then choose New project and place the relevant top-level notebook in it.
2. Expand project → notebook → note → task to see ownership, status, due date, and completion.
3. Use All, late, today, next seven days, or mine to filter the full tree.
4. Open the source from a title; use the … menu for placement, actions, and handoff.

Build the relationship map

1. Switch to Map. Add notes from the same project or create private memo cards.
2. Drag cards to arrange them and use the corner handle to resize a memo.
3. Select a source node, choose connect, and select the target node.
4. Give the link a label, then set solid, dashed, or dotted line; arrow direction; width; and color.
5. Use zoom buttons or enter an exact percentage. Fit width, choose frame size, or type an exact frame height.

Choose the view that answers today’s question.

All views use the same underlying tasks. Change the view instead of copying the task into another planning system.

Schedule table

1. Open Calendar and select Table.
2. Choose a primary hierarchy: task, date, status, or note.
3. Add multiple groups such as month → person. Use Reorder to change group priority.
4. Filter by status, person, and date, then choose a sort.
5. Drag the handle before a column header to reorder it; drag the divider to resize it.
6. Open Property to add select, number, date, person, relation, formula, or rollup columns.
7. Use each header menu for visibility, calculation, and property-specific controls.

Calendar

1. Select Calendar for the month view.
2. Click an empty date for quick add or drag across dates to create a range.
3. Click an item to edit content, color, completion, date, or deletion.
4. Use D-Day chips, today and week progress, overdue, and acknowledgment signals to set priority.
5. In task text, natural language such as @tomorrow 3pm, @next Fri, or @Mon~Fri creates dates.

Add structure where repetition starts.

Properties turn recurring task metadata into typed, filterable fields. Formula and rollup properties calculate across that structure.

Keep a trustworthy history—and a readable exit.

Version history helps with editing mistakes. Finalization and acknowledgment help when a particular state of the note must be attested.

Backup routine

1. Use MD, HTML, or PDF in the note header for a readable note-level copy.
2. Use the top backup action for a complete workspace ZIP with attachments.
3. Keep one copy in a separate storage location and test opening it.
4. Before restoring or importing over existing work, download a fresh backup first.

Let today find you first.

The morning digest, the notch, the widget, and the day board all show the same schedule so the day starts without opening the calendar.

Morning digest

1. Open view settings (the sliders icon) › Work-life alerts and turn on Morning schedule digest.
2. Pick a digest time. Leave it empty to match your work start time.
3. On work days, one push arrives at that time with today's schedule (items due today and ranges covering today), overdue items, and pending handoffs.

Connect the schedules and tools you already have.

Apple Calendar comes in by file or subscription link, reusable phrases become snippets, and scripts or agents work through the Markdown API.

Apple Calendar import

1. In the Mac Calendar app pick a calendar and use File › Export › Export… to save an .ics file, or copy an iCloud public share link (webcal://…).
2. Press Import in the CommonNote calendar toolbar and drop the file or paste the link.
3. Choose a range (for example from 30 days ago to a year ahead), check the preview, and press Add to calendar.
4. Events land in the month sections of the 📅 Calendar note. Importing the same file again skips events that already exist.

Snippets

1. View settings › Snippets: give it a name, an optional shortcut, and the text. Snippets are stored on your account, so they are the same on every device.
2. In the editor type / and pick the snippet, or type ;shortcut followed by a space to expand it in place.

Markdown API

1. Settings › Account security › API tokens: name it and create the token. The value is shown once, so copy it right away.
2. Send Authorization: Bearer cnk_… with each request. Tokens only work under /api/v1.
3. GET /api/v1/notes lists notes, GET /api/v1/notes/:id returns Markdown with Accept: text/markdown, POST /api/v1/notes creates a note, and POST /api/v1/notes/:id/append appends to one.

Check state before assuming data is gone.

Most confusing situations come from scope, filters, connection state, or a view setting. Use this order before changing data.

Useful shortcuts