Find your way around the app
The screen has a top bar, a sidebar on the left, the note list in the middle and the editor on the right. On a phone, you switch screens with the tab bar at the bottom.
Applies to Web · Mac · iPhone app
On a wide screen, CommonNote has four parts: the top bar, the sidebar on the left, the note list in the middle and the editor on the right. Screens such as To-dos or Calendar take the place of the note list and editor when you open them.
Top bar
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Toggle sidebar (⇧⌘\) | Hides or shows the sidebar. |
| Status light | Sums up service status in one color. Click it for the status of the web and API, real-time editing and app updates, plus a Status page link. |
| Shortcuts (⌘/) | Opens the Keyboard shortcuts window. |
| Light mode / Dark mode | Switches between the light and dark appearance. |
| Language | 한국어 or English, saved to your account. |
| Messenger | Conversations with colleagues and teams. A badge shows unread messages. |
| Channels | Team channels and group conversations. |
| View options | Font, text size, spacing, note paper, snippets, chemical subscripts, work-life balance alerts and more. |
| Back up all notes (ZIP) | In a browser, downloads the notes you can see as a ZIP in Markdown, HTML or Word format. In the Mac and iPhone apps it opens commonnote.app in your browser to download it there. |
| Notifications | Handoffs, review requests, mentions, alarms and other notifications. |
| Profile (your icon) | Public nickname, how names are shown, Plan & billing, Report a problem or user and Account security. |
| Log out | Signs you out on this device. |
Strips appear just below the top bar only when needed: the Incoming handoffs strip when someone hands you a task, and a warning when your recovery email is missing or unconfirmed.
Sidebar
The top of the sidebar takes you to each screen:
- All notes, Global search, Colleagues, To-dos, Project tree, Channels, Dashboard, Calendar
- New note for today: creates or opens today’s dated note. See Keep a daily note.
- Favorites, Templates, Trash
Below that are sections you can collapse by clicking their titles: Recent (notes recently opened on this device, topped up with recently edited ones), My notebooks, Shared with me, Teams and Tags. Drag the sidebar’s right edge to change its width.
Note list
Shows the notes in whatever you picked in the sidebar — all notes, a notebook, a tag, favorites and so on. Its header has three buttons:
- View: sort by Last updated, Date created or Title; filter by Created by; turn on Content preview or Group by date.
- Import: bring in files from Notion, Obsidian, Evernote or Markdown.
- + (New note (⌘N)): a blank note, or a new note from a template.
Right-click a note for sharing, favorites, moving to a notebook, pinning, duplicating, exporting and moving it to the Trash.
Editor
- Note header: the notebook selector, tags, avatars of people viewing the note, the favorite star, Share, the lock, Calendar peek and the Note tools (⋯) menu. Note tools include focus mode, the outline, version history, icon and cover, and marking the note as a template.
- Toolbar: two rows. The first, Writing, has formatting, lists and checklists; the second, Tools, has attachments, comments, review mode, figure frames and more. The ⋯ More tools button at the end of the second row holds the authors view and Markdown, HTML and PDF export.
- When you open several notes, they stack up as tabs above the editor.
On a phone
On a narrow screen (under 768 px wide), a tab bar at the bottom replaces the sidebar. In order: To-dos · Project · Notes · Search · People · Channels · Dashboard · Calendar · Today. The tab bar hides while a note is open. Tap the logo at the top left to open the sidebar; Log out is at the bottom of the profile menu. The shortcuts button isn’t shown on phones.
Jump anywhere with the command palette
Press ⌘K to open the Command palette. Search note titles and content, or run commands such as New note, Open today's note, View to-dos and Calendar. With nothing typed, it lists your recent notes.