Write a note

Start a note or a template, what the editor saves and when, and the note's menu.

In short

Press "New note", type a title and write - the note saves itself about a second after you stop. Start from a template for meetings, decisions or test plans, and turn an action item into a card or a Planner task.

Before you start

• Who: anyone who can write in the notebook (Edit). A Viewer reads only.
• Plan: every plan. A new note counts toward your plan's note cap.
• First: nothing. Open the notebook you want, or let the note go into your own.

Write a note

1. Press "New note" (or N or C on the Notes screen). An empty draft opens; nothing is saved until you type.
2. Type a title and press Enter to move to the text.
3. Write. The status beside the title says Saving and then Saved. Ctrl+S saves at once.
4. Or open the caret beside New note and choose "Start from a template…": Meeting notes, Decision record, Bug reproduction, Test plan or Retrospective.

Turn an action item into a card or task

1. Write the action item as a line in the note.
2. Open its "Turn into a card or task" menu.
3. Choose "Make task" to add it to your Planner, or "Make card" and pick the Board and Column.
4. The line now shows where it went, and the card links back to the note.

Turn every open line into cards at once

1. Open the menu at the end of any checklist line and choose "Make cards from every open line".
2. The dialog lists the lines that become cards: lines that are not ticked, have text, and are not a card or task yet.
3. Pick the board and the column, then press "Make cards".
4. Each line then shows its card. When a card moves to another column, the line shows the new column right away.

The editor and the note's menu

While you write, the toolbar at the foot of the text formats it: heading, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, lists, alignment, text color and clear formatting. Above the text, the note's anchors and tags sit on one line.

Comment on a note and mention someone

Comments let people discuss a note without changing it. Anyone who can open the note can comment, viewers included.

1. Select the words you want to talk about, or put the caret in the line.
2. Press the speech bubble at the top of the note; it wakes up once text is selected. The details open on Comments, showing the text you picked.
3. Write the comment. Type @ and the first letters of a name to mention someone, then press Enter to pick them.
4. Press "Comment", or Ctrl+Enter.

• A mark with a count appears beside each part of the note that has open comments. Press it to read them.
• Only people who can open the notebook can be mentioned. A mentioned person gets a notification that opens the comments.
• Reply to keep the talk in one thread. Resolve the thread when it is settled; it moves under Resolved threads, and a new reply opens it again.
• Only the author can change a comment. The author or a notebook manager can delete it, and Undo brings it back.
• If the text a thread was on is rewritten, the thread stays and says the text has changed.

Mention someone in the note itself

1. In the text of the note, type @ and the first letters of a name.
2. A list, "People to mention", opens under the @. Use the arrow keys and press Enter or Tab, or click a name.
3. The name goes into the text as one piece. Backspace removes it whole.

• Only people who can open the notebook are listed.
• When the note saves, each person newly mentioned gets a notification that opens the note. Saving again does not tell them twice.
• Press Escape to close the list and keep the @ as plain text.
• If a mentioned person deletes their account, the mention shows "Deleted user".

Put a picture in the text

1. Put the caret where the picture should go.
2. Choose "Add a picture" in the note's … menu and pick one or more pictures. You can also paste a picture, or drag it into the text.
3. The picture is added to the note's files and shows in the text.

• PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, AVIF and BMP pictures up to 15 MB can go in the text. Add other files under Files.
• A picture shows to everyone who can open the note, and to nobody else.
• Deleting the file under Files leaves a note in the text that the picture was removed.
• Select a picture and press Backspace to take it out of the text. The file stays under Files.

See who is editing which part

When someone else has the note open to edit, a bar with their name shows beside the part their cursor is in. If your cursor is in the same part, the bar says so. You can still type: when you both save, changes to different parts are combined, and if you both changed the same part you choose which version to keep.

Summarize a note or turn it into something else with AI

When AI is on for your workspace, press … at the top of a note, then Ask AI.

• Summarize into a new note: the main points, decisions and open questions, in a new note in the same notebook.
• Add the action items as a checklist: the to-dos the note mentions, added at its end. Offered when you can edit the note.
• Write it up as a decision record: context, decision, options and consequences, in a new note.
• The assistant shows what it will write first. Nothing is saved until you confirm, and Undo takes it back.

Good to know

• A new note goes into the notebook you have open if you can write there, otherwise into your own.
• A template fills the text and sets the note's type; the note is yours from the first keystroke.
• From a Planner event, "Meeting note" opens that event's meeting note, or starts one with attendees, agenda and action items.
• When someone else has the note open, the top bar shows who is editing. If they save while you type, the changes are combined. Only when you both changed the same part do you see both versions side by side - keep yours, theirs or both, then save. Nothing is lost.
• A note holds up to 200,000 characters. A save that would make it longer is refused with a message, and nothing you wrote is cut.
• A picture from another website is kept as a link to it: Notes only shows pictures stored in {{brand}}, so nobody outside learns who read the note. Put the picture in the text with the picture button instead.
• An archived note is read-only. Restore it to change it.
• Save a note as a template from its … menu (Save as template). It is yours alone unless you tick "For the whole organization", which needs the right to create the organization's notebooks. Delete your templates from the template list.

If something goes wrong

• "This note was changed by someone else since you opened it.": choose what to keep in the side-by-side view and save again.
• "This note is being saved by others right now. Save again in a moment."
• "Restore this note before turning its lines into cards or tasks.": archived notes are read-only.
• "Write the action item first, then turn it into a card or task."

Related

• /help/notes/anchors
• /help/notes/tags-and-files
• /help/notes/revisions
• /help/planner/plan-items