Notes

Notes is a rich-text window that floats above your other apps. Open it with a hotkey, write, and close it again. Notes are stored as Markdown in notes.json in the data folder.

Commands

Command	What it does
Notes	Shows or hides the Notes window. Searching “floating notes” finds it too.
Create Note	Creates a new note and opens the window.
Search Notes	A list of all your notes, searched by title and content. Opening one shows it in the floating window.
Create Dictated Note	Creates a new note and starts dictation.

Each command takes its own hotkey: select it in the launcher and press ⇧ ⌘ ,, or choose Set Hotkey… in the action panel (⌘ K).

Write a note

Press ⌘ N in the window, or use the plus button in the toolbar, to start a new note. The first line is the title, and it is shown in the toolbar. Only one note is visible at a time.

An empty note is discarded when you hide the window, unless it is your only note. Changes are saved a moment after you stop typing, and also when the window hides.

Format text

There are five ways to format:

Keyboard shortcuts (tables below).
Markdown typing: type the Markdown and it turns into formatting.
The / menu: type / to pick a format from a list.
Format in the action panel (⌘ K).
The Format Bar at the bottom of the window. It shows by default. Hide Format Bar in the action panel turns it off, and Show Format Bar brings it back.

A footer at the very bottom of the window lists the main shortcuts: New ⌘ N, Browse ⌘ P, Pin ⇧ ⌘ P and Actions ⌘ K. You can click the items in it, and in a narrow window the least important ones drop out.

The Notes window uses the same colors as the launcher and follows the Appearance setting in Settings (System, Dark or Light).

Paragraph formats

Format	Shortcut	Markdown
Heading 1	`⌥` `⌘` `1`	`#` and a space
Heading 2	`⌥` `⌘` `2`	`##` and a space
Heading 3	`⌥` `⌘` `3`	`###` and a space
Code block	`⌥` `⌘` `C`	three backticks and a space, or `~~~`
Blockquote	`⇧` `⌘` `B`	`>` and a space
Ordered list	`⇧` `⌘` `7`	`1.` and a space
Bullet list	`⇧` `⌘` `8`	`*` or `-` and a space
Task list	`⇧` `⌘` `9`	`[]` or `[x]` and a space
Horizontal rule	none	`---` or `___` and a space

To check or uncheck a task, put the cursor on its line and press ⌘ ↵. Lists can be indented.

Text formats

Format	Shortcut	Markdown
Bold	`⌘` `B`	`text` or `__text__`
Italic	`⌘` `I`	`text` or `_text_`
Strikethrough	`⇧` `⌘` `S`	`~~text~~`
Underline	`⌘` `U`	none (saved as `<u>text</u>`)
Code	`⌘` `E`	`text`
Link	`⌘` `L`	`[text](url)`

Links are not in the / menu. Links open with ⌘-click.

The `/` menu and emoji

Type / to open a menu of formats and filter it by typing. Type : to open an emoji list and filter it the same way.

Organize notes

Browse Notes: ⌘ P or the toolbar button lists every note.
Pin: ⇧ ⌘ P pins or unpins the open note (⌘ . in the Search Notes list). Pinned notes sit at the top of Browse Notes and Search Notes.
Pinned notes: while the window is open, ⌘ 1 to ⌘ 9 open the first to the ninth pinned note.
History: ⌘ [ and ⌘ ] go back and forward between the notes you opened, like a browser.

Delete notes

In the action panel, Delete Note and Delete All Notes move notes to Recently Deleted. Open Recently Deleted from the same panel and choose a note to restore it. Deleted notes are kept for 30 days and then removed for good.

Zoom

⌘ + zooms in, ⌘ - zooms out and ⌘ 0 goes back to actual size. The zoom also lives in Settings → Notes.

The action panel

⌘ K opens the action panel for the open note. Type to search it, including the items inside its submenus (for example Format › Bold or Export › Markdown). It holds:

New Note, Browse Notes, Pin or Unpin Note, Navigate Back and Navigate Forward.
Format, Show or Hide Format Bar and Start or Stop Dictation.
Copy As, Export, Create Quicklink and AI Commands.
Zoom In, Zoom Out and Actual Size.
Delete Note, Delete All Notes and Recently Deleted.

Actions that do not apply are left out of the list.

Export and copy

Export writes the note as Plain Text, Markdown or HTML. The file goes to your Downloads folder and is revealed in Finder; there is no save dialog. Copy As puts the note on the clipboard in the same three formats.

Quicklink and URLs

Create Quicklink adds a quicklink that opens that note from anywhere. It uses these URLs, which you can also use from other apps:

URL	What it does
`ferrocast://notes/<id>`	Opens that note. An unknown or deleted note only shows a message.
`ferrocast://notes/new`	Creates a note and opens it.
`ferrocast://notes`	Shows or hides the Notes window.

AI commands

AI Commands in the action panel runs one of these on the selected text, or on the whole note when nothing is selected:

Fix Spelling and Grammar, Improve Writing, Make Shorter, Make Longer.
Change Tone: Professional, Casual, Friendly, Confident or Straightforward.
Explain This and Translate to English.

Summarize and Continue Writing always work on the whole note.

They use the provider you set in Settings → AI (see Ask AI) and send the text to it. Summarize and Continue Writing add their result at the end of the note, and Explain This adds it below the selection. They never replace your text. The other commands replace the text they worked on. Each result is applied as one undo step (⌘ Z), and Markdown formatting is kept. One command runs at a time. If you edit the note while it runs, the result is discarded.

Dictation

Choose Start Dictation in the action panel, or run Create Dictated Note, and speak. The first time, macOS asks for microphone and speech recognition access. Ferrocast uses on-device recognition when your system supports it. Dictation stops when you hide the window, switch notes, delete the note, edit the dictated text or choose Stop Dictation.

Settings

Settings → Notes has three options:

Option	What it does
Show Notes Toggle Button in Menu Bar	Adds a button to the menu bar that shows or hides the Notes window. Off by default.
Escape Key Loses Focus	Esc moves focus away from the Notes window instead of closing it. Off by default.
Zoom	Text size, from 50% to 300%. Default 100%.