Updated for v2.0
Antinote user manual
Everything Antinote does, one page per topic. If you're after what the app is rather than how a particular thing works, the features page is the shorter version.
Basics
Navigation Move between notes in Antinote with a two-finger swipe, jump to the front, promote a note, or delete one. Swiping past the newest note starts a new one.Slotted Notes Antinote has two note spaces: ephemeral notes, which are the classic scratchpad stack, and slotted notes, which stay put. Covers the slot bar and split screen.Global Hotkey The global hotkey brings Antinote to the front from any other app. Antinote has to be running. Covers setting the shortcut and what happens on press.Link Shortening Antinote shortens pasted URLs so they take up less room in a note, keeps a readable ending, and expands them again for editing. Cmd+Return opens a link.Copy How copying works in Antinote, including which parts of a note are left behind — keywords on the first line are not copied to the clipboard.Paste Antinote strips formatting on paste. Bullets, numbered lists, indentation and leading whitespace are removed so pasted text arrives as plain text.Checkboxes, Bullets & Numbers Start a line with a marker in any Antinote note and it becomes a real checkbox, bullet, or numbered item — no list keyword required.
Keywords
Keywords Type a keyword on the first line of any Antinote note to turn on a mode: list, math, sum, avg, count, or code. This is how every special note type is activated.List Type "list" on the first line to turn a note into a checklist. Title it with "list: Your Title". Every following line becomes an item you can check off.Math Type "math" on the first line to evaluate calculations inline as you type, with descriptive text alongside them. Supports currency conversion, measurement conversion, and reactive variables.Sum Type "sum" on the first line and Antinote adds up every number in the note, stripping out punctuation and symbols. Fractions are not currently supported.Average Type "avg" on the first line and Antinote averages every number in the note, stripping out punctuation and symbols. Fractions are not currently supported.Count Type "count" on the first line to count items, lines, words and characters in a note. Prefix a line with // to comment it out and leave it uncounted.Code Type "code" on the first line to hold a code snippet for review or light editing. Antinote is not an IDE and this mode is deliberately minimal.
Extras
Search The search pane finds text across notes and is also where you reorder by dragging, switch between list and card view, multi-select, and filter ephemeral versus slotted notes.Find and Replace Search and replace text within the current Antinote note, with an optional case-sensitive mode via the "Aa" toggle.Screenshot to Text Drag or paste an image into Antinote to convert it to plain text. It uses the OCR built into macOS via Apple Vision, so the image is not uploaded anywhere.AutoPaste Type "paste" and press Return to start AutoPaste. Anything you copy afterwards is pasted into the note automatically as plain text, without switching apps.Timer Type "timer" at the start of a note for a stopwatch, countdown, or pomodoro. Unlike keywords, timers can be named and run full screen.Simple Markdown The Markdown Antinote understands: headings with #, bold, italic, strikethrough, underline, and // to comment out a line.Formatting Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts that wrap the selection, or the word under the cursor, in Simple Markdown markers — and toggle them back off. Includes moving lines up and down.URL Schemes The antinote:// URL schemes for creating, opening and exporting notes from scripts, Shortcuts, Raycast, Alfred, or the terminal.
Extensions
Themes & Visuals
Color Themes Choose a theme under Settings > Appearance, set a separate theme for light and dark mode, and build your own with the theme maker.Paper Types Choose a paper type under Settings > Appearance. Line spacing for lists differs between lined and plain paper.Text Size Set the font size under Settings > Appearance > Text, or change it on the fly with Cmd+ and Cmd-.Translucent Mode Make the Antinote window translucent using the native macOS materials, under Settings > Appearance > Window. Requires macOS 15 Sequoia or later.App Icon Pick the app icon under Settings > Appearance > App icon: the default icon, the classic icon from 1.1.7, or a custom image of your own.
App Management
App Management Pin Antinote above other windows, close and reopen the window, and choose whether Antinote lives in the dock, the menu bar, both, or neither.Raycast & Alfred Antinote is in the Raycast store and available as an Alfred workflow. Both can create notes with or without content, search notes, and pin or unpin the window.Download Methods Where to get Antinote and its previous versions. Your license, notes and preferences are kept when you overwrite an existing copy with a newer one.Terminal Commands Terminal commands for Antinote: reset all preferences back to defaults, and launch the app with logging turned on.
Notes Management
Notes Management Notes are stored locally in a SQLite database on your Mac. Covers where that file lives, expiring notes, auto-backup, and importing from Antinote 1.x.The Void Deleting a note sends it to The Void, Antinote's recoverable trash, rather than destroying it. Open it from the File menu to restore a note.
Cloud Sync
Export
Privacy
Privacy Settings Settings > Privacy lists everything Antinote can send over the network, grouped by feature, each with its own switch.Updates Antinote offers to check for updates automatically on second launch. Update settings live under Settings > Updates, where you can also check manually.Usage Activity Antinote stopped tracking usage activity in 1.1.7. In 2.0 all analytics and crash-reporting code, including Sentry, was removed from the app entirely.