Notely

Notely User Guide ​

Use this guide for everyday work in Notely: creating notes, editing safely, finding information quickly, and working with visuals.

1. Set Up Your Workspace ​

  1. Open Notely.
  2. Go to File -> Open Workspace.
  3. Select the folder where your notes should live.
  4. Confirm and continue.

Result: your notes and folders appear in the main list.

Tip: use File -> Open Recent when you want to jump back into a recently used workspace faster.

2. Create and Organize Notes ​

  1. Create Notes: Use File -> New Note (Ctrl/Cmd + N) or the quick action buttons.
  2. Create Folders: Group related notes into subfolders in the sidebar or tree view.
  3. Switch View Modes:
    • Tile View (Ctrl/Cmd + 1): Visual cards with note snippets and asset thumbnails.
    • Table View (Ctrl/Cmd + 2): High-density tabular list. Double-click any row to open.
    • Tree View (Ctrl/Cmd + 3): Hierarchical tree with collapsible subfolders, custom icon badges, and file timestamps.
  4. Drag-and-Drop Organization:
    • Drag note cards, table rows, or tree nodes directly onto folders to relocate them.
    • Spring-Loading: Hovering over a collapsed folder for 600ms automatically opens it.
    • Breadcrumb Drops: Drag notes onto ancestor segments in the breadcrumb bar to move them up directory levels.
    • Between-File Drops: In Tree View, drop between files (indicated by an accent guide line) to place the note into that folder.
  5. Trash & Safe Deletion:
    • Drag any note or folder to the Recycle Bin panel on the bottom left rail, or select Delete from the context menu.
    • Deletions are safeguarded: an explicit confirmation modal appears, followed by a 1-click [Undo] toast.
    • Click the Recycle Bin panel to view trashed items, restore notes back to their original paths, or empty the trash permanently.

3. Write and Edit Faster ​

Choose the view mode that fits your task:

  • Edit: write raw markdown.
  • Split: write and preview side-by-side.
  • Preview: read final output.

Helpful actions:

  • Find text: Ctrl/Cmd + F
  • Use toolbar buttons for headings, lists, links, tables, and diagrams.
  • Edit markdown tables inline by placing the cursor inside a table and using the popup grid controls.
    • Add/remove rows and columns from compact action chips.
    • Adjust column alignment from header controls.
    • Save with Save, or close/cancel with Cancel or Esc.
  • Format code blocks automatically and use the dedicated code editor popup.
  • Fix issues shown by markdown validation and typo checks.

4. Recover Changes with Git Version Control ​

Notely tracks your document history with a native Git-backed system:

  1. Open Version Control -> History (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + H) or click the History button in the top menu of an open note.
  2. Select a commit from the timeline list to inspect its details.
  3. Compare commits or restore a note to that version.
  4. Add tags directly to commits to bookmark key milestones.

Use this to track changes chronologically and recover older revisions of any note.

5. Work with Images and Files ​

You can insert and manage media directly from your notes:

  • Add images and linked files.
  • Rename or replace existing media.
  • Open media in the default app.
  • Use image tools like crop and annotation when needed.

Tip: keep image names meaningful so teammates can identify assets quickly.

6. Capture Screen Areas into Notes (Windows) ​

  1. Place your cursor where you want the screenshot markdown inserted.
  2. Click the toolbar capture icon, or press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + S.
  3. Select screen area in Windows snip overlay.
  4. If mode is Auto Insert, image is inserted directly.
  5. If mode is Review Before Insert, adjust (optional) and click Save.

Change mode in Settings -> Screen Capture.

Tip: capture icon marker shows active mode (A auto, R review).

7. Use Diagrams (Mermaid and Excalidraw) ​

Mermaid ​

  1. Insert a Mermaid block from the toolbar.
  2. Write Mermaid syntax.
  3. Check rendering in Split or Preview.

Excalidraw ​

  1. Insert an Excalidraw diagram.
  2. Edit visually and save.
  3. Re-open from preview to continue editing.

Convert an image to Excalidraw ​

  1. In preview, right-click a workspace image.
  2. Select Edit with Excalidraw.
  3. Draw on top of the image (the starting image is resizable on canvas).
  4. Save diagram to replace the markdown image reference.

Restore original image from converted diagram ​

  1. Right-click an Excalidraw preview created from an image.
  2. Select Restore original image.

Note: restore appears only for diagrams that were created from an image conversion flow.

8. Navigate Large Workspaces ​

  • View -> Show Outline for quick jumps inside long notes.
  • View -> Split Preview to keep source and output aligned.
  • View -> Focus Mode to reduce distractions.
  • Workspace -> Workspace Graph to explore note and media relationships.

9. Track Tasks Across Notes ​

Use markdown task checkboxes in your notes:

  • Open task: - [ ]
  • Completed task: - [x]

Then review tasks centrally:

  1. Open Command Palette (Ctrl/Cmd + K).
  2. Run Open Tasks Panel for pending tasks.
  3. Run Open All Tasks to view open + completed tasks.
  4. Open the source note directly from a task row when you need context.

10. Export Workspace as Zip ​

  1. Go to the landing screen (notes list view).
  2. Open File -> Export Workspace as Zip.
  3. Choose export format:
    • Notes as-is (Markdown + assets)
    • PDF-only
    • Web format
  4. Choose whether to include Notely app data from .notes-app (default is off).
  5. Select destination folder (Browse is available and last path is remembered).
  6. Confirm or edit filename (default notelyproject.zip).
  7. Click Export Zip.

11. Copy and Move Notes Between Workspaces and Folders ​

Transfer notes and their local media/diagram assets effortlessly across workspaces or subfolders:

  1. Open the top File menu when viewing a note.
  2. Select Copy Note or Move Note:
    • To Workspace ▶: Choose a target workspace, then select either [ Workspace Root ] or a target subfolder inside that workspace.
    • To Folder (Current Workspace) ▶: Choose a target subfolder inside your current workspace, or [ Root / Top Level ].
  3. Notely automatically copies/moves the note and its local media/diagram assets (media/, .notes-app/excali-diagrams/, .notes-app/drawio-diagrams/).
  4. Link paths inside the note content are recalculated relative to the destination directory, preserving all embedded images and diagrams without breaking.

12. Personalize Appearance and Typography ​

Customize app look and feel to fit your workflow:

  • Theme: Choose between System, Light, or Dark mode from View -> Theme or Settings -> General.
  • Font: Switch between 5 developer-friendly typefaces (Inter, JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Cascadia Code, Source Code Pro) via View -> Font or Settings -> General -> App Font. The chosen font updates all labels, controls, and buttons in real time and is saved in global config.
  • Zoom: Scale the interface via View -> Zoom In / Zoom Out / Reset Zoom or the Settings zoom slider.

13. Get Help Quickly ​

  • Help -> Help Center (F1) for in-app help.
  • Help -> Keyboard Shortcuts (Ctrl/Cmd + /) for key bindings.
  • Help -> About Notely for app version details.

14. Record Meetings, Capture Audio & Manage Media Gallery ​

Record a Meeting with Dual-Stream Audio (Mic + System Loopback) ​

  1. Open any note or press Alt + V (or click the 🎙️ Record Audio icon on the editor toolbar).
  2. Choose Meeting Mode to capture both your voice and speakers/participants (Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, YouTube).
  3. Click Start Recording. A live waveform visualizer and recording timer start.
  4. When the discussion finishes, click Stop & Transcribe.
  5. Notely transcribes the discussion with Whisper (local offline ONNX or cloud), saves the .webm audio and .json transcript to media/audio/, and automatically inserts the audio player and transcript block at your cursor.

Quick Capture from the Landing Dashboard ​

  1. On the landing dashboard, use the Quick Capture toolbar:
    • 📸 Snip Screen: Capture any desktop region to an image file.
    • 🎥 Record Screen: Select a screen or application window to record.
    • 🎙️ Record Audio: Capture quick voice memos or meeting audio.
  2. Captured media is stored directly in workspace media storage without modifying any notes.
  3. A notification toast appears with a 1-click [Open Gallery] button to inspect the asset immediately.

Find and Embed Unused / Orphaned Media ​

  1. Open Workspace -> Diagrams & Media Gallery (Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + M).
  2. Click the ⚠️ Unused / Orphans filter tab in the left sidebar or the header stats pill.
  3. Inspect unreferenced files, listen to audio recordings, or click Copy Markdown Embed to link them into your notes.