Language of your browser or OS is set to English. No special matching of accented letters is defined.
How do I delete a note?
Swipe the note left or right (or double-click it), then tap Delete.
If you accidentally swipe the wrong note, swipe the opposite way to cancel.
How many pictures can I add to a note?
Not more than a couple photos — each takes up as much storage as ten thousand words! A half-dozen SVGs or simple graphics should be fine.
Can I categorize or tag my notes?
Your notes are already tagged — with all of the words in them! In the search field, enter the first 3–6 letters of one or more words. Serene Notes will show you all notes that contain those words.
You can add tag words to your notes, if they don't already contain them. For example, if you append the word "movie" to each of your notes on a movie, you can find them all by searching for "movie".
Can I search for notes containing all of two or more words?
Yes! Enter them separated by spaces.
Can I search for notes containing either of two words?
No, but you can quickly search one word. If you don't find the note you're looking for, then search for the other word.
Must search words exactly match the text?
- Upper- and lower-case don't matter, so "scuba" matches "SCUBA".
- Dashes, periods and underscores are dropped, so "playgroup" matches "play-group" and "phd" matches "Ph.D."
- "Words" consist only of latin letters, digits and apostrophes, so "john@acme.com" is two separate words (which match "john" or "acmecom"), but "614-555-1212" is one word (which matches "6145551212"), "ill" doesn't match "I'll", and "σεισμός" can't be searched for.
- Accented letters match unaccented letters, unless special matching is defined for your language, so "cafe" matches "café", and "slychac" matches "słychać".
- "thath" matches "Það" and "aelfred" matches "Ælfred".
- Superscripts and subscripts match normal digits, so "h2o" matches "H₂O"
- If there's a latin letter that doesn't match the way it should, please send a support e-mail (see below).
How do I start voice dictation on a mobile device?
- Tap in the Details field to open the on-screen keyboard
- Tap the microphone button
On Android, you may first need to enable voice dictation in the keyboard Settings.
How should I deal with large amounts of text?
Think of yourself as working with a set of notes on a 1–3 word topic. Split long notes into several short notes. Append the topic to each. Enter the topic in the search field. New notes will be tagged with this topic.
You can export all your notes on a topic with the menu command Export matching notes to file. Moving these files off a phone may require creative use of Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, Air Drop, a cloud storage service like Dropbox, messaging or email. When you import one of these exported files, select Markdown when asked.
How do I change the order of notes?
Tap-and-hold a note, then drag it up or down.
Setting the date using the picker in the Details panel also changes the order.
How do I find notes by where I wrote them? (Geotagging)
- At the top of this panel, turn on Tag new notes with location. New notes will be tagged when created.
- To manually tag a note: Select it, then in the Details panel, tap the geotagging button:
- You can correct geotags like any other text, or type them out manually.
- To search for a note by location, enter any word from the geotag in the search field.
What shortcuts are available?
| four carriage-returns | new note |
| escape | out to list panel or clear search |
| ctrl+shift+plus or ⇧⌘+ | increase text size |
| ctrl+minus or ⌘- | decrease text size |
| down-arrow | select next note |
| up-arrow | select previous note |
| carriage return | edit selected note |
| left-arrow | out to list panel |
| right-arrow | in to Details of selected note |
| ctrl+Z or ⌘Z | undo |
| ctrl‑Y or ⇧⌘Z | redo |
| ctrl+A or ⌘A | select all |
| ctrl‑shift‑V or ⇧⌘V | paste and match style |
| ctrl+B or ⌘B | bold text |
| ctrl+I or ⌘I | italic text |
| ctrl+U | underline text |
| bold, italic or underline text |
Where are my backup files stored?
Chrome app: In the directory you selected.
Chrome browser, OS X: Search for some text in one of your notes, in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/File System
Chrome browser, Windows: Search for some text in one of your notes, in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\File System
Chrome browser, Android: Unfortunately, Chrome for Android does not allow access outside the browser.
Backups can be opened with any text editor.
How can I back up if I'm not using Chrome?
Clear the search field and select Export matching notes to file from the menu. Moving these files off a phone may require creative use of Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, Air Drop, a cloud storage service like Dropbox, messaging or email. When you import one of these exported files, select Markdown when asked.
Exported files are not displayed by the (Chrome only) menu item Restore from backup file. Instead, use Import text, Markdown or HTML file as multiple notes.
What formatting is supported for imported files?
Three blank lines separate one note from the next.
Markdown notation (CommonMark 1.0), except links, is supported in files with the extension .md or (optionally) text files.
Headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, images and other semantic HTML are supported.
How do I import text or pictures from PDF or office documents?
- Open the document in another app.
- Copy and paste the text or picture.
How do I import JPEG, PNG, GIF and other picture files?
- Create a new note.
- In the Details pane, tap the picture button:
Why do I have a different set of notes on each device and browser?
Serene Notes protects your privacy by never sending your notes to a remote server.
Copyright © 2012-2019 Hominid Software
Reverse geocoding provided by the OpenStreetMap project
Enyo 2 licensed under the Apache License v2.0
diacritics.js is licensed under WTFPL v2
to-markdown is copyright © 2011+ Dom Christie under the MIT license
commonmark.js is copyright © 2014 by John MacFarlane under the BSD license
requestIdleCallback shim © 2015 Google Inc., under the Apache License, v2.0
exif-js is copyright © 2008 Jacob Seidelin under the MIT license
Picture icon by Adrien Coquet from the Noun Project under the Creative Commons Attribution license