Document notes
Every document can carry one note, kept separate from the document content. It collects working and meta knowledge about the document (open points, context, reminders) that does not belong in the text itself. The note is written in its own sidebar panel and stored in the document’s companion file, the same .mdd file next to the document that also holds the history.
The notes panel
The “Notes” panel is toggled like any sidebar panel: via the View → Sidebar → Panels → Notes menu, the note-sheet icon in the status bar, or a shortcut you assign yourself (none is set out of the box; you assign it in the settings). The toggle affects the active column; side, order, and tab groups follow the rules of the Sidebar.
A note always belongs to the active document. A still unnamed (never saved) document has no place for the companion file, so the panel then shows a hint instead of an input field; after the first save the note is available.
Writing and preview
The input field accepts Markdown. A toggle in the panel header switches between editing and a rendered preview of the note text. The preview is active at first; whether a panel opens in editing or preview is set by “Show note preview by default” (Settings → Appearance). The toggle applies per column and for the current session.
Here is what a note can look like:
- [ ] Follow up on chapter three
- [x] Sources checked
Context: **draft**, not yet approved.
Context: draft, not yet approved.
Formatting like in the editor
The editing field offers the same formatting helpers as the main editor: the right-click context menu with the sections Format, Paragraph, Insert, and Clipboard, plus the matching shortcuts (such as Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+I for italic, or inserting a timestamp). The Editor context menu describes these functions in detail; they work in the note field just as in the document.
Automatic saving
The note is saved automatically, without a save button: shortly after typing, as well as when you leave the field, switch the document, or close the window. The note is not part of the document content, so it does not mark the document tab as modified, and saving the document is independent of it.
Storage and distinction from the history
The note lives in the .mdd companion file, in its own section next to the Document history. Both travel with the companion file when document and .mdd are copied or moved together; renaming inside the app takes the companion file, and thus the note, along automatically.
Unlike the history, the note has no revisions and no restore: only the current state counts, an earlier text is not kept. If the companion file is damaged, the note is suspended and the panel points this out instead of overwriting an unclear state.
Multiple windows
If the same document is open in several windows, a note saved elsewhere is adopted here as long as the field is unchanged. If a foreign change meets your own, not yet saved state, the panel points out that the note was changed in another window, and your text is kept so that nothing is overwritten unnoticed.