Tools

Eleven helpers for daily text work: linter, spell checking, search, search and replace, table editor, printing, PDF export, command palette, date and time entry, clock with alarms, timer, stopwatch and month calendar, title line. Access paths and default shortcuts are listed in the features table.

Markdown linter

The linter subtly marks seven typical issues in the editor (Source, Split and Live view); hovering over a mark shows the explanation. The examples sit in code blocks so this page itself stays mark-free.

Spell checking

Spell checking marks misspelled words in the editor (source and live view). It is off by default and is switched on under Settings → Spell checking.

Checking uses the spell checker of the operating system. The application brings no dictionary of its own and downloads none; without a network connection the check works exactly the same.

Which language is checked

The language of the operating system applies, independently of the interface language. Setting the interface to Italian while the operating system runs in Portuguese gives a Portuguese check. A text in a language other than that of the operating system is therefore marked throughout; that is not a fault but the consequence of this decision. The checking language is changed in the language settings of the operating system.

There is deliberately no language selection inside the application. It would mean downloading dictionaries from the network, and that is precisely what should not happen.

Correcting

A right-click on a marked word opens the editor context menu with up to five suggestions at the top. Clicking a suggestion replaces the word. Below them sits “Add to dictionary”: the word then counts as correct permanently, across restarts as well. With no marked word under the pointer this part of the menu is absent.

The words added this way are listed under Settings → Spell checking and can be removed there individually.

Limit

Markdown syntax, paths and code are checked along with the rest, because the checker sees the text word by word and knows nothing about the markup. That is the reason the check is off by default.

Extension

Spell checking is a switchable extension (Settings → Extensions). When off, marks, suggestions and the settings area are gone; the switch state is kept.

Full-text search

The search (default Ctrl+F) finds live while typing; the search scope follows the view (source text or preview). Two toggles extend it: .* for regular expressions, Aa for case sensitivity. F3 and Shift+F3 jump between matches, in the search bar also Enter / Shift+Enter.

The question mark in the search bar opens a regex quick reference; the most important patterns:

Search and replace

In edit mode (default Ctrl+H) a replace row appears. With the regex toggle active, backreferences work in the replacement text: $1, $2 for capture groups. “Replace All” is a single transaction, one Ctrl+Z undoes everything together. In an open area the same row works across the whole area instead of just the open file; see “Inside an area”.

Search:   (\d{2})\.(\d{2})\.(\d{4})
Replace:  $3-$2-$1
Effect:   12.06.2026 → 2026-06-12

Where the search looks

The search scope follows the tab the search is opened in; the scopes exclude one another. With no tab open, the bound area decides:

The scope in effect is shown at the left of the search bar.

Beyond the single file, matches appear in the sidebar panel Search results, grouped by file, page or settings section and with a count per group. A click opens the target and highlights the location; F3 continues across the group boundary.

Within an area

The open file comes first in the list, and with its unsaved state: whatever is in the editor right now is found, even before it is saved. Its matches are highlighted in the text as usual, the list comes in addition. For all other files the saved state on disk applies.

The search covers the Markdown files of the area. Other files and the application’s companion files stay out.

With no tab open the area still counts: search and replace reach its files without a document having to be opened first. Two things fall away because they do not exist without an open file — the list is ordered purely alphabetically instead of putting one file first, and nothing is highlighted in any text.

Replacing works across the whole area here. Opening the replace row (Ctrl+H) adds a checkbox in the results list before every match and before every file; everything is selected to begin with. The list is therefore also the preview: whatever stays ticked gets replaced. “Replace all” runs over the selected positions, including in files that are not open at all. A report afterwards names the changed files, the skipped ones with their reason, and those that have changed since the search.

Every changed file gets its previous version into the document history — even when history is switched off. This is not an option beside the run but part of writing: if the previous version cannot be secured, the file is not written. The way back is the history view of the file in question; the version from before the run is there.

In regex mode the backreferences $1, $2 work as they do in a single file. Writing happens exclusively inside the area. A file that is open in a tab with unsaved changes is replaced in that tab and stays unsaved — a Ctrl+Z takes the whole run back there. Split documents are left out and appear in the report.

In a very large area the panel’s status line notes that every search re-reads the files; the search then responds more slowly.

In the manual and the settings

Switching sections in the settings saves nothing, a started draft is preserved. Replacing is off here because both are read-only. With the Markdown source of a manual page in front of you, that is the source view, the search covers that one page again.

Compared with the command palette: the palette finds commands by name and runs them. This search finds text. If you know what you want to do, use the palette; if you want to know where something is or what it is called, use the search.

Compared with the Perspective query: it filters files by their properties and lists them inside the document. The search finds running text, regardless of any property.

Table editor

In pipe tables Tab jumps to the next and Shift+Tab to the previous cell. At the end of the last row, Tab or Enter create a new table row with the same column count; pressing Enter twice on an empty row leaves the table. Borderless tables (without outer pipes) are recognised as well. Structural operations (moving, inserting and deleting rows and columns, alignment, transposing) are offered by the Table submenu in the Editor context menu.

Printing

“File → More File Functions → Print…” (default Ctrl+P) prints the content of the active tab directly on a printer — without the detour via a PDF file that would then have to be opened in a second program. The print dialog of your operating system opens: printer, page range, number of copies, duplex and everything else are chosen there, in the interface you know from every other program. Page size, orientation and margins are pre-filled from the “Export” settings section.

Printing follows the active view, exactly like the PDF export below: the source view prints raw Markdown with syntax highlighting; rendered, split and live print the formatted document. The printout is always light, even when the app runs in the dark theme; Mermaid diagrams are redrawn light for this. The settings tab cannot be printed, manual tabs can. If you cancel the system dialog, nothing happens.

PDF export

“File → More File Functions → Export as PDF…” (default Ctrl+Shift+P) prints the content of the active tab to a PDF file. The export follows the active view: the source view prints the raw Markdown with syntax highlighting, including line numbers when they are enabled in the tab; rendered, split and live mode print the formatted document (split and live switch internally to the rendered view for printing and restore the view afterwards). The PDF is always light, even when the app runs in the dark theme; Mermaid diagrams are redrawn in light colours and remain vector graphics. Formulas, code highlighting, callouts and perspective tables appear as in the preview.

Page size, orientation and margins are set in the “Export” section of the settings (File → Settings…); the default is A4 in portrait with normal margins. When content flows across pages, code blocks, tables, diagrams, formulas and callouts stay together where possible; headings do not end up alone at the bottom of a page.

Command palette

“View → Command palette” (default Ctrl+K) opens a filterable popup of all the app’s commands. Typing filters the list by substring over the command names; the arrow keys move the selection, Enter or a click runs the command and closes the popup, Esc cancels. To the right of each command sits the currently effective keyboard shortcut, including your own rebindings from the “Keyboard shortcuts” settings section. Commands that are not available in the current context (for example, area commands without an open area) appear dimmed and cannot be run.

The palette is the fleeting keyboard access to the command registry; for permanent custom access points — status bar buttons, context menu entries and macros — see the Command placement page.

Open file by name

“File → Open File by Name…” (default Ctrl+T) opens the same popup as the command palette, only with files instead of commands. Typing filters the list by substring over the names; the arrow keys move the selection, Enter or a click opens the file in the active pane and closes the popup, Esc cancels. To the right of each name stands its origin: for a file its folder, for an alias the file it points to.

The search covers file names and the aliases from the frontmatter, never the content — that is what the full-text search is for. With no input the most recently edited file is on top; as soon as something is typed, the names beginning with it come first, and the modification time orders the rest. The search space is the same as for internal link completion: the open area, and without an area the neighbourhood of the active file. If two folders hold a file of the same name, a prompt asks which one is meant.

Date and time entry

A calendar popup inserts a date and time at the cursor position, including in the note field. Three commands open it: default Ctrl+Alt+T for date and time, default Ctrl+Alt+D for date only, default Ctrl+Alt+U for time only. The inserted formats are 2026-07-10, 14:30 or combined 2026-07-10 14:30.

Operating the popup

On the left is a month calendar with a calendar-week column and Monday as the start of the week; the arrows page through the months, Today jumps to the current day. On the right, the time appears as four individually adjustable digits (tens and units of the hours, tens and units of the minutes) with a colon in between; Now sets the current time. Date and time can be enabled individually, with at least one part staying active.

The keyboard drives the calendar: the arrow keys move by one day (left, right) or one week (up, down), Page Up and Page Down by one month, Enter confirms, Esc cancels. A click outside the popup also cancels.

For the time, a click selects one of the four digits: the arrow buttons ▲/▼ and the Up/Down arrow keys step the active digit with wrap-around, Left/Right switch the digit, and digit keys set it directly and move on to the next. Invalid times simply cannot be entered this way.

Typing trigger

Two semicolons ;; in the editor open the combined picker at that spot. Confirming replaces the two characters with the chosen value, Esc leaves them in place. In code, formulas and frontmatter the sequence does nothing; inside the cells of a Perspective table it does work, because there the sequence is content rather than code.

Clickable values in the editor

In the editor, in source as well as live mode, the app recognises values in the three formats and underlines them with a subtle dotted line. A click opens the picker pre-filled with the value, the switches following its form; confirming replaces it in place. Values are not clickable

• in code, formulas and frontmatter,
• in wiki-link targets,
• behind the date markers of the task lists, which appear there as a badge.

On the line holding the cursor, one thing differs: a plain click still places the cursor there — including in the middle of the value — and the picker opens with Ctrl-click. As long as the key is not held, the value stays without an underline; hold Ctrl and it appears, signalling that a click will now open the picker. Read-only views have no clickable values.

Recognition deliberately also catches hand-typed values: every date and time in these formats thus becomes editable.

Extension

This function belongs to the switchable extension “Date and time entry” (Settings → Extensions). When it is switched off, the commands, typing trigger and click decoration are gone; the values stay plain text. The formats match the date markers of the task lists, so both functions share the same notation.

Clock, alarms, timer, stopwatch and calendar

A sidebar panel shows the time as an analog clock, as a digital readout and with a date line; size, dial style, second hand, hour and date format as well as the calendar week can be chosen in the settings. A bar at the top of the panel switches between five views: clock, alarm, timer, stopwatch and calendar. The choice applies per sidebar column and survives a restart.

Size

Three steps scale dial and text together so the panel reads as one image. The setting sits in the “Display” block of the settings and applies even when the dial is turned off and only the digital readout is running. Time, date line and calendar week grow together and keep their proportions.

The small step is meant for narrow sidebar columns, the large one for a column dragged wide. If a line does not fit the column it is not wrapped but clipped on the left and right; the middle stays readable. To see all of it, drag the column wider or choose a smaller step.

Alarms

The alarm mode holds any number of alarms. Creating one asks for the time, a name and the repeat pattern: once, daily or on selected weekdays. The time comes from a digit control, so an invalid entry is not possible. Each alarm can be armed separately without deleting it; a one-off alarm disarms itself after firing.

A due alarm shows a notice that can be confirmed or snoozed by a configurable duration (Settings → Clock). If the window is not in front, a system notification is added; clicking it brings the window forward.

Timer and stopwatch

The timer mode lists the timers with remaining time and a progress bar. Three buttons start common durations right away, custom durations come from a control for hours, minutes and seconds. Start, pause and reset act per timer. The remaining time is computed from timestamps rather than counted down: a timer therefore keeps running correctly even if the window was in the background or the app was closed in between. An elapsed timer shows a notice and can be confirmed or started again.

The stopwatch counts up, with hundredths. Besides start, pause and reset it records lap times; the most recent lap is on top.

Month calendar

The calendar mode shows a month as a grid: weekdays in the header, Monday first, the current day highlighted, days of the neighbouring months dimmed. The calendar-week column on the left can be switched off and on again in the settings under “Calendar”.

The navigation sits above the table. The single arrows page one month, the double ones one year; “Today” returns to the current month. Clicking the month label opens the year entry: four digit positions that can be stepped with the arrow keys, switched with left and right and set directly by typing digits. An invalid year cannot be entered, and Enter or the check mark applies it.

The days are display only. The calendar is for looking things up, such as the question which weekday a distant date falls on; it does not lead into journals or appointments. The journals’ calendar panel is there for that.

Limit

Alarms and timers only fire while the app is running. With the app closed there is no notice, and an alarm time that passed meanwhile is not made up for at the next start. A running timer, by contrast, keeps counting correctly and fires as soon as the remaining time is up.

Extension

The clock belongs to the switchable extension “Clock” (Settings → Extensions). When it is off, panel, status bar button, menu entry and the settings area are gone; no alarms or timers are watched either.

Title line

Above the document, the file name without extension sits as a compact title line in heading style — without a line number, fixed while scrolling and in all four views (in the split view once, above the source column). Subpages show their full logical name in slash notation, with the parent part dimmed; unnamed documents show the “Untitled” placeholder. Manual and system pages have no title line.

Rename directly

A click on the title (or Enter or F2 on the focused line) makes it editable; Enter or a click outside confirms, Esc discards, unchanged text ends silently. Confirming renames the file through the normal rename mechanism: links to the file are updated according to the “Update links in other files” setting, the companion file moves along, a page with subpages takes its entire subpage tree with it. Unsaved changes are saved beforehand. On a subpage only its own name segment is editable; the parent part sits unchangeable in front of it, and a slash is rejected there. On a page without a parent page a slash turns it into a subpage instead. The rename dialog (File → More File Functions → Rename…) remains available as a route with preview and result report, and it is also the place where the full name of a subpage can be changed.

Invalid names (empty, disallowed characters) and name collisions are shown by a hint directly below the title; the file then stays unchanged. For unnamed documents, confirming a name triggers “Save As” with that name pre-filled.

Extension

The title line belongs to the switchable extension “Title line” (Settings → Extensions). When it is switched off, the line disappears entirely; the file name stays visible via the tab title and window title, and renaming stays reachable through the dialog.