NNote User Guide

1. Getting Started

NNote runs entirely in your web browser — there is nothing to download or install, and no account to create. Open the NNote home page, click Start Writing, and the editor opens with your first note. Everything you type is saved automatically to your browser's local storage (IndexedDB) as you write.

If you plan to use NNote regularly, install it as an app: in Chrome or Edge choose Install NNote from the browser menu (or use the install button inside the app). On iOS Safari, use Share → Add to Home Screen. The installed app launches in its own window and works fully offline.

For thoughts you want to capture without deciding where they belong, use the Quick Note — an always-available scratch pad reachable from the sidebar or with Ctrl/Cmd+J (press it again to return to whatever you were doing). When a scratch line has grown into something worth keeping, Move to Note files it into a real note and clears the pad.

2. Outliner Basics

In an outliner, every line is a node in a tree. Instead of writing long paragraphs, you break ideas into short lines and nest details under the point they belong to. This makes it easy to see structure at a glance and reorganize thoughts as they evolve.

• Create a line: press Enter. The new line appears below the current one, at the same depth.
• Indent / outdent: press Tab to nest the line under the one above it, and Shift+Tab to move it back out. On a phone or tablet, swipe right on a line to indent and swipe left to outdent.
• Indent / outdent while typing: a Space typed at the very start of a line indents it instead of inserting a space (one level per space, full-width spaces included), and Backspace at the start of an indented line outdents it instead of merging it into the line above.
• Collapse / expand: any line with children can be collapsed to hide its subtree. Use the toggle next to the bullet, or Ctrl/Cmd+↑ to collapse and Ctrl/Cmd+↓ to expand the current line. On a phone or tablet, pinch in to collapse every line and pinch out to expand them all.
• Zoom in: click a bullet to zoom into that branch and focus on it as if it were its own document. Use the breadcrumb at the top to zoom back out, or Ctrl/Cmd+. / Ctrl/Cmd+, to zoom in and out one level at a time (Esc leaves zoom entirely).
• Move lines: drag any line by its handle to reorder it, or press Alt+↑ / Alt+↓ to move the line (with its whole subtree) up or down.
• Move nodes to another note: a line and its subtree can also be sent to a different note entirely. Pick the destination from a searchable list — you can narrow it down by keyword or tag — or create a brand-new note on the spot, and choose whether the nodes land at the top or the bottom of the target note.
• Select multiple lines: turn on multi-select (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+S, or the header button) to indent, move, complete, or delete several lines in one operation.

3. Keyboard Shortcuts

4. Markdown Formatting

Each line supports Markdown with live rendering: **bold**, *italic*, `inline code`, and standard links written as [text](url). Code blocks are supported too — start a line with ``` to open a fenced block. When you export your notes, they are written as plain Markdown files, so nothing you write is locked into a proprietary format.

5. Wiki-Links, Backlinks, and Tags

NNote becomes a personal knowledge base when you start connecting notes:

• Wiki-links: type [[Note Name]] to link to another note. An autocomplete list appears as you type so you can pick an existing note or create a new one.
• Backlinks: whenever note A links to note B, note B automatically shows a backlink to note A. Over time this builds a bidirectional web of ideas — open any note and see everything that references it.
• Tags: type #tag anywhere in a line. Click a tag to see every note that uses it. Tags work well for cross-cutting categories like #project-x or #reading.
• Dates: type !! to open a calendar picker and insert a date. Any date you write is highlighted in the line, so you can see at a glance which dates the app has recognized — those are the ones that become task due dates. Date-based search understands multiple date formats, which makes journals and meeting notes easy to find later.

6. Tasks

Any line can become a task. Press Ctrl/Cmd+Enter on a line to give it a checkbox, and press it again to mark the task complete. The dedicated task view collects open tasks from across your notes so you can review everything that still needs doing in one place — combine it with dates for lightweight deadline tracking.

7. Peer-to-Peer Sync

NNote never uploads your notes to a server. To use your notes on a second device, sync them directly between devices over an encrypted WebRTC connection:

1. Open NNote on both devices and open the sync panel on each.
2. One device shows a connection ID. Enter that ID on the other device (or share it however is convenient — it contains no note data).
3. Once connected, the devices exchange changes directly. Conflict resolution is automatic: NNote tracks the history of each change with vector clocks and merges edits from both sides.

Your note content travels only over the direct encrypted connection between your devices. After the first sync, re-syncing is a one-tap operation.

8. Google Drive Sync (Optional)

You can also sync through your own Google Drive from the sync settings. NNote stores a single sync file in Drive's hidden application-data area of your account — it cannot see or touch any of your other Drive files. Multiple devices can sync against the same Google account, and changes are merged with the same conflict resolution used by peer-to-peer sync, so it works as a full sync channel — not just a backup. And because a copy of your notes lives in your own Drive, you can restore everything on a new device simply by connecting the same Google account.

Every time you sync, NNote also saves a dated snapshot of the sync file as it was right before that sync — up to five, spanning roughly the last month. If a sync merge ever goes wrong, open the sync settings, choose the Google Drive tab, and use Restore from backup to pick an earlier snapshot. Restoring merges that snapshot back in rather than overwriting anything — any note you've edited since shows up as a conflict for you to review, so nothing is lost silently.

9. Export & Import

Your data is yours. The Data Management panel lets you download all of your notes at once as standard Markdown files in a ZIP archive. The same panel can import notes back — either a ZIP produced by NNote or individual Markdown files — so you can restore an old export or bring notes in from other tools. Because everything is plain Markdown, the files open in any editor.

Important: notes live in your browser's storage, so clearing site data deletes them. Regular exports or Google Drive sync are strongly recommended.

10. On-Device AI

In recent versions of Chrome that support the built-in Prompt API (Gemini Nano), NNote can search, summarize, and generate content using a language model that runs entirely on your computer. Your notes are never sent to a cloud AI service — the model downloads once and works offline. If your browser doesn't support on-device AI, every other feature of NNote works exactly the same.

NNote also implements WebMCP, an emerging standard that lets AI agents work with your notes through structured tools (list, search, read, create, update) instead of clicking through the interface. Keep in mind that any agent you connect can read the notes you let it access — if the agent is backed by a cloud AI model, those notes are processed by that model under its own privacy terms, so connect only agents you trust.

11. Troubleshooting

• My notes disappeared. Check whether you are in a private/incognito window, a different browser profile, or a different browser — notes are stored per browser profile. If you cleared site data, restore by connecting Google Drive sync or from a Markdown export. If a Drive sync merge is what caused the loss, try Restore from backup in the Google Drive sync tab first — it keeps up to five earlier snapshots from the last month.
• P2P sync won't connect. Make sure both devices are online and the app is open in the foreground on both. Some strict corporate networks block WebRTC; try a different network or use Google Drive sync instead.
• AI features are unavailable. On-device AI currently requires desktop Chrome with the built-in AI model available.
• The app feels out of date. NNote is a PWA and caches itself for offline use. Reload the page (or close and reopen the installed app) to pick up the latest version.

Still stuck? See the About page for how to report a problem, or review the Privacy Policy for details on how your data is handled.