User Guide

Note Editor

The note editor is where you write and refine your notes. It provides markdown editing with live preview, auto-save, and an AI-powered sidebar.

Editor Modes

OikoNotes offers two editor modes. Switch between them in Settings → Appearance.

• Block Editor (default) — A Notion-like rich editor with live formatting, a floating toolbar, and slash commands for inserting headings, lists, quotes, and blocks. Content is displayed as formatted blocks that you edit in place.
• Raw Markdown — A classic plain-text textarea with a separate Preview tab for rendered HTML. Ideal for power users who prefer direct markdown control.

Both modes support all the same content (markdown, wikilinks, content blocks, redacted sections). Your choice is saved per device.

Reordering Blocks

The block-reorder button in the editor header locks or unlocks drag-and-drop. Touch-first tablets start with block positions locked so scrolling and writing cannot accidentally move content. Fine-pointer desktops start unlocked. After you change the setting, OikoNotes remembers that choice on this device.

Locking drag-and-drop does not remove block actions: select a block handle to open its menu, or use the toolbar arrows to move the active block deliberately.

Focus Mode

Focus mode fills the app window with the writing surface and hides navigation, sidebars, note properties, preview tabs, statistics, and Quick Capture. The title, save status, writing toolbar, reorder control, and exit button stay available. Press Escape or select the focus button again to leave focus mode.

Focus mode lasts only for the current editor session. Leaving the note or reloading restores the normal app layout.

Auto-Save and Draft Recovery

Changes are automatically saved as you type. A save indicator in the editor header shows the current save state. If the browser closes unexpectedly, your draft is preserved in local storage. On re-opening the note, a recovery banner appears letting you restore the draft.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Search and Replace

Press Ctrl + H to open the search and replace bar. Enter a search term and an optional replacement. Navigate matches with the arrow buttons, or replace individual or all matches.

Editor Header Controls

The header area above the editor provides:

• Note type selector — Change the note type (fleeting, permanent, meeting, etc.)
• Status selector — Set the workflow status (inbox, triaged, public)
• Tags input — Add or remove tags for categorisation
• Collection selector — Use the Collection... dropdown to add the note to a formal collection
• AI toggle — Enable or disable AI processing for this note

Collections are especially useful for structured note sets such as meeting series, project notebooks, or recurring templates. You can create and manage them in Settings > Note Management.

Statistics

The editor displays real-time statistics at the bottom: word count, character count, and estimated reading time.

Content Blocks

Use the block picker button to insert structured content blocks into your note. Blocks include tables, SWOT analysis matrices, decision matrices, and more. See Templates & Blocks for details.

Editor Sidebar

The right sidebar provides contextual information about the current note:

• Events & Entities — AI-extracted dates, people, locations, amounts, and organisations
• Source Attachments — Files attached to this note (images, audio, documents)
• AI Suggestions — Pending suggestions grouped by type (tags, links, tasks, etc.)
• Related Notes — Notes connected via wikilinks or shared tags

Note Chat

Each note has an AI chat section where you can ask questions about the note content. The AI responds with context-aware answers based on the note. Chat messages are saved and persist between sessions.

Private Content

You can mark sensitive content as private using special syntax. Private content appears as [REDACTED] bars in the preview.

• Inline redaction — Wrap words in double pipes: ||secret||
• Block redaction — Use :::private and ::: delimiters for multi-line content, or type /redacted in the block editor

A master password must be configured in Settings before private content can be encrypted. See the Privacy & Encryption guide for full details.

Deleting a Note

A delete button in the editor opens a confirmation modal. Deleting a note also removes all associated attachments and embeddings.