Notes

Notes is FanDesk's quick-capture system for personal thoughts, ideas, reference snippets, and anything that doesn't yet deserve a full Page. Notes auto-save instantly and are private to you by default.

Creating Notes

From the Sidebar

1. Go to Notes in the left sidebar
2. Click + New Note
3. Give it a title (or leave it blank — notes save either way)
4. Start typing — content auto-saves as you write

Via DeskMate

Natural language works:

• "Create a note about the API redesign ideas"
• "Save a note: remind me to check the staging environment logs"
• "Quick note: meeting with Acme is rescheduled to Thursday"

Via Quick Capture

Press Ctrl+K > "New Note" from anywhere in FanDesk to open the note composer without leaving what you're doing.

Notes vs Pages: When to Use Which

Use Notes for quick, personal, ephemeral capture. Use Pages for structured, shareable, long-lived documentation.

Organizing Notes

Categories

Assign a category to each note to group related notes together:

• Work categories: "Meeting Prep", "Ideas", "Research", "Action Items"
• Personal categories: "Reading List", "Daily Log", "Brainstorm"
• Custom categories you define

Color Coding

Assign a color to notes for visual distinction at a glance:

• Red for urgent or high-priority notes
• Blue for reference material
• Yellow for ideas and brainstorming
• Green for completed or resolved notes

Pinning

Pin your most important or frequently referenced notes to the top of the list:

1. Open a note
2. Click the pin icon (or right-click the note in the list)
3. Select Pin Note
4. Pinned notes stay at the top regardless of creation date

Unpin by clicking the pin icon again.

Searching Notes

Find any note instantly:

1. Use the search box at the top of the Notes panel
2. Type any word or phrase from the title or body
3. Results filter in real-time as you type

Search is full-text — it searches both note titles and body content simultaneously.

Note Features

• Markdown support — Use # for headings, - for bullet lists, text for bold, link for links
• Auto-save — Notes save automatically as you type, no save button needed
• Timestamps — Creation and last-updated time tracked automatically
• Pin — Keep critical notes always visible at the top of the list
• Categories — Organize notes by topic or project
• Color coding — Visual distinction between note types
• DeskMate integration — Create and retrieve notes via natural language

Converting Notes to Pages

When a note outgrows its informal nature:

1. Open the note
2. Click Convert to Page (or copy the content into a new Page)
3. The note content transfers to the full Pages editor
4. You can then add structure, images, embed content, and share with teammates

Best Practices

• Use notes for meeting prep — jot talking points before a call, then move the follow-ups to tasks
• Daily to-do lists — a fresh note each morning for the day's priorities works well as a scratch pad
• Capture-first workflow — when an idea strikes, capture it in a note first, then decide later whether it becomes a task, page, or email
• Clear regularly — archive or delete notes that have served their purpose to keep your list focused
• Link from DeskMate — ask DeskMate to "show me my notes about X" to retrieve notes without leaving your current context

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Next: Learn about reminders in Reminders.