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Your first notebook

Shipped

Creating a notebook, adding a page, and putting the first canvas on it.

Creating a notebook

A notebook is a folder you choose the location of. Give it a name and DunneNote creates YourName.calnote — a directory containing a SQLite database, a blob store for images and attachments, and a manifest describing the format version.

Because it is an ordinary folder, everything you already know about folders applies. Copy it to a USB stick and it works there. Put it in a synced folder and it syncs. Back it up with whatever you already use.

There is no account to create and nothing to sign into.

Adding a page

A notebook contains pages, optionally organised into sections. A page starts empty — it is a surface, not a document.

Adding a canvas

Content goes on the page inside a canvas. Choose the kind you want and it appears on the page:

Kind For
Rich Text Formatted prose, headings, lists, tables
Spreadsheet Numbers and formatted cells in a grid
Database Structured records with typed columns
Calendar Dates and events
Picture Images, with optional clickable regions
Sketch Freehand vector strokes

A page can hold as many canvases as you like, of any mix of kinds. Each one belongs to the page it sits on and travels with it.

Moving around

The whole interface is reachable from the keyboard. The short version:

  • Tab moves between the major regions of the window.
  • Arrow keys move between canvases on the page.
  • Enter enters the selected canvas so you can edit inside it.
  • Escape leaves it again.

That pattern — select an object, enter it, leave it — is the same for every canvas kind. The keyboard model explains why it works that way and what changes inside each kind.

Saving

There is no save button. Changes are written to the notebook’s database as you make them, inside transactions, so a crash or a power cut leaves the notebook consistent rather than half-written.

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