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Features

The Snip Philosophy​

Note-Taking is a relatively simple process. Most of the time, you just want to write down some thoughts or a todo or take a note of something you know will be useful in the future. Notes are often ephemeral: you need them in a particular moment and discard them soon thereafter.

Snip focuses on keeping this simple process simple, while providing useful features. It provides a super-slick, completely decluttered user interface with only a handful of controls, giving you a distraction free experience when working with notes.

Regarding Markdown​

Snip is not a markdown-based note taking app. Using markdown for taking notes is quite common in other note taking apps. Snip intentionally does not follow that trend. The main reason is that users will still want to have a rich-text-editor-like experience. Markdown is really just the format in which a note is stored. For presenting and editing the content, we usually want a more sophisticated interface. Please note that it is still possible to export a rich-text-note to markdown. Snip does not yet have export to markdown, but this functionality is coming very soon.

Origins​

You don't need an account to store your data. Snip is designed to allow users to pick the destination to which their data is syned. This is done with origins.

Origins allow you to specificy how your data shall be persisted. Currently, there's two origins available:

  • the file origin lets you store your data on your local disk
  • the github origin lets you store your data in a github repo

The advantage of the github origin is that you'll be able to sync your data across multiple devices without any costs. Apart from that, the functionality of the application remains the same.

There's plans to introduce other origins, such as a dropbox origin, which would allow you to sync your data to your dropbox account.

Editing Rich Text​

Using Markdown-like syntax​

Using the toolbar can feel cumbersome at times, since it forces you to switch between your mouse and keyboard often. You can use markdown syntax to avoid this.

  • Use #   for headings
  • Use **text**  for bold formatting
  • Use *text*  for italic formatting
  • Use *   for bullet lists
  • Use 1.   for ordered lists
  • Use +   for todo lists

Jumping in and out of inline formattings​

The editor gives an indication whether you are inside an inline formatting (such as bold formatting) by rendering a dashed line underneath the formatting. You can jump in and out of the formatting boundaries by using the left and right arrow keys. This allows you to, for example, escape a bold-formatted text and continue writing unformatted.

Destroying formattings with backspace​

You can destroy inline formatting (such as bold formatting) using backspace. Jump out of the formatting with your arrow-right key, then use backspace to destroy the formatting.

Similarly, you can destroy block formattings, such as headings and code blocks, by placing the cursor at the beginning of the formatting and using backspace.

The editor will detect urls such as https://example.com and give an indication once the cursor is close to such a pattern. Pressing Enter will put focus on the label input field. Once focus is inside the label input field, pressing Escape will put focus back on the editor. Pressing Cmd+Enter will turn the pattern into a highlighted, interactable link.

Once an interactable link is created, interacting with it is the same: use Enter to focus the url input field, use Escape to give focus back to the editor.

Drag and Drop​

Parts of text can be dragged around. This is useful, for example, when you want to reorder items in a list, or put a paragraph before another one.

You can drag text by selecting some text inside the paragraph or list item you want to drag. This will create a drag handle, which you can drag-and-drop to whichever part in the document you want.

Another option is to hit Escape when the editor is focused. This will create a node selection around the paragraph where the cursor is placed. The node selection becomes draggable and can be dragged accordingly.

Organizing Notes​

With folders​

You can create folders in the folder sidebar to group notes. You can nest folders and define icons.

Through Pinning​

You can pin a note to the folder sidebar. You do that by right-clicking the note, then entering a path to which you want to pin it. For example, using the path "Private / Todos" will make the folder sidebar show a folder structure "Private > Todos". Clicking on "Todos" will then show the pinned note.

Once you're on a pinned note, you can use the "Cmd+N" shortcut to create a new note and auto-link it to the pinned note.

Note References​

As the name suggests, note references enable you to reference notes from one another. Set up note references as follows:

  • using autocomplete: type / inside a note and start typing some text. You'll be presented with an autocomplete. If the text you type matches an already existing note, it will be presented as an option. In addition, you'll have the option to create a new note and auto-reference it into the note you're editing.

Search and Quick Access​

Snip comes with an effective search-all feature, which you can use to search your notes. It presents results in a compact, easy-to-read manner. You can use regular expressions if you like.

It also allows you to search for and jump to tags. Additionally, it shows you notes and folders you've visited recently.

The Quick Access feature allows you to quickly copy links and code blocks from your notes to the clipboard.