With regards to note-taking apps on the Mac, it is hard to look past Apple Notes, as it has a lot of features and has confirmed itself to be fairly dependable. However in my workflow, I generally miss having a scratchpad on my Mac, one thing akin to Notepad on Home windows. I like utilizing instruments like this for outlining my articles, jotting down notes that may flip into story concepts, or just creating fast to-do lists for routine duties.
macOS has a built-in app known as Stickies that does a few of these issues, but it surely’s desperately in want of an replace, because the design seems outdated and it isn’t superb for dealing with a number of notes. I lately found Antinote, a fantastically designed app that does all the pieces I would like from a sticky notes app, and has many extra options together with creating Pomodoro timers and changing currencies, which is able to attraction to energy customers too. Antinote has a seven-day free trial, after which you’ll be able to pay a one-time fee of $5 to purchase the app.
Rushing up your Antinote workflow
Credit score: Pranay Parab
The very first thing it’s best to do after downloading Antinote is study the hotkey to launch it, which is Possibility-A by default. Personally, I arrange a customized keyboard shortcut to fireplace up the app at any time when I would like it, which you are able to do in Settings > Shortcuts > International Hotkey, and that fits my workflow very properly.
Typically, I really needn’t use this shortcut. As an alternative, I are inclined to pin Antinote to my display screen, which signifies that it sits in a floating window above all my different apps. Nonetheless, while you use any app in full-screen mode in your Mac, Antinote will get hidden. In these instances, utilizing the hotkey takes you to the desktop and again to Antinote, which is a lifesaver.
You also needs to spend a minute or two establishing Antinote to your liking, beginning off in Settings > Visuals. Right here, the app enables you to select if you need it to point out up within the Dock, menu bar, or neither. I lately switched to Barbee for menu bar management, which retains the chaos underneath management when I’ve lots of menu bar apps open, and subsequently I desire to make use of Antinote as a menu bar app. Nonetheless, I generally make it a ‘headless’ app, which signifies that it solely reveals up after I use the keyboard shortcut to launch it (one more reason to have it memorized).
Understanding Antinote’s key phrases
Credit score: Pranay Parab
Antinote makes use of key phrases to determine which options are enabled in any given observe. You’ll be able to kind the phrase ‘timer’ on the high of a observe and it will present you all of the instructions wanted to begin a timer. As an example, kind ‘timer 5’ to begin a five-minute timer, or ‘timer pomo’ to enable a Pomodoro timer that permits you to work for 25 minutes earlier than beginning a five-minute timer for breaks. Different key phrases embody ‘math’ for calculations, ‘paste’ to make Antinote retailer you clipboard historical past, and ‘listing’ to begin a guidelines. Go to the app’s settings and navigate to the Key phrases tab to memorize or customise all these key phrases.
Navigating between notes
Credit score: Pranay Parab
Whereas there are many keyboard shortcuts to handle your notes, I like the app’s use of swipes to change between varied notes. You should use your Mac’s trackpad to carry out these gestures. Use a two-finger swipe in direction of the left to begin a brand new observe and swipe to the best to go to the earlier observe. This manner, you’ll be able to undergo your whole observe historical past by simply swiping. These gestures are quick and notes open practically immediately after you swipe in both route.
Antinote additionally mechanically saves your whole notes within the app, however if you wish to share a observe with others, you’ll be able to click on the share button within the bottom-right nook of the app’s window. This can save the observe as a txt file within the folder of your alternative. You’ll be able to then use different apps to share the observe. Sadly, there isn’t any real-time collaboration characteristic.
What do you suppose to this point?
Fascinating extra options
Credit score: Pranay Parab
Past simply being fast and straightforward to make use of for jotting down concepts or doing fast unit conversions, this app has a couple of extra useful options in its toolbox. You’ll be able to take a screenshot of textual content and the app will makes use of OCR to extract it right into a observe. The default macOS keyboard shortcut—Command-Management-Shift-4—will let you screenshot an area on your screen. Use this to repeat the screenshot to your clipboard, and paste it into Antinote. The app will mechanically extract any textual content for you.
I additionally like Antinote’s distraction-free UI. It shows textual content and allows you to write with out displaying all of your out there buttons till you progress the cursor close to these buttons. There are a couple of buttons on the high of the app’s window and some in direction of the underside, so when you discover you’ll be able to’t discover one thing you want, attempt each areas. One of many buttons on the high is a worldwide search button that permits you to search by means of your whole Antinote notes, which may be very helpful.
The app means that you can arrange an auto-delete schedule, which is sweet when you primarily need to use it for short-term notes. In its settings, go to the Notes part to configure this. I’ve set it as much as delete notes after a month, however you’ll be able to even filter out all the pieces within the app inside a day if you wish to. The app helps a number of themes, too, out there underneath Settings > Visuals. You might make the app look extra like a bodily pocket book, for example, or change your canvas from unruled to dominated or grid-based.
Settings > Visuals additionally enables you to change the dimensions of the window and the default font dimension to fit your wants. After I’m utilizing my MacBook’s show, I hold it at medium, however I enhance the font dimension when the laptop computer is linked to a big monitor.
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