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Properties#

Properties are custom metadata fields you can add to any note. They live in the note's front matter and let you organise notes beyond tags and folders — tracking status, priority, categories, deadlines, or anything else your workflow needs.

Adding Properties to a Note#

The Inspector's + menu adds an existing property to the current note — it does not create new property definitions. To create a new property, use the Property Manager on macOS (see below).

macOS — Press Cmd+Option+I to toggle the Inspector, then select the Properties tab. Click + to see properties already defined in your collection. Select one to add it to the current note. The menu also includes a Manage Properties... link to open the Property Manager.

iOS — The Inspector does not support adding or editing properties on individual notes. Properties created on macOS are preserved through editing and sync. iOS Database Views display property values as a subtitle beneath each note title. Views created on macOS — including their filters, sort order, and grouping — are fully usable on iOS, but creating or editing views requires macOS.

Once added to a note, properties appear in the Inspector with an editor control matching their type.

Property Types#

Type Example Value Editor Control
Text meeting notes Text field
Number 5000 Number field
Date 2026-05-15 Date picker
Date + Time 2026-05-15T14:30 Date and time picker
Checkbox true Toggle switch
Single Select draft Dropdown menu
Multi Select swift, ios Multi-select dropdown
URL https://example.com Text field (clickable)
Email [email protected] Text field
Phone +61 412 345 678 Text field
Rating 4 Star rating (1–5)

Select Properties#

Single Select and Multi Select properties have a defined set of options shared across your collection. Manage options in the Property Manager (see below) or right-click the property in the Inspector and choose Edit Options.

How Properties Are Stored#

Properties are stored as YAML key-value pairs in the note's front matter:

---
id: 8A3F2B1C-...
created: 2026-04-03T10:30:00Z
title: Project Plan
status: in-progress
priority: high
budget: 12000
deadline: 2026-06-01
reviewed: true
---

Because properties are plain YAML, they're readable by any tool that understands Markdown front matter — your data is never locked in.

Use Cases#

Content Status#

Track where each note is in your writing process:

  • Property: status (Single Select)
  • Options: draft, in-progress, review, published
  • Workflow: Create a Database View filtered to status = draft to see everything that needs work.

Project Management#

Organise project-related notes:

  • priority (Single Select) — high, medium, low
  • category (Single Select) — design, engineering, marketing
  • deadline (Date) — When the work is due

Reading List#

Track articles, books, or references:

  • source (URL) — Link to the original
  • read (Checkbox) — Whether you've finished it
  • rating (Number) — Your score out of 10

Meeting Notes#

  • attendees (Text) — Who was there
  • meeting-date (Date) — When it happened
  • action-items (Checkbox) — Whether follow-ups are complete

Properties in Database Views#

Properties become powerful when combined with Database Views. You can:

  • Filter notes by property values (e.g. show only notes where status is draft)
  • Sort by property (e.g. sort by deadline ascending)
  • Display properties as columns in the table view

To add a property column to a Database View, use the column configuration menu.

Properties via the CLI#

The fn command-line tool can read and write properties:

# View a note's properties
fn show "Project Plan" --properties

# Set a property
fn edit "Project Plan" --set-property "status:in-progress"

# Remove a property
fn edit "Project Plan" --remove-property "status"

# List notes filtered by property
fn list --property "status=draft"

See the Command Reference for full details.

Property Manager (macOS)#

The Property Manager is a dedicated window for creating, editing, renaming, and deleting property definitions. Open it via View > Manage Properties or Cmd+Option+P.

What You Can Do#

  • Create properties — Click + to add a new property definition with a name and type.
  • Rename properties — Edit the name field in the detail pane. The rename is propagated to all notes that use the property.
  • Delete properties — Click − to remove a property definition. A confirmation dialog shows how many notes use it.
  • Edit select options — For Single Select and Multi Select properties, a two-column editor shows current values alongside editable new values. Renamed options are highlighted and propagated to all notes.
  • Set validation rules — Mark properties as required, set min/max values for numbers, or max length for text fields.
  • View usage — Each property shows a count of how many notes use it.

How Changes Propagate#

When you rename a property or its options, FoldNotes updates:

  1. The property schema (.properties/schema.json)
  2. All notes using that property — both open documents and files on disk
  3. The SwiftData cache for instant UI updates

Changes to select options are saved when you select a different property, close the window, or quit the app.

Per-Note Property Management (Inspector)#

The Inspector manages which properties are on the current note and their values. It does not create, rename, or delete property definitions — that's the Property Manager's job.

Right-click a property in the Inspector for options:

  • Edit Options — Quick edit the option list for Select properties (one option per line)
  • Remove from Note — Remove the property from the current note only. The property definition stays in your collection and other notes keep their values.

Good to Know#

  • Collection-wide schema — Property definitions are shared across all notes. If you create a status property, it's available on every note.
  • Portable — Properties are standard YAML. Other Markdown tools can read them.
  • System fields are protected — FoldNotes reserves fields prefixed with fn- for internal use. Your custom properties cannot collide with these.
  • Validation is advisory — Required fields and value constraints show warnings in the Inspector but don't prevent saving.
  • Creating and editing properties requires macOS — Property definitions are created and managed in the Property Manager on macOS. iOS preserves all property data and displays it in Database Views, but has no Inspector UI for adding or editing properties on individual notes.

Get the most from properties

The full property workflow — creating definitions, managing options, setting validation rules, and editing values on individual notes — is available on the Mac. Set up your properties on macOS and they sync seamlessly to iOS via iCloud, where they appear in your Database Views alongside your notes.