FoldNotes for Writers#
FoldNotes is built for writers who want a distraction-free environment with powerful tools hidden beneath a clean surface. Your writing lives as plain Markdown files — no database lock-in, no proprietary format. All your files on your device.
Why Writers Choose FoldNotes#
Plain Text, Forever Yours#
Every note is a .md file in iCloud Drive. Open them in any text editor, sync them anywhere, back them up however you like. Your words are never trapped.
Folding Structure#
Headings create a natural outline, but in FoldNotes you are not restricted to folding headings alone. Indent text with a tab and click a fold arrow to collapse a chapter, scene, or section — hiding everything indented below. This lets you focus on the section you're writing without scrolling past pages of earlier work.
Fold All (Cmd+Shift+K) and Unfold All (Cmd+Shift+L) reduce a long manuscript to its outline or restore it in a single press. Fold to Level N (Cmd+Option+1 through Cmd+Option+5) collapses to just the level you want — chapters, scenes, or beats.
Learn more about headings and folding →
Focus Mode#
Three levels of focus that can be combined:
- Typewriter Scrolling (Ctrl+Cmd+T) — keeps your cursor at a fixed position on screen, like a typewriter
- Paragraph Focus (Ctrl+Cmd+P) — dims everything except the paragraph you're writing
- Sentence Focus (Ctrl+Cmd+S) — narrows the spotlight to just the current sentence
Parts of Speech Highlighting#
Colour-code your text by grammatical function — nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. Spot overused adverbs, passive constructions, and repetitive patterns at a glance.
Hoist a Chapter#
For long-form work, Hoist goes one step further than folding. Tap or click the ↘ arrow next to a chapter heading and the rest of the manuscript disappears — not folded, but completely out of view. While hoisted, the Inspector outline narrows to that chapter's scenes, the word count reflects only the chapter, and Preview/Export operate on the chapter alone.
It's the closest thing to opening one chapter as its own file, without actually splitting the manuscript across files.
Private Margin Notes#
Wrap any text in <!--…--> and it becomes a comment — dim in the editor, gone from the preview and export, and (by default) kept out of system search. It's a digital pencil note in the margin: a question to come back to, a fact to check, a reminder of what the next pass needs to fix.
Comments are private by design. The "Keep Comments Private" setting is on by default, so your half-formed thoughts never leak into Spotlight, share extensions, or lock-screen previews. When you do want to find them, FoldNotes' search supports a one-line search expression scoped just to comment content.
Writing Statistics#
The Inspector's Words tab shows word count, character count, sentence count, paragraph count, and estimated reading time. The status bar always shows word count.
Arrange Chapters in Manuscript Order#
Tag each chapter or scene note with a project tag (e.g. #novel or #novel/chapter-3) and switch the sort mode to Manual. Drag the notes into narrative order — the list becomes your scene list. Each tag remembers its own arrangement, so #novel can hold chapters in story order while #novel/research keeps its own custom order for source material.
Date-based sorts are fine for finding the last thing you edited; manual order is what you want when "where does this scene belong?" is the question. The arrangement saves to the note's front matter and syncs across devices automatically.
Learn more about Manual Sort →
Bind Your Manuscript (macOS)#
When the chapters are in order, Bind assembles them into a single finished document — PDF, Word, EPUB, or HTML — in one step. Point it at your project tag (chapters bind in your manual-sort order) or at a single long "book note", choose a look (Manuscript, GitHub, Swiss, or Academic), and decide on a title page, contents, page numbers, and footnote placement. Tables, syntax-highlighted code, and diagrams all carry through. It's the bridge from a folder of notes to something you can submit or publish.
Learn more about Manuscript Bind →
Version History (macOS)#
Save snapshots at key milestones. Browse and restore previous versions of any note. Compare two versions side by side to see what changed.
Learn more about version history →
Preview & Export#
See your Markdown rendered as beautifully typeset HTML. Export to PDF, DOCX, EPUB 1, HTML, RTF, or TextBundle — ready for submission, publishing, or sharing.
Learn more about preview and export →
A Writer's Workflow#
- Create a note (Cmd+N) and start writing with Markdown
- Use headings (
# Chapter 1,## Scene 1) to structure your work - Fold sections you've finished to keep focus on what's active
- Enable Focus Mode when deep in a draft
- Save snapshots at key milestones — before major edits, after completing a chapter (macOS)
- Review with POS highlighting to polish your prose
- Export to PDF or DOCX for submission
Key Shortcuts for Writers (macOS)#
These shortcuts require a hardware keyboard. On iPad with a keyboard, most editing shortcuts work; on iPhone, use the toolbar and menus.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Cmd+N | New note |
| Cmd+K | Fold/unfold section |
| Cmd+Shift+K | Fold All |
| Cmd+Shift+L | Unfold All |
| Ctrl+Cmd+H | Hoist/Unhoist chapter |
| Ctrl+Cmd+T | Typewriter scrolling |
| Ctrl+Cmd+P | Focus on paragraph |
| Ctrl+Cmd+S | Focus on sentence |
| Cmd+Shift+P | Preview |
| Cmd+Option+V | Version history (macOS only) |
| Cmd+B / Cmd+I | Bold / Italic |
| Cmd+1–5 | Heading levels |
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macOS only. ↩