Knotbook User Guide

This guide explains how to use Knotbook: setting up a workspace, writing and linking notes, finding them again, and the settings you are most likely to change. It is also published at knotbook.app/guide.

If something here does not match what you see in the app, or you cannot find what you need, email support@spyxpo.com.

Contents

• Getting started
• The main window
• Writing notes
• Linking notes
• Finding things
• Managing notes
• PDFs, media and other content
• Importing and exporting
• Working with your files outside Knotbook
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Settings
• KnotAI
• Free and Pro
• Getting help

Getting started

Installing

Download Knotbook from knotbook.app/download. Files are named knotbook-v{version}-{os}-{arch}, for example knotbook-v1.0.0-beta.1-darwin-aarch64.dmg for a Mac with Apple Silicon.

The beta builds are not code-signed yet, so your operating system warns you the first time you open Knotbook:

• macOS says it cannot check Knotbook for malicious software. Open Knotbook once and close the warning, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the message about Knotbook. You only do this once. If you are comfortable with Terminal, xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Knotbook.app does the same.
• Windows shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.
• Linux does not warn.

The beta does not update itself. When a newer release is out, Knotbook tells you and opens the download page; install it over the old one. Your notes and settings are kept.

First launch

1. Before you start. Accept the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. The same screen asks whether Knotbook should check for updates when it starts. You can change that later in Settings, under Updates.
2. Welcome. Pick a light, dark or system theme, then take the short feature tour or skip it. The tour can be replayed at any time from Settings, under Onboarding.
3. Choose a workspace. See the next section.

Workspaces

A workspace holds your notes, PDFs and other files. The workspace picker offers four options:

• Open existing folder… uses a folder you choose. Knotbook creates a notes/ folder and an assets/ folder inside it. Each note is an ordinary Markdown file in notes/, and PDFs are stored in assets/. Choose this if you want to open, back up or edit your notes with other programs.
• Create new workspace… creates a single .knotb file in a folder you pick, with a few example notes to start from. While you work, the files are kept in Knotbook's own data folder and packed into the .knotb file a couple of seconds after each change. This suits a workspace you want to move around or share as one file.
• Open .knotb file… opens an existing .knotb file, for example one saved on another computer.
• Import markdown folder… copies an existing folder of Markdown files, such as an Obsidian vault or a Notion export, into a new workspace. See Importing and exporting.

Workspaces you have opened before are listed under Recent workspaces. Removing one from that list does not delete any files.

Knotbook keeps a search index next to, but separate from, your notes. The index is built from the files, so it can always be rebuilt and deleting it loses nothing.

The main window

• Header. Along the top: the workspace name and the word count of the open note, then buttons for Search, the command palette, keyboard shortcuts and Settings, and Open, Save and Close for the workspace. The buttons at each end show or hide the sidebar and the right pane.
• Sidebar. On the left: Today and Capture, then Favorites, Saved searches, Notes, PDFs, Media & Library, Canvases, Feeds, Databases, Templates, Extensions and Trash. Right-click any item to see what you can do with it.
• Editor. In the centre: the open note.
• Right pane. On the right: tabs for Backlinks, Outline, Comments, Properties, Tasks, History, Graph, Tags and KnotAI.

Drag the edge of the sidebar or the right pane to resize it, and double-click the edge to return it to its default width.

Tabs and split view

Notes open in tabs. To see two notes side by side, press Ctrl+\ (⌘\ on macOS) or click Split side by side on the tab bar. You type in one pane at a time; the other pane shows its note read-only until you click it. Middle-click a tab to close it.

Command palette

Press Ctrl+K (⌘K on macOS), type part of a command's name and press Enter. Most actions in Knotbook are available here, including creating notes, importing and exporting, opening daily notes and protecting a note with a password.

Writing modes

Settings, under Editor, has three modes for writing without distraction:

• Typewriter scrolling keeps the line you are typing near the middle of the screen.
• Focus mode dims every block except the one you are writing in.
• Distraction-free hides everything except the editor. Ctrl+Shift+F (⌘⇧F) turns it on and off, and Esc turns it off.

Writing notes

Creating a note

• In the sidebar, click + next to Notes and choose New note. The note is created as "Untitled" and you can type its name straight away.
• In the command palette, choose New Note and enter a title.

Notes save automatically as you type. To change how soon, set Autosave delay in Settings, under Editor.

The editor

Every paragraph, heading, list, table or image is a block. Drag a block by the handle to its left to move it. Type / to open the slash menu and choose a block to insert. Besides headings, lists, tables, quotes and code, the slash menu offers:

• Callouts: info, tip, warning, danger and note
• Math equations written in LaTeX
• Mermaid diagrams, including flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts, timelines and mind maps
• Charts: bar, line, area, pie, doughnut, scatter and radar
• Toggle lists and toggle headings
• Links to other notes, today's date, the current time, footnotes and front matter
• Your templates

Right-click a block to change its type or colour, duplicate it or delete it. To add an image, audio or video file, drag it into the note; Knotbook copies it into the workspace's assets/ folder. Files added this way can be up to 16 MB. Add a larger file to Media & Library instead, then insert it into the note from there.

Tags, tasks and properties

• Tags. Type # followed by a name, such as #reading or #project/alpha. A tag can contain letters, numbers, _, / and -. The Tags tab lists every tag in the workspace.
• Tasks. Every checklist item is a task. Add a due date by writing it after @, as in @2026-09-30, and a priority with !high, !med or !low. The Tasks tab in the right pane lists tasks and can filter them by tag.
• Properties. Named values stored at the top of a note as front matter. Add and remove them in the Properties tab. Database views use them as columns.

Templates

To create a template, click + next to Templates in the sidebar, or right-click a note and choose Save as template. To use a template, right-click it and choose New note from template, or insert it into the open note from the slash menu.

Templates can contain placeholders that are filled in when the template is used:

Daily notes and quick capture

• Today in the sidebar, or Ctrl+Shift+D (⌘⇧D), opens today's daily note and creates it if it does not exist yet. Daily notes are saved as notes/Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md. The command palette can also open yesterday's note, or any date from a calendar with Open a Daily Note….
• Capture in the sidebar, or Ctrl+Shift+N (⌘⇧N), asks for a one-line thought and adds it to today's daily note together with the time.

Linking notes

Wikilinks

To link to another note, write its title between double square brackets: [[Project plan]]. Capitalisation does not matter. To show different text for the link, add it after a vertical bar: [[Project plan|the plan]].

Typing [[ does not open a list of notes. To choose the note from a list instead of typing its title, type / and pick Insert wikilink.

A link to a title that no note has yet is kept, and connects once a note with that title exists.

Backlinks, outline and graph

• Backlinks lists every note that links to the open note.
• Outline lists the open note's headings. Click one to jump to it.
• Graph (Pro) draws your notes as a network of links. You can limit it to a folder, to notes within a few links of the open note, or to a maximum number of notes.

Renaming a note

Right-click the note in the sidebar and choose Rename…. Knotbook changes the note's heading and updates every link to it in other notes.

Editing the heading at the top of a note also changes its title, but links in other notes keep the old title and stop connecting. When other notes link to the one you are renaming, use Rename….

Finding things

Search

Press Ctrl+P (⌘P) or click Search. Search looks through note titles, note text and the text inside PDFs. Results load 25 at a time; use Load more results to see the rest.

Open the filters to narrow results by kind, folder, tag or date, or to match case. You can also type filters into the search box:

A filter value cannot contain spaces.

To keep a search, click Save search and give it a name. Saved searches appear in the search window and in the sidebar. Recent searches can be cleared with Clear history.

Favorites

Right-click a note and choose Star to add it to Favorites at the top of the sidebar.

Managing notes

Trash

Right-click a note and choose Move to Trash. The message that appears has an Undo button. The Trash section of the sidebar lists deleted notes, PDFs, templates, database views and media; each can be restored or deleted permanently, and Empty Trash removes everything in it. A note's file stays on disk until it is deleted permanently.

Version history

Knotbook keeps a copy of a note each time it saves. Open the History tab to look at an earlier version, restore it or delete it. Restoring a version saves it as the current note, so the text it replaced stays in the history. Versions are stored only on your computer.

Password-protected notes

In the command palette, choose Add Password to Note… to encrypt the open note. The note's file on disk is then encrypted, and Knotbook asks for the password before showing it. A password must be at least 4 characters. Change Note Password… and Remove Password from Note… are also in the command palette. Knotbook cannot recover a forgotten password.

Comments

Select text and add a comment in the Comments tab. If nothing is selected, the comment applies to the whole note. Resolved comments move to a separate Resolved list.

PDFs, media and other content

PDFs

Import a PDF by clicking + next to PDFs in the sidebar, or with Import PDF… in the command palette. The text of every PDF is included in search. In the PDF viewer, the highlight tool marks a passage and can send it to a note as a quote.

Importing PDFs, adding text or images to a PDF, editing its text, saving annotations and exporting a flattened copy require Pro.

Media & Library

Images, audio and video in the workspace. Add files with + or by dragging them onto the section. Right-click a file to preview it, insert it into the open note or copy its path.

Canvases

A canvas is a free-form board for arranging shapes, text and images. Create one from the Canvases section of the sidebar.

Database views

A database view shows the notes in a folder as rows, with their properties as columns.

1. Click + next to Databases in the sidebar, choose a folder and pick a layout: Table, List, Gallery, Calendar or Timeline. Kanban can be chosen from the view itself once it is created.
2. Add columns. A column can be text, number, date, select, checkbox, URL, tags or a formula.
3. Use the bar above the view to filter, sort and group rows.
4. Click New row to create a note in that folder.

To show a database view inside a note, type / and choose Database view.

Feeds

Add an RSS feed by its URL in the Feeds section of the sidebar. Knotbook contacts only the feeds you add.

Web clipper

The Knotbook browser extension saves web pages into Knotbook. Settings, under Web clipper, shows the token that connects the extension to the app. Clipped pages wait in Web Clip Inbox… (command palette) until you accept them.

Extensions

The Extensions section of the sidebar lists installed and available extensions. Install one from the list or from a .knotplug file, and right-click an extension to turn it on or off or to uninstall it. If you want to write your own, see the Plugin Developer Guide.

Importing and exporting

Importing

• An Obsidian vault or any folder of Markdown. Choose Import markdown folder… in the workspace picker, or Import Markdown Folder… in the command palette. Pick the folder to import, a location for the new workspace (outside the folder you are importing) and a name. Knotbook copies the notes and attachments into a new workspace and does not change the original folder. When it finishes, a report shows what was imported and anything that was skipped.
• Notion. Export your Notion pages as Markdown, unzip the export and import the folder as above. Knotbook recognises a Notion export automatically.
• Individual Markdown files. Click + next to Notes and choose Import Markdown files…. The files are copied into the current workspace.
• A CSV file. Choose Import a CSV… in the command palette. Each row becomes a note. Before importing you can set each column's type and choose which column becomes the note title.

Exporting

Working with your files outside Knotbook

In a workspace opened from a folder, each note is a Markdown file in notes/ that any text editor can open. Knotbook watches notes/ and assets/. When another program adds, changes or deletes a file there, Knotbook updates the sidebar, search and links, and reloads the open note.

If you are typing in a note when another program changes its file, Knotbook keeps what you typed and saves it, replacing the other program's change. Close the note in Knotbook, or wait for it to save, before editing its file elsewhere.

Files outside notes/ and assets/ are not watched. If the sidebar or search ever looks out of date, choose Reindex in Settings, under Workspace, to rebuild the index from the files.

To back up a folder workspace, copy the folder. To back up a .knotb workspace, copy the .knotb file.

Keyboard shortcuts

Press ?, or Ctrl+/ (⌘/ on macOS), to see this list inside Knotbook.

Settings

Open Settings with Ctrl+, (⌘,) or the gear button in the header. Type in Filter settings… to find an option quickly. Settings are grouped as follows:

KnotAI

KnotAI is Knotbook's assistant (Pro). It runs on your computer: questions, answers and your notes stay there.

Setting it up. Click KnotAI in the header. The first time, it asks for a one-time download of about 2 GB: a small inference engine and a language model. Nothing downloads until you click Download and start. If the download is interrupted, starting it again picks up where it stopped. KnotAI needs about 4 GB of free memory while it is running.

Asking about your notes. Open the KnotAI pane from the header menu and ask a question. KnotAI finds the most relevant passages in your notes and PDFs and answers from them; the numbers in its reply link to the passages it used.

Web results. KnotAI does not go online by itself. To let it use web results for a question, click Web under the message box before sending. Your message is then sent to DuckDuckGo, for that message only.

Images, audio and video. Attach a file with +. Documents work straight away. Asking about images needs the optional image model (about 3 GB), which you can add in KnotAI setup or in Settings, under Local AI. Audio and video are transcribed on your computer; the first time, a 150 MB speech model downloads.

Writing. Write on… in the KnotAI menu drafts a new note or PDF on a topic you give it. Typing /note topic or /pdf topic in the pane does the same.

KnotAI can be wrong. Check anything that matters against the passages it cites.

Free and Pro

Knotbook is free to use. Knotbook Pro is a one-time purchase, available at knotbook.app/buy, and a license can be used on up to three devices. Enter your license key in Settings, under Knotbook Pro.

Pro adds:

• KnotAI, an AI assistant that runs on your own computer once its model is downloaded. It can answer questions about your notes, summarise notes and PDFs, continue your writing and answer searches.
• Graph view.
• Exporting a note as a PDF.
• Importing and editing PDFs: adding text and images, editing PDF text, saving annotations and exporting a flattened copy. Highlighting is free.
• Larger live collaboration sessions: up to 10 people instead of 5.

Getting help

Email support@spyxpo.com. To get a useful answer on the first reply, include:

• Your Knotbook version and operating system.
• How you installed Knotbook: installer, .zip, .dmg, .AppImage, .deb or .rpm.
• What you expected to happen, and what happened instead. A screenshot of any error message helps.
• The log file, if something crashed or went missing. In Settings, under Diagnostics, click Show in folder. File paths in the log are shortened so that it does not include your user name or folder names.

More about support, licenses and refunds is at knotbook.app/support.