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Customizing the app

docs/help/contents/customizing-notesnook.md

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How do I customize the Notesnook app?

Notesnook lets you decide what it opens on, what your side menu contains and in what order, how dense your note lists are, and how dates and times are written. Everything on this page is per-device — none of it changes the notes themselves.

Set your home screen <PlanTag plan="pro" />

The home screen is the screen Notesnook opens on when you launch it. By default that is your notes list, but you can point it at any side menu item, or at a specific notebook, tag or color.

  1. Right click the item you want as your home screen — a side menu item such as Notes or Favorites, a color, a shortcut, or a notebook or tag in the list.
  2. Click {{setAsHomepage}}.
  3. A checkmark appears next to {{setAsHomepage}}. Click it again to go back to the default home screen.

Next time you open Notesnook it lands on the screen you picked.

::: info What happens if your plan expires A custom home screen is a Pro feature. If your subscription ends, Notesnook resets the home screen to the default. See plans & limits.

:::

Choose the default sidebar tab <PlanTag plan="pro" />

The sidebar has three tabs — notes, notebooks and tags. This setting decides which one is selected when the app starts.

  1. Go to {{settings}}.
  2. Open {{customization}} → {{behaviour}}.
  3. Under {{general}}, set {{defaultSidebarTab}} to Notes, {{notebooks}} or Tags.

Reorder and hide side menu items <PlanTag plan="essential" />

You can drag the items in your side menu into the order you want, and hide the ones you never use. This covers the built-in items (Notes, Favorites, {{reminders}}, {{monographs}}, {{trash}}, {{archive}}) and your colors. {{notebooks}} and Tags are sidebar tabs rather than menu items, so they cannot be reordered or hidden. Hiding an item only removes it from the menu; nothing inside it is deleted.

  1. Drag a side menu item up or down to move it.
  2. To hide items, right click any side menu item — the menu lists every item and color with a checkmark next to the visible ones.
  3. Click an item to uncheck it and hide it. Click it again to bring it back.
  4. To undo everything, right click a side menu item and click {{resetSidebar}}.
<!-- TODO: screenshot — the side menu right click menu on desktop showing checked/unchecked items and Reset sidebar -->

::: info Shortcuts are separate Pinning notebooks and tags to the side menu is a different feature — see side menu shortcuts. Free plans can keep 10 shortcuts; Essential and above are unlimited.

:::

Switch between detailed and compact lists

Compact mode strips a list down to one line per item, so more fits on screen. It is remembered per list type: on desktop and web there is one setting for notes (shared by the notes, favorites and search lists) and one for notebooks; on mobile, notes, notebooks and search results each have their own.

  1. Find the list view icon at the top right of the list, next to the sort icon.
  2. Click it. The tooltip reads Switch to compact view, and Switch to detailed view once compact mode is on.

Change how notes are sorted and grouped

Sorting and grouping are stored per list, and separately for each notebook, tag and color you open — so your notebooks can be alphabetical while your notes stay newest-first.

  1. Click the sort icon at the top right of the list. The menu is titled Group & sort, or {{sort}} where grouping doesn't apply.
  2. Use {{orderBy}} to flip the direction — {{oldestToNewest}} / {{newestToOldest}}, or {{aToZ}} / {{zToA}} when sorting by title.
  3. Use {{sortBy}} to choose Date created, Date edited, Date modified, Date deleted, Due date, {{title}} or Relevance, depending on the list.
  4. Use {{groupBy}} to choose {{none}}, {{default}}, Year, {{month}}, Week or Abc.

Reminders and search results can be sorted but not grouped.

Change the date, time, day and week formats

These settings control how every date in the app is written — in note lists, reminders and note properties.

  1. Go to {{settings}}.
  2. Open {{customization}} → {{behaviour}}.
  3. Under {{dateAndTime}}, set:
    • {{dateFormat}} — day/month/year, month/day/year or year/month/day, each with -, / or . as the separator, plus MMM D, YYYY. Every option previews today's date beside it.
    • {{timeFormat}} — 12h or 24h.
    • {{dayFormat}} — Short (Mon, Tue) or Long (Monday, Tuesday).
    • {{weekFormat}} — whether the week starts on Sunday or Monday.

Mobile-only settings

Three behaviour settings exist only in the mobile apps, under {{settings}} → {{customization}} → {{behavior}}:

  • {{keepScreenOn}} — stops the screen from dimming while you're in the app.
  • {{autoUpdateCheck}} — turn off the update check on app start.
  • {{clearDefaultNotebook}} — clears the notebook new notes are filed into by default.