# Guide

Everything Plainkeep does, and the shortcut for each.

## Install

Download the DMG, open it and drag Plainkeep into Applications. It needs macOS 12 Monterey or later and runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel.

The first time it opens, Plainkeep creates its file with a Welcome note in Inbox and puts the cursor in it.

## Write

⌘N makes a new note. Its title follows the first line as you type, without the #. To give a note a title of its own, rename it with ⇧⌘R; from then on the title stays put.

There is no save button. Plainkeep saves half a second after you stop typing, when you switch notes or apps, and when you quit.

## Organise

⇧⌘N makes a folder. Notes outside any folder are in Inbox. Choose All, Inbox, Trash or a folder from the picker at the top of the sidebar, or jump with ⌘1, ⌘2 and ⌘3.

⇧⌘P pins a note to the top of the list, ⇧⌘M moves it to another folder, and ⌘⌫ moves it to the Trash. Right-click a note in the sidebar for the same actions.

Notes in the Trash can be restored to the folder they came from. Emptying the Trash and deleting a note permanently both ask first. Deleting a folder moves its notes to the Trash rather than deleting them.

## Find

⌥⌘F searches every note except those in the Trash and shows a snippet of each match. Pick a result to open the note at the match.

⌘F finds and replaces inside the open note, one match at a time or all at once, with or without matching case.

## Shortcuts

## Your file

All your notes and folders live in one file, db.json, which starts out in ~/Library/Application Support/app.plainkeep.mac/. Every save replaces it in one step, so a crash or power cut leaves either the old file or the new one, never half of each. The last five versions are kept beside it as db.backup.1.json to db.backup.5.json.

Move it from Settings, under Database. Open another one with ⇧⌘O, or start or export one from File → Database; each offers to back up the current file first.

Import .md, .markdown and .txt files with ⇧⌘I, one note per file. Export the open note as a Markdown file with ⇧⌘E.

## Use it on two Macs

1. On the first Mac, open Settings, choose Move… under Database, and pick a folder in iCloud Drive or Dropbox.
2. On the second Mac, choose Open Database (⇧⌘O) and pick the same file.

Plainkeep watches the file. When the other Mac changes it, your notes update by themselves. If you were in the middle of an edit at that moment, your version stays open and theirs is saved next to the file as db.conflict- followed by the time, so neither is lost.

## Lock it with a password

With Pro, open Settings and choose Lock… under Lock database. Enter the password twice. Plainkeep rewrites the file as an AES-256 encrypted ZIP and deletes the unencrypted backups. From then on it asks for the password every time it opens.

There is no way to recover a lost password, not even for us: the password is never stored anywhere. The same Settings row changes or removes it.

## Free and Pro

Free keeps up to 20 notes, not counting the Trash. Making the 21st, or importing past 20, opens the upgrade sheet; nothing you have already written is deleted or hidden.

To activate Pro, paste the licence key from your receipt email into the upgrade sheet and choose Activate. You can also open the sheet from Settings with Upgrade to Pro…. Activating, and deactivating, are the only times Plainkeep goes online.

To move Pro to another Mac, open Settings on the old one and choose Deactivate… under Licence. That frees one of the key's three Macs.