# How to organize your notes

> Design a low-friction note-taking system for your tech knowledge base

Source: https://docs.inkdrop.app/start-guide/how-to-organize-notes

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqIPa8kmwZw&list=PLFzcienOaLeP-tVCPYCThLfqG6NNg0HBF

Now that you understand how to create notes using Markdown in Inkdrop, let's move on to the next step: organizing your notes efficiently. Inkdrop makes this process easier with features like notebooks, statuses, and tags, allowing you to focus on capturing and developing your ideas while keeping track of your tasks.

## Sidebar: A note organization portal

![sidebar](https://docs.inkdrop.app/images/how-to-organize-notes_sidebar.png)

The sidebar is the leftmost section of the app.
It is more than just a section of the app; it's where all your organizational tools are located.
Inkdrop provides three ways to organize your notes:

- **Notebooks** are like folders that store your notes. You can nest notebooks in one another as deeply as needed.
- **Statuses** help you treat notes as tasks and, for example, display only active or completed ones.
- **Tags** are like labels that let you link notes with one another. For example, if they relate to a common topic.

The sidebar also gives you quick access to your [note templates](https://docs.inkdrop.app/reference/note-templates) under **Templates**.

Press `Command+/` or `Ctrl+/` to toggle the sidebar.

## Notebooks

One of the ways to think about notebooks is like separate projects.
Every notebook covers a specific topic and can be divided into sub-notebooks.

### Add a notebook

To create a new notebook, click the icon next to the **Notebooks** title:

![Add notebook](https://docs.inkdrop.app/images/how-to-organize-notes_add-notebook.png)

To create a sub notebook:

1. Right-click the notebook, which will be the parent, and select **New Sub Notebook..**.
2. Provide a title for the nested notebook.
3. Click **Create**.  
   The newly created notebook will appear inside the parent one.

### Move notes into a notebook

![how to move notes](https://docs.inkdrop.app/images/how-to-organize-notes_move-notes.png)

There are a few ways to move notes into a notebook (See the above screenshot):

- **A.** Click the notebook dropdown menu on the editor
- **B.** Press `Command+Ctrl+M` / `Ctrl+Alt+M` while the focus is on the editor
- **C.** Drag & drop the note on the note list into the notebook on the sidebar
- **D.** Press `m` while the focus is on the note list

### Configure the default notebook

When creating a new note in the **All Notes** section, it will be created in the default notebook.
You may want to change it after creating notebooks.
It can be changed from **Inkdrop** > **Preferences** > **General** > **Default notebook** on macOS, or **File** > **Settings** > **General** > **Default notebook** on Windows and Linux.

![preferences](https://docs.inkdrop.app/images/how-to-organize-notes_default-notebook.png)

## Note statuses

Inkdrop can have several statuses for your notes, including 'Active', 'On Hold', 'Completed', and 'Dropped', which help you treat notes as tasks.

- **Active**: For tasks you’re currently working on.
- **On Hold**: When you’ve paused work on a task.
- **Completed**: For tasks you’ve successfully finished.
- **Dropped**: For tasks you’ve decided to stop pursuing.

Notes with 'Completed' and 'Dropped' statuses are hidden from the note list by default — in **All Notes**, notebooks, and tags — so you can focus on the active issues.
They still appear when you search by keyword.
To view them, click **Completed** or **Dropped** in the **Status** section of the sidebar.

![Note status](https://docs.inkdrop.app/images/how-to-organize-notes_note-status.png)

### Assign a status to a note

To add a status to a note:

1. Open the note that you want to mark with status.
2. Under the note's title, click **Status**.
3. Select a status from the list.

You can also change the status with keyboard shortcuts while editing a note:

| Status    | macOS                         | Windows/Linux              |
| --------- | ----------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| None      | `Command+Ctrl+1` | `Shift+Alt+1` |
| Active    | `Command+Ctrl+2` | `Shift+Alt+2` |
| On Hold   | `Command+Ctrl+3` | `Shift+Alt+3` |
| Completed | `Command+Ctrl+4` | `Shift+Alt+4` |
| Dropped   | `Command+Ctrl+5` | `Shift+Alt+5` |

## Tags

Tags are like flexible labels that enable you to connect notes with one another.
The differences between notebooks and tags are:

- A note can be associated with multiple tags, whereas it can only belong to one notebook at a time.
- Tags are visible on the note list, and you can customize tag colors for easy visual identification.

For example, if you're tracking bugs in your project, tagging those notes with a label named 'Bug' makes them stand out.
Tags can reflect anything from importance levels to specific subjects like frameworks, platforms, release version numbers, severity, or concepts.

To tag a note:

1. Open the note you want to tag.
2. Under the note's title, enter the tag name in the **Add Tags** field (**A**).  
   Inkdrop suggests already existing tags as you enter.
3. Press `Enter` to add the tag to the note.

![Tags](https://docs.inkdrop.app/images/how-to-organize-notes_tags.png)

The tags associated with each note are shown on the note list (**B**).
Click a tag on a note in the note list to filter by that tag (**C**).
By selecting multiple tags, you can narrow down your note list to include only the notes that meet all selected criteria, making it even easier to find exactly what you’re looking for.
To filter by only the clicked tag and clear the others, hold `Option` / `Alt` while clicking.

## Go back/forth with keyboard, mouse, or trackpad

As you view your notes, Inkdrop remembers in what order you opened them. It lets you go through the history of the viewed notes back and forth.
There are several options to see the viewed notes.

For the instructions on how to configure, see [this page](https://docs.inkdrop.app/reference/main-user-interface#browse-viewed-notes).

### Via keyboard

| macOS                                             | Windows/Linux                                 | Action              |
| ------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------- |
| `Command` + `←` | `Alt` + `←` | Go to previous note |
| `Command` + `→` | `Alt` + `→` | Go to next note     |

### Via application menu

To navigate between notes via the app menu:

- Click **Navigate** and then select **Back** or **Forward**.

### Via mouse buttons

You can use third and fourth buttons on your mouse to navigate back and forth through your viewed notes.

[Video](https://site-cdn.inkdrop.app/docs/manual/navigate-with-mouse-buttons.mp4)

### Via touchpad gestures

[Video](https://site-cdn.inkdrop.app/docs/manual/navigating-notes_history.mp4)

You can use gestures on the touchpad to navigate the history of viewed notes.

## Workspace view

[Video](https://site-cdn.inkdrop.app/docs/manual/workspace-view.mp4)

By default, the sidebar shows all notebooks, statuses, and tags fetched from the database.
They're mixed together, and it can be challenging to understand which entity belongs to which notebook.

To display entities of a specific notebook:

- Hover over the notebook and click **Detail** next to its name. You can also open a notebook and press `Enter`.  
  The sidebar only shows sub-notebooks, statuses, and tags of the selected notebook so you can focus on specific information.
- Or, select **Navigate** > **Go to Notebook/Workspace...** to search notebooks with [Telescope](https://docs.inkdrop.app/reference/fuzzy-finder-telescope#jump-to-a-notebook), and press `Command+Enter` / `Ctrl+Enter` to open one as a workspace.