Markdown cheat sheet for notes: headings, lists, todos and links

Why write notes in Markdown

Markdown was designed so that the raw text is as easy to read as the formatted result. That makes it ideal for notes: you never need a toolbar, the formatting survives copying into email or a chat, and your notes are plain text files that any app can open in ten years' time. The same symbols work in most note apps, on GitHub, in many chat apps and in blogging tools, so learning them once pays off everywhere.

Text styles and headings

The space after the hash matters: #Title without a space is not a heading in most apps, and in note apps with tags it becomes a tag instead.

Lists and todos

• Bullets: start a line with a dash and a space, - Milk. An asterisk or plus sign also works.
• Numbered lists: 1. First, 2. Second. Most apps renumber for you, so you can even type 1. every time.
• Nested items: indent a line with Tab (or two to four spaces) to put it under the one above.
• Todos: - [ ] Book dentist makes an empty checkbox, and - [x] Book dentist a ticked one.

Links, quotes, code and dividers

Organising notes with tags and links

Folders force each note into one place. Tags and links let a note belong to several things at once:

1. Tag by area, not by detail. A handful of tags such as #work, #home and #ideas is easier to keep up than fifty.
2. Nest when a tag grows. #work/clients and #work/meetings sit under #work, so you can see everything or just one part.
3. Link instead of repeating. If a meeting note mentions a project, link to the project note with [[Project name]] rather than copying details across.
4. Keep one index note for each big area, with links to the notes that matter most.

Writing Markdown in Ink Notes

Ink Notes styles Markdown as you type, so the symbols fade back and your words stand out. Everything in the tables above works, including ==highlight==, todos and [[wiki links]].

• Shortcuts: ⌘B bold, ⌘I italic, ⌘K link, ⌘E inline code, ⇧⌘H highlight, ⌥⌘1 to ⌥⌘3 headings, ⌘Enter ticks the todo on the current line and ⇧⌘L turns lines into a todo list. Use Ctrl on Windows and Linux. On phones there's a formatting bar.
• Tags: type #tag anywhere in a note and it appears in the sidebar; nest with slashes. Right-click or long-press a tag to rename it everywhere. The sidebar also has Todo, Today, Untagged, Archive and Trash.
• Links: type [[ to link to another note, and each note shows what links to it.
• Sharing: share a note as a styled image, export it as Markdown, plain text or HTML, or publish a read-only link that carries the note inside the URL, with no server copy.

Notes stay in your browser, with no account; use Back up in Settings to save a file. Every note feature, sharing, export and backup is free. Ink Notes Pro ($2.99 once) adds more themes and fonts, a graph view of linked notes and note templates.

Common Markdown mistakes

• No space after the symbol. #Heading and -item stay as plain text; write # Heading and - item.
• Spaces inside the stars. ** bold ** usually doesn't work; keep the stars against the words.
• A space between the brackets of a link. [text] (url) breaks it; write [text](url).
• Forgetting the blank line before a list or heading that follows a paragraph, which some apps need.
• Missing the space in a todo. It's - [ ] with a space inside the brackets.