Documentation

Vaults & Notebooks

A vault is a folder on your filesystem. It contains all your notes, notebooks, and attachments.

You can have multiple vaults and switch between them. Each vault is completely independent.

Notebooks

Notebooks are subfolders inside your vault. Create a notebook and it creates a folder. Nest notebooks by creating subfolders. It maps directly to your filesystem.

You can drag and drop notes between notebooks. Right-click a notebook to rename it, set an icon, add a sub-notebook, or delete it.

Vault metadata

HelixNotes stores its metadata in a .helixnotes/ folder inside your vault. This includes attachments, version history, the trash, and per-vault state such as notebook icons, tag styles, and Quick Access. Your actual notes are untouched, they stay as plain .md files.

The search index and your app settings are not in the vault. They are kept in local app data on each device.

Notes & Files

Each note is a .md file with YAML frontmatter. The frontmatter stores metadata like title, tags, creation date, and a unique ID.

You can pin notes to keep them at the top of the list. Sort the list by last modified, date created, or title, or pick Custom and drag notes into any order you like (remembered per vault, without rewriting your note files).

Show in File Manager

Right-click any note and pick Show in File Manager to open your default OS file manager (Nautilus, Dolphin, Finder, Explorer) at the note's folder, with the file already selected. Desktop only.

Tags

Add tags from the tag icon at the top of the note, or from the + Tags chip under the title. You can also right-click a note in the list and pick Tags..., or select several notes and tag them in one go. Tags help you organize and filter your notes across notebooks, and each tag can be given its own icon and color from the sidebar.

File format

Notes use standard markdown with YAML frontmatter. Here is what a note looks like on disk:

---
id: "3f2b8c1e-7a4d-4e9b-9c55-1d2e3f4a5b6c"
title: "My Note"
tags: [project, ideas]
pinned: false
created: 2026-02-15T10:00:00+00:00
modified: 2026-02-15T10:30:00+00:00
---

# My Note

Your content here.

Frontmatter keys that HelixNotes does not use are kept as they are when the note is saved.

Quick Access

Quick Access is a list of your favorite notes. Click the star at the top of a note, or right-click a note and pick Add to Quick Access. Open the list from Quick Access in the sidebar and drag notes to reorder them.

Note menu

Right-click a note in the list for: pin, tags, Quick Access, open in a new window, rename, duplicate, move to another notebook, show in file manager, print, and move to trash. Select several notes to move, tag, or trash them together.

Print and PDF

Right-click a note and pick Print / Export to PDF to open the system print dialog, where you can print or save as PDF. Use /pagebreak in a note to control where pages split. Desktop only.

Trash

Deleted notes and notebooks go to the trash, stored in .helixnotes/trash/ inside your vault. Open Trash in the sidebar to preview a deleted note, restore notes or whole notebooks, or delete them for good. Right-click Trash to empty it.

Migration

Switching from another app? Here is how to bring your notes into HelixNotes.

Obsidian

HelixNotes has a built-in Obsidian importer. It converts the vault you have open, so first open your Obsidian folder as a HelixNotes vault, then go to Settings > Import and click Import Obsidian Vault.

The import converts wiki links and image embeds, turns ==highlights== and %%comments%% into their HelixNotes form, tidies the frontmatter, and moves attachments into .helixnotes/attachments/. It changes the files in place, so make a copy of the folder before you run it. Desktop only.

Joplin

A community-contributed Python script can convert a Joplin "Markdown + Front Matter" export into a HelixNotes-compatible vault. It preserves folder structure, tags, attachments, and converts internal links.

View the script and instructions on GitLab.

Requirements: Python 3.8+, Joplin export in "Markdown + Front Matter" format.

Other apps

HelixNotes works with plain markdown files. If your current app can export to markdown, you can point HelixNotes at the exported folder and start using it right away. You may need to adjust image paths or link formats manually.

Formatting

The editor supports rich text formatting. You can use the toolbar, keyboard shortcuts, or slash commands.

Text styles

• Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough
• Inline code
• Links (external URLs and internal note links)
• Subscript and superscript
• Text color (7 colors) and highlight color (8 colors)
• Clear formatting, from the right-click menu

Blocks

• Headings H1 through H6. The toolbar offers H1 to H4; Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+6 reach all six.
• Bullet lists, numbered lists, task lists
• Blockquotes
• Code blocks with syntax highlighting
• Tables
• Horizontal rules
• Collapsible sections and callouts
• Math, Mermaid diagrams, and encrypted secret blocks
• Images and file attachments

Text alignment

Left, center, right, or justify. Set it from the toolbar (desktop). Lists and paragraphs can also be indented and outdented from the toolbar.

Right-click menu

Right-click in a note for cut, copy and paste, headings, text styles, clear formatting, links, code, quotes, collapsible sections, callouts, date and time, lists, and AI actions (when a provider is set up).

Slash Commands

Type / at the start of a line or after a space to open the command menu. Start typing to filter.

Command	What it does
/heading1	Insert Heading 1
/heading2	Insert Heading 2
/heading3	Insert Heading 3
/list	Bullet list
/numbered	Numbered list
/todo	Task list with checkboxes
/code	Code block
/quote	Blockquote
/secret	Encrypted secret block (passphrase-protected)
/toggle	Collapsible section
/table	Table (opens size picker)
/hr	Horizontal rule
/pagebreak	Page break for printing
/math	Math block (opens LaTeX editor with live preview)
/imath	Inline math (opens LaTeX editor with live preview)
/date	Insert today's date (ISO format)
/time	Insert the current time
/now	Insert the current date and time
/color	Insert a color (with a swatch preview)
/callout	Callout block (colored, titled, foldable)

Navigate with arrow keys. Press Enter or Tab to insert. Escape to cancel.

Toolbar

The formatting toolbar runs along the bottom of the editor. The note's title and its action buttons sit at the top.

Formatting toolbar

On desktop the default order, left to right, is:

• Insert menu (+): image, file, horizontal rule, secret, date & time
• Heading dropdown (H1–H4, paragraph)
• Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, text color
• Link
• Bullet, numbered, and task lists
• Undo / Redo
• Inline code, code block, quote, collapsible section, callout, table, horizontal rule
• Highlight color, subscript, superscript
• Alignment (left, center, right, justify)
• Indent, outdent
• More formatting (…), for buttons you moved out of the bar

Customizing the toolbar

On desktop you can rearrange the toolbar. Click … at the end of the bar and choose Customize toolbar…. Drag buttons to reorder them, or drag one into More to tuck it away. With the keyboard, select a button and use the arrow keys: left and right reorder, up moves it to More, down brings it back. Reset restores the default layout. Buttons can be moved to More but not removed.

On phones

Phones get a shorter, fixed toolbar: insert, heading (H1–H3), bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, link, lists with indent and outdent, highlight, date and time, undo and redo, and AI actions. The Insert menu there also holds code block, quote, callout, table, and collapsible section, and on Android a Take Photo entry.

Note actions

At the top right of a note on desktop: find in note, edit tags, pin, Quick Access (star), outline, version history, note info, graph view, AI actions, and the source mode toggle. Graph view shows when wiki links are on, AI actions when a provider is set up. Back and forward arrows appear once you have moved between notes.

Source Mode

Press Ctrl+Shift+M (or Cmd+Shift+M on macOS) to switch between the rich editor and raw markdown source.

Source mode shows the plain markdown with syntax highlighting. Useful when you need precise control over formatting.

Line numbers are off by default. Turn them on with Settings > Editor > Show line numbers (desktop). Long lines wrap unless line numbers are on. To start every new note in source mode, enable Open new notes in source mode in the same tab.

Changes sync both ways. Edit in source mode, switch back, and the rich editor reflects your changes.

Tables

Insert a table from the toolbar insert menu or type /table. A size picker lets you choose rows and columns (up to 8 by 10).

Once inserted:

• Tab to move between cells
• Right-click for table options: add/remove rows and columns, merge cells, split cell, toggle header row/column, set cell background color, delete table
• Tables are stored as clean Markdown by default, and only saved as HTML when you apply styling (such as cell background colors). A styled table gets a Reset to Markdown entry in its right-click menu, which strips the styling, merged cells, and custom widths and goes back to plain Markdown.

Images & Files

Drag and drop images into the editor, paste them from the clipboard, or use the insert menu. Images are copied into .helixnotes/attachments/ inside your vault, and the note refers to them by that path from the vault root.

Click an image to resize it (small, medium, or full width), copy it, or open it in your default app.

Any image format your browser supports works: PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, WebP, and more.

You can also attach non-image files. They appear as downloadable links in the note.

On desktop, PDF files can be previewed inline if you enable that in settings. You can set the preview height in the Editor settings tab.

Math (KaTeX)

HelixNotes renders LaTeX math via KaTeX, both as block equations and inline. Math is stored in your note as plain markdown, so it round-trips through any other markdown tool.

Inserting math

Type /math for a block equation, or /imath for inline. A modal opens with a LaTeX textarea and a live preview. Press Ctrl+Enter to insert, Esc to cancel.

Editing existing math

Double-click any rendered math block or inline equation to reopen the modal pre-filled with the current LaTeX. Edit and click Update.

Markdown source

Block math is stored as $$...$$ on its own line(s); inline as $...$. Files written by other tools using the same syntax render correctly when opened in HelixNotes.

Examples

E = mc^2

x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}

\sum_{i=1}^{n} i = \frac{n(n+1)}{2}

\begin{aligned}
f(x) &= (x+1)^2 \\
     &= x^2 + 2x + 1
\end{aligned}

Mermaid Diagrams

Insert flowcharts, sequence diagrams, class diagrams, and more using Mermaid syntax inside a fenced code block.

Creating a diagram

Use a code block with mermaid as the language (pick from the language dropdown, or type the markdown source directly). A "Render diagram" button appears under the block. Click it to render.

Rendering is opt-in by design: invalid syntax never hangs the editor, and the source is always preserved next to the diagram.

Copy and Save

Once rendered, hover over the diagram. Three buttons appear at the top right (Android has no Copy):

• Copy: copies as PNG to clipboard. Paste into Slack, Discord, email, docs, anywhere.
• Save: opens a dialog. Pick .png for raster (with a white or dark background based on your theme) or .svg for infinitely scalable vector.
• Re-render (↻): clears the cache and re-renders, useful after editing the source.

Example

```mermaid
graph TD
  A[Start] --> B{Decide}
  B -->|Yes| C[OK]
  B -->|No| D[Stop]
```

Callouts

Callouts are colored, titled, foldable boxes for drawing attention to a point. Type a blockquote with a type marker:

> [!note] Title
> Body text inside the callout.

Built-in types:

• note, abstract, info, todo, tip, success, question, warning, failure, danger, bug, example, quote
• Common Obsidian aliases work too, such as summary, hint, caution, and error.
• Custom types are also supported in the type picker.

Add - after the type to make the callout start collapsed, or + to make it foldable but open: > [!tip]- Title.

You can also insert a callout from the /callout slash command, the toolbar button (the Insert menu on phones), the right-click menu, or the type picker that appears on an existing callout. Click the fold caret to collapse or expand it.

Secret Blocks

A secret block keeps a piece of text, such as a password or a recovery code, encrypted inside a note. Insert one with /secret or from the Insert menu.

• Enter the text, an optional title, and a passphrase (typed twice).
• The block shows as locked. Click Unlock and enter the passphrase to read it, and Lock to hide it again.
• The text is encrypted with AES-256-GCM using a key derived from your passphrase, and only the encrypted form is written to the note file.

There is no way to recover a secret if you forget its passphrase.

Global Shortcuts

These work anywhere in the app. On macOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd.

On desktop most of these are customizable: open the Info panel and switch to the Shortcuts tab, then click a shortcut to rebind it, right-click to reset it, or press Esc to cancel (a combo already in use is rejected). The combos below are the defaults. Ctrl+Shift+Del and Escape are fixed, and so are the editor shortcuts further down.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+N	New note
Ctrl+P	Command palette
Ctrl+F	Search (global or in-note)
Ctrl+Shift+F	Global search
Ctrl+S	Force save
Ctrl+Shift+M	Toggle source mode
Ctrl+\	Toggle sidebar
Ctrl+Shift+\	Toggle notes list
Ctrl+Shift+N	Toggle dark / light theme
Ctrl+Shift+E	Toggle focus mode
Ctrl+Shift+R	Toggle read-only
Ctrl+Shift+W	Open note in a new window
Ctrl+Shift+Del	Move the open note to trash
F11	Toggle fullscreen
Alt+Left	Navigate back
Alt+Right	Navigate forward
Escape	Close panel / exit mode

Editor Shortcuts

These work when the editor is focused. On macOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+B	Bold
Ctrl+I	Italic
Ctrl+U	Underline
Ctrl+Shift+X	Strikethrough
Ctrl+K	Insert / edit link (with note autocomplete)
Ctrl+E	Inline code
Ctrl+Alt+C	Code block
Ctrl+1 ... Ctrl+6	Heading 1 to Heading 6
Ctrl+0	Convert heading back to paragraph
Ctrl+Shift+7	Numbered list
Ctrl+Shift+8	Bullet list
Ctrl+Shift+9	Task list
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo
Alt+Up	Move block up
Alt+Down	Move block down
Alt+Shift+Up / Alt+Shift+Down	Move list or task item up / down
Ctrl+.	Collapsible section

In-note search

Shortcut	Action
Enter or F3	Next result
Shift+Enter or Shift+F3	Previous result
Escape	Close search

Command Palette & Views

Command palette

Press Ctrl+P to open the command palette and type to filter. It runs commands: search notes, open All Notes, Quick Access, Tasks, Daily Notes or Trash, switch theme, toggle source mode, and rebuild the search index.

Focus mode

Ctrl+Shift+E hides the sidebar and the note list so only the note is left. Press Esc to leave it.

Read-only mode

Ctrl+Shift+R switches the open note between editing and reading. To open every note read-only, enable Open notes in view mode in Settings > Editor.

More than one window

Ctrl+Shift+W, or Open in New Window in a note's right-click menu, opens the note in its own window. Desktop only.

Back and forward

Alt+Left and Alt+Right move back and forward through the notes you have visited. The back and forward buttons on a mouse work too.

If a note changes on disk while you edit

When another program or device changes a note you have unsaved edits in, HelixNotes does not overwrite either version. A bar above the note offers Save a copy, which keeps your edits as a separate note, or Reload from disk, which drops them.

Search

Press Ctrl+F with no note open (or Ctrl+Shift+F anytime) to search across all notes in your vault.

Search is powered by Tantivy, a full-text search engine written in Rust. It indexes your notes locally and keeps searches quick, with a CJK-aware tokenizer so Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text matches mid-phrase (not only from the start).

Results appear as you type, with the matching words highlighted in the title and in a snippet of the note, and the notebook shown beside each one. Titles, text, and tags are all searched, and a word still matches when you have typed only its start or made a single typo. Use the arrow keys and Enter to open a result; the note opens at the matching passage. Results come 20 to a page.

The search index lives in local app-data (outside your vault), so cloud-synced folders never churn through its files. It updates automatically when notes change. If results ever look stale, run Rebuild Search Index from the command palette.

In-note search

Press Ctrl+F while editing a note to search within that note. It highlights all matches, shows a counter, and lets you jump between them. Two toggles narrow the search: Match case and Whole word. It works in source mode too.

External Viewer

Open any .md file from outside your vault without adding it to your notes. Useful for quickly reading a README from a cloned repo, looking at a file someone shared, or browsing your filesystem.

How to open

• Right-click a .md file in your file manager, choose "Open With", and pick HelixNotes
• Or pass it as a command line argument: helixnotes ~/some/README.md

When the file opens

The note opens in read only focus mode with a banner across the top showing the file path and two actions: Import to vault and Close. The toolbar and formatting bar are hidden, the editor is locked, and autosave is fully disabled. There is no way to accidentally write to a file outside your vault.

Import to vault

Click Import to vault to open a folder picker (vault root + your notebook tree). Pick a folder and HelixNotes copies the file in, handles filename conflicts automatically (appending (2), (3) if needed), then opens the new note in normal edit mode.

Available on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Skipped on Android.

Notebook Sorting

Notebooks default to alphabetical sort. If you want a custom order, switch to manual sort in Settings > General > Notebooks > Sort order.

Reordering

Drag any notebook over another. The drop zone splits into three:

• Top 30% of the row: drop above (a line indicator appears at the top of the target)
• Middle 40%: drop into (existing behavior, dashed outline)
• Bottom 30%: drop below (line indicator at the bottom)

Reordering across folders works too: HelixNotes moves the notebook into the target's parent first, then positions it. Reordering automatically flips the setting to Manual, so you do not have to toggle it separately.

Storage

The order is stored per vault in .helixnotes/state.json, alongside the sidebar widths and last open note.

Daily Notes

HelixNotes has a dedicated Daily Notes view with a month calendar for browsing and creating daily notes.

Accessing Daily Notes

• Click Daily Notes in the sidebar to open the calendar view.
• Click the calendar icon in the title bar to quickly create or jump to today's note.
• Use the + button while in the Daily Notes view to create today's note.

Calendar View

The calendar shows a month grid. Days that have a note are highlighted. Click any day to open its note. If it doesn't exist yet, it will be created automatically. Use the arrows to navigate between months, or click the month name to jump back to today.

How They're Stored

Daily notes live in a Daily/ folder in your vault. The filename is the date (2026-02-15.md) and the title is the full date ("February 15, 2026"). Pick another title format, such as ISO or day-first, in Settings > General > Daily note title format. Daily notes are automatically tagged with daily.

The Daily/ folder is hidden from the notebook tree since it has its own dedicated view.

Tasks

The Tasks view gathers every - [ ] checklist item from across all your notes into one place, so you can see and act on your to-dos without hunting through individual notes. Open it from Tasks in the sidebar.

Working with tasks

• Check a task off and the change is written back to its source note.
• Set a priority (High, Medium, Low) and a due date right from each row.
• In a task list, type ! to open a small menu and set the priority or pick a due date. Both insert as dimmed inline tokens.
• Click a task to jump to its note at the exact line.

List view

A flat list of your tasks, sortable by due date, priority, or source note. Completed tasks are hidden until you turn off Hide done. Flagged narrows the list to tasks with a due date or a priority, and the filter box searches the task text.

Calendar view

A month grid that places each task on its due date, with a No due date bucket for the rest. Drag a task onto a day to (re)schedule it. Your List / Calendar choice is remembered per vault (always List on Android).

Inline tokens

Priority and due date are stored as plain-text tokens inside the task line, so they round-trip through markdown and stay readable anywhere:

• !high, !med (or !medium), !low (priority)
• due:2026-06-12 (due date, ISO format)

Example: - [ ] Email the landlord !high due:2026-06-12

Wiki Links

Type [[ followed by a note title to link to another note; suggestions appear as you type. Wiki links are on by default. The switch is Wiki Links & Graph in Settings > Editor.

Click a wiki link to navigate to that note. If the linked note does not exist, clicking it creates it in the current notebook. When several notes share the title, you are asked which one to open. To show different text for a link, write [[Note Title|shown text]].

Wiki links also enable the graph view, which shows connections between your notes.

Graph View

The graph shows your notes as dots and the wiki links between them as lines. Open it with the graph icon at the top of a note. It is available when wiki links are on.

• It opens on the local graph: the open note and the notes directly linked to it. Use the button in the header to show all notes instead.
• Hover a note to highlight its links, with arrows showing the direction.
• Click a note to open it. Drag a note to move it.
• Scroll to zoom and drag the background to pan.
• Type in the filter box to highlight notes by title.
• Focus active note centers the view again.

Note Links

You can link to other notes using standard markdown links. Use a relative path ending in .md to create an internal note link:

[My Other Note](./My Other Note.md)
[Library Note](../Library/Setup Guide.md)

Clicking a note link navigates to that note within the app. External links (https://) open in your browser as usual. A small icon after each link indicates its type.

Link modal

Press Ctrl+K to open the link modal. Start typing a note name to see autocomplete suggestions. Selecting a note inserts a relative .md path automatically.

You can also type a URL to create an external link, or edit an existing link by placing the cursor on it and pressing Ctrl+K.

Outline Panel

Click the outline icon in the toolbar to open the outline panel. It shows all headings in the current note.

Click any heading to jump to it. The outline reflects heading hierarchy; nested headings are indented.

Drag the panel's edge to resize it. The width is remembered per vault, and the text scales with the editor font size. The outline updates in real-time as you edit.

Note Info

The Note Info panel shows live word and character counts and a reading time for the open note, its created and modified dates, its notebook and tags, and its path on disk with a copy button (desktop). Open it with the info icon at the top of the note.

AI Actions

HelixNotes has optional AI features. They are off until you choose a provider in Settings > AI; set the provider back to Disabled to hide them again.

Providers

Ollama runs locally on your device. No API key needed (an optional key field is available for secured setups). With the default server URL your text stays on your machine; if you point it at an Ollama server elsewhere, the text is sent there.

OpenAI-compatible lets you point at any server that speaks the OpenAI API (LM Studio, LocalAI, vLLM, and similar) by setting its base URL and (if needed) an API key. Great for self-hosted models.

Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (GPT) are cloud providers. Selected text is sent to their servers. Requires an API key.

Setting up Ollama

Ollama lets you run AI models locally. Install it and pull a model:

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama pull gemma3:4b

Then in HelixNotes: Settings > AI > Ollama. The default server URL is http://localhost:11434. Enter the model name exactly as shown by ollama list.

Recommended models:

• gemma3:4b
• gemma3:1b
• llama3.2

How to use

Select text and right-click to see AI actions, or use the AI Actions button at the top of the note. With nothing selected, the action applies to the entire note.

Available actions

• Improve writing, fix grammar
• Make shorter, make longer
• Professional tone, friendly tone
• Summarize, explain
• Translate (English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish)
• Custom prompt

AI results stream in real-time. You can apply or discard the result. A version snapshot is automatically saved before any AI changes are applied, so you can always undo.

Empty note generation

If your note is empty, you can use a custom AI prompt to generate content from scratch.

Version History

HelixNotes keeps per-note version snapshots. Click the clock icon in the editor toolbar to open version history.

Versions are saved automatically. There is a minimum 5-minute gap between automatic snapshots to avoid noise. You can also create a manual snapshot anytime.

Each version shows a timestamp and file size. Select a version, then choose Restore to return to it. Content preview is not available yet. Up to 20 versions are kept per note; the oldest is removed first.

History is stored in .helixnotes/history/ inside your vault, organized by note ID.

Backups

Go to Settings > Backup to configure automatic backups of your entire vault. Automatic backups are off until you enable them. Desktop only.

Options

• Frequency: every 1, 6, 12, or 24 hours. In v1.3.6 the 1 hour option runs every 24 hours; this is fixed in the next release.
• Max backups: 5, 10, 20, or 50 (oldest deleted)
• Include attachments (images/files), off by default
• Custom backup folder

Backups are ZIP archives. You can trigger a manual backup, delete old ones, or restore from any previous backup in settings. Restoring replaces the notes in your vault, after a confirmation.

Default backup location:

• Linux: ~/.config/helixnotes/backups/
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/helixnotes/backups/
• Windows: %APPDATA%\helixnotes\backups\

Settings

Open settings from the gear icon in the sidebar. The tabs are General, Editor, Styling, Import, Backup, Maintenance, AI, Sync, and Updates. Import and Backup are desktop only. Settings are stored on each device, not in the vault.

General

• Notebook sort order: alphabetical or manual
• Compact mode (denser note list, no previews)
• Show the date next to each note in the list (toggle)
• Time format: relative, 12-hour, or 24-hour
• Start week on: Monday or Sunday (daily and tasks calendars)
• Daily note title format
• Startup view: All Notes, Quick Access, Tasks, or Daily Notes
• Restore last session on launch (reopen the note and folder/tag you were last in)
• Show note switcher in title bar: a dropdown of recent and Quick Access notes
• GPU acceleration (desktop, requires restart)
• Start at system startup (desktop)
• System tray icon (desktop, requires restart) and close to tray
• Sidebar (desktop): hide navigation items you don't use (All Notes, Quick Access, Tasks, Daily Notes, Trash), leaving just search and the notebook tree. Anything you hide stays reachable from the command palette (Ctrl+P).

Editor

• Hide title in note body (if first heading matches title)
• Line numbers in source mode (desktop)
• Open new notes in source mode
• Open notes in view mode (read-only by default)
• Wiki links ([[Note Title]]) and graph view
• Inline PDF preview with a choice of heights (desktop)
• Show or hide the arrow icon shown after external links

Styling

• Theme: Light, Dark, or one of 31 palettes (Solarized, GitHub, Nord, Tokyo Night, Dracula, Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Synthwave, One Dark, Material, Monokai, Rosé Pine, Everforest, and more) via a dropdown. System follows your OS and lets you pick which theme to use for light and which for dark.
• Custom themes: create and edit your own themes in the Custom Themes section below the theme picker, and import or export them as JSON to share (desktop).
• Accent color (13 presets plus a custom color picker); the accent updates automatically to match whenever you switch themes
• Note Width: cap and center the note text column for easier reading on wide screens and in Focus Mode. Narrow, Medium, Wide, or Full (the default); desktop only
• Interface scale: zoom the whole app 80-200% (desktop only)
• Font size (small to extra large), with an optional scroll to change font size (desktop)
• Line height: tight, default, relaxed, or loose
• Font: System, Inter, Georgia, Merriweather, Lora, Open Sans, Literata, Mono

Import

• Import from Obsidian: converts the open vault in place. See Migration.

Maintenance

• Vault overview: how many notes and attachments, and their size
• Find attachments that no note uses any more and move them to the trash

Updates

Shows the installed version and lets you check for and install updates. On desktop the app checks for a new version when it starts. Installs that came from a package manager (APT, DNF, AUR, Solus) are updated by that package manager instead, and Android updates come through F-Droid or Obtainium.

Sync

Your notes are plain files in a folder, so you can sync them however you like. HelixNotes also has optional built-in WebDAV sync to your own server. There is still no HelixNotes cloud and no account.

WebDAV sync

Set it up in Settings > Sync. Point it at a WebDAV endpoint you control (Nextcloud, ownCloud, a NAS, or any WebDAV server) with your username and an app password, and use Test Connection to check it. Sync is configured per vault.

• Sync manually, or automatically on an interval (5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes), shortly after every change, and/or on open.
• Conflicts are never silently overwritten: when both sides changed, HelixNotes keeps both. The server's version keeps the note's name, and your local version is saved next to it as Name (conflict 2026-06-12 14-30-00).md. Compare the two, keep what you need, and delete the copy.
• Your notes, attachments, notebook icons, and tag styles sync. Device-local state stays put: the search index, sort order, Quick Access, version history, the trash, and your app settings. Files in the vault that are not notes or attachments are not synced.

Using your own tool instead

Prefer Syncthing, rsync, Git, or a synced folder (Dropbox/OneDrive)? That works too. HelixNotes watches the filesystem for external changes and picks them up automatically, so when another device edits a file the editor updates itself.

Syncthing

If you use Syncthing (or any folder-level sync), add ignore rules so device-local state does not conflict across machines. Manual notebook sort order (drag-and-drop) lives in state.json, so it stays device-local. Git and the built-in WebDAV sync already exclude it; with folder-level sync, add the ignore rule below so the file does not round-trip and create conflicts.

Add these to your .stignore file:

.helixnotes/state.json
.helixnotes/sync_state.json
.helixnotes/history/
.helixnotes/trash/

This keeps your notes, attachments, notebook icons, and tag styles syncing while avoiding conflicts on sort order, version history, and trash. (sync_state.json only exists if you also use WebDAV sync on that vault.) App settings are stored outside the vault on each device, so they are not part of any sync. The search index is no longer stored in the vault (it now lives in local app-data), so it never needs an ignore rule.