All chapters
Getting started
Daily work
Find and understand
Research and publish
Protect your notes
Reference
Settings
You can use Header for weeks without opening Settings. When you do want to change something, this page walks through every heading in the order the Settings window shows it, with the exact labels and the starting values.
Finding your way around Settings
One window, one sidebar
Open Settings from the Header menu, or press ⌘,. The sidebar has two groups. Under Header are the everyday headings: General, Editor, Shortcuts, AI, Minutes, Calendar, Sync & Backup, Git and Privacy & Data. Under Advanced is Labs, plus a hidden Advanced heading for testing (see the end of this page). Settings remembers the heading you last looked at.
Git only appears in the version downloaded from headernotes.com. The TestFlight build can't run Git, so the heading is hidden there rather than left empty.
Find it Header → Settings… ⌘,
General
Vaults, where new notes and captures go, Today's daily note, web clips, updates and the version you're running.
| Option | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Vault | |
| Vault or folder · Choose... | Shows the active vault's folder. Choose... adds another vault. |
| Capture destination | Read-only. Shows where quick captures land right now. |
| New notes go to Starts as: Vault top level | Also Inbox folder or Same folder as the current note. Used when no folder is selected in the sidebar. Daily Notes, Web Clips and Voice keep their own locations. |
| Capture | |
| Quick captures go to Starts as: Monthly Capture Log | Also Daily Note or One File per Capture. Named notes stay separate Markdown files either way. |
| Launch Header at login | Follows your Login Items. Opens Header when you log in. It never turns on the microphone. |
| Include notes in macOS Spotlight search Starts as: On with macOS 27, off on earlier macOS | Adds note titles and previews to this Mac's private Spotlight index, which Siri also reads. Locked notes show titles only. |
| Today | |
| Daily notes · Change… Starts as: whatever Header detects in the vault, or a Daily Notes folder | Sets the folder, date format and template for daily notes. Use detected settings drops your choice and goes back to what Header detects. The choice is saved in the vault. |
| Web Clips | |
| Adopt clips dropped by other browser clippers Starts as: On | Picks up clips other tools save to the Clippings folder, tidies their properties and downloads their images into the vault. |
| Updates (headernotes.com download only) | |
| Check for updates automatically Starts as: On | Checks headernotes.com once a day without sending note data. An update installs only when you click. |
| About | |
| Version, Channel, Build date, Commit | Read-only. Useful when you report a problem. |
More on these: Your vault & the window, Capturing ideas, Today & daily notes, Install, update & first launch and Header across macOS.
Editor
How notes look and behave while you write. The page has three groups and a fold-out with the finer controls.
| Option | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Appearance | |
| Follow System / Light / Dark Starts as: Follow System | The app's light or dark look. |
| Theme Starts as: Follow system | Accents (Clay, Indigo, Moss, Graphite, Rose, Marigold) color buttons and highlights. Pages (Sepia, Solarized, Flexoki, E-Ink, True Black) change the whole page. Reset Appearance goes back to the start. |
| Writing surface | |
| Autosave notes while editing Starts as: On | Saves a few seconds after you stop typing, when you switch notes, and on quit. Off means ⌘S only. |
| Allow Apple Writing Tools panel in the editor Starts as: Off | macOS 15 and later. Writing Tools edits replace text without Header's review step. |
| Editor font Starts as: System | Fourteen choices, including New York, Atkinson, SF Mono and Menlo. |
| Editor text size Starts as: 15 pt | 11 to 32 pt. The View menu has ⌘+, ⌘− and ⌘0 for the same thing. |
| Readable preset Starts as: Not applied | Apply dyslexia-friendly typography switches to Atkinson, larger text, gentle spacing and narrower lines. Restore my previous typography undoes it. |
| Line width Starts as: Standard | Also Comfortable, Wide or Full width. Sets Rich mode's width; Source mode always uses the full window. |
| Editor controls | |
| Show note properties Starts as: Never | Also Always or When the note has properties. When hidden, properties stay in the Note Inspector. |
| Format toolbar Starts as: Hidden | Also Shown or Shown, collapses while typing. |
| Show selection toolbar Starts as: On | The small toolbar that appears over selected text. |
Advanced editor options…
Click to unfold, at the bottom of Editor
- Heading scale (Standard; also Compact or Generous), Line height (1.50), Paragraph spacing (0 pt) and Letter spacing (0 pt).
- Rich content: Table density (Comfortable), Stripe table rows (off), Callout intensity (Standard), Media chrome (Minimal), Link treatment (Standard) and Completed tasks (Faded; also Standard or Hidden). These change Rich mode only. Source mode keeps the original text.
- Render Mermaid diagrams in Rich editor (on) and Smart punctuation (on), which uses curly quotes and dashes in prose and leaves code alone.
- Show nesting guides for indented lists (off) and Show Markdown marks around the cursor (off). The second reveals
**and similar marks next to the caret in Rich mode. - Attachments folder: where pasted images go. Leave it blank to use
Header Attachments. - Markdown Compatibility: Standard Markdown, GitHub-Flavored Markdown, Obsidian-Friendly, Pandoc / Research or Header Full (the default). It tells Header which Markdown you write, so Rich mode renders the right things and export can warn about syntax other apps won't read. It applies to this vault only and never rewrites existing files. If Header spots a better match for your vault, it offers a Use … button.
- Table Markdown: Table source style (Compact or Pretty aligned) and Newlines inside table cells (Convert to space or Convert to <br>).
Try this If you keep an Obsidian vault next to Header, set Markdown Compatibility to Obsidian-Friendly for that vault only, then open Examples underneath to see what changes, such as
> [!NOTE] rendering as a callout.More on writing: Writing & the editor and The Note Inspector & history.
Shortcuts
One group, Global Shortcuts, lists the six keys that work from any app: Quick Capture, Voice Capture, Jump to Note, Ask Header, Today and Show Header. Each row shows a badge:
- Active: Header is listening for it.
- Off: you turned it off.
- Duplicate: another Header shortcut already uses it.
- In Use: macOS refused it, usually because another app owns that combination. Pick another one.
Click the shortcut to record a new one. It needs at least two modifier keys, one of them Control, Option or Command. The ⋯ button has Reset to Default and Turn Off. The defaults are listed in Keyboard shortcuts.
AI
Which AI Header may use, and what it shows you before anything leaves your Mac.
| Option | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Generation Mode | |
| Use cloud AI when available Starts as: Off | Lets features use a cloud provider you've added a key for. Note excerpts are sent only when you start a cloud AI action. |
| Allow Ask Header to use web search Starts as: Off | Works with OpenAI and Anthropic keys. |
| Preferred provider Starts as: Auto (most capable) | Appears once you've saved two or more cloud keys. |
| Cloud AI controls | |
| Show preview before sending content to cloud AI Starts as: On | Shows exactly what will be sent. One approval covers that feature's follow-up sends for two minutes. Local providers never ask. |
| On-device Intelligence | |
| Prefer Apple Intelligence (on-device) when available Starts as: Off | Greyed out on Macs without Apple Intelligence. |
| OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral | |
| API key · Check Connection Starts as: Empty | Keys are stored in your Keychain. After a key checks out you can pick a model. Each section links to the provider's API dashboard and has Remove Key. |
| Local LLM | |
| Use Ollama local LLM Starts as: Off | With Base URL http://localhost:11434 and Model llama3.2 to start. If the address points to another machine, Header warns you and previews and records those sends like a cloud provider. |
Letting other AI apps read your vault (MCP) isn't in the beta; it needs Header's command-line tool, which isn't distributed yet. See Header across macOS.
Minutes
Recording, transcription and speakers for Minutes. Calendar access has its own heading; the top of this page has an Open Calendar Settings button.
| Option | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Advanced → Echo cancellation Starts as: Off | Lowers playback volume while recording. Takes effect on the next Whisper recording. |
| Auto-stop after the meeting ends (Recording safety) Starts as: On | Asks before stopping once the meeting has ended and silence begins. |
| Meeting cue Starts as: 1 min | Also 2 min, 5 min or Off. Shows a reminder before a calendar meeting. Recording never starts automatically. |
| Nudge when a meeting starts without recording (In-meeting nudge) Starts as: On | Checks whether another app is using the microphone, never its audio. Browser meetings need a calendar join link to be noticed. |
| Transcription Starts as: Apple Speech | Apple Speech transcribes on device. Whisper also runs on device, English only, after a one-time 142 MB Download model; then click Use Whisper. |
| Speakers Starts as: Not installed | Download models (~14 MB) to tell speakers apart on device. Delete models removes them. |
| Suggest saved voices on this Mac (Saved voices) Starts as: Off | When on, a voice profile is saved on this Mac each time you confirm a speaker's name. It never syncs. Remove one, or Delete all saved voices; deleting is permanent. |
Calendar
| Option | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Use Calendar in Today and Minutes Starts as: On | Shows today's events and lets Minutes pick up the right meeting. macOS still asks for Calendar permission; use Allow access…, or Open Privacy Settings… if you said no earlier. Calendar is read on this Mac and never synced. |
| Show Apple Reminders on Today Starts as: Off | Shows reminders that are due or overdue, read-only. |
| Send task reminders to Apple Reminders Starts as: Off | Only a quick capture whose date chip you accepted is added to Reminders, one way. A due date typed into a note never creates a reminder; see Tasks. |
| Also add due tasks to Calendar Starts as: Off | Adds the same due tasks to Calendar. |
The meeting cue and auto-stop live under Minutes; Open Minutes Settings takes you there. See Today & daily notes and Tasks.
Sync & Backup
- Cloud Folder Sync & Backup: keep your vault in any folder a sync service keeps on your Mac, such as iCloud Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive. Header reads and writes Markdown there; your provider does the syncing. Open Sync Recovery… lists conflict copies and possible duplicates for you to review.
- History & local sync: Sync note history across your devices (on) keeps each note's version history inside the vault so it travels with your notes. Turn it off to keep history only on this Mac.
- In the download version, Open Git Settings jumps to Git.
Details in Sync & backup.
Git
Download version only. This page keeps versioned history of the vault with Git and, if you add a remote, an off-device copy.
- Back Up This Vault with Git… appears when the vault isn't a Git repository yet.
- Remote with Add Remote… or Change Remote…, and Sign In to GitHub…. Once signed in: Sign Out, and either Give Header access to a repository or, once access is granted, Choose Repository… and Create a New Repository on GitHub….
- Enable Git sync, Sync Active Vault Now, and Last backup.
Header never force-pushes or merges diverged history on its own. A private GitHub repository isn't end-to-end encrypted: GitHub stores your notes as readable text. Locked notes stay encrypted. See Sync & backup.
Privacy & Data
| Group | What's there |
|---|---|
| Privacy Receipts | A count of approved cloud sends and research lookups, recorded locally. View Receipts… opens the full list. Local AI isn't included. |
| Let AI apps read this vault (MCP) | Not in the beta. The section appears once Header's command-line tool is installed, which isn't distributed yet. See Header across macOS. |
| On this Mac | What this Mac can run, for example whether Apple Intelligence is available. |
| Lock | Require Touch ID or password to open Header (off). Once on, Lock the app starts at After 5 minutes; also Immediately when it loses focus, After 1 minute or After 15 minutes. Header stores no passphrase. |
| Local-first boundaries | A plain summary of what stays local, the number of billed cloud AI calls this month (counted on this Mac), and the link How Header protects your files… |
| What may leave this Mac? | A table of actions such as Save note, Save a Link and Ask Header, with what each one sends. Open AI Settings goes to the cloud preview and keys. |
| Remote content | Load remote images in preview (off). Include remote images in export: Ask First (default), Include or Never. Research discovery: Search Semantic Scholar, Search Crossref, Search arXiv (all on); only your typed query is sent, and Header asks before the first send. |
| Local data on this Mac | Keep a local diagnostics log (on). Paths, emails and API keys are removed, and turning it off clears the log. Buttons to Reveal Header cache, Rebuild search index and clear caches, export temp files, diagnostic bundles and activity history. None of them deletes notes. |
| Beta feedback | Report Issue..., the same as in the Help menu (see Help, feedback & FAQ). |
More on privacy, locking and receipts in Trust, safety & privacy. Research lookups are covered in Research & the Reading Room.
Labs
Experiments that are off until you turn them on:
- Flashback suggestions: suggests related past notes while you capture. Matches may be noisy.
- Contradiction check (AI): when you ask, checks related notes for conflicting facts. With a cloud provider it sends note text to that provider, and results can be wrong.