All chapters

  1. Getting started

    1. Start here
    2. Install, update & first launch
    3. Bring your notes in
    4. Your vault & the window

  2. Daily work

    1. Writing & the editor
    2. The Note Inspector & history
    3. Capturing ideas
    4. Today & daily notes
    5. Tasks
    6. Minutes: recording meetings

  3. Find and understand

    1. Finding & connecting notes
    2. Setting up AI
    3. Ask Header
    4. AI writing tools: Review, Refactor & the selection assistant
    5. Lenses
    6. Atlas
    7. Mindprint, Review & Retro

  4. Research and publish

    1. Research & the Reading Room
    2. Manuscripts
    3. Boards

  5. Protect your notes

    1. Trust, safety & privacy
    2. Sync & backup

  6. Reference

    1. Header across macOS
    2. Settings
    3. Keyboard shortcuts
    4. Help, feedback & FAQ
Reference

Keyboard shortcuts

The key combinations you'll use most, grouped by where they live. If you only learn a few, make them ⌃⌥Space to capture from anywhere, ⌘K to jump to a note or command, and ⌘/ to bring up the shortcut sheet inside the app.

Global shortcuts

Work from any app, even when Header is in the background
ActionDefaultWhat it does
Quick Capture⌃⌥SpaceCapture a thought from anywhere.
Voice Capture⌃⌥VDictate a capture.
Jump to Note⌃⌥FSearch every vault and open a note.
Ask Header⌃⌥AAsk a question about your notes.
Today⌃⌥DOpen Today: your schedule, what needs you, and today's list.
Show Header⌃⌥HBring the main Header window forward.

To change one: open Settings → Shortcuts, click the shortcut, press the new combination and click Save Shortcut. It needs at least two modifier keys, including Control, Option or Command. The ⋯ button next to each row has Reset to Default and Turn Off. If a row says In Use, another app already owns that combination, so pick a different one.

Find it Settings → Shortcuts

File menu

CommandKeys
New Note⌘N
New Folder⇧⌘N
New Canvas⌥⌘N
Manuscripts⌃⌘M
Capture Thought⌘↩
Add Vault...⇧⌘O
Save⌘S
Reload from Disk⌘R
Move Note to Trash⌘⌫
Print…⌘P
Command Palette⌘K
Lock Now⌃⌘L
Generate Monthly Local Retro (Monthly AI Retro once cloud AI is on with a key or Ollama)⇧⌘R
Today⇧⌘D
Open Today's Note⌥⇧⌘D
Save a Link...⇧⌘W
Export Note...⇧⌘E
Export Knowledge Map...⌥⇧⌘E

Lock Now needs Require Touch ID or password to open Header turned on in Settings → Privacy & Data. Bring Notes into Header…, Reveal in Finder, Vault Integrity Check and the Git commands have no keys.

Edit menu

CommandKeys
Undo / Redo⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z
Paste and Match Style⌥⇧⌘V
Find → Find…⌘F
Find → Find Next / Find Previous⌘G / ⇧⌘G
Find → Use Selection for Find⌘E
Find → Jump to Selection⌘J
Find → Go to Line…⌥⌘G
Replace → Replace…⌥⌘F
Selection → Select Next Occurrence⌘D
Selection → Show Markdown Issues⇧⌘M

Menu only, no keys: Tidy Markdown Tables, Replace and Find, Replace All, Select All Occurrences, Next and Previous Markdown Issue, Delete Line, Writing Tools and Translate Selection.

View menu

CommandKeys
Back / Forward⌘[ / ⌘]
Increase / Decrease Editor Text Size⌘+ / ⌘−
Actual Editor Text Size⌘0
Show All Panes⌘1
List and Editor⌘2
Editor Only⌘3
Lenses⌃⌘1
Research Mode⌃⌘2
Vault Graph⌃⌘3
Tags⌃⌘4
Atlas⌃⌘5
Enter / Exit Focus Mode⇧⌘F
Quick Capture (inside Header)⇧⌘0
Show / Hide Review Inspector⌥⌘I
Show / Hide Mindprint⌥⌘M
Toggle Starred⇧⌘B
Refresh Files⌥⌘L
Ingest Vault⇧⌘I
Add Meeting Note (while Minutes is recording)⌥N

Format menu

CommandKeys
Bold⌘B
Italic⌘I
Underline⌘U
Inline Code⌘`
Link⇧⌘K
Wikilink⌥⌘K
Style → Heading 1 to Heading 6⌥⌘1 to ⌥⌘6

Strikethrough, Highlight, Clear Formatting, Style → Paragraph, the Lists submenu, Quote and Code Block are in the Format menu without keys. Link with nothing selected asks for the text and the address.

Window and Help menus

CommandKeys
Ask Your Vault⇧⌘A
Header Help (opens this guide)⇧⌘/
Keyboard Shortcuts⌘/

The Window menu also lists Quick Capture, Voice Capture, Jump to Note and Today with your current global shortcut in brackets, and Show Main Window.

Keys inside the editor

While the cursor is in a note
KeysWhat happens
↩On a list or checklist line, starts the next item.
⇥ / ⇧⇥Indents or outdents a list item or checklist task.
⌘⌥→ / ⌘⌥←Also indents or outdents a list item.
⌘⌥↑ / ⌘⌥↓Moves a checklist task, with its subtasks, up or down.
⇧⌘JSorts the selected lines alphabetically.
⌘↑Jumps to the top of the note.
⌘YRedo, as well as ⇧⌘Z.
/Opens the insert menu. Arrow keys or ⇥ move, ↩ inserts, esc closes.
[[Suggests notes to link. ↑ ↓ move, ↩ picks one, esc closes.
Try this In a packing list for "Lisbon trip", select five unsorted lines and press ⇧⌘J. Then put the cursor on a task and press ⌘⌥↑ to move it, subtasks and all, above the one before it.

The command palette

⌘K anywhere in Header

Press ⌘K and start typing. The box says "Run a command or jump to a note…", and it matches letters in order, so lbt finds "Lisbon trip". Use ↑ and ↓ to move through the results, ↩ to open the highlighted one and esc to close. More in Finding & connecting notes.

In specific places

WhereKeysWhat happens
Quick Capture, Voice Capture, Save a Link⌘↩Captures, finishes the dictation, or saves the clip.
Minutes, while recording⌥D ⌥A ⌥BMarks a Decision, an Action or a Bookmark at this moment.
Editor toolbar, when wide enough to show the Review button⌥⌘RReview with Header.
Vault Graph⌃⌘FMakes the graph full screen.
Reading Room, with a document open⌘F, ⌘G, ⇧⌘GFind in the document, next match, previous match.
A separate editor window⌘N, ⇧⌘[, ⇧⌘]New tab, previous tab, next tab.

You can change the six global shortcuts. The menu shortcuts are fixed in Header.