The Main Window

Now we'll move to the main window — the one window that holds everything. This chapter is a tour: what each region is for, every button in the toolbar, every menu in the menu bar, and the small book icon that lives in the Mac's own menu bar. Later chapters go deep into each part; here you learn where things are.

The three regions

The window title reads CocoaNotes while the Library or the Write with AI page is showing, or while no note is selected; otherwise it shows the title of the open note. The window can shrink to 420 by 400 points; below a certain width the panes fold away and only the page remains.

The toolbar

The toolbar ① runs across the top. Its buttons sit at the right, left to right:

• Library (a 2×2 grid icon). Click it to show the Library in the detail area. While the Library is showing, the same button reads Editor (a document icon) and takes you back to the open note. Shortcut ⌥⌘0. Hover it to see "Library" and the shortcut.
• Keyboard Shortcuts (a keyboard icon). Opens the shortcuts reference sheet — every shortcut in the app in one filterable list. Shortcut ⌘/.
• Help (a question mark in a circle). A menu with two items: Take the Tour, the guided walk through this window (⌃⌥⌘/), and User Guide, this manual in its own window (⌃⌘/).
• Write with AI (a sparkles icon). Opens the page of copy-ready prompts for AI assistants (chapter 11). Press it again to return to where you were. Shortcut ⌃⌘W.
• Show Outline (an indented-list icon). Present only while a note is on screen. Shows or hides the column of headings beside the page. Shortcut ⌃⌘O.
• Show Inspector (a sidebar-on-the-right icon). Present only while a note is on screen. Shows or hides the inspector pane on the far right. Shortcut ⌥⌘I.

The sidebar

The sidebar ② is your list of folders and notes. From the top down:

• The search field (a magnifying-glass field whose placeholder reads "Search all notebooks"). Type here to search every note; chapter 10 covers it.
• The scope pill under the field — a small capsule that reads All Notebooks with a books icon, or a folder's name when a search is limited to one folder.
• The folder tree: each folder is a row with its colored icon and a disclosure chevron; the notes inside it are indented beneath. The number at the right of a folder row is how many notes it holds. Hover a folder row and the number becomes a + — click it to make a new note in that folder.
• Sections that appear only when they have something to show: Not in a Folder, Saved Searches, Conflicts, Archived, Recently Deleted.
• The bottom bar: a + button (a menu with New Note ⌘N and New Folder ⌥⌘N) and a trash button that moves the selected notes to the Trash.

Show or hide the whole sidebar with View › Show Sidebar / Hide Sidebar, shortcut ⌃⌘S, or the system sidebar button at the left of the toolbar. Chapter 12 explains the sidebar in depth.

The detail area

The detail area ③ shows one of four things:

• The Library — folders and notes as tiles (chapter 3).
• Collections — everything you have marked, by pen and by kind (chapter 8). It opens from a pen tile inside a folder in the Library.
• Write with AI — prompts to copy (chapter 11).
• A note — the editor, with its own header bar, format bar and status bar (chapters 4 and 5).

When a folder is open but no note is selected and the Library is hidden, the area reads Select a Notebook — Pick one from the sidebar to start writing. When two or more notes are selected in the sidebar, it reads N Notebooks Selected — Choose what to do with all of them. with a Move to Folder menu (listing Not in a Folder and every folder) and a red Move to Trash button.

The menu bar, menu by menu

Every command in Cocoa is in the menu bar, with its shortcut beside it. Here is what each menu holds.

File

Edit

The standard Undo, Cut, Copy and Paste, plus line commands: Duplicate Line ⌘D, Delete Line ⌃⌘K, Move Line Up ⌃⌘↑, Move Line Down ⌃⌘↓.

Format

Bold ⌘B, Italic ⌘I, Strikethrough ⇧⌘X; a Heading submenu (Heading 1–6 ⌃⌘1 to ⌃⌘6, and Body Text ⌃⌘0); a List submenu (Bulleted List ⇧⌘L, Numbered List ⇧⌘O, Checklist ⇧⌘U, Indent ⌘], Outdent ⌘[, Toggle Task ⌥⌘T); Insert Image…; Insert Link… ⌘K; Link to a File…; Open Linked File ⌥⌘L; Remove Link; Clear Formatting ⌃⌘\. Chapter 5 explains each.

Marks

Highlighter ⌃⌘H toggles highlighter mode; then one item per pen of the current folder, ⌃1 to ⌃9 in pen order; Remove Mark ⌃0; Dog-Ear Page ⌥⌘B; Study… ⌃⌘Y. Chapters 6 and 9.

View

Show or hide each part of the window: Library ⌥⌘0, Sidebar ⌃⌘S, Outline ⌃⌘O, Inspector ⌥⌘I, Files ⌥⌘P, Format Bar ⇧⌘B, Status Bar ⌥⌘/, Page Thumbnails ⌃⌘P. Then Enter Full Screen ⌃⌘F, Focus Mode ⇧⌘D and Typewriter Mode ⌃⇧⌘T (both are checkmark toggles), the page modes Continuous ⌘1 and One Page ⌘2, the Library's As a Table / As a Grid ⌘3, zoom (Zoom In ⌘+, Zoom Out ⌘-, Actual Size ⌘0, Fit Width ⌘9, Fit Page ⌘8), Next Page ⌥⌘↓ and Previous Page ⌥⌘↑, and Command Palette… ⇧⌘P.

Find

Find… ⌘F, Find Next ⌘G, Find Previous ⇧⌘G and Find and Replace… ⌥⌘F work inside the open note. Search All Notebooks… ⇧⌘F puts the cursor in the sidebar's search field. Replace in All Notes… rewrites text across every note (chapter 10).

Navigate

Next Page ⌥⌘↓, Previous Page ⌥⌘↑, Go to Page… ⌥⌘G, Insert Page Break ⌘↩, Next Notebook ⌥⌘→, Previous Notebook ⌥⌘←, Open Quickly… ⌘O.

Window

The usual window items plus Float on Top ⇧⌘T, which keeps a notebook window above other apps — handy beside a lecture video.

Help

Take the Tour ⌃⌥⌘/, User Guide ⌃⌘/ (this manual), Keyboard Shortcuts ⌘/, Word Count ⇧⌘I, Version History… ⇧⌘H, Write with AI…, Rebuild Index, and Copy Formatting Diagnostics.

The book icon in the Mac menu bar

Cocoa also puts a small closed-book icon in the macOS menu bar at the top of your screen. Click it to open a small window with:

• A Search notes field at the top; below it, under the caption Recent, your most recent notes. Type to filter; No matches appears when nothing fits.
• New Note — makes a note and brings the app forward.
• Open Cocoa — brings the main window forward.
• Quit.

This works even when the main window is closed, and in "menu bar only" mode (chapter 14).

A note in its own window

Select a note and choose File › Open in New Window (⇧⌘↩). The note opens alone — no sidebar, outline or toolbar — sized to sit beside a slide deck or a browser. Native macOS window tabs work, so you can tab several notebook windows together. If the note is later deleted, that window reads Notebook Not Found.

A narrow window

Drag the window narrower and the sidebar, outline, inspector, page rail and files panel fold away so only the page remains. Widen it again and the panes you had open come back. If you use Reduce Motion in System Settings, Cocoa's animations follow it.

Walking through it with Maya

Maya opens the app, sees the Library, and presses ⌥⌘0: the detail area switches to her open note and the toolbar button now reads Editor. She presses ⌃⌘O and a column of headings appears beside the page; ⌥⌘I adds the inspector on the right. She presses both again to put them away, then ⇧⌘P and types "acc" to jump to her Accounting folder.

Summary

• One window: toolbar, sidebar, detail area.
• Toolbar buttons: Library/Editor, Keyboard Shortcuts, Help (?) with Take the Tour and User Guide, Write with AI, and — with a note open — Show Outline and Show Inspector.
• Every command is in the menu bar with its shortcut; the command palette (⇧⌘P) finds them all.
• The book icon in the Mac menu bar reaches your notes from anywhere.

Common mistakes

• Looking for the Outline or Inspector buttons on the Library page — they only appear while a note is showing.
• Expecting Collections in the toolbar — it opens from a pen tile inside a folder in the Library (chapter 8).
• Hiding the sidebar with ⌃⌘S and forgetting how to get it back — press ⌃⌘S again.

Best practices

• Learn ⌥⌘0 (Library), ⇧⌘P (palette) and ⌘O (Open Quickly) first; they replace most clicking.
• Use Open in New Window for a note you are reading while you type into another.

Keyboard shortcuts used

Related features to learn next

• Chapter 3, The Library.
• Chapter 10, Search and Getting Around Fast — the palette and Open Quickly in depth.
• Chapter 14, Settings and Customization — every View toggle and mode.