minNotes

The canvas: pages, a video, a PDF and ink on one surface

minNotes is a fast notes editor for macOS and Windows built around a canvas. A file is an infinite canvas; pages sit on it as cards beside videos, PDFs, images, audio, folders, files and links, and you can draw anywhere. Each page is a block editor with Markdown-style input. Files are plain SQLite (.mnd) you can keep anywhere — local disk, a network share, Dropbox, LucidLink — and open on either platform without the file-locking trouble shared storage usually brings.

Key Features

The Canvas

  • Any number of pages per file, laid out however you like; double-click a page to open it
  • Drop anything: video, PDF, images, audio, folders, files, links, other minNotes files, Evernote and Notion exports — each becomes a card
  • Video plays in place with the full transport keys; PDFs page in place; images open in a lightbox in exports
  • Pen, shapes, arrows and text chips with live colour and width; select, move, duplicate, reorder; one undo per surface

Writing

  • Block editor — paragraphs, headings 1–6, quotes, syntax-highlighted code, bullet / numbered / task / choice lists, dividers
  • Markdown-style input: type ## , - , > , ` ``` ` and the block converts as you go
  • Inline formatting with text colour and highlight, links, and inline choice chips (To do / Doing / Done anywhere in text)
  • Spelling and grammar checking as you type — on-device, US and UK English both accepted
  • Pages are the width of the window, with an optional readable measure
  • Blocks side by side: drag any block next to another to make lanes
  • A block rail down the right side — drag a block’s handle to reorder
  • Full undo history: the page’s timeline, click to time-travel
  • Search the whole file: pages, cards, PDF text, video notes

Tables

  • Cells hold blocks — text, formatting, images, video; choice, checkmark, and timecode columns
  • Grip-select rows, columns, or cell ranges for bulk operations — delete, clear, colour, retype, copy-as-table — each a single undo
  • Sort, drag-reorder columns, a tab per table with a row filter
  • One-click kanban board view grouped by any choice or check column

Media & Review

  • Inline images, video (scrub, skim audio, annotate — interchangeable with QCView), page-by-page PDFs, file attachments
  • Local files copy into the file’s media folder automatically; network shares stay referenced in place, with cross-OS path mapping

Files

  • Import: Markdown, text, CSV/TSV, HTML, Word, Excel, OpenDocument, source code, RTF (macOS), Evernote, Notion
  • Export a page as Markdown + assets, a self-contained HTML page, Word, or print-ready PDF; export the whole canvas as an HTML canvas you can pan and zoom, or a PNG poster
  • Sealed .mnpkg packages — one file with every referenced asset inside, video plays straight from the archive

Get Going

  1. Download the latest .dmg from the releases page (macOS) or get minNotes from the Microsoft Store (Windows) — see Installation.
  2. Open or create a file, then start with Files & Pages, the Canvas tour and the Editing primer.
  3. Keep the Keyboard shortcuts close.

minNotes is free software, licensed GPL-3.0-or-later. Third-party components and their licenses are listed under Licenses & Credits. It runs entirely on your machine — see Privacy.

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