Heynote is a dedicated scratchpad for developers. It functions as a large persistent text buffer where you can write down anything you like. Works great for that Slack message you don't want to accidentally send, a JSON response from an API you're working with, notes from a meeting, your daily to-do list, etc.
The Heynote buffer is divided into blocks, and each block can have its own Language set (e.g. JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, etc.). This gives you syntax highlighting and lets you auto-format that JSON response.
Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Persistent text buffer
Block-based
Syntax highlighting:
C++, C#, Clojure, CSS, Elixir, Erlang, Dart, Go, Groovy, HTML, Java, JavaScript, JSX, Kotlin, TypeScript, TOML, TSX, JSON, Lezer, Markdown, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, Scala, Shell, SQL, Swift, Vue, XML, YAML
Language auto-detection
Auto-formatting
Math/Calculator mode
Currency conversion
Multi-cursor editing
Dark & Light themes
Option to set a global hotkey to show/hide the app
Default or Emacs-like key bindings
On Mac
⌘ + Enter Add new block below the current block
⌥ + Enter Add new block before the current block
⌘ + Shift + Enter Add new block at the end of the buffer
⌥ + Shift + Enter Add new block at the start of the buffer
⌘ + ⌥ + Enter Split the current block at cursor position
⌘ + L Change block language
⌘ + N Create a new note buffer
⌘ + S Move the current block to another (or new) buffer
⌘ + P Open note selector
⌘ + Down Goto next block
⌘ + Up Goto previous block
⌘ + A Select all text in a note block. Press again to select the whole buffer
⌘ + ⌥ + Up/Down Add additional cursor above/below
⌥ + Shift + F Format block content (works for JSON, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Markdown)
On Windows and Linux
Ctrl + Enter Add new block below the current block
Alt + Enter Add new block before the current block
Ctrl + Shift + Enter Add new block at the end of the buffer
Alt + Shift + Enter Add new block at the start of the buffer
Ctrl + Alt + Enter Split the current block at cursor position
Ctrl + L Change block language
Ctrl + N Create a new note buffer
Ctrl + S Move the current block to another (or new) buffer
Ctrl + P Open note selector
Ctrl + Down Goto next block
Ctrl + Up Goto previous block
Ctrl + A Select all text in a note block. Press again to select the whole buffer
Ctrl + Alt + Up/Down Add additional cursor above/below
Alt + Shift + F Format block content (works for JSON, JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Markdown)
Alt Show menu
Download the appropriate (Mac, Windows or Linux) version from heynote.com. The Windows build is not signed, so you might see some scary warning (I can not justify paying a yearly fee for a certificate just to get rid of that).
If installing Heynote on Linux in ChromeOS, see the notes below about some packages that are needed.
On macOS, Homebrew users can utilize an unofficial Homebrew Cask: brew install --cask heynote
Heynote's Math blocks are powered by Math.js expressions. Checkout their documentation to see what syntax, functions, and constants are available.
The variable prev can be used to access the previous result. For example:
128
prev * 2 # 256
You can define a custom format function within the Math block like this:
_format = format # store reference to the built in format
format(x) = _format(x, {notation:"exponential"})
You can also do something like this to show the number with your default locale or provide a custom one:
format(x) = x.toLocaleString();
format(x) = x.toLocaleString('en-GB');
See the Math.js format() function for more info on what's supported.
The notes library is a directory (with sub dirs) on the disk with a .txt file for each buffer. It's created the first time you start Heynote, with the default buffer file scratch.txt in it. The default location for the library is:
~/Library/Application Support/Heynote/notes/
%APPDATA%\Heynote\notes\
~/.config/Heynote/notes/
You can change the path of the notes library in the settings. Heynote expects reasonably fast disk access to the notes library, so it's not recommended to use a network drive, though file syncing services like Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. should work (see below).
Heynote is built to support synchronizing the notes library (or buffer file in the case of Heynote 1.x) through file-syncing services like Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. However, note that the synchronization logic is quite simple, so editing the same buffer on two different machines at the same time might lead to conflicts and unexpected results.
When using a file synching service that support "offloading" of files in the cloud (removing them from the disk), it's recommended to mark the notes library as "always available offline".
As always, backup things that are important.
It's been reported (#48) that ChromeOS's Debian VM need the following packages installed to run the Heynote AppImage:
libfuse2
libnss3
libnspr4
Due to an issue in Electron, the global hotkey will not work in all applications running under Wayland. In KDE it is possible to work around this limitation by adding this Kwin script:
function toggleHeynote() {
var client = workspace.clientList().find((c) => c.resourceClass.toLowerCase() === 'heynote');
if (client) {
if (client.minimized) {
client.minimized = false;
workspace.activeClient = client;
} else {
if (workspace.activeClient == client) {
client.minimized = true;
} else {
workspace.activeClient = client;
}
}
}
}
registerShortcut('toggleHeynote', 'Toggle Heynote', 'Ctrl+Shift+H', toggleHeynote);See the KWin scripting tutorial for instructions on how to install the script.
Remember to enable the script in the KDE System Settings. It may also be necessary to go into the KDE System Settings and bind the "Toggle Heynote" key manually.