Changelog

Here are the most notable changes in each release. For a more detailed list of changes, see the Github Releases page.

2.8.0

Images

Heynote now supports inline images. You can paste images from the clipboard or drag and drop image files.
Images can be selected and resized directly in the editor, and it's quick and easy to put an image back
on the system clipboard.

Drawing on images

Heynote now includes a lightweight drawing tool for adding quick, freehand annotations on top of images.

Other changes

• Add syntax highlighting for Math blocks
• New lines in a Plaintext, Math and SQL blocks now inherits the indentation from the previous line
  (other languages should already have this behaviour for new lines)
• Add support for Mermaid blocks
• Fix issue not being able to record the Enter key when creating custom key bindings

v2.7.2

• Fix issue causing broken status bar on some system locales (#434)

2.7.1

• Fix issue where a folded block would get unfolded when editing an empty block directly below it.

2.7.0

Non backwards-compatible change

Buffers created/saved with this new version of Heynote is not compatible with older versions of Heynote,
so if you're using Heynote on multiple machines, make sure to update to >=2.7 on all machines.

Creation time for blocks

The time of creation is now recorded for blocks, and it's displayed in the status bar. For folded blocks,
it's also displayed in the summary line.

Add new block and scroll down

A new command for adding a new block at the end of the buffer and then scrolling down so that only the new
block is visible has been added. This can be used to create a new block and avoid any distraction from seeing
the other blocks above while writing.

The default key binding for Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Enter has been changed to this new command, but anyone who would
prefer the old behaviour, can add a key binding for the Add new block after last block command.

Other fixes and improvements

• The default key binding for the TAB key is now a new insertIndentation command. This command will insert
  indentation character(s) (spaces or tabs depending on the setting) so that the cursor aligns with the indentation
  columns. Unless there is an active selection, in which case the indentMore command will be executed instead.
  If you want the old behaviour, you can bind the TAB key to indentMore.
• Chinese characters in buffer file names are now converted to ascii using pinyin. This fixes an issue where it
  wasn't possible to create a buffer with only chinese characters it the name.
• Fix issue where the wrong locale was used for formatting dates on MacOS on systems using a locale such as "en-SE"
• Fix issue with folded Math blocks where the results from the first and last line would still be visible
• Always use 2-digit notation for hours when displaying time
• Add setting for configuring the cursor blink rate (or turning off the blinking)
• Add support for Lua blocks
• Add toggleCheckbox command for Markdown todo items (default key binding: Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Space)
• Fix issue when selecting all content of a math block and typing a character
• Fix so that checkboxes in todo lists takes up 4 spaces so that the margin align for multi line list items

2.6.2

• Update to latest version of Electron to fix issue making Heynote unusable on latest version of Mac OS (Tahoe)
• Fix issue that would break Math blocks with a large number of lines (the parser would not start processing
  rows from the beginning of the block)
• Fix issue with not being able to hide window after toggling alwaysOnTop (on Mac)

2.6.1

• Fix crash when no custom key binding had been set

2.6.0

• Add setting for rendering white-space (spaces as dots and tabs as arrows)
• Show key bindings in Command Palette
• When displaying key bindings show shorter version with ⇧, ⌘, ⌥, etc instead of Shift, Cmd, Alt, etc
• Fixed so that tooltips displays new key binding if the default have been overridden

2.5.0

Tabs

You now get a visual representation of open buffers in the form of tabs. The tabs are integrated in the menu bar to take up as little screen real estate as possible, and they can also be turned off - completely or just in fullscreen mode - in the settings.

Spellchecking

It's now possible to turn on/off spellchecking. This can be done by clicking the spellchecking icon in the status bar. There are also heynote commands that can be bound to custom keys to enable/disable/toggle spellchecking.

Other fixes and improvements

• Added a pin icon to the status bar that can be used to toggle the "Always on top" setting (to make the windows float on top of other programs).
• Added toggleAlwaysOnTop command that can be used to bind a key that toggles the "Always on top setting".
• Remember the open buffer(s) between program restarts.
• Fixed so that Alt-clicking on an cursor removes it (if more than one cursor exists).
• Changed the key binding for rectangular selection from Alt+Click to Alt+Shift+Click.
• Fixed issue where the window position wouldn't be properly restored in some cases.
• Updated to latest version of Electron.

2.4.0

Improved search functionality

The new search (and replace) dialog has an improved UI and is now "block aware", meaning that one can choose to search within the current block or across all blocks. The search settings (within the current block, case sensitivity, whole words) also affects the Cmd/Ctrl-D command for selecting the next occurrence of the current selection.

Other fixes and improvements

• Fix issues with todo lists checkboxes in Markdown blocks
• Fix issue with markdown blocks sometimes not being fully folded

2.3.3

• Prevent blocks from unfolding when changing the block language
• Fix issue toggling the fold gutter setting

2.3.2

• Improve folding to be less aggressive with the unfolding (e.g. when creating a new block after a folded block, and then immediately pressing backspace to remove the new block)

2.3.1

• Fix issue with the cursor being a few pixels too short
• Fix issue where one could remove characters within a folded block without it getting unfolded

2.3.0

Improved support for folding blocks

• Fixed an issue where some types of blocks could not be folded.
• The fold state is now stored in the buffer file so that it's persisted between sessions.
• Added three new commands for folding and unfolding blocks:
  • foldBlock - Folds the current/selected block(s). Default key binding is Ctrl-Alt-[ on Windows/Linux and Cmd-Option-[ on Mac.
  • unfoldBlock - Unfolds the current/selected block(s). Default key binding is Ctrl-Alt-] on Windows/Linux and Cmd-Option-] on Mac.
  • toggleFoldBlock - Toggles the fold state of the current/selected block. Default key binding is Ctrl-Alt-. on Windows/Linux and Cmd-Option-. on Mac.
• Folded blocks now display the first 50 characters of the block content, as well as the number of lines in the block.
• Default key bindings for folding code on Mac changed from Cmd-Option-[ and Cmd-Option-] to Cmd-Shift-[ and Cmd-Shift-] (to avoid conflicts with the new block folding commands)

Other features and fixes

• Add document navigation commands (Ctrl+Home/End)
• Fix wrong positioning if IME interface (for Chinese input)
• Prevent editor from loosing focus when line number/fold gutter is clicked

2.2.2

• Fix issue when changing settings after having upgraded to Heynote 2.2 from an earlier version

2.2.1

Bug Fixes

• Fix issue where the second command in the command palette, instead of the first command, was selected when the palette is opened.
• Change name/label of some commands in the command palette, and make commands searchable using their key names as well.
• Fix key bindings for toggleComment and toggleBlockComment commands that were previously working.
• Fix issue with lists in markdown blocks not automatically being continued when pressing enter.

2.2.0

New Features

• Added support for custom key bindings. See the documentation for more info.
• Added a "command palette" that can be accessed by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P, or just typing > in the buffer selector. The command palette allows you to discover all available commands in the app, and to quickly execute them.
• Added support for configuring the tab size, as well as the option to use tabs instead of spaces for indentation.
• Added functionality for moving blocks up and down. Default key bindings are Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift+Up and Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Shift+Down.
• Added functionality for inserting the current date and time. Default key binding is Alt+Shift+D.

Other changes

• Upgraded to latest version of Electron, CodeMirror, Vue, electron-builder and other dependencies.

2.1.4

• Fix issue with positioning and size of todo list checkboxes in Markdown blocks when using a non-default font size, or a non-monospaced font.
• Fix issue when pressing Ctrl/Cmd+A in a text input inside a modal dialog (e.g. the buffer selector). Previously the select all command would be sent to the editor.

2.1.3

• Fix escaping issue in buffer selector (properly this time, hopefully)

2.1.2 (yanked)

• Fix issue where buffer name wasn't properly escaped in buffer selector

2.1.1

• Fix bug on Windows causing sub directories in the note library to not work correctly

2.1.0

New Features

• Added support for moving the current block to another (or new) buffer. Pressing Ctrl/Cmd+S will now pop up a dialog where you can search for and select another buffer to which the block will be moved. It's also possible to select to create a new buffer to which the block will be moved.
• Add right click context menu with undo/redo/cut/copy/paste/select all as well as Delete Block and Move block to another buffer.
• Add File menu item for switching buffer
• When deleting a block, the cursor will now end up at the beginning of the next block, instead of at the end of the previous block.
• Added support for the following languages:
  • Elixir
  • Scala
• PHP blocks no longer requires <?php for syntax highlighting to work

Bug Fixes

• MacOS: Clicking the Heynote icon in the dock when using menu bar mode didn't bring up the window
• Redo from the application menu didn't work

2.0.0

IMPORTANT (breaking change)

The default path of the scratch file has changed. The first time you start the new version of Heynote, your existing buffer file will be migrated to the new note library. If you're using the default buffer location, that means that the existing Scratch buffer file will be moved from %APP_DIR%/buffer.txt to %APP_DIR%/notes/scratch.txt. If you are using a custom buffer location the existing scratch file will be moved from %CUSTOM_DIR%/buffer.txt to %CUSTOM_DIR%/scratch.txt. Before the migration, the existing buffer file will be backed up to %APP_DIR%/buffer.txt.bak or %CUSTOM_DIR%/buffer.txt.bak.

If you are running a previous version of Heynote with the buffer file synchronized across multiple machines using a file synching service such as Dropbox or OneDrive, you should make sure to upgrade all machines to Heynote 2.0 at the same time (closing Heynote before) in order for the file to stay in sync, since the file path for the buffer file has changed.

Support for multiple note buffers.

Apart from the default Scratch buffer, you can now create and switch between multiple note buffers. Ctrl/Cmd+N opens up a dialog for creating a new buffer. By pressing Ctrl/Cmd+S you can create a new note from the current block (the current block will be moved into the new note). New note buffers are saved to the note library which is basically a directory (with sub dirs) on the disk with a .txt file for each buffer. You switch between buffers by pressing Ctrl/Cmd+P.

Other changes

• The file format for the buffer files has been updated to include some JSON metadata at the top of the file.
• The cursor(s) location is saved between sessions.
• Improvements when using a file syncing service (e.g. Dropbox, OneDrive) to sync the note library between machines.
• The setting for changing the color theme is now located in the program settings, instead of in the status bar.
• Improvements to the language selector's search feature (it's now possible to search for languages by their file extension).

1.8.0

• Performance optimizations
• Add default redo cmd that works on all Platforms. Mod+Shift+Z
• Fix bug causing editing to break for empty blocks in some cases
• Add setting for configuring the default block language
• Vue language support
• Dart Syntax
• Fix error on startup for large buffers

1.7.1

• Update to latest version of Electron. Fixes crash on MacOS 15 Developer Preview

1.7.0

• Fix "white flash" effect when resizing window in dark mode
• Add prev variable to Math blocks that holds the previous value
• Add settings button to status bar
• Add version number to settings dialog
• Persist window location when opening the app
• Copy whole current line(s) when selection(s) are empty
• Fix block corruption when deleting block content using deleteLine command
• Add PowerShell and Diff language modes
• "Always on top" setting which makes Heynote stay on top of other programs

1.6.0

• Added support for having Heynote in the Mac Menu Bar / Tray icon
• Ability to specify file system location of Heynote's buffer file. The buffer will automatically be reloaded if changed on disk, so this should make it possible to have the buffer automatically synced between machines using a file-syncing service such as Dropbox.
• Custom font and font size support.
• More key-binding for creating new blocks
• Syntax hightlighting support for new languages:
  • Swift
  • Kotlin
  • Groovy
• Auto-close brackets functionality that can be turned on in settings
• Ability to change how calculations are formatted in Math blocks. See the Docs for info on how to do this.
• There's now a Heynote webapp at app.heynote.com. It's still work-in-progress, but should be usable. The buffer is stored in localStorage.
• Multiple bug fixes and minor improvement.

1.5.0

• Add support for the following languages
  • TypeScript
  • JSX
  • TSX
  • TOML
  • C#
  • Clojure
  • Erlang
  • Golang
  • Lezer
  • Ruby
  • Shell
  • YAML
• Various bug fixes and improvements

1.4.1

• Fixed issue that would sometimes cause auto formatting to freeze the app for long periods.

1.4.0

• Added ability to set a global hotkey for showing/hiding Heynote.