Online notepad

An online notepad that is ready when the page opens

This online notepad is a large blank page in your browser. You open it, you type, and it is saved: every keystroke is stored on your device, and “Saved at” followed by the time confirms it under the text. Next time you visit, your notes are where you left them. There is no account and nothing to install.

Use it to jot down an idea or a phone number during a call, keep a shopping list, draft a message before you send it, or take notes in a meeting or a lecture. It also does one quiet job well: paste in text copied from a web page or a document and it loses its colours, fonts and links.

How to use the notepad

1. Type in the large box. The first non-empty line becomes the note's title in the “My notes” list; a note with no text is called “Untitled”.
2. Click “New note” to start another one. The notepad keeps up to 50 notes, listed from the most recently edited.
3. Type a word in “Search notes”: the list only shows the notes that contain it, ignoring capitals and accents.
4. The counter under the text shows words and characters. For example, “Call the plumber at 9 am, flat 4B” is 8 words and 33 characters, spaces included.
5. “Copy all” puts the note on the clipboard, “Print” sends only the note to the printer, and “Full screen” hides everything else. “Delete note” asks you to confirm first.
6. Set it up the way you like to read: “Text size” (three sizes), “Monospaced font”, “Word wrap” and “Browser spell check”. Your choices are remembered.

Ctrl + Z undoes, Ctrl + Y redoes, and Ctrl + S (Cmd + S on a Mac) downloads the note instead of saving the web page.

Where your notes are kept, and what that means

Notes are kept in your browser's local storage, on this device. They are not sent to the site, so nobody else can read them, and neither can we. The consequences are worth knowing:

• notes are not synced: what you write on your laptop will not show up on your phone, or in another browser on the same laptop;
• they disappear if you clear your browsing data or the site's data;
• in a private or incognito window, they are gone when you close it;
• if storage is full or blocked, a red message tells you so: the note stays on screen but is no longer being saved.

Do not keep passwords, PINs or card numbers here: the text is stored unencrypted.

How to make sure you lose nothing

For a note that matters, click “Download as .txt”: you get a file named after the note's title. To back up everything at once, or to move to a new device, “Export all notes (.json)” gathers the lot into a single file. On the other device, “Import a backup (.json)” brings them back. “Import a file” opens a .txt or .md file of up to 1 MB.

Plain text or a word processor?

This notepad writes plain text: letters, numbers and line breaks, nothing more. No bold, no headings, no pictures, no tables. A .txt file opens everywhere, weighs next to nothing and pastes into an email or a web form without upsetting the layout. For a formatted letter, a report or a CV, you need a word processor.

On a shared computer

At the library, at work or on the family computer, the next person who opens this page in the same browser will see your notes. Before you leave, download what you want to keep, then delete each note.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get my notes on my phone?

Not automatically. Export your notes on the computer, send yourself the .json file, then import it on the phone.

I cleared my browser data. Can I get my notes back?

No. The notes only existed in that browser. Only the files you downloaded or exported can bring them back.

How long can a note be?

No limit per note, but a browser only offers a few megabytes for all of them together. A full-length novel fits; beyond that, the warning message appears.

What happens when I import a backup and already have notes?

The notes in the file are added to the ones you have, up to the limit of 50. If a note exists on both sides, the most recently edited version is kept.