Notepad

How Notepad Works

This notepad holds your scratch notes in a text box, right in your browser -- no account, nothing uploaded anywhere. Each tab is its own separate note; click the + to start a new one. Whatever you type stays there the next time you open this page, on this device and browser, until you deliberately cut or clear it. You can pick a system or Google font, a background and text color, and adjust the text size and line height, add bullet points, emoji, or special characters, wrap or mark up selected text with brackets, quotes, and markdown symbols, and export the current note as a .txt or .md file.

Formula & Method

A character and word count sits below the note box and updates as you type, tracking whichever tab is active. The character count matches how LinkedIn counts characters toward its post limits: each character in the text counts as one, including any multi-character emoji, which count as two or more since they're made of multiple underlying characters -- it's not a count of what looks like a single visual symbol. The word count splits on whitespace and ignores leading, trailing, or repeated spaces. Click the + tab to start a new, empty note; click any tab's name to switch to it, saving your edits in the tab you're leaving first. The × on a tab deletes that note, after you confirm -- there's always at least one tab, so the last one can't be deleted. Every change you make is saved to your browser's local storage a moment after you stop typing, and reloaded automatically the next time you open this page, including which tab was active. "Copy" copies the current tab's note to your clipboard without changing it. "Cut" does the same and then empties that tab's box, the same way cut works in a word processor. "Clear" just empties it without touching your clipboard. Cut and Clear both enable the "Undo" button, which restores exactly what was there before -- a single safety net per tab for its last cut or clear, not a full history, so it covers one step back, and switching tabs doesn't use up or clear that slot. "Export .txt" and "Export .md" download the current tab's note as a file with that extension, in UTF-8 -- the content is identical either way, only the file extension and name differ, so which one to use just depends on what you're opening it with next. The Font, Background, Text Color, and size/line-height controls apply to every tab, not just the current one, and change only how the note looks, not its content. The Encoding dropdown doesn't affect the exported file either -- it just records which character set you intend the note to be in, as a preference alongside the others. For bullets and symbols: click Emoji or Char to choose one from the picker, then either click Insert to place it at your cursor (repeatable), or select one or more lines in the note and click Apply Bullet to put that emoji or character at the start of each selected line, replacing any bullet that was already there. The { }, [ ], ( ), " ", **, *, `, and ~~ buttons wrap whatever text you have selected in that pair of characters; the #, -, and > buttons instead prefix every line in your selection, for markdown headings, bullet lists, and blockquotes. All of these choices -- every tab's notes, the font, the colors, the size, the line height, the encoding, and the note area's own width and height if you've dragged its resize handle -- are saved to local storage so they're all still there next time you open this page. "Reset Defaults" puts the font, colors, size, line height, encoding, and note-area size back to how they started, without touching any tab's note text.

Worked Example

You paste a paragraph of text into the note to hold onto it, then later click Cut to move it into another document -- it lands on your clipboard ready to paste, and the note box is empty. If you click Cut or Clear by mistake, Undo brings the text straight back. To turn a few lines into a checklist, select them, click Char, choose ✓, then click Apply Bullet -- each selected line now starts with "✓ ". To bold a word, select it and click the ** button -- it becomes **word**. To save the note as a file you can open elsewhere, click "Export .md" if you've used the markdown buttons and want that formatting recognized, or "Export .txt" for plain text.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is my note stored?

Only in your browser's local storage on this device -- it is never sent to a server. Clearing your browser's site data, or opening the page in a different browser or device, will not show the same note.

Will I lose my note if I close the tab or restart my browser?

No -- the note is saved automatically as you type and reloaded the next time you visit this page in the same browser, unless you click Cut or Clear.

What's the difference between Copy, Cut, and Clear?

Copy puts the note on your clipboard and leaves it in place. Cut does the same but then empties the box. Clear just empties the box without touching your clipboard.

How far back does Undo go?

One step -- it restores whatever the note held right before your most recent Cut or Clear. It is not a full undo history, so it cannot go back further than that.

Do my font, color, size, and line-height choices get saved too?

Yes -- like the note itself, they're saved to this browser's local storage as soon as you change them, so you won't need to set them again the next time you open this page here. If you drag the note area's resize handle to make it wider, narrower, taller, or shorter, that size is saved the same way.

How do I make a bulleted list?

Choose an emoji or character with the Emoji or Char button, select the lines you want bulleted in the note, then click Apply Bullet. It strips any bullet those lines already had and starts each one with your chosen emoji or character instead.

What do the {}, [], (), "", **, *, `, and ~~ buttons do?

Each one wraps your current text selection in that pair of characters -- for example selecting a word and clicking ** turns it into **word**, matching markdown bold. They need a selection to work on, same as Apply Bullet.

What do the #, -, and > buttons do?

They add markdown syntax to the start of every line in your selection: # for a heading, - for a bullet list item, and > for a blockquote. Select one or more lines first, then click the button.

What's the difference between Export .txt and Export .md?

Only the filename's extension and the download's file type -- the text inside is exactly the same either way. Pick .md if the note contains markdown syntax (from the bullet/heading/bold buttons, for example) and you want an app that understands markdown to recognize it; pick .txt otherwise.

What does the Encoding dropdown actually do?

It doesn't affect the exported file -- both Export buttons always write UTF-8, which is correct for any text. The dropdown just records your intended character set as a preference alongside your other choices, in case a use for it comes up later.

What does Reset Defaults do?

It puts the font, background and text color, size, line height, encoding, and the note area's width/height back to their original defaults. It does not clear or change your note text -- use Clear for that.

How are the character and word counts calculated?

The character count uses the same method LinkedIn uses to count characters toward its post limits: every character counts as one, so an emoji built from multiple underlying characters -- most of them are -- counts as more than one even though it looks like a single symbol. The word count splits the note on whitespace, so runs of spaces, tabs, or line breaks between words don't inflate the total.

How do tabs work?

Each tab is a completely separate note with its own text and its own Undo. Click + to add a new, empty tab; click a tab's name to switch to it; click its × to delete it (you'll be asked to confirm, since this can't be undone). There's always at least one tab open, so the × is disabled when only one remains. Font, colors, size, and line height are shared across every tab.