Simple, keyboard-first, markdown note-taking for MacOS

New Features

This release expands your ability to add context to new notes with the following new directives:

1. ID – Automatically fill in an auto-incrementing integer ID using %ID%
2. UUID – Automatically fill in an auto-generating UUID using %UUID%
3. Zettelkasten ID – Automatically fill in a 'yyyyMMddHHmm'-formatted striung using %ZKID%

New Features: Installing QuickDown just got easier!

1. Get QuickDown 2.2 for macOS
2. Open the .dmg and drag QuickDown.app into your Applications folder
3. Launch QuickDown.app

Create better notes faster with a custom markdown template without having to leave your keyboard

Pre-fill your template with directives for:

• Your cursor position (%CURSOR%)
• Today's date and time (%DATETIME%)
• Just today's date (%DATE%)
• Just the time (%TIME%)
• Your clipboard content (%CLIPBOARD%)

Insert directives in your template

Live replacement on new note

Changes

• Fixes cursor-position bug when directives appear before %CURSOR%

Create better notes faster with a custom markdown template without having leave your keyboard with directives for:

• Your cursor position (%CURSOR%)
• Today's date and time (%DATETIME%)
• Just today's date (%DATE%)
• Just the time (%TIME%)
• Your clipboard content (%CLIPBOARD%)

Insert directives in your template

Live replacement on new note

New Features

Markdown Template WITH Custom Cursor Placement

• Super useful when you want to have a solid boilerplate for all your notes but STILL want to start writing right away
• You can now create complex Markdown templates and still place your cursor exactly where you want to start writing
• Simply use %CURSOR% to tell QuickDown where to place your cursor on focus:

Improvements

• Simpler, tabbed settings panel

Full Changelog: https://github.com/akaalias/quickdown/compare/v1.6...v1.7

Another release to test how the application icon and hotkey stay where they are (and not get gobbled up by garbage-collection and thus disappear)

If you're experiencing the same as me – The menu bar icon randomly disappearing – thank you for your patience! I have the same issue and hope to figure it out very soon.

Please update to this version (1.6) whenever you can. Thanks!

New Features

• Avoid accidentally quitting with a Command-Quit override
• Save time on new notes with a default Markdown Template
• See current version number
• Say hi

Fixes

Fixes silent quitting

• Due to how the popover is presented and kept up-top, I accidentally quit the app without intention
• This overrides the Command-Quit action and hopefully (I have to test this with this signed, notarized and downloaded version myself)

QuickDown: Keyboard-first, local markdown note-taking for MacOS

Features

• Global Hotkey: ⌘-⌥-N
• Save Markdown Note: ⌘-S

Utilities

• Dismiss Popover: Esc
• Open Markdown Note: ⌘-O

Install QuickDown (MacOS/Arm64)

• Download latest release (QuickDown.zip) from releases
• Unzip and drag QuickDown.app to your /Applications folder
• Open QuickDown.app

Optional: Launch on Login

If you like having QuickDown around after logins, click on the gear bottom-right and check "Launch on Login"

Add to Login Items

Important – With the officially Apple-signed app from the .zip:

For some reason I also had to manually add the application to my Login Items for it to work.

• Open System Preferences
• Users & Groups >
• Login Items > Add (+) > Select /Applications/QuickDown.app

Background

As an avid Obsidian user and constant pen-paper note-taker, I often want to take a quick markdown note while working

• without having to keep Obsidian running in the background
• without having to switch to Obsidian to write
• without having to leave my keyboard

To me, I want to "catch" notes all the time, while I want to connect and remix them in Obsidian only at specific moments.

None of the existing note-taking menu bar apps had what I needed. So I made my own that fits my needs perfectly.

1. A single global hotkey ⌘-⌥-N opens the note popover
2. A simple ⌘-S saves the note into my Obsidian vault
3. A simple Esc dismisses the popover

Just a way to jot down a markdown note.

Nothing more, nothing less.