Notel Basics

Make a note, give it a color, and learn the three controls on every note.

Getting started Updated 31 July 2026

Notel keeps your notes as real windows on your desktop.

Make a note

Click the Notel icon in your menu bar or right-click the Dock icon and choose New Note, or press ⌘N (⌥⌘N works from any app). A fresh note appears, ready to type in.

The title bar

Out of the box every note’s title bar carries the same three controls (Settings can change what appears here):

• Close (top left or right)

  closes the note. Closing is not deleting, and the note stays in your Library. The one exception is a note that is completely empty (no title, no text, no objects, no reminders): Notel throws that one away rather than filling your Library with blanks.

• Title (top center): double-click it to name the note. Named notes are much easier to find later.

• Settings gear (opposite the close button)

  opens the note’s settings panel. Color, font, and opacity live there, along with renaming, window behavior, locking, filing, attachment storage, export, and deletion.

The hover rail

Move your cursor over a note’s title bar and three small buttons pop out from behind the note’s edge:

• Collapse

  tucks the note into a bubble in the Spring, at the bottom left of your screen unless you have moved the Spring to the other corner. Click the bubble to open the note again, or drag it somewhere that suits you better. With the Spring switched off, this button peeks the note instead.

• Folder

  files the note into one of your folders.

• Library

  opens the Library.

These belong to loose notes. Stacked notes show the stack’s own controls instead.

Give it a color

Open the settings gear and pick one of the classic colors, or open the custom well at the end of the row and flip that picker to Themes for the full collection. Each note remembers its own look.

Where did my note go?

Closing a note does not delete it. Open the Fan from the menu bar or with ⌥F to flip through every note, or open the Library for the full overview. Click any card to bring that note back to your desktop.

The menu bar lists all favorites plus your eight most recent non-favorites. The Dock menu is deliberately shorter: up to four notes, with favorites first and recent notes filling any remaining places.

For the terms Notel uses throughout its menus, see the Notel Dictionary.