A notepad that stays in your browser
This online notepad is a plain text box for quick notes: a phone number from a call, a shopping list, a draft for an email, a list of ideas. There is no account and nothing to install. The word count, character count and line count update as you type, and you can keep up to 20 notes side by side as tabs. Each tab is named after the first line of its note, so a heading on the first line makes notes easy to tell apart.
Everything happens in your browser. Typing, counting, searching, downloading and printing do not send your text anywhere. Saving is off when you first open the page: your notes exist only in the open page until you decide to keep them.
How saving on this device works
Turn on Save on this device and every change is stored a moment after you stop typing, in the browser's local storage for this site. The status line under the text box shows when the notes were last saved. Open the page again later in the same browser and your notes are back, with the text size and font you chose.
Local storage is simple and private, but it is not a backup. Here is what the MDN Web Docs reference says about it:
- No expiry, but not forever. Saved data has no expiration time and stays across browser sessions. It is deleted when you delete the site's data in your browser settings, for example by clearing your browsing data.
- Private windows forget. In a private or incognito window, local storage is cleared when the last private tab is closed.
- Safari may delete it. With cross-site tracking prevention on, Safari deletes data that scripts stored for a site you have not interacted with in the last seven days of browser use, according to MDN's page on storage quotas and eviction.
- Limited space. The same page says browsers can store up to 5 MiB of local storage per origin, which here means per website. Several very long notes can fill that; the status line tells you if a save failed.
- One browser only. Notes saved in Chrome on your laptop are not in Safari on your phone. Use download and Open file to move them.
To remove saved notes, press Delete saved notes or turn the switch off. Both delete the stored copy at once and keep the notes on the screen, so you can still download them. If you try to leave the page with saving off and text in a note, the browser asks first. On phones that warning is not reliable, for example when you close the browser from the app switcher, so download or save anything you need.
Download, open and print
The two download buttons save the current note as a file. A .txt file is plain text that every computer and phone can open. A .md file holds the same text with the ending for Markdown, the simple format where # starts a heading and - starts a list item; use it for notes you will open in a Markdown app, or write with a live preview in the Markdown editor. The file name comes from the first line of the note.
Open file reads a text file from your device into a new note, so you can continue a note you downloaded earlier or edit a .txt, .md, .csv or .log file. The file is read by your browser and never uploaded. Print prints only the note, in the font you picked, without the rest of the page.
Writing without distractions
Focus mode fills the screen with the text box and hides the rest of the page; press Escape or the Focus mode button to return. Pick a text size that is comfortable to read, and switch on Monospace for lists, code or anything where columns should line up. Find searches the current note, shows how many matches there are and jumps from one to the next; switch on Match case to tell "May" from "may". Press Ctrl+S, or Cmd+S on a Mac, to save right away when saving is on.
The counts use the same rules as the word counter, which also shows sentences, reading time and readability. For limits that count every character, such as a social post, the character counter has more detail.
How to use the online notepad
- 1Click into the text box and start typing, or press Open file to load a text file.
- 2Turn on Save on this device if you want the notes to be there next time you open this page in this browser.
- 3Press New note for another tab. Use Find to search a note and the size and font options to make it comfortable to read.
- 4Download the note as .txt or .md, print it or copy it when you are done.
Frequently asked questions
Are my notes saved?
Only if you turn on "Save on this device". Then every change is saved in this browser's local storage on this device, and the notes are back when you open the page again. With the switch off, notes live in the open page only and are gone when you close or reload it.
Can anyone else read my notes?
The notepad sends nothing to a server: typing, counting, searching, downloading and printing all happen in your browser. Saved notes sit in this browser's storage for this site, where anyone who uses the same browser profile on this device could open them. Do not keep passwords or other secrets here.
How long do saved notes last?
Local storage has no expiry date, but the notes are deleted when you clear this site's data or your browsing data. In a private or incognito window they are deleted when the last private tab closes. Safari, with cross-site tracking prevention on, deletes data that scripts stored for a site you have not used for seven days of browsing. Download anything you want to keep.
How do I move notes to another device?
Download the note as a .txt or .md file, send or copy the file to the other device, and open it there with Open file. Saved notes stay in one browser on one device; they do not sync.
Should I download as .txt or .md?
The text is the same, only the file ending differs. Use .txt for plain notes that any program should open. Use .md when you write Markdown, with # headings and - lists, so editors that understand Markdown show it formatted. To see the formatting while you write, use the Markdown editor.
How are words and characters counted?
Words are counted with the same rules as the word counter: a contraction like "don't" or a hyphenated word like "well-known" is one word, and so is a web address. Characters are counted the way you see them, so an emoji with a skin tone counts once. Lines include empty lines.