What’s changed

Used Varlig for a while? Some commands are new, a few do more than they did, one has a new name, and some shortcuts are new. Nothing in your notes changes; this page says what to expect. For everything in this release, including Varlig on iPhone and iPad, see What’s new in Varlig 0.0.1.

Commands that work differently

Command	What’s different
File › Save (⌘S)	Works for library notes too. They still save as you type; ⌘S writes anything waiting, or that failed, at once and shows Saved on this Mac. See Saving.
Note › Set Writing Target…	Was Set Word Target…. A target can now count characters instead of words, and existing word targets stay as they are. See Word count and targets.
Manage Tag…, renaming	Renaming a tag to a name that’s already a tag merges the two, so it now asks first. See Retag many notes at once.
Manage Tags…	Lists Recently added tags from the last 7, 30 or 90 days. See Recently added tags.
Paste	A paste that adds tags your library didn’t have shows a notice naming them, with Keep and Make Literal. See New tags from a paste.
Show scratchpad	Has a shortcut that works from any app out of the box: ⌃Space. See below.
View › Toggle Statistics	Detached comments have moved to the new Comments tab, View › Toggle Comments. See When the text is deleted.
Copy and Paste of calc lines	`line2` and `↑` references go on reading the lines they read before. See Copy and paste keeps references.
Number format	Lists languages and regions, such as English (United States), instead of North America, Western Europe and Eastern Europe. A format you chose before shows as the one it used. See Settings.
The sidebar	Opens with tiles for Notes, Today, Pinned, Todo, Journal and Reminders, each with its count; your tags follow, tinted, and the other places are rows below them. All Notes is the Notes tile. See The sidebar.
The note list	Sorted by a date, it’s grouped under headings such as Today and Previous 7 Days; clear Group by Date to go back to one list. See Date headings and the gallery.
Settings	Laid out like System Settings, with Search settings, a card showing iCloud sync, and panes in groups. Themes are a gallery you can search. See Settings.
Settings › Sync & Backup › iCloud	Sync notes with iCloud now syncs with your iPhone, iPad and other Macs. See iCloud sync and shared notes.
Answer formats in Markdown files	A line’s answer format in a file you edit in place is kept with the file, instead of lasting only while the window is open. See Answer formats stay with the file.

New commands

Command	Where	What it does
Check Library…	File	Finds missing, empty and unused attachment files and broken links, and repairs what it safely can after saving a copy of the library. See Check the library.
Insert Table of Contents, Update Table of Contents	Format	Writes a list of links to the note’s headings into the note, and rewrites it when you ask. See A table of contents in the note.
Extract Text…	A PDF or picture’s preview window and right-click menu	Puts the attachment’s words into the note, with doubtful lines marked `(?)`. See Put the text in the note.
Export as One Document…	The Read Together window	Saves a reading as one Markdown, HTML, PDF, Word or rich text file. See Export as one document.
Toggle Comments	View	Lists every comment in the note. See See every comment.
Answers	Settings › Calculations › Answer Formatting, and Calculation Settings for This Note…	Writes answers in another format than calculations are read in. See Answer formatting.
Customize Sidebar…	View, and the sidebar’s right-click menus	Chooses which places are tiles, and their order. See Customize the sidebar.
View As › Gallery, Group by Date	The menu at the top of the note list	Shows notes as cards, and turns date headings on or off. See Date headings and the gallery.
Toggle Highlights	View	Lists every highlighted passage, with Copy Highlights. See Note info.
Share with People…	File	Shares one note, live, with people you invite. See Share a note with people.
Pin Exchange Rates for This Note, Refresh Rates…, Unpin Exchange Rates	The note’s `…` menu › Calculations, and an answer’s menu	Keeps a note’s conversions at the rates of the day you pinned them. See Pin the rates for a note.
Open at Login	Settings › Sync & Backup	Opens Varlig when you log in, so notes keep syncing.

New shortcuts

Command	Shortcut	Menu
Show scratchpad, from any app	⌃Space	—
Open Folder…	⌃⌘O	File
This Week’s Note	⌃⇧⌘T	File
Previous Week / Next Week	⌃⌥⌘[ / ⌃⌥⌘]	View
Toggle Highlights	⇧⌘H	View
Select table cells, from the cell you’re in	⇧ and an arrow key, or ⇧-click	—

Every shortcut is listed on Keyboard shortcuts.

The scratchpad shortcut

If you never recorded a shortcut for Show scratchpad, ⌃Space now opens it from any app; one you recorded yourself is kept. To change it, record another in Settings › General › Keyboard shortcuts; to have none, click the clear button, and it stays cleared when Varlig restarts.

macOS uses ⌃Space too, for Select the previous input source when you have more than one input source, and it gets the keys first. Settings says when that’s so: turn that shortcut off in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Input Sources, or record another one for the scratchpad. See Open it from anywhere.

A name you haven’t defined is an error

A name with digits or underscores next to an operator, such as rent2 in 5 + rent2, used to be set aside as a description, so the line showed 5. It’s now an error that names it, as a word of letters always was, with the closest name you’ve defined: did you mean "rent"?. The same goes for a name in brackets, in a function call or before a conversion, as in (rent + 5) * 2. Define the name first, or describe the line in a label, where digits are fine. See Writing a calculation line.

A number in a label is never added

A label that numbers a row used to have its number added in after an operator, so Year 1 £5,000 + Year 2 £6,000 showed £11,002.00 and ISA 2025 £20,000 + ISA 2026 £20,000 showed £42,026.00. The number now stays part of the label, as it always did at the start of a line, when an amount with a currency, a unit or a percent sign follows it: the lines come to £11,000.00 and £40,000.00. A quarter with its year, such as Q3 2026, is a range of dates in a sum too, so 5 + Q3 2026 is now an error rather than 2,031. See Words beside an amount.

Row labels read the same wherever they are

A few ways of labelling rows gave surprising answers, and now read as they do at the start of a line. A label before a plain number had its number added, so Year 1 5,000 + Year 2 6,000 showed 5,002; it now shows 11,000. A month with its year labels an amount as a quarter does, so July 2026 £500 + August 2026 £600 comes to £1,100.00 instead of an error. A unit written before a number names the row rather than measuring it: £40 + hour 2 showed £3,760.00, an hour and two minutes counted in seconds, and 5 + week 40 showed 6 weeks. A space no longer joins a label’s number to its amount, so Week 2 150 hours is 150 hours, not 2,150; in French, Salle 12 40 € is 40 € rather than 1 240 €. And money never adds a time in hours and minutes: £40 + 1 hour 2 min is now an error rather than £3,760.00. See Words beside an amount.

Nothing new is switched on for you

Formatting toolbar pins — Undo and Redo, Calculation Block, Code Block, Math and Current Date — are off until you pick them in Settings › General › Formatting toolbar. The standard buttons stay as they were.
Also add to Apple Reminders is unticked until you tick it in the reminder sheet. See Reminders.
Weekly notes exist only once you open one. See Templates and daily notes.
Answers is Same as Number Format, so answers look as they did until you choose another format.
A table of contents is written only when you insert one, and changes only when you update it.
iCloud sync stays off on the Mac until you turn on Sync notes with iCloud, and Open at Login stays off too. See iCloud sync and shared notes.