Reading and editing

A note opens ready to read, laid out the way your Mac shows it. Tap Edit and it becomes Markdown you can change, with a formatting bar above the keyboard. This page covers both, and the tools the editor keeps in its menus.

Read a note

The reader draws everything a note holds: headings, lists, quotes and callouts, tables, pictures, link cards, code with its colours, TeX formulas, Mermaid diagrams, footnotes, comments and every calculation with its answer. The note’s theme and fonts come from Settings.

While you read:

• Tap a task’s box to tick it off. It’s saved straight away, and a shopping list’s totals move with it.
• Tap a link. A web or mail address opens outside Varlig. A [[note link]] opens its note, asks which one when several notes share the title, and makes the note when none has it yet. [[Note/Heading]] opens the note at that heading.
• Tap a footnote number to jump to its footnote, and the footnote’s label to jump back.
• Tap a tag to see its notes.
• Tap a picture or a PDF to see it full screen, where you can zoom, share it or extract its text. Every attachment is listed under the note, with its type and size.
• Tap an answer to copy it, or touch and hold it for the answer menu.

The ⓘ button beside Edit opens Note Info: the note’s statistics, table of contents, comments, highlights and backlinks. The … menu holds everything else you can do with the note, from pinning and sharing to reminders and version history.

Edit a note

Tap Edit. The note shows its Markdown, styled as you type: headings look like headings and **bold** looks bold. Away from the line you’re on, the symbols are tucked out of sight, so the note still reads cleanly. Tap Done, or go back, when you’ve finished.

You don’t need to save. Varlig saves a moment after you stop typing, and again as you leave the note or switch apps. If a save ever fails — because the device is out of space, say — the editor says Not saved with Try Again, keeps your text on screen, and nothing is lost.

Return continues a list, a numbered list, a task list or a quote, and Return on an empty item ends it. A note made from a template opens with the cursor where the template put {{cursor}}.

A note that a newer version of Varlig wrote opens read-only with Made with a newer Varlig — update to edit, as on the Mac. Update Varlig to change it.

The formatting bar

Above the keyboard, a row of keys formats what you’ve selected, or what you type next:

In a calc block, the formatting keys give way to calculator keys.

More formatting

More Formatting, and the … menu while you’re editing, hold the Mac’s other Format commands:

The … menu while you’re editing also has Find in Note, the fold commands, Show Word Count, Set Writing Target…, Insert Table of Contents and Note Info. Comments, footnotes, highlights and tables covers the writing tools in detail.

Suggestions as you type

• Tags. Type # and Varlig offers the tags you already use, nested ones by their whole path, above the keyboard. Tap one to write it.
• Note links. Type [[ and it offers note titles; after [[Title/ it offers that note’s headings.
• Names in calculations. In a calc block it offers your values, functions, units and currencies. See Names as you type.

Paste text that brings in tags your library didn’t have, and a notice above the keyboard names them, such as Added 2 new tags: #alpha, #beta, with Keep and Make Literal. Make Literal puts a backslash before each one so they stay plain text.

Links

Select some words and tap Link to give them a web address. While you’re writing, a link is text you can change; to follow it, choose Open Link from the menu that appears when you tap it, or read the note without the keyboard and tap it. [[/Heading]] jumps to a heading in the same note.

Find and replace

Find and Replace on the formatting bar, or Find in Note in the … menu, opens the find bar. Folded sections open to show a match, and each replacement is an ordinary edit you can undo.

Fold sections

A heading, or a list item with something under it, can fold away. Tap the arrow in the margin beside it — while reading, every foldable line has one; while writing, the line you’re on and folded ones do. A folded section shows … after its first line.

The … menu has Fold / Unfold Section, Fold All Headers and Unfold All Headers, and Unfold All once something is folded. The Heading key has Fold All Headers and Unfold All Headers too. Varlig remembers what’s folded in each note on this device.

Word count and writing targets

The … menu shows the note’s words and characters. Show Word Count puts the count under the note’s title, and Set Writing Target… sets a goal of words or characters, so the title reads, say, 1,204 of 2,000 words · 796 to go. The target is saved with the note, so your Mac shows it too.

Version history

Version History, in a note’s … menu, lists the note’s current text and the earlier versions Varlig saved — at most one a minute while you edit, and the latest 30 — with its date, length and how much it changed. Open a version to read it, calculations and all, and Restore This Version to bring it back. Restoring saves the current text as a version first, so you can change your mind from the same list. Protected notes keep no history, as on the Mac.

With a keyboard

With a keyboard attached to an iPad or iPhone, most of the Mac’s shortcuts work. Hold ⌘ to see the list.

When suggestions are showing, the arrow keys choose one and Return or Tab accepts it, as on the Mac. ⌘S saves at once and shows Saved on this device.