Support

Need help with *TXT? You’re in the right place.

*TXT is pronounced “asterisk text.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Getting Started

Is there a guide in the app?

Yes. The first time you open *TXT, a short welcome shows the basics, and your library starts with a Getting Started note next to your pinned note: how to move around, the pinned note, the keyboard bar, Markdown and plain text, and where your files live. Delete it whenever you like; it won’t come back.

How do I make a new note?

*TXT opens to a new note, ready to type. You can also:

What does it show when I open it?

That’s up to you: Settings → Open App To can open a New Note, the Last Opened Note, your Pinned Note, or Search. It’s ready the moment the app opens, even before iCloud Drive has finished loading. If you leave the app for a while and come back, it starts fresh there. Reset After Leaving sets how long “a while” is: Immediately, 1 Minute (the default), 5 Minutes, or 15 Minutes. A quick trip to another app leaves everything as it was.

Why does a blank note show a *?

That’s the *TXT mark, standing in for your first word. It disappears as soon as you type.

How do I move between notes?

Swipe left or right on a note, or tap the dots at the top. You’ll feel a light tap as you move to another note, and a firmer bump at the first or last one. Notes are newest first, across all your folders, when *TXT opens; while you’re using it, they keep their places, so editing a note (or a change from another device) doesn’t shuffle the dots. Your pinned note has its own button.

Is it like Notational Velocity?

Very much on purpose. One box does two jobs: type a few words to find a note, or press Return to make one with that title. Type the start of a note’s title and *TXT fills in the rest — press Return to open it, or Backspace to keep just what you typed. On the Mac, the NV keys work too (see Does *TXT have keyboard shortcuts?).

Searching

Type in Search or Create. Results appear as you type, across titles, text, tags and folders. Capitals and accents don’t matter.

Encrypted notes are found by their title only, marked with a lock (see Can I lock a note?).

To find something inside the note you’re reading, use the search button in the keyboard bar’s Action Drawer.

Can I find notes with Spotlight?

Yes. Your notes appear in Spotlight automatically, except encrypted ones. To hide them, turn off *TXT in your device’s search settings (on iPhone and iPad, Settings ▸ Apps ▸ *TXT ▸ Search).

Writing

What can I write in a note?

Notes are Markdown, shown as rich text while you write. Headings, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, checklists, bullet and numbered lists, blockquotes, code blocks, tables, dividers, links and pictures all work. Keyboard actions add the newest ones: Strikethrough wraps the selection in ~~, Blockquote starts the line (or each selected line) with >, and Code Block fences the selected lines, or starts an empty block, with three backticks. Tap Plain Text / Rich Text in the bar above the keyboard (the first button) to see and edit the Markdown itself, and again to switch back. On a Mac, choose Note → Show Plain Text (⇧⌘M).

To type a literal * or # without it becoming formatting, put a backslash before it (\*).

How do indents and dividers work?

How do I rename a note?

A note’s title is its first line. To rename it, edit that line, or open Note Info and change Title. The file is renamed too, and links to the note keep working.

Prefer to keep titles out of the way? Choose Settings → Titles → Hide While Writing. Notes then open without their title line, just like the pinned note, and you rename them in Note Info. A new note’s first line stays in view while you type it, and is tucked away the next time you open the note.

What is the pinned note?

One note you always come back to, like a shopping list. It has its own button above your notes (bright while you’re in it), is marked with the same icon in search, and shows on your Apple Watch. The icon is an asterisk; choose a push pin, star, bookmark, flag, heart, bolt, or light bulb instead in Settings → Pinned Note → Icon. Its title is always hidden while you write (on your Apple Watch too), so it can’t be changed by accident; rename it in Note Info. Choose it in Settings → Pinned Note, where you can also choose what happens to its text when you save it as a new note: keep it, clear it, or ask every time.

Can I use templates?

Yes. In the ••• menu, Templates → Create saves the current note as a template, and Templates → Insert adds one to the note you’re in. Templates are text files in a Templates folder beside your notes, so they sync and can be edited in Files or Finder.

Can I do calculations in a note?

Yes. Add #calc to a note, or tap Calculations on the keyboard, and answers appear beside each line. Tap an answer to copy it.

Where do exchange rates come from?

From the European Central Bank’s public reference rates, which it publishes once per working day for about 30 major currencies. *TXT downloads them only when a #calc note converts currencies, and checks for new ones once its copy is about a day old, so the first conversion needs the internet.

Depending on when you use it, the rates may not be the most up to date:

To see which day’s rates an answer used, tap it (click it on the Mac): the menu shows “ECB rates from” and the date.

The rates are reference rates, for information only. They aren’t live market prices, and banks and card providers use their own rates and fees, so don’t rely on them for payments, trading, or other financial decisions. *TXT isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by the European Central Bank, and can’t control when the rates are published or guarantee that they’ll stay available or be accurate. If the ECB changes or stops its service, currency conversions may stop working until *TXT is updated.

Can I change how notes look?

Yes. Settings → Fonts & Layout has fonts, text size, paper styles (Plain, Dots, Graph, Ruled), and:

The preview at the top shows each change before you save it. Appearance, Accent Color, and App Icon are in Settings too, and Settings → Counts chooses which counts (characters, words, lines) show above a note.

Can I change the buttons above the keyboard?

Yes, in Settings → Keyboard Actions. Tap Edit to add or remove actions, drag to reorder them, move actions between groups, change the order of the groups, hide actions you never use, or delete symbols you’ve added. On Keyboard shows how many fit on your device. Add Symbol… makes a button that types a symbol or short text, like @ or ->. Tap Checklist, Bullet List, Numbered List, Code Block, or Divider to choose its style. Everything else is in the Action Drawer on the left of the bar.

Can I use a different list style just this once?

Yes. Touch and hold Checklist, Bullet List, Numbered List, Code Block, or Divider on the keyboard bar (click and hold on the Mac) and pick a style. A list you’re in changes to that style, and a divider or code block is added in it; your default in Settings → Keyboard Actions stays as it is. A tap still uses the default. Actions in the Action Drawer always use the default.

Capturing

Can I dictate a note?

Yes. Tap Dictate on the keyboard bar, or ask Siri, and *TXT types what you say. The audio isn’t saved.

Can I add a voice memo?

Yes. Tap the paperclip, then Record Voice Memo. Tap the red button to record, tap it again to pause, and tap the checkmark to add the memo to your note as a player (the X discards it). To add a recording you already have, choose Choose Audio instead; *TXT asks whether to add a transcript of what’s said: Audio + Transcript or Audio Only. Tap a memo to play or pause it, and touch and hold it for Add Transcript Below at any time. On the Mac, use Note → Record Voice Memo… or Attach Audio….

You can also share a recording from the Voice Memos app: Share → *TXT.

Why didn’t my transcript work?

Transcripts use Apple’s speech recognition. Check that Speech Recognition is allowed for *TXT in your device’s Settings. If you’ve just started using it, your device may still be downloading the speech model for your language — try again in a few minutes. Recordings with no speech, or only music, have nothing to transcribe.

How do I open or delete an attachment?

Tap a photo or file to open it full screen; tap a voice memo to play it. Touch and hold any attachment for its options, including Delete. Or put the cursor just after it and press Delete: the first press highlights it, the second removes it. Undo brings it back. On the Mac, click to open, and Control-click (or right-click) for the options.

Removed an attachment by mistake? Open Library → Recently Deleted → Attachments. Attachments removed from notes stay there for 30 days; tap one to put it back at the end of its note.

When you add a photo, file or recording, the cursor waits on a new line below it, so you can keep typing.

How do I change a photo’s size?

Touch and hold the photo (Control-click on the Mac), then choose Preview: Full Width, 50%, or 25% of the note’s width, or Filename to show just its name. Resize… opens a slider from 10% to Full Width that snaps to 25%, 50% and Full Width, and shows the photo at its new size as you drag; tap the checkmark to keep it. A photo is never shown larger than it really is, so a small picture stays small even at Full Width. New photos start at Full Width; change that in Settings → Attachment Views.

Can I get the text out of a photo or scan?

Yes, with Extract Text on the keyboard bar. Scan text straight into the note with the camera, or take a photo, scan a document, or choose an image or file, then keep Image + Text or Text Only. You can also touch and hold a picture that’s already in a note for Extract Text Below or Replace with Extracted Text. It all happens on your device, and handwriting works too.

Can I add notes from other apps?

Yes. Use the Share sheet in another app and choose *TXT to save text, links, images, or recordings, and pick which folder they go in. When an app sends pictures along with a link (the App Store can include the app’s picture), *TXT saves just the link; turn on Add Picture to keep them too. A shared link shows as a small preview card, while a link you type or paste stays a link you can tap; touch and hold any link (Control-click on the Mac) and choose Preview to change it. Documents like PDFs can’t be shared this way; bring them in with Settings → Storage → Import Files or Folder… instead.

Can I drag things into a note?

Yes. Drag text, links, photos, recordings (from Voice Memos or Files), or files into a note, and they’re added where you drop them, just like adding them with the paperclip. Pasting a copied photo or file works the same way. On an iPad, Split View or Slide Over makes this easiest. On the Mac, drag from Finder, Photos, Voice Memos, Mail or a web page, or paste a screenshot or a file copied in Finder. A plain-text or Markdown file adds its text; to bring in a whole folder, use Settings → Storage → Import Files or Folder….

Importing and Exporting

What can I import?

Text, Markdown, MultiMarkdown, TaskPaper, Word (.docx), RTF, PDF (text and scans), web pages, photos (with their text), recordings (with a transcript), Evernote exports (.enex), TextBundle files from apps like Bear and Ulysses, Obsidian vaults, folders, and zip files.

Use Settings → Storage → Import Files or Folder…, or drop files into the *TXT folder in Files or Finder — into Import, into Notes, or anywhere in the folder. They’re picked up automatically.

Where do imported notes go?

Into Notes → Imported. A folder, zip, or export gets its own folder there, keeping its structure. From there, move notes wherever you like. The original files are kept untouched in Originals, and the Import folder empties itself once it’s done.

Something didn’t import. What now?

Files that couldn’t be imported are moved to the Not Imported folder, and Settings → Storage → Errors lists each one with the reason. Tap an error to Try Again, Show in Files (or Show in Finder on the Mac), or Clear, which doesn’t delete the file. Storage problems, such as iCloud Drive not opening or a note that can’t be read, are listed there too, with Try Again, Open Settings or Import as Note where they help. Clear (or Clear All, below the list) removes an error from the list without fixing it; it’s listed again if it happens again. Importing the exact same file again is skipped and listed as “Already imported.”

How do I export a note?

Open the ••• menu and choose Export: Rich Text, Plain Text, Markdown (.md), PDF, Word (.docx), HTML, TextBundle (.textpack), or TaskPaper. If the note has attachments, you can include them in a zip; a TextBundle always carries them inside. To send a note to another app, such as Apple Notes, Mail or Messages, choose Export → Share…; it sends the formatted note with its photos and attachments. To print a note, choose Export → Print (⌘P on Mac); it prints the same pages as the PDF. To choose which formats appear in Preview and under Export, or to hide Print, go to Settings → Preview & Export. Photos in exports keep the size you gave them in the note, as a share of the page’s width; to have every photo fill the page instead, turn off Use Photo Sizes from Notes there.

Can previews be dark?

Yes. Settings → Preview & Export → Background chooses Match App (white in light mode, black in dark mode), White, or Black. It changes only how previews look; exported and shared files always have white pages with black text.

Encrypted Notes

Can I lock a note?

Yes, by encrypting it. Open Note Info, turn on Encrypt Note, and tap the checkmark. The first time, you create a notes password of at least 8 characters. Any note can be encrypted except your pinned note.

A locked note shows only asterisks, and the ••• button becomes a lock. Tap the lock to unlock it with Face ID (Touch ID or your passcode on devices without it), or with your notes password. Once it’s unlocked, you write in it as usual, and it’s saved encrypted, attachments too. To lock it again, choose Lock Now at the top of the ••• menu.

Settings → Encrypted Notes lets you choose:

Encrypted notes are listed in Library → Encrypted. They’re left out of Spotlight, widgets, and Siri and Shortcuts; anything you send to one from the share sheet or Siri becomes a new note. To make a note readable again, turn off Encrypt Note in its Note Info.

What can other apps see of an encrypted note?

Only its title. It’s still a .txt file, with the title on the first line, then a line saying the note is encrypted, then the encrypted text. Opening it in Files, Finder, another app, or iCloud.com shows just that: open it in *TXT to read it. Its file name is still the note’s title, and its attachments are encrypted too, in a hidden folder in your library.

Copies made before you encrypted the note, like a backup or a recovered version, aren’t changed.

I forgot my notes password

Devices that unlock your notes with Face ID or Touch ID can still open them, because the key is in your iCloud Keychain, and you can turn encryption off there to keep them readable. But the password can’t be recovered or reset: Change Password asks for the current one. If you forget it and the key isn’t in your iCloud Keychain, your encrypted notes can’t be opened by anyone, including us. Keep your notes password somewhere safe, like the Passwords app.

Notes, Files, and iCloud

Where are my notes stored?

As plain .txt files in your iCloud Drive, in the asteriskTXT folder, so they sync to your other devices. If iCloud isn’t available, they’re kept on the device in the Files app, under On My iPhone → *TXT → asteriskTXT Library (or On My iPad). Your notes are ordinary files: you can open them in any app, back them up, or take them anywhere.

To see a note’s file, open Note Info and choose Show in Files. On the Mac, choose Show in Finder or Open With, or press ⌘⇧O to open it in your default text editor. Changes you make in another app come back to *TXT.

Can I organize notes into folders?

Yes. Open Library from the ••• menu to browse, create, move, and delete folders and notes. Settings → Storage → New Notes In chooses where new notes go. You can also move a note from Note Info → Move To, or move files in Files or Finder.

Can I keep favorite notes and folders handy?

Yes. In Library → All Notes, tap Edit, select notes or folders, and tap Favorite. For the note you’re in, turn on Favorite in Note Info. They’re listed in Library → Favorites, and sync to your other devices.

I deleted a note by mistake

Deleted notes stay in Library → Recently Deleted for 30 days. Tap one to restore it: *TXT asks first, then puts it back where it was (bringing back its folder too) and opens it.

What happens if I edit a note on two devices at once?

*TXT combines the changes, line by line, so both sets of edits end up in the note, even when one device was working on a copy that was out of date. Lines both devices added in the same place are all kept. A copy of both versions is kept for 30 days in a hidden folder in your library, in case the combined note ever needs correcting. To tell where both devices’ versions started, each device also keeps the recent versions of its notes, up to 50 MB; Settings → Storage → Note Versions shows how much they take, and they never leave the device.

When you open a note, or come back to *TXT, it checks whether iCloud has a newer version of that note. While one is downloading, *TXT waits a few seconds before saving your typing, so it can combine the two; you can type straight away. Note Info shows iCloud Updating… with a down arrow while a note downloads, and an up arrow while your changes upload.

Only when both devices changed the same lines differently does *TXT keep your version as a separate recovered note (see below).

Why is the ••• button red?

Tap a recovered note to read it. Its ••• menu can make it a New Note, Open Original, Append to Original (adds it at the end of the original note; not for encrypted notes), Show in Files, or Delete it. Recovered notes don’t appear in All Notes, search, or widgets.

Does *TXT require an account?

No. There’s no account to make. Your notes live in your own iCloud Drive or on your device.

Apple Watch, Widgets, Siri, and the Mac

Is there an Apple Watch app?

Yes. Tap the big + to dictate, scribble, or type a note. Choose where it goes in iPhone Settings → Apple Watch → New Notes Go: Create New, Prepend to Pinned (at the top of your pinned note, under its title), Append to Pinned (at the end), or Ask Every Time. Your pinned note shows below the +, and you can tick its checklist items. Watch complications open *TXT to the + screen.

Why does a note from my Watch take a moment to appear?

The Watch can’t reach iCloud Drive itself, so it sends what you write to your iPhone, which saves it. When your iPhone is nearby that’s almost instant. When it isn’t, the Watch holds on to it and sends it as soon as they reconnect — nothing is lost.

How do I use widgets and Control Center?

On the Home Screen, add New Note, Recent Notes, or Selected Note (a note you choose, kept close by). On the Lock Screen, add Dictate Note or Pinned Note — the Pinned Note widget opens it without showing its contents. In Control Center, add New Note (opens *TXT to a new note) or Dictate Note (opens a new note and starts listening). Encrypted notes never appear in widgets.

Does *TXT work with Siri and Shortcuts?

Yes. Ask Siri to “create a note in asterisk text,” “add to my pinned note in asterisk text,” “add to the top of my pinned note in asterisk text,” or “find notes in asterisk text.” The Shortcuts app has actions to create notes (with text, links, or files), append or prepend to any note or your pinned note (prepending adds at the top, under the title), find notes, dictate, and open *TXT.

Does *TXT have keyboard shortcuts?

On the Mac:

On the Mac you can also set a keyboard shortcut to show the *TXT window from anywhere, show it in the menu bar, hide it from the Dock, and open it at login, all in Settings. A function key on its own (like F6) works as the shortcut; if your keyboard’s top row controls brightness and volume, hold fn while pressing it.

How does the Mac menu bar icon work?

Click it to show or hide the *TXT window. Right-click (or Control-click) it for Open Window, Open Settings, and Quit *TXT. Closing the window only puts it away: the menu bar icon, your shortcut, or the Dock brings back the same window, with your note just as you left it.

Still Need Help?

If your question isn’t answered above, reach out and we’ll get back to you:

📧 duesomethingapp@gmail.com

Please include *TXT in the subject line, since this address is shared with our other app, Due Something. The link above fills it in for you.

When reporting an issue, it helps to include:

Privacy

Curious about how *TXT handles your data? See our Privacy Policy.