OS X Mountain Lion Bible

Working with Notes

The Notes application is extremely simple but also extremely useful because the notes you take on it are synced to your other Macs and iOS devices, as well as to other accounts on other computers and mobile devices you may have that support notes, such as Microsoft Exchange (see Chapter 21), iCloud, Google Calendar, AOL, and IMAP e-mail accounts (see Chapter 18). You enable Notes for each service desired in the Mail, Contacts & Calendars system preference, as Chapter 27 explains.

Because notes are handled through online accounts, changes made to a note in any computer or device that can edit the note are reflected on all other computers and devices that have access to that note. Of course, there may be a delay in the syncing across all your devices based on the current Internet connection.

New Feature

Formerly handled by Mail in previous OS X versions, notes are now handled in the Notes application in OS X Mountain Lion.

Tip

To set the default account to which new notes are automatically added, choose Notes⇒Default Account⇒accountname.

Using accounts and folders

The Notes application window has three main elements: the folder list, the notes list, and the note pane, as Figure 20.7 shows. The folder list shows all the accounts for which you have enabled Notes. Click an account to see its notes, or click All Notes to see all the accounts' notes in a unified view. If the folder list does not appear, choose View⇒Show Folders List.

Figure 20.7

The Notes application, ...