ApexDock/ docs
Features

Quick Notes

Floating multi-tab markdown scratchpad with hotkey toggle, edit/preview modes, and disk persistence.

Quick Notes is a floating markdown panel with multiple tabs, instant hotkey toggle, and an edit/preview switch. Useful for capturing thoughts mid-task without breaking flow.

Enabling

Settings → Notes → Enable Quick Notes. The Notes tray button appears on the right side of the bar, and the global hotkey starts firing.

Hotkey

Default: ⌃⌥N.

Hold the modifier(s) and tap the key to toggle the panel. Custom binding from Settings is on the roadmap; for now you can override via UserDefaults keys apexdock.notes.hotkey.keyCode and apexdock.notes.hotkey.modifiers.

Tabs

  • Click + to add a new tab.
  • Right-click a tab → Rename or Delete.
  • Tabs reorder by drag.
  • Closing the last tab leaves an empty tab open (the panel never goes empty).

Edit vs. preview

Each tab has a toolbar toggle: edit (raw markdown) or preview (rendered).

Settings → Notes → Open in Preview Mode controls the default mode for new sessions.

Markdown rendering supports GFM (tables, task lists, fenced code with syntax highlighting), heading anchors, and inline images. Links open in your default browser.

Storage

Notes live in:

~/Library/Application Support/ApexDock/notes.json

Single JSON file with a tab list, each tab carrying its current text and metadata. Settings → Notes → Notes Data has a "Reveal" button that opens the folder in Finder, and a "Clear All Notes" button (confirmation required).

There's no iCloud sync. If you want notes to follow you, point the storage at a synced location — see Sharing notes below.

Sharing notes

You can symlink the storage to any synced folder:

bash
mkdir -p "$HOME/Dropbox/ApexDock"
mv "$HOME/Library/Application Support/ApexDock/notes.json" "$HOME/Dropbox/ApexDock/notes.json"
ln -s "$HOME/Dropbox/ApexDock/notes.json" "$HOME/Library/Application Support/ApexDock/notes.json"

Same for iCloud Drive, OneDrive, etc. ApexDock reads/writes the file atomically, so simultaneous edits across machines won't corrupt it — though one will overwrite the other on a near-simultaneous save.

Notes

  • Writes are throttled to a single save shortly after you stop typing, so a long typing burst produces one disk write rather than thousands.
  • The panel floats above normal windows but stays out of the way of screenshot, screensaver, and Spotlight overlays.