Penbase Help

Penbase is a Markdown notes app for your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. You write in plain Markdown and the editor styles it as you type. There is no preview mode. Your notes are stored on your device, and if you want it, they sync through your iCloud account.

Getting started

Penbase opens into your library. The sidebar holds your pinned notes, your notebooks, your tags, and the Trash; the main area is the editor. Create your first note with the + button (or ⌘N on Mac), give it a title, and start writing in the body below.

The editor is a real Markdown editor: what you type is the note. Type **bold** and it turns bold in place while the note on disk stays plain, portable Markdown. The formatting bar above the editor is a shortcut for the same syntax. A button writes what you could also type by hand, and the next section lists that syntax.

Writing in Markdown

The examples below are typed straight into a note. Penbase styles it as you go and keeps the raw characters, so your notes stay readable anywhere.

Headings

Start a line with one to six # characters, then a space. More hashes make a smaller heading.

# Title  (biggest)
## Section
### Subsection

Bold, italic, underline & strikethrough

Wrap text in these markers. Note that a single ~ underlines, and a double ~~ strikes through.

You type	You get
`bold`	bold
`italic`	italic
`~underline~`	underline
`~~strikethrough~~`	~~strikethrough~~

These stack, too: **~~*all three*~~** is bold, italic, and struck through at once.

Inline code & code blocks

Wrap a snippet in single backticks for inline code. For a whole block, fence it between lines of three backticks.

Use the `print()` function.

```
func greet() {
    print("Hello")
}
```

Lists

Start bullets with -, *, or +; start a numbered list with 1.. Press Return to continue the list and Tab to indent a sub-item.

- First
- Second
    - Nested

1. Step one
2. Step two

Checklists

A dash followed by [ ] makes a to-do; [x] marks it done. Tap or click the box to toggle it. Numbered items and lines in a quote or callout can be to-dos too, and they count in the Tasks list and the Tasks widget like any other.

- [ ] Buy milk
- [x] Call the plumber
1. [ ] Book the flight
> - [ ] Ask about the deposit

Quotes

Start a line with > to quote it.

> The quieter you become, the more you can hear.

Tables

Separate columns with pipes |, and put a row of dashes under the header.

| Task    | Owner |
| ------- | ----- |
| Design  | Ada   |
| Build   | Lin   |

Horizontal rule

Three dashes on their own line draw a divider.

---

Links & images

A link is [label](url). An image is the same with a leading !. Usually you paste or drag an image in and Penbase writes this for you.

[Apple](https://apple.com)
![A sunset](sunset.jpg)

Wiki links (connect notes)

Wrap a note's title in double square brackets to link to it. Links match by title, so [[Groceries]] points at your note titled “Groceries.”

Remember to check [[Groceries]] before the trip.

The note you link to lists the notes that point at it; see Backlinks below.

You type	You get
`#work`	#work
`#work/projects`	#work/projects

Math

Wrap an expression in single dollar signs for inline math, written in LaTeX.

The relation $E = mc^2$ still holds.

The / menu

On an empty line, type / to pick a block to insert: headings, a task, lists, a quote, a callout, a code block, a table, a divider, a photo, or a math block. Keep typing to narrow the list (/todo finds Task, /h2 finds Heading 2), then press ↩ or click it. On iPhone and iPad the choices appear in the bar above the keyboard. A slash in the middle of a line is just a slash.

Pasting

Text copied from a web page, Mail, or another app with formatting pastes as Markdown: headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, code, links, and lists come along. To paste the plain text exactly as copied, use Paste and Match Style (⌥⇧⌘V on the Mac).

Show Markdown

To see and edit a note's Markdown exactly as written, every symbol included, turn on Show Markdown: in the View menu on the Mac, the Note menu on iPad, or the note's ⋯ menu anywhere (⇧⌘M). Photos, tables, and checkboxes show as their text. Turn it off to see the note styled again. It stays on until you turn it off.

The golden rule: the text in the editor is the Markdown. Nothing is hidden, so you can copy a note straight into any other Markdown app and it just works.

Photos & albums

Paste a photo, drag one in from Finder or Photos, or use the photo button in the toolbar. Penbase saves the photo with the note and writes an ordinary Markdown image line for it.

Description and size: Click or tap a photo to edit it. Its description appears on a band across the top of the photo, ready to type into, and the photo stays where it is. Drag the white handle on its right edge to resize it; on the Mac the pointer turns into a resize arrow over the handle, and the handle shows whenever the pointer is over a photo. The image menu offers Center or Align Left, Fit to Column, a caption, and Edit Description.
Side by side and albums: Drag one photo onto the middle of another to place them side by side. Drop it onto an album and it joins the album where you drop it. Drag a photo out of an album, or onto the top or bottom edge of another photo, to give it a line of its own. A blue bar shows where it will land, and the note scrolls when you drag near its top or bottom. On iPhone and iPad, press and hold a photo to pick it up. Picking several photos at once makes an album. One undo puts a drop back.
Viewing and copying: Click or tap a photo in an album to open the viewer, with a slideshow and each photo's description. Copy Image copies the original photo, in the viewer and at the top of the right-click menu on the Mac, so it pastes into another note or app at full quality.
Typing above or below a photo: Typing at the start of a photo's line puts your text on a new line above it, and typing at its end puts it on a new line below (under its caption, if it has one). When a photo is the first thing in a note, click just above it to start typing there. Pressing delete next to a photo selects it first; press delete again to remove it.
Removed photos are kept for a day: When a photo is removed from a note, Penbase keeps its file for 24 hours before deleting it from your devices and iCloud. Undo, a restore from Version History, or pasting the reference back within that time brings it back.

Notes & notebooks

A few tools keep a growing library in shape.

Notebooks: Renamable, colored notebooks in the sidebar. Move a note into a notebook from its context menu, or create a note directly inside one.
Pinned: Pin the notes you reach for most and they rise to a Pinned section at the top of the sidebar.
Duplicate & export: Duplicate a note (images included), copy it as Markdown, or export it as a .md file.
Images: Paste or drag an image straight into a note. Penbase stores it with the note and keeps a fast thumbnail for scrolling. On the Mac, drag the handle on an image's edge to resize it (the size shows while you drag, and an image won't scale past its real size), or drag the image itself to a different spot in the note. To save, copy, rename, or share an image, right-click it on the Mac or open the note's Images card.
Filters: The filter button above the note list narrows it to shared notes or to notes connected by links. The button fills in while a filter is active.
Read-only lock: Make any note read-only on this device when you want to reference it without risking a stray edit.

Capturing from other apps

Notes don't have to start in Penbase.

Share to Penbase: Penbase appears in the system share menu on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Share a web page, selected text, or photos and each share becomes its own note. A shared link is titled with the page's title (or the site's address when the page can't be reached) and lands as a Markdown link. If Penbase is missing from the share menu, enable it in the share sheet's edit list on iPhone and iPad, or in System Settings under Extensions on the Mac.
Safari toolbar button: The Penbase Clipper extension adds a Save to Penbase button to Safari's toolbar. One click turns the current page, with any text you have selected, into a note. Enable it in Safari's extension settings; it only reads the page you click it on.
Quick capture (Mac): Press ⌃⌥Space in any app and a small panel opens for a quick thought. The first line becomes the title; ⌘↩ saves and esc discards. It works while Penbase is running, without switching away from the app you are in; turn on Launch at Login in Settings > General to keep it available from sign-in. Change the shortcut, or turn it off, in Settings > General. Quick Capture is also in the File menu and the menu bar icon.
Menu bar icon (Mac): A pencil icon in the menu bar with Quick Capture, New Note, and your five most recent notes. Hide it in Settings > General if you prefer a quieter menu bar.

Shortcuts & Siri

Penbase adds three actions to the Shortcuts app on Mac, iPhone, and iPad: Create Note, Append to Note, and Open Note. Create Note takes a title and text; without a title, the first line of the text becomes one. Append to Note adds text on a new line at the end of a note you pick. Notes created or changed this way sync like any other.

The same actions answer to Siri with phrases like “Create a note in Penbase.” They also work in automations, so a shortcut can file text into a note without opening the app.

Backlinks

Whenever a note links to another with a [[wiki link]], the note it points at gains a Linked from card at the bottom of the editor, listing the notes that reference it. The card is built automatically; write links as you think of them and the list follows.

Say a note titled Groceries is mentioned by a note that reads Need to pick up [[Groceries]]. Open Groceries and its Linked from card shows that other note, with a preview of the line that mentions it. Tap it to jump straight there. Links are matched by title and are case-insensitive, so [[groceries]] and [[Groceries]] find the same note.

Version history

Penbase quietly keeps checkpoints of a note as you edit it, so you can look back and roll back. Open a note's ⋯ menu and choose Version History (⌥⌘Y on the Mac) to browse earlier versions, preview any one of them, and restore it.

How checkpoints are made: A snapshot of the note's earlier state is saved as you edit, at most once every few minutes, so history stays a tidy trail of milestones rather than a log of every keystroke.
Restoring is safe: Restoring a version first snapshots what's currently there, so a restore is itself undoable.
Changes from another device: When a synced change replaces what a note showed, the text it replaced is saved to Version History first. If you and another device edited the same lines, your typing stays on screen and the other device's version goes to History.
Kept on your device: Version history is local to each device and is not synced.

Tags & search

Any #tag you type in a note is gathered into the sidebar, where tapping one filters your library to the notes that carry it. Nested tags like #work/projects group under their parent.

Search covers the full text of your notes (titles, bodies, and tag names). A few letters is usually enough.

Inside a note, press ⌘F to find text in that note: matches highlight as you type, ↩ or ⌘G steps forward, ⇧⌘G steps back, and esc or Done returns you to writing. On iPhone and iPad, choose Find from the text menu.

Selecting notes

You can act on several notes at once. On Mac and iPad with a keyboard, ⌘-click to add notes to a selection or ⇧-click to select a range, just like Finder. On iPhone, tap Select and check the notes you want.

With more than one note selected, you can delete, move to a notebook, pin or unpin, or duplicate them in one step, from the selection's context menu, the action bar, or the panel that appears in the editor area.

iCloud sync

Sync is opt-in. Penbase stays local until you turn iCloud Sync on, and once you do, your notes keep themselves in step across your devices signed in to the same iCloud account.

Turn it on or off: When sync is off, Penbase stays local and sends nothing to iCloud. Turn it back on and it picks up where it left off.
What syncs: Your notes, notebooks, tags, pinned state, images, preferences, and Trash. Your note contents are stored encrypted in your own iCloud, and are never sent to the developer.
What stays local: Version history and per-device settings like the read-only lock live only on the device they're made on.
When a note changes on another device: If a note you have open changes on another device, Penbase takes the change and says so at the top of the note: “Updated from another device”, or “Merged changes from another device” when you had edited it too. If both devices changed the same lines, your typing stays and the note says the other version is in History. The notice has a History button.
Sharing with others: With sync on, you can share a note, or a whole notebook, from its context menu or the editor's share button, and invite people to view or edit it. The note's card shows who has access, including who shared it with you; the owner can manage participants or stop sharing from there. Notes others share with you gather under Shared with Me. A note shared with you stays in the owner's organization, so it can't be moved into your own notebooks; duplicate it if you want a private copy of your own. Opening a share needs iCloud Sync turned on.

Sync needs you to be signed in to iCloud on the device. If you're not, Penbase will tell you, and it will start syncing on its own once you sign in.

Privacy

Your notes stay on your device. Penbase does not collect analytics, does not track you, has no accounts, and does not send your notes to its developer or to any third-party server. Optional sync uses your own iCloud account, where your note contents are stored encrypted.

Full details are in the Privacy Policy.

FAQ

A widget shows all my notes after an update: A widget set to one notebook, note, or album needs that choice picked again once after updating to this version. Touch and hold the widget, choose Edit Widget, and pick it again.
Do I need an account?: No. There is nothing to sign up for. Sync, if you want it, runs through the iCloud account already on your device.
Is sync on by default?: No. Penbase is local-only until you opt in to iCloud Sync, and you can turn it off again at any time.
Are my notes really just Markdown?: Yes. The text in the editor is the source. Copy a note out and it's plain Markdown that works in any other Markdown app.
How do I link one note to another?: Type the other note's title in double square brackets, like [[Project Ideas]]. The note you link to lists the connection back under its Linked from card.
Can I get an old version of a note back?: Yes. Open the note's ⋯ menu, choose Version History, pick a checkpoint, and restore it. The restore is itself undoable.
Is it one app for Mac, iPhone, and iPad?: Yes. One native SwiftUI app for macOS 26 and iOS/iPadOS 26.