SideNotes For Mac

It's tough to keep your notes within reach and out of the way at the same time. Apps that make them unobtrusive often do so at the expense of usability, and it's difficult to find a good balance between the two.

SideNotes does that excellently. As the name suggests, it keeps your notes off the side of the screen, easily accessible with a cursor movement or hotkey. Once on screen, they are easy to read and manage, with quite a few features packed into a compact app.

The app's defining trait is that it's out of sight but always there when you need it. You can bring it up by clicking the tiny bar at the side of the screen or using the hotkey, and it will disappear when you no longer need it. These behaviors are all customizable.

Another one of the app's strengths is its intuitive design. You can figure out how to create folders and add notes instantly, and all formatting options are just as easy to understand.

To keep your memos in check, folders are a good start. Within a folder, you can give each note a different background color to set them apart (this can be changed to a colored bar at the side of the note). You will have a much easier time finding what you need, and they'll look great, too.

As far as formatting options go, you can choose between three modes: Markdown, plain text, and code, depending on what you prefer and where you need to export notes. The usual Markdown formatting options are available.

If you have a bunch of notes saved as text files, all you need to do is drag them into a folder to create new notes. Even an entire directory with text files can be dropped to create a new notes folder.

For easy sharing, you can just export a note directly to an image file, which will be compatible with any chat or social media app.

And lastly, SideNotes offers optional iCloud synchronization, allowing you to access your notes from multiple Macs. However, the lack of an iOS/iPadOS app is a bit unfortunate, as it means you'll have a harder time adding and accessing notes on the go.

Overall, SideNotes is a well-rounded app that lives up to its price tag. It is expertly designed to be as intuitive and unobtrusive as possible, while offering plenty of features for you to work with.