Burst Notes: Capturing Notes
Capturing is what Burst Notes is for: pick a header, type a line, press Return. This page covers the different kinds of line you can add and the two settings that decide where they go.
The append commands
Drill into a header, or stay at the file level to append to the end of the file, and you will find these commands:
| Command | What gets written |
|---|---|
Append Bullet Point |
- your text |
Append To-Do Item |
- [ ] your text |
Append Normal Text |
your text as a plain paragraph line |
Append Quote |
> your text as a block quote |
Append Code Block |
a fenced code block that opens in the editor for you to fill in |
For bullets, to-dos and text, a text field appears right in the command window. Type the line and press Return. Burst Notes writes the line to the file and opens the built-in editor with the cursor on it, so that you can keep typing if one line was not enough. Escape closes the editor and saves.
Press Command-Return instead of Return to write the line without opening the editor. The command window closes and you are back where you were.
Quotes and code blocks always open the editor, since they usually need more than one line.
Where new lines go
The Position setting decides where inside a section a new line is inserted:
- Add at End of Header Section: after the last line that belongs to the header, just before the next header of any level. This is the default and keeps a section in chronological order.
- Add Just Below Header: directly under the header line, so the newest entry comes first.
Toggle it with Control-W while the command window is open, with the Position item in the list, or from the footer pull-down. The choice is remembered across launches. The same setting tells Edit mode where to place the cursor.
The line type
The Line Type setting is a shortcut for people who mostly add one kind of line. It is used by the text field when you drill into a header and pick a line type rather than a specific append command:
- Bullet (
-) - To-Do Item (
- [ ]) - Normal Text
Cycle through them with Control-L, with the Line Type item, or from the footer pull-down. The line type resets to Bullet when you quit Burst Notes.
Appending without a header
Files do not have to have headers. At the file level the same append commands write to the end of the file. If you prefer that style, the Quick Capture template is a single inbox without sections.
The trial and limited mode
Burst Notes is fully functional for 14 days. After that, until it is unlocked, it runs in limited mode: you can still browse your files, open them in the editor, copy and paste lines, but the append commands and the commands that create or remove files are switched off. See Troubleshooting for the licensing commands.