Burst Notes works on a list of open files: ordinary Markdown files anywhere on your Mac that you have told it about. One of them is the current file, whose headers fill the command window. Everything on this page is a command in the command window; type a few letters of its name to find it.

The open list

• Add Markdown File to Open List shows a file chooser. Pick any .md file and it joins the list and becomes the current file.
• Switch to … appears once per other open file. At the top level of the command window the files are also listed as rows you can drill into.
• Remove Current Markdown File from Open List takes the current file off the list. The file itself is not touched.
• Remove All Other Files keeps only the current file on the list.

Two files with the same name, say notes.md in two project folders, are shown with as much of their parent path as is needed to tell them apart.

Creating files

Create New File asks for a location and name and creates an empty Markdown file. Create New File From Template drills into a list of starter files grouped by category:

Category	Templates
Productivity	Quick Capture, Simple Todo, Task Manager (GTD)
Personal	Daily Journal, Habit Tracker, People & Relationships
Work	Meeting Notes, Project Tracker, Work Log
Learning	Knowledge Base, Book Notes
Developer	Code Snippets
Other	Blank Canvas

A template is just a Markdown file with a set of headers; once created it is yours to rearrange. The same templates are offered during the first launch.

Recent files

Open Recent… lists files you have had open before, most recent first, so that a file you removed from the list is one keystroke away. Inside the group, each file has an Open row, a Remove … from Recent row, and there is a Clear Recently Opened File List command at the end.

Where the file lives

• Open Current File opens it in the built-in editor
• Open Current File in Default Application hands it to the application macOS associates with Markdown files
• Open Current File in Nova, … in BBEdit, … in Sublime Text, … in TextEdit are offered for those editors that you have installed
• Reveal Current File in Finder shows it in a Finder window

Because the files are plain text, you can keep them in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or a git repository, open them in Obsidian or any other Markdown application, and edit them there while Burst Notes keeps appending to them. Burst Notes reads the file afresh whenever it inserts a line, so edits made elsewhere are not overwritten.

If a file goes missing

When a file on the open list has been moved, renamed or deleted, or is on a volume that is not mounted, Burst Notes tells you so when it tries to use it. Remove it from the list and add it again from its new location, or restore it from Open Recent… once it is back.

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