Permanote

Manual

Dealing with Issues

Permanote Not Working

Force Close Permanote:

  • Double-tap the Home button
  • Slide Permanote up and away
  • Re-open Permanote

Run Rescue Operations: visit permanote://rescue from Safari for iOS.

Send Crash Reports: if Permanote crashes, it should open with a message where you can send the crash report. Alternatively: Settings > scroll down > tap Contact > tap Send Crash Report.

Dropbox Not Working

Disconnect and then re-connect Dropbox: go to Settings, tap “Disconnect Dropbox”, then tap “Connect Dropbox”.

Permanote Performing Slowly

  • Turn off Auto-sync: Settings > scroll down > More Options > tap the switch to turn off auto-sync.
  • Clear space: delete any apps or media you don’t need, then re-open Permanote.
  • Re-install Permanote: a last-resort troubleshooting measure.
  • Keyboard obscures typing: tap and hold the button at the bottom-right of the keyboard and slide it to the bottom to re-dock.

Using the Editor

How to Search

Search for a note: go to Notes then tap Search. Search & Replace is currently not supported yet.

Speeding up Your Editing

  • Use keyboard shortcuts: the keyboard shortcut bar provides an extra row of keys above your keyboard. If it’s not visible, go to Settings and enable Keyboard Shortcuts.
  • Select a line: use the “line” shortcut (scroll the shortcut bar right to find it).
  • Insert a line at the top: use ^\n to scroll to the top and create a newline.
  • Insert a timestamp: tap “date” or “time” on the shortcut bar.

Customize Keyboard Shortcuts

  • Enable the Keyboard Shortcuts bar.
  • Tap Customize Shortcuts > Add Shortcuts.
  • Enter text in the contents box and provide an alias.
  • To reorder: tap the Reorder button and drag the lined handles.

Special Insertion Shortcuts:

  • $dfmt – custom timestamp
  • $paste – clipboard text
  • $tab(n) – tab n-spaces
  • $untab – backspace tabs
  • $sel – current selection (leaves inserted text selected)

Cursor Shortcuts:

  • $bottom – move to bottom of note
  • $cursor – place cursor at location after macro insertion
  • $down – move down a line
  • $left – move cursor left
  • $line – select current line
  • $lline – move to start of line
  • $lword – move one word left
  • $right – move cursor right
  • $rline – move to end of line
  • $rword – move one word right
  • $select – select current word with intact selection during arrow key movement
  • $top – move to top of note
  • $up – move up a line
  • $del – delete next character (vs. backspace)

Other Shortcuts:

  • $copy – copy selected text
  • $cut – cut selected text

Utility Shortcuts:

  • $separator – divide shortcuts into multiple scrollable rows
  • $undo – undo
  • $redo – redo

Backup or share shortcuts: scroll to the bottom of the shortcut list and tap Import or Export to back up shortcuts to Dropbox.

Chain shortcuts: you can chain shortcuts together. For example, to create a new entry at the top of your note, use $top$date\n\n\n$up. All shortcuts except utility ones can be chained.

Use TextExpander: Settings > scroll down > More Options > turn on TextExpander > tap Get App. Works with all iOS apps.

Dvorak layout: Home > Settings > General > Keyboards > English > Hardware Keyboard Layout.

Word, Character, Line Counts

  • Manually: tap and hold anywhere in the editor to see the line number next to Copy and Paste. Select text and tap-hold to see word count. Tap word count to see character count instead.
  • Automatically: Settings > scroll down > More Options > scroll to Live Stats and switch on Word, Character, or Line Counts.

Closing, Sharing & Formatting

  • Close your note: tap the note’s title at the top and choose Close Note.
  • Share your writing: tap Note Actions then Share.
  • Basic PDF exporter: Note Actions > Email > Email as PDF. Customize line-spacing, font-size, and the first line’s style.
  • Markdown: single asterisk italicizes *this*; double asterisks bold **this**. Tap Note Actions > Preview Markup > choose MarkDown. A Markdown reference sheet is available on the web.
  • HTML: use HTML tags to mark up text, then tap Note Actions > Preview Markup.
  • What’s Base URL? Base URL is like the HTML base tag. It specifies the default URL for all links and images on the page.

How to Print

  • AirPlay printers: search for “AirPlay printers” to find available options, then tap Note Actions > Print.
  • PDF export to print: Note Actions > Email > Email as PDF; email the PDF to yourself and print from a computer.

International Characters & External Keyboards

International characters: notes saved in UTF-8 look fine in most text editors. For international character support: Settings > scroll down > More Options > tap Automatic Encoding.

External keyboard: Permanote works really well with Apple’s Wireless Keyboard. Press the eject key on a wireless keyboard to hide the virtual keyboard.

Shortcuts with an external keyboard:

  • Control/Command + left/right arrows – move to line beginning or end
  • Control/Command + up/down arrows – move to note beginning or end
  • Alt + left/right arrows – move one word at a time
  • Alt + up/down keys – move between lines
  • Shift – select text while moving the cursor
  • Control-X, Control-C, Control-P – Cut, Copy, Paste
  • Control-Z – Undo

Managing Notes

Existing Dropbox users:

  1. Tap the Notes button
  2. Tap Connect Dropbox
  3. Enter your login information (one time only)
  4. Browse to your notes

New Dropbox users:

  1. Tap the Notes icon
  2. Tap Connect Dropbox
  3. Tap Create Account
  4. Enter your account information

Your Dropbox account will be created immediately. You’ll see a “Public” folder and “Getting Started.pdf”. Tap History to see notes you worked on before connecting Dropbox. Tap the Folder Sync button to sync everything to Dropbox.

  • Rename or move a note: tap the Edit button to rename/move a note, or in the editor tap the note’s name at the top and choose Rename or Save As.
  • Tag a note: open a note linked with Dropbox; at the top, tap the little arrow by the note’s title; a pop-up appears with options to Add Tags.
  • Delete a note: swipe on a note to see a Remove button, or tap the Edit button and tap the minus signs to the left.
  • Sync multiple notes: tap the Notes or History button, then tap the Folder Sync icon to sync all notes in that folder. To cancel the status check, tap the progress percentage indicator.

Common Questions

How does syncing work? Auto-syncing happens at any point when user interaction begins or ends, usually when opening a note, or tapping the Done button when finished editing. During auto-sync it checks for a newer version online and downloads it if necessary, then uploads changes. If there’s a newer version online and changes on the device, it will rename the note. To revert accidental overwrites, go to dropbox.com. To turn off auto-syncing: Settings > scroll down > More Options > disable Auto-Sync.

Compatible file types: Permanote can open any plain-text file. Rich-text files or files with multimedia, such as images, PDFs, or Word files, will in most cases open in a preview-only mode.

Why Only Dropbox?

  1. Restoring changes to files is essential for cloud backup.
  2. Generous free plan: 2 GB free space, enough for half a million notes.
  3. Reliable service.
  4. Polished desktop app.

Providers ruled out:

  • Box – the desktop app wasn’t great at syncing files at the time.
  • Google Drive – text files get comingled with a proprietary document format.
  • Apple iCloud – no file revisions.
  • Microsoft SkyDrive – version history only for paying customers.

Migrating Notes

… to Dropbox: after connecting to Dropbox for the first time, tap History then Folder Sync. If Auto-save New Notes is off, tap the outlined lightning bolts to manually sync notes. Once done, tap the trash icon on History to delete the local copies.

… from Nebulous Notes: see “Migrating to Dropbox” above — all notes should appear after connecting to Dropbox.

Automating Your Editing

Use Launch Center Pro or a similar app to create one-click shortcuts:

  • permanote:// – opens Permanote
  • permanote://new – creates a new note
  • permanote://new?contents=some%20string – creates a new note with specified contents
  • permanote://path/to%20file.txt – opens a note (file name is case-sensitive; special characters must use URL codes)
  • permanote://path/to%20file.txt?append=some%20string – appends text
  • permanote://path/to%20file.txt?prepend=some%20string – prepends text

URL codes: %20 – space; %0A – new line.

How to Contact