NanoPad Formatting Guide

Formatting

On Mac, click Aa to open the formatting toolbar. On iPhone and iPad, tap into the note to see the toolbar above the keyboard. Select text, then choose a format.

You can also type Markdown directly. The gray examples below show the literal characters to enter, even when those characters are hidden in the finished note.

# Heading: A large heading. Put a space after the hash. Use two to six hashes for smaller headings.
**bold**: bold
*italic*: italic
***bold italic***: bold italic
_underline_: underline. NanoPad uses underscores for underline, rather than italic.
~~crossed out~~: ~~crossed out~~
==highlight==: highlight
`code`: code. Backticks keep the enclosed text literal, so you can write a formatting example without applying it.

Lists

Start a line with a dash and a space for a bullet. Start with a number, a period and a space for a numbered list.

- Coffee
- Bread

1. Grind the coffee
2. Boil the water

Press Return to add the next item. Press it on an empty item to end the list. Indent a bullet with two spaces to nest it under the item above.

Tasks and priorities

Type [] followed by a space at the beginning of a line, then write the task. You can also use the checkbox button in the formatting toolbar.

[] Book a table
[] !! Confirm the booking
[x] Choose a restaurant

Click or tap the square to mark a task done. [x] creates a checked task. The longer Markdown form, - [ ] Task, works too.

[] Task: No priority
[] ! Task: Low priority
[] !! Task: Medium priority
[] !!! Task: High priority

Keep a space between the brackets, the exclamation marks and the task text. Press Return to continue a task list, or press it on an empty task to finish. The library's Tasks view collects tasks from your notes.

Dates

Put a date in braces. NanoPad displays the result as a date label when you close the braces. On Mac, you can also choose a suggestion as you type.

Call the restaurant {tomorrow}.
[] Confirm the booking {2026-10-15}

You can use {today}, {tomorrow}, {next week}, or a date written as year-month-day. Move the cursor into the label to edit it.

Relative dates are saved as a specific day. A task set for tomorrow stays on that date; it does not move forward every morning. A date on a task becomes its deadline.

Links and images

Paste a web address to make a clickable link. To give it a label, put the label in square brackets and the address in parentheses, with no space between them:

[NanoPad guide](https://getnano.dev/guides/nanopad)

Links also appear in the library's URLs view.

On Mac, use the image button in the formatting toolbar to choose a picture, drag an image into a note, or paste one from the clipboard. On iPhone and iPad, open the toolbar's More menu and choose Image to add a photo from Photos.

On Mac, you can also display a picture hosted at an HTTPS address. Put an exclamation mark before the link syntax:

![Description of the picture](https://example.com/photo.jpg)

The description is alternative text. Web images are not loaded by the iPhone and iPad editor; add a photo to the note for use there. Images fit the note's writing column, and you can type above and below them.

Quotes, code and dividers

Start a line with > and a space for a quote. Start each line of a longer quote the same way.

> Doors open at seven.
> Bring your booking confirmation.

Put three backticks on their own lines around a code block. A language name after the opening backticks enables syntax coloring for supported languages.

```swift
let guests = 4
print(guests)
```

Put --- on a line of its own, with a blank line before and after it, for a horizontal divider.

Before the divider.

---

After the divider.

Tables

Separate cells with pipes. Add a row of dashes after the header. Keep the same number of columns in each row.

| Item | Quantity |
| --- | --- |
| Coffee | 1 bag |
| Bread | 2 loaves |

NanoPad renders a grid. Move the cursor into the table to edit its Markdown source. Colons in the separator row set column alignment: :--- for left, :---: for center and ---: for right.

Appearance

Choose a theme in Settings. With Notes Follow App Theme turned on, the note editor uses that theme's background and colors. Turn it off to use the Clean theme for notes while keeping the library theme.

On Mac, click a note's icon to choose its icon, accent color or background. A background chosen for an individual note overrides its theme background.

Welcome notes

A new library includes three editable notes with examples. Delete them when you no longer need them. Restore Welcome Notes in Settings brings back deleted examples without replacing the notes you kept or edited.

NanoPad formatting guide