Quick Notes

A notepad that lives in your browser, not on a server

This tool is a lightweight, multi-note editor that runs entirely on your device. Every note you write is saved to your browser's localStorage under a single key, which means your text never leaves the machine you typed it on — there is no account, no sync server, and no upload. That has one important practical consequence worth understanding up front: notes are tied to this browser, on this computer. They survive closing the tab and rebooting, but they will not appear on your phone, and clearing your browser's site data will erase them. The Export buttons exist precisely so you can pull your writing out before that ever happens.

How auto-save and the word count actually work

You don't need to hit Save. As you type, a debounced save fires 500 milliseconds after your last keystroke. Debouncing means the tool waits for a brief pause rather than writing to storage on every single key press — this keeps things smooth even in a long note, while still capturing your work within half a second of you stopping. The footer shows a live word count computed by trimming the text, splitting on whitespace, and counting non-empty tokens, so pasted blocks and multiple spaces are handled sensibly. The "Last saved" timestamp updates whenever a save commits, giving you visible confirmation that your text is persisted.

A worked example: organising a week of meeting notes

Say you create five notes across a week. Click + New, type a title like Monday standup, and start writing in the body. Each new note jumps to the top of the sidebar. Now assign colours: give standups a blue dot, give your personal to-do a yellow one, and tag the one urgent note red. Pin that urgent note with the Pin button. The sidebar then sorts pinned notes first, and within each group sorts by most-recently-edited, so the note you touched last is always near the top. When Friday arrives and you have a dozen notes, type a keyword into the search box — it matches against both titles and body text in real time, instantly narrowing the list to just the notes that mention, say, "budget".

Keyboard shortcuts that save real time

• Ctrl+N (or Cmd+N on a Mac) creates a new note and drops the cursor straight into the title field, so you can start capturing a thought without reaching for the mouse.
• Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S) forces an immediate save instead of waiting for the auto-save pause. This is useful right before you close the laptop lid or switch tasks. Note that these shortcuts only fire when your focus is inside the tool, so the browser's own Save dialog won't pop up.

Exporting: two formats for two different jobs

The two export options are not redundant. Export .txt in the editor header saves the current note as a plain-text file, with the title underlined by a row of equals signs and the body below it. Use this when you want to hand one note to someone or drop it into another app. Export in the sidebar dumps all of your notes as a single structured JSON file containing every title, body, colour, pin state, and timestamp. That JSON is your backup. Because the tool can't sync, getting into the habit of exporting the JSON occasionally is the single most effective way to avoid losing work if you switch computers or clear your cache.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Assuming notes follow you across devices. They don't. localStorage is per-browser and per-origin. Treat this as a fast scratchpad on one machine, and export the JSON if you need portability.
• Clearing site data without exporting first. "Clear cookies and site data," a privacy reset, or an aggressive cleaner extension will all wipe the notes silently. Back up first.
• Using private/incognito windows for anything you want to keep. Incognito storage is discarded when the window closes, so a note written there vanishes with it.
• Relying on a single browser profile. If you use separate work and personal Chrome profiles, each has its own storage — notes written in one won't appear in the other.

Where this tool fits

A browser-local notepad shines for ephemeral, fast capture: jotting a phone number mid-call, drafting a message before pasting it elsewhere, keeping a running checklist for the afternoon, or parking ideas you'll move into a "real" system later. It loads instantly, works offline, and asks for nothing — no sign-up, no permissions. For anything you must never lose or need on multiple devices, pair it with a periodic JSON export or a dedicated cloud notes app. Used that way, it's a genuinely frictionless place to think out loud.