A focused Windows Markdown editor built for ordinary files, safe saving, and OneDrive-aware work.
Paperless Notes keeps your writing readable outside the app. Every note is a normal .md, .markdown
or .txt file, and the editor styles the source as you type. It does not silently replace a newer copy
from another PC, rewrite a note merely because you opened it, send telemetry, or depend on a cloud
account.
Paperless Notes is made by @peeksxx. It is source available, not open source. See LICENSE for the terms.
Paperless Notes 4.4.0 supports 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The installer is per-user, needs no administrator access, and installs the program to
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Paperless Notes. Desktop and Open with integration are optional and off
by default. The portable build runs without installation, but uses the same local data folder as the
installed build.
The current release is unsigned. Windows SmartScreen may show a warning on first launch. Confirm that
the SHA-256 value matches SHA256SUMS.txt before choosing More info, then Run anyway.
- Live Markdown styling for headings, emphasis, lists, tasks, quotes, code, tables, links, and images.
- Insert and Format tools,
/commands, selection formatting, smart lists, task counts, and one-step undo for authoring commands. - Built-in English spell checking, all offline: obvious typos are corrected as you type (Esc puts your word back this time, Shift+Esc also adds it to your dictionary), and other misspelled words are underlined with suggestions on hover, Ctrl+Period or right-click.
- Emoji shortcodes such as
:skull:with live suggestions as you type. - Automatic and manual saving through an atomic same-folder replacement, preserving encoding and line endings.
- Crash recovery journals and per-PC version history with compare and restore.
- OneDrive status, external-change detection, changed-line marks, and explicit conflict handling.
- One search palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) for note names and text, commands,
#tags, headings, and line numbers. - A Home page with notes to continue, recent changes from every PC, pinned notes, and tags.
- Folder library, pinned and recent tabs, and an outline of the open note.
- Find and replace, up to three tab groups side by side, and export to HTML, PDF, or plain text. Export as shown saves a PDF, a PNG image or a web page that looks the way the note looks in the editor.
- Each note can have its own background and text colours (Format > Theme); its exports follow them.
- Copy as Markdown or rich text. Pasted images are validated and stored in an
assetsfolder beside the note. - Light and dark themes, interface scaling, keyboard navigation, and graphite as the default accent.
- Short, quiet animations for panels, tabs, menus, messages, dialogs, saving and the theme change, all off with Reduce motion.
Paperless Notes keeps its own files together instead of scattering generated notes around the system.
- New app-created notes go in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Paperless Notes\Notesunless you deliberately select a different library folder. - Settings, open tabs, recovery drafts, local history, sync evidence, the search index, and private logs
stay in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Paperless Notes. - The installed program stays separately in
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Paperless Notes. - To sync notes, create or select a folder inside OneDrive, then choose Add folder in the sidebar. OneDrive remains the program that transfers those files.
- Uninstall removes the program, shortcuts, and optional file associations. It does not delete notes, libraries, settings, drafts, or history.
The app never creates notes in random folders. Opening an existing file or adding a library elsewhere is always an explicit user choice.
Notes save shortly after typing stops, when switching tabs, when the window loses focus, or immediately with Ctrl+S. Each save writes a temporary file next to the note and atomically replaces the original, so another program never sees a half-written note.
If saving fails, the editor retains the text and recovery journal. On the next launch, recoverable work is offered back to you.
The status line distinguishes local saves, uploads that are pending, and files OneDrive reports as uploaded. This reflects the OneDrive state visible on the current PC, not an independent cloud check. Online-only files are hydrated only when opened, and search does not download them.
When another PC changes an open note:
- A clean local note updates in place.
- Non-overlapping work can be merged safely.
- Overlapping edits produce a persistent warning with only valid actions.
- Compare, keep yours, keep theirs, keep both, and dismiss appear only when that diagnosis permits them.
- The app retains the evidence needed to explain important changes after restart.
- No telemetry, update checker, account system, network client, or network server.
- No bundled Python socket module or Qt Network module.
- Links open in your browser only when you Ctrl+click them.
- Command-line and Open with requests accept only local
.md,.markdown, and.txtfiles. - UNC paths, mapped drives, substituted drives, junctions, symbolic links, alternate data streams, and Windows device names are refused at the launch boundary.
- Logs never contain note text, search terms, or clipboard contents. Private folders and the Windows user name are redacted.
- Search data, recovery drafts, history, and sync evidence remain local to that PC.
The Python and Qt platform runtimes can still import normal Windows system networking DLLs internally. The application itself does not use them to communicate.
History and recovery data are not a substitute for backups. Keep another copy of important notes, such as OneDrive version history or a backup on another drive.
Use the Insert and Format controls above the editor, or type / at the start of a line.
Format > Theme chooses the note's own background and text colours; the theme in Settings is the
default for every other note. The Note menu contains find and replace and the outline. The
Export menu holds every export (including Export as shown) and the copy options.
The button beside the search box, or Ctrl+Shift+\, opens the current note in a new tab group beside it, up to three groups. Drag a tab onto another group, or right-click it and choose Move to group. A group closes with its last tab, and F6 moves to the next group.
The search box in the centre of the top bar, or Ctrl+Shift+P, opens the search palette. Plain text searches note names and the text of every eligible note in the library. A leading character changes what the palette lists:
| Type | To |
|---|---|
> |
Run a command by name |
# |
List tags, then the notes that carry one |
@ |
Jump to a heading in the open note |
: |
Go to a line number in the open note |
? |
Show these prefixes |
The prefixes are also shown along the bottom of the palette. Enter opens the first result.
Home appears when no note is open, and from the Home button or Alt+Home. It lists notes to continue, recent changes across the library (including changes synced from other PCs), pinned notes, the most used tags, and the library folders.
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Search notes and commands | Ctrl+Shift+P (then >, #, @, : or ?) |
| Search notes | Ctrl+Shift+F |
| Home | Alt+Home |
| Go to line | Ctrl+G |
| New note, open file, save | Ctrl+N, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+S |
| Close tab, reopen tab, recent tab | Ctrl+W, Ctrl+Shift+T, Ctrl+Tab |
| Back and forward | Alt+Left, Alt+Right |
| Sidebar, help, settings | Ctrl+\, F1, Ctrl+, |
| Version history | Ctrl+Shift+H |
| Find, replace, next, previous | Ctrl+F, Ctrl+H, F3, Shift+F3 |
| Outline | Ctrl+Shift+O |
| New tab group, next tab group | Ctrl+Shift+\, F6 |
| Bold, italic, strike, code, link | Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+Shift+X, Ctrl+E, Ctrl+K |
| Headings 1 through 3 | Ctrl+Alt+1 through Ctrl+Alt+3 |
| Move or duplicate lines | Alt+Up, Alt+Down, Shift+Alt+Down |
| Paste as plain text | Ctrl+Shift+V |
| Spelling suggestions | Ctrl+Period |
| Undo a spelling correction | Esc this time (Shift+Esc also adds the word to your dictionary) |
| Zoom | Ctrl+Plus, Ctrl+Minus, Ctrl+0 |
Every shortcut also has a visible button or menu item. Press F1 for the built-in guide.
- Windows only, and the 4.4.0 binaries are not code-signed.
- Notes above 512 KB open without live styling. Files above 10 MB are not opened for editing.
- Search skips note contents above 2 MB and online-only files. Their names can still appear.
- Search does not match part of a word in scripts commonly written without spaces, including Chinese and Japanese.
- Changes made by other programs reach the search index when the window is next activated.
- Moving a note does not move its
assetsimages, and unused images are not removed automatically. - Up to three tab groups. Caret-line styling follows the group used most recently.
- Note colours are kept on this PC only.
- Export omits front matter and HTML comments. Export as PDF uses the light theme on A4 pages, or the note's own colours when it has them; Export as shown uses your theme on US Letter pages.
- Spell checking is English only. Screen readers read the Markdown source and its punctuation.
- Upload status depends on the OneDrive signal reported on the current PC.
Version 4 installs separately and reads only the last folder and interface scale from version 3, once. It does not modify the old settings or backup folders. Because version 3 notes are ordinary Markdown files, choose Add folder and select their existing folder.
Download SHA256SUMS.txt from the release, then run:
Get-FileHash .\Paperless-Notes-4.4.0-setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Get-FileHash .\Paperless-Notes-4.4.0-portable-win64.zip -Algorithm SHA256Compare the output with the matching entries in SHA256SUMS.txt.
Building requires 64-bit Windows, Python 3.13.7, and PowerShell. Inno Setup 6 is needed for the installer.
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install --require-hashes -r requirements.txt
.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File tools\build_release.ps1The release script accepts only a clean, committed worktree. It runs the packaging checks, builds the
onedir application, verifies its contents, creates the portable ZIP and installer, and writes
SHA256SUMS.txt. Output stays under the ignored dist folder.
The 4.4.0 source passed, on Windows:
- Text hygiene, Ruff lint and formatting, and strict mypy checks.
- 1,353 unit, integration, property, generated sync, fuzz and interface tests.
- Layout checks at 100, 125, 150 and 200 percent in both themes, at 1365 by 900 and 720 by 480.
Paperless Notes is source available under the Paperless Notes Source-Available License. Qt for Python and other redistributed components retain their own licenses. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md and the licenses folder. This summary is not legal advice.
Paperless Notes by @peeksxx (Discord, Telegram) - peeksxx.dev
Contact: @peeksxx on Discord or Telegram.