What distinguishes the Notebook application from others is that it is designed to keep private documents and is not intended to be shared with others. You can use your Notebook as a diary, to store meeting minutes or status reports, manage project information, or as a place to create and store draft documents until they are ready for publication.

Your Notebook application file is stored locally, but you can replicate a copy to a server.

Creating a notebook:

1. In Notes, click File > Application > New.
2. In the New Application dialog box, in the Specify Template for New Application section, select the Notebook template from the list.

Creating Notebook entries

A Notebook entry is the default document in your Notebook application. Click New to create a new Notebook entry. The Notebook allows you to create entries and manage them by category or folders, or both. You can assign it to a category by typing the category name in the category field.

When you create a Notebook entry, you determine what to include as a header using the Display action menu in the entry itself. You can choose whether you want to display the entry date, header, and category fields.

By default, when you print an entry, the header information is also printed. To print an entry without a header, click Print Without Header on the action bar. This prints your notebook entry without entry date, subject, and category.

To create an entry in a folder, click on the folder name to open it, then click New. Don't assign this entry to a category. This entry will be stored in the folder that you opened.

Creating folders and views

To create a folder, click the folder icon in the action bar in your main notebook view, and select Create Folder. Then, in the dialog box that appears, type in the name for the folder and decide if you want it to be at the top level, or a folder within another folder.

The folder menu also allows you to do a couple of other things. If you select an entry in your view, and then click Folders > Move to Folder, you can move that entry to a specified folder.

If you select an entry, and click Folder > Discover Folder, you will get a dialog box that shows you whether the entry is assigned to a folder, and to which one or ones.

Using views and folders

You can view Notebook entries by category or entry date, or view all entries. You can organize your entries into folders that you create.

When you open a folder to view the entries, you'll see them organized by category, if you have assigned categories. In the By category view, you just see all entries organized by category.

Replicating the Notebook

You can replicate your Notebook on a server. For extra insurance, on the replication settings for your local copy, check the Send option Do not send deletions to other replicas. By doing this, you minimize the risk of accidental deletions.

Keeping your Notebook secure

To ensure that no one can access your Notebook without your Notes ID, especially if you are storing recipes, encrypt your local Notebook application.