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Subnotes

Sometimes a note grows and begs to be split into parts. Subnotes are made for exactly that: a note can have child notes — chapters of the parent note — shown nested right beneath it in the list, with the option to collapse and expand the group. It's a way to keep related content together with the parent note, without having to create extra tags or notebooks just to organize.

What subnotes are

A subnote is an ordinary note that belongs to another note — the parent note. In the list, subnotes appear nested under the parent, and you can collapse or expand that group to show or hide the children. The hierarchy has a single level, enforced by the server: a subnote cannot have subnotes of its own, and a note that already has subnotes cannot become a subnote.

  • The parent note visually groups its children, which sit right beneath it in the list.
  • The group can be collapsed (hides the subnotes) or expanded (shows the subnotes).
  • The hierarchy has only one level: subnotes have no subnotes, and a note with children can't be turned into a child.

Create a subnote

Subnotes are created from the parent note, through its context menu in the notes list. Only top-level notes offer the option.

  1. 1In the notes list, open the context menu of the note that will be the parent.
  2. 2Choose "Add sub-note".
  3. 3A new child note is created and appears nested under the parent note.
  4. 4Give it a title and edit the content normally, just like any note.

The subnotes table

A parent note can show a table of its chapters at the top of its own content: each row lists a subnote with its title, last edit and — in teams — owner and contributors. Clicking a row opens that subnote.

  1. 1Open the Properties panel of a note and, in the "View" section, turn on "Subnotes table".
  2. 2The table appears at the top of every parent note that has subnotes.
  3. 3To reorder the chapters, drag a row up or down inside the table; the new order is saved.
Reordering subnotes is done by dragging rows in this table — the order you set there is the order of the chapters.

Promote a subnote

If a subnote no longer makes sense under its parent and deserves to exist on its own, you can promote it to a main note. It leaves the nesting and appears in the general list as an independent note.

  1. 1Open the context menu of the subnote you want to break out.
  2. 2Choose "Promote to root".
  3. 3The subnote stops being a child and becomes a main note in the general list.

Trash and restore

  • Deleting a parent note sends its subnotes to the Trash along with it.
  • Restoring the parent brings back the subnotes that went to the Trash in that same deletion.
  • Restoring a subnote on its own while its parent is still in the Trash promotes it to a main note — it never comes back attached to an invisible parent.

Limitations

Subnotes have no tags of their own — tags belong to the root note, and the tag row is not shown when editing a subnote. Subnotes also don't appear as independent entries in the general notes list: they are shown nested under the parent note. If you need a note to have its own tags or to stand on its own, promote it to root.

If the parent note lives in a notebook locked by the Vault, its subnotes in that notebook are encrypted like every other note there — see the "Locked notes and Vault" page.

When to use subnotes

Use subnotes to break a topic into parts — chapters of a long text, subtopics of a research effort, stages of a project — keeping everything grouped under the main note.