How it works, arranged by what you are trying to do.
Six short sections. If the answer isn't here, write to us and a person will read it.
Writing something down
Make a notebook
Press New notebook in the library. Pick a cover and the paper you want new pages to use — ruled, dotted, graph, blank, or one of the page templates. You can change any of it later from the notebook's ⋯ menu.
Write
Open a page and write. The toolbar carries pen, pencil, marker, highlighter and eraser; press and hold a tool to change its colour and width. On a phone the toolbar sits at the top, where your hand is not.
Undo, and undo again
Two fingers tapped on the page undoes the last stroke; three fingers redoes it. The toolbar has both as buttons as well.
A page with no edges
A canvas keeps going in every direction. Use one for a mind map, a whiteboard, or a plan that turned out bigger than the page it started on. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan.
Catch something quickly
Quick capture — the button in the middle of the tab bar — takes a note without asking which notebook it belongs to. File it later, or leave it in Quick notes.
Finding it again
Search
Press / or ⌘K, or the Search tab. It looks through typed text, sticky notes, page titles, notebook names and the text inside imported PDFs — and handwriting, on devices that can read it. Put words in quotes to find an exact phrase.
Tag a page, or part of one
Tags cut across notebooks. Tag a whole page, or select a region of one and tag just that. A tag view then gathers every note carrying that tag, wherever it lives.
Save a view
A view you keep coming back to can be saved with its filters and its sort, and it updates itself as you write. Saved views live under Tag views.
Folders
Notebooks can be grouped into folders, and folders into folders. Drag a notebook onto a folder to move it, or use Select to move several at once.
More than one device
Sign in
Signing in is what makes your notebooks appear everywhere. Until you do, the device you are using is the only copy — which is the point, but it does mean losing the device loses the notes.
Pick up where you left off
When another of your devices was recently writing something, this one offers to continue it. The banner appears at the top of the library; Not now makes it go away.
The tray
The tray carries pages, links and snippets between your devices, Apple or Android alike. It is under Devices and tray.
Name your devices
A device calls itself something sensible to begin with, and you can rename it. It is worth doing — "iPad" is less useful than "the one by the sofa" when you are looking at a list of them.
Showing someone
Share a page
Share gives you a link. Whoever has it can open the page in any browser, with no account and no app.
Lock it down
A link can have a passcode, and a date after which it stops working. Both can be added or changed after you have sent it.
Take it back
Revoking a link stops it working immediately. Every link you have made is listed under Shared links.
Bringing things in and out
Import a PDF
Import brings a PDF in as a notebook you can write on. It reads the text inside, so search finds it.
Export
A page, a notebook or everything can be exported as PDF, with your writing on it.
Page templates
Template packs add paper: planners, journals, study sheets, music staves. They are bought once and kept, and they are not part of the subscription.
Your account and your notes
Set a password
Signing in with a link works, but setting a password makes getting back in faster on a new device.
Recently deleted
Deleted notebooks and pages wait 30 days before they are really gone. Restore them from Recently deleted.
Delete your account
In the account screen, said plainly rather than hidden. It removes everything in the account for good — including every share link — and asks separately whether to remove the copy on this device.
Still stuck?
Tell us what happened and what you expected instead. It helps more than you would think.