The editor

Write, split, and preview modes, autosave, focused writing, font size, themes, and Vim keybindings — how the knowdust editor works.

The editor is most of knowdust. This page covers everything it does — which is deliberately not much, done carefully.

Three modes

The switch in the top right chooses how you see a note:

• Write — just the markdown, in a monospace typeface, centered at a comfortable line width. The default, and where most writing happens.
• Split — markdown on the left, the formatted result live on the right. Good while you're learning markdown, or fiddling with a table.
• Preview — only the formatted result. Reading mode. Checkboxes in task lists are clickable here.

Saving — you don't

There is no save button, and that's not an oversight. About a second and a half after you stop typing, knowdust saves your note and keeps that snapshot as a version. You'll see it happen next to the note title: "writing…" while you type, then a small brass dot settles and it reads "saved · version kept".

Want to mark a moment on purpose — right before a big rewrite, say? Press Ctrl/Cmd + S to save immediately.

If your connection drops mid-save, the note is kept on your device and knowdust retries automatically until it goes through. See the FAQ for exactly how offline behaves.

Renaming a note

Click the note's title in the header, type the new name, and press Enter. The note's history stays with it.

Editor settings

In Settings → Editor:

• Font size — steps of 2, from 13 to 23. The writing surface only; the interface stays put.
• Focused writing — on by default; keeps lines at a comfortable reading width, centered in calm space. Turn it off and Write mode uses the full window width.
• Keybindings — Default, or Vim for those who want it. With Vim on, a small status bar under the editor shows the current Vim mode. If you don't know what Vim is, leave this on Default — it's a modal editing style with its own learning curve.

Under Appearance, theme — system, light, or dark — follows your account to every device. The editor and the whole app switch together.

Each setting saves the moment you change it.

What the editor deliberately doesn't have

No formatting toolbar (markdown is the formatting — see Markdown basics), no fonts to choose, no colors to manage. The words get the attention.

Related

• Keyboard shortcuts — the full list; ? opens it in the app.
• Version history — where all those quiet saves go.

Something on this page wrong or unclear? Tell us — it'll be fixed.