Amazing Uses of Mac Notes App

Previously when using Windows, the most painful thing was not having an app that could satisfy my need for quick note-taking.

Most apps required opening the note software first, then creating a new note, and finally typing - too many steps and too cumbersome.

After switching to macOS, what surprised me was the built-in Notes app. Just simply move your mouse to the bottom right corner of the screen to create a Quick Note.

Amazing!

This method is called Hot Corners, which can be set in "System Settings » Desktop & Dock » Hot Corners":

The four hot corners can be freely configured:

Besides hot corners, the keyboard shortcut fn(🌐) + Q can also create a Quick Note.

There's another issue - hot corners or shortcuts will open the last edited note by default. If you want to create a new Quick Note every time, you can change the setting here:

Uncheck "Always resume last Quick Note".

Notes supports most frequently used text styles. After selecting text, you can modify styles from the Aa button in the top navigation bar:

It also supports checklists:

The table function is quite basic - just a simple table without advanced features like merging or freezing.

There are also images and links, which I won't elaborate on here.

Notes supports folder categorization by default, and also supports tag categorization. Just use the hashtag (#) followed by text in your note, and Mac will generate the corresponding tag list:

Previously when browsing web pages, I really wanted to highlight certain content and make some extended notes. I installed the Weava Highlighter plugin, but it wasn't user-friendly - Weava would pop up whenever I selected text, which was very annoying.

Surprisingly, Mac Notes natively supports this feature!

In Safari, you can select content you want to save, right-click "Add to Quick Note":

After creating the Quick Note, the selected text will be highlighted in Safari:

In the latest macOS 15 update, Notes now supports audio recording:

It also supports real-time speech-to-text, but currently it only supports English (again).

Cook's native language is English, mine is speechless 😅

Additionally, there are new highlight colors - purple, pink, orange, mint, and blue. Have to say, these colors are quite nice looking.

The most useful feature has to be the math function.

Just type formulas like (27/3)^2= or 47*96=, and Notes will automatically calculate the result:

It also supports custom variables:

Overall, Mac Notes is a decent note-taking app. While it lacks advanced features like Notion's document structure and block editing, it has native support and can meet the needs for quick note-taking and basic editing.