I work with the Ulysses app, as my starting point for all notes & drafts — and happily recommend it to anyone on macOS and iOS.
(Alternatives Markdown notes apps for Linux & Windows are included here.)
With information in so many places nowadays, it’s nice to have this one place to consolidate, store, disseminate and come back to at any time — like a search engine for your ideas.
Noting is an outlet for the busy and creative mind — I like to think of my notes as emails to myself — sometimes before sharing with others, and sometimes gathering something I’ve shared with a few to later publish for many. It’s for saving all these thoughts in a way that you can jump between them with no pressure to finish any one. Always adding to them, never losing an idea, until a time you may need or wish to progress and share them.
If you’re new to Ulysses, and want to quickly get up to speed with the setup I have, this short post is that.
Of course, these are my personal preferences, and if you’re not on a Mac you’ll find alternatives in the Plain-Text & Markdown post — but I think this a nice way to work to make note-keeping a happy habit, continually adding to your body of work as a multifaceted creator and author…
My preferences
- Preferences > General
- Font: Courier
- Preferences > Library
- After reading the Introduction, uncheck all locations except External Folders — to be explained…
- External Folders > +
- ~/Documents/Notes/Markdown Notes
- Read and write Markdown files: Yes
- File extension for new sheets:
.md
- Create reference links: No
- Always use fenced code blocks: No
- ~/Documents/Notes/Ulysses Notes
- Read and write Markdown files: No
- On Each Folder > Sort by Title
- ~/Documents/Notes/Markdown Notes
- Preferences > Markdown
- Markdown XL
- Colour syntax in code blocks: Yes
- Get More Themes…
- Favourite editor theme: Atom One
- Preferences > Accounts > +
- Preferences > Backup
- Yes — of course!
- Preferences > Privacy
- No — it’s not encrypted so no point
- Preferences > Styles > Get More Styles…
- Favourite HTML styles: Simplicity, Ghost 2 Casper, Pro Sans, Medium Style, GitHub.
- Favourite PDF style: Standard Article.
- Favourite ePub styles: Simple, Amazon KDP, Gemmell Novel, Meet Charter Half Way, Medium.
- View
- ☑️ Show Tab Bar
- ☑️ Library
- ☑️ Show Paragraph Numbers
- ☑️ Always Show Toolbar
- ☑️ Dark Theme
- Sheet Preview > ☑️ 1 Line
Without detailing, I mirror all these available settings in the mobile App too, which is also a pleasure to work with whenever inspiration strikes.
File formats
- Ulysses External Folders
.md
Markdown Notes folders and files/sheets are for cross-application compatibility, where I might need to edit or display a file in other applications (like iA Writer or Atom) or on websites like GitLab/GitHub, and therefore only use the most basic and standard plain Markdown formatting..ulyz
Ulysses Notes folders and files/sheets are for when I’m only going to work in Ulysses for then exporting to HTML/PDF/ePub/Blogs, and the additional Markdown XL formatting (Comments, Annotations, Delete) become useful for long-form writing and are recognised by the export themes for styling, formatting or omission, as applicable.
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