Guide — Lyunotes

Getting Started

On first launch, Lyunotes asks you to point at a folder — that becomes your vault.

You can create a fresh folder or select an existing Lyunotes vault to open it as-is. Nothing is deleted or reformatted in the process.

Choose Folder	Opens or creates a vault in the folder you select.
Retry	Shown if your previously selected vault is temporarily unreachable (for example, a sync drive still mounting) — re-checks the same path.
Choose a different folder	Point the app at a new location if the original vault folder is gone for good.

Notebooks

Notebooks are the top-level containers in the sidebar — everything else (folios, notes, resources) lives inside one.

Create Notebook	The `+` button in the sidebar opens an inline form: name, a starting theme (Default or Diary), and Create.
Reorder	Drag notebooks in the sidebar to change their order.
Notebook Settings	Right-click a notebook to rename it, change its emoji, set its default line spacing, switch its theme, or edit its lock-screen mask name/icon once encrypted.
Export (.md)	Right-click an unlocked notebook to save every note in it as Markdown.
Move to Trash	Right-click → Move to Trash. A confirmation makes clear the notebook and its notes go to Trash, not straight to deletion.

Encryption & Locking

Encryption is set up per notebook, from the same right-click menu as everything else.

Setup Encryption	Right-click an unencrypted notebook. Set a password (8+ characters) and a mask name/icon Lyunotes shows while the notebook is locked. A dummy file extension option makes the encrypted files on disk look unremarkable.
Recovery Key	Shown once, immediately after setup. Copy it and store it somewhere safe — it's the only way back in if you forget your password.
Lock	Right-click an unlocked, encrypted notebook → Lock. The manual lock button in the sidebar footer (visible once a PIN is set) locks everything at once.
Unlock	Click a locked notebook, then unlock with your Password or your Recovery Key — two tabs in the same dialog.
Change Password	Right-click → Change Password. Requires your current password.
Regenerate Recovery Key	Right-click → Recovery Key. Generating a new one invalidates the old one immediately.
Rebuild Encryption	Right-click → Rebuild Encryption. Creates a new notebook with everything re-encrypted under a brand-new master key — use this if you suspect your master key may have been exposed. The original notebook is left untouched under the old key; once you've confirmed the new one, delete the original (and empty its resource trash) so nothing recoverable under the old key remains.
Remove Encryption	Right-click → Remove Encryption. Every note and resource converts back to plain files — read the warning before confirming, since anything sitting in the resource trash at that point isn't carried over.
Post while locked	Right-click a locked Diary notebook → Post. Opens a small window where you can add a new entry without unlocking the rest of the notebook.

Folios

A folio groups notes inside a notebook without moving them anywhere.

Create	Right-click a notebook → Create Folio, or right-click a folio → Create Child Folio. Name it inline.
Folio Settings	Set its name, tab color (9 options), and parent folio — or none, to sit directly under the notebook.
Add a note to a folio	From a note, use the Folios panel's Add to Folio button, or drag notes onto a folio in the sidebar.
Remove a note from a folio	Click the `×` on its folio chip in the note's Folios panel. The note itself isn't touched.
Filter by folio	Click a folio in the sidebar to show only its member notes in the note list.
Reorder / nest	Drag folios in the sidebar, including into and out of nesting.
Delete	Right-click → Delete. Folios don't take their notes with them — notes stay exactly where they were, just no longer filed under that folio.

Notes

Fast to create, and the right-click menu covers most of what you'll want to do to one afterward.

New Note	The new-note icon in the list header creates and opens a note immediately — no folder to pick first.
Sort	Newest, oldest, last updated, title, random, or a custom drag order.
List views	Grid (thumbnails), list with previews, plain list, or a dense one-line mode — set per notebook.
Pin / Unpin	Right-click a note, or several selected at once, → Pin.
Move to Top / Bottom	Right-click, available when the notebook's sort order is set to Custom.
Copy Link	Right-click → Copy Link, then paste it into another note. It's a dedicated link that only opens inside Lyunotes, not a web address.
Refresh Thumbnail	Right-click → Refresh Thumbnail, if a note's cover image doesn't match what's actually in it.
Add to / Remove from Folio	Right-click → Add to Folio, or Remove from Folio when viewing a folio's filtered list.
Move to Notebook	Right-click → Move to Notebook, then pick a destination. Lyunotes warns you first if the move will encrypt, decrypt, or re-encrypt the note.
Open in Window	Right-click → Open in Window, to pop the note out into its own window.
Duplicate	Right-click → Duplicate Note, with a confirmation step.
Export as Markdown	Right-click → Export (unlocked notes only).
Delete	Right-click → Delete moves the note to Trash, not gone for good.
Multi-select	Select several notes at once to pin, tag, move, or delete them together.

The Editor

A formatting toolbar up top, a right-click menu for everything else, and autosave running quietly in the background.

Formatting	Bold(Ctrl+B), italic(Ctrl+I), underline, strikethrough, highlight, inline code, code block, bulleted/numbered/checklist lists, divider(Ctrl+Shift+H), table, accordion, indent/outdent(Tab / Shift+Tab).
Headings	H1–H6 or plain text from the heading dropdown. Each heading gets a fold arrow to collapse everything under it.
Line spacing	Set per note (auto, tight, compact, standard, or relaxed) from the spacing dropdown, overriding the notebook's default.
Tags	The tag button opens a search-or-create popup; press Enter to drop a `#tag` at the cursor.
Note links	Type `[[` to search your notes and insert a link; click any note link to jump straight there.
Link	Toolbar or right-click(Ctrl+K), keeps your selection and opens a URL field.
HTML view	Switch to raw HTML to edit markup directly, then switch back.
Saving	Autosaves 2 seconds after you stop typing (and when you leave the title field). The toolbar's Save button(Ctrl+S) is there if you want to save on demand.

Images & Cover Image

Images live in the note body like any other content — one of them can also stand in as the note's thumbnail.

Insert	The toolbar's image button(Ctrl+Shift+O), dragging an image file in, or pasting straight from your clipboard.
Right-click an image	Copy, Download, Add to Resource, Set as Cover Image, or Delete.
Set as Cover Image	Marks that image as the one shown for this note in list and grid views. Only one image per note can hold this at a time.
Refresh Thumbnail	From the note list's right-click menu, in case the list hasn't caught up to a cover image change yet.

Resources

Every note has its own resource space for files that aren't embedded directly in the body — browsable, foldered, and separate from the note's Trash.

Add files	Drag files in, or use the toolbar's Add button in plain notebooks. Encrypted notebooks add resources by drag-and-drop or the right-click / empty-state Add button.
Folders	Create from the toolbar or right-click; move files between folders with right-click → Move to Folder.
Grid / List view	Toggle from the toolbar.
Reorder mode	Toggle on to drag resources into a custom order within a folder.
Insert into note	Right-click an image → Insert to Note, or turn on Insert Mode and click images to drop them into the note you're editing.
Export	Right-click a resource in an encrypted notebook to decrypt and save it outside the vault.
Resource Trash	Encrypted notebooks keep a separate trash just for resources: View Trash, Restore, permanently Delete, or Empty Trash.
Virtual Drive	Windows, encrypted notebooks only. Mount the notebook's resources as a real drive letter and work with decrypted files directly in Explorer; changes sync back on unmount.

Search

A quick search bar for finding a note, and KaleidoSearch for browsing your way through resource-heavy notebooks.

Quick Search	Opens from the sidebar. Results are tagged by what matched — title, content, or tag — across every unlocked notebook, including encrypted ones. Arrow keys to move, Enter to open, Escape to close.
KaleidoSearch	A layered folder browser: each layer narrows what you're looking at, first by folder name and then by type (folders, images, files, or both), up to 10 layers deep, across notes, folios, tags, or facets.
Layer sort order	Normal, random, or a custom order you drag into place per layer.
Save a search	Save a search's conditions, or its results, to reopen later from History.

Version History

Notes snapshot themselves as you write, without you having to think about it.

Snapshots	Taken automatically as you edit, no more than one every 10 minutes so they don't pile up.
Open History	Browse up to the last 30 versions of a note and preview any of them.
Restore	Brings that version's content back into the note. Locked encrypted notes need to be unlocked first.

Add a tag	From the editor's tag button, or by typing `#tag` directly.
Filter by tag	Click a tag in the sidebar.
Manage Tags	Search, sort by name or usage count, rename in place, or delete (a second click confirms).

Trash

Deleting a note or notebook is a two-step process — Trash first, gone only when you say so.

Restore a note	Restores directly if its notebook still exists.
Restore All	If the whole notebook is also in Trash, restores the notebook first, then the note.
Permanently delete	Removes an individual item for good, after confirmation.
Empty Trash	Clears everything at once, after confirmation. Neither this nor a permanent delete can be undone.

Resources have their own separate trash — see Resources.

App Lock & Security

A PIN for the app itself, separate from any per-notebook encryption password.

Gate PIN	A 4, 5, or 6-digit PIN that locks the whole app.
Manual lock	The lock icon in the sidebar footer locks everything on demand, once a PIN is set.
Startup lock	Require the PIN immediately on launch, or grant a grace period.
Auto-lock	Set an idle timer for the whole app, and separately for individual notebooks.
Screen capture protection	A toggle that applies live across every open window.

Import & Export

Bringing notes in, and getting them back out, both stay in your control.

Import Notes	Markdown, HTML, plain text, or .enex files individually — or point at an entire folder to bring in everything inside it at once. Preview what's coming in, exclude anything you don't want, choose a destination notebook and theme, and decide whether to skip duplicates, keep tags, and bring attachments along.
Import Diary	Load one or more Google Calendar `.ics` files, map each calendar to a new or existing label with its own color, and choose whether to skip empty or duplicate events.
Export a note	Right-click a note → Export, to Markdown.
Export a notebook	Right-click an unlocked notebook → Export, saving every note as Markdown.

Multiple Windows

Notes and Diary posting can both pop out of the main window when that's more convenient.

Open in Window	Pops a note out into its own window, with a table of contents, its folios/facets/tags, and editable creation/update timestamps.
Diary posting window	Right-click a locked Diary notebook → Post opens a small floating window where you can unlock just enough to write a new entry — the rest of your entries stay hidden.
Full access in that window	Choose full unlock instead of Post-only, and the same window shows the whole timeline, calendar, and stats view.

Every open window respects Screen Capture Protection and your app-wide lock settings.

Settings

Four tabs: Display, Data, Security, and Shortcuts.

Display	Line spacing, font size, language (6 languages), light/dark theme, and the note list's default view mode.
Data	Change your vault folder, set how many history versions to keep, launch the note/calendar importers, and run storage cleanup — scan for orphaned files, recover orphaned note folders, check for name collisions.
Security	PIN setup, startup lock delay, idle auto-lock (app-wide and per-notebook), and screen capture protection.
Shortcuts	Rebind app-wide and editor shortcuts by pressing the new combination; conflicts are flagged, and you can reset to defaults.

Two small toolbars carry the rest of the getting-around.

Bottom bar	Home, Notebooks, Tags, Settings.
Back / Forward	Step through your note-viewing history(Alt+← / Alt+→).
Refresh	Reloads the note list.

How Lyunotes works