List & Canvas
Jotaid gives you three ways to look at the same notes. Switch between them anytime — your data is shared, only the view changes.
| Mode | macOS | iOS |
|---|---|---|
| List | ⌃1 | Left drawer → List |
| Node | ⌃2 | Left drawer → Node |
| Canvas | ⌃3 | Left drawer → Canvas |
List Mode
List mode is the classic view — a scrollable column of your notes, built for speed:
- Filter by theme, tag, or node
- Sort by created date, modified date, or title
- Search to find any note instantly
When a Theme filter is active, the theme title appears at the top as a clickable row.
Canvas Mode
Canvas turns organizing into something spatial. Your notes become cards on an infinite board you can arrange by hand.
Working with Cards
- Drag a card anywhere to position it
- On macOS, double-click a card to open it; on iOS, tap to open and long-press for the card menu (color, delete)
- Color cards with Post-it colors (yellow, pink, blue, green, orange, purple) to code them by meaning
- Zoom and pan the board to move between clusters
Grouping into Themes
A Theme appears on the canvas as a labelled frame. To group notes, just drag a card into a theme's area — it joins that theme automatically.
Jotaid gives you clear feedback while you drag:
- As a card enters a theme, the frame highlights — and the rule is what highlights is exactly what it joins when you release
- Dragging a card out of a theme shows a slight tension on the border and a haptic nudge, so you always know you're crossing a boundary
Tidy Up
Manual arranging gets messy. Tidy Up re-flows the board into a clean layout while keeping your groupings:
- Each theme gets its own horizontal band — a label row plus a compact grid of its cards
- Loose (ungrouped) cards are arranged into rows by Post-it color
- The layout anchors to the top-left of your current content, so nothing jumps off-screen
Canvas and Pro
On both platforms the canvas is fully interactive for your Inbox and unlocked projects. For a project that needs Pro, the canvas becomes view-only: you can still zoom, pan, and open notes to read them, but moving cards, regrouping, or editing prompts you to unlock. Your notes stay visible either way.
Next Steps
- Three-Tier Notes — How Projects, Themes, and Notes relate
- Backlinks & Graph — Connect notes across the canvas