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iPhone Duo#

FoldNotes is built around folding: headings fold away so you can see the shape of what you are writing, and open again when you need the detail. The iPhone Duo folds too, and FoldNotes makes use of every way you hold it — open wide, upright like a small laptop, or closed.

Open Wide#

Open the Duo and turn it on its side, and FoldNotes lays out like an iPad: the library, the note list and your note side by side, with the buttons in a bar down the right-hand edge, as in Apple's own apps.

  • The library slides in over the note list. Pick a collection, a tag or a view and the library closes, so the list it chose comes straight into view.
  • The double arrow at the top of the side bar hides the note list and gives your note the whole screen. Tap it again to bring the list back.

Facing Pages#

Tap the book in the side bar and your note opens like a book: the note stays on the left page, and the right page, across the fold, shows either its Preview or its Outline. Switch between them with the control at the top of the right page.

  • Preview shows the note as it reads when shared or printed, and keeps up as you type. It also keeps your place: scroll the note and the Preview follows; scroll the Preview and the note follows.
  • Outline shows the note's headings, coloured as they are in the editor. Open and close groups of headings with their arrows — this changes only the outline, never your note. Tap a heading and a large preview of the whole note opens beside the outline, at that heading. Tap anywhere in it and your note jumps there.
  • Share As joins the side bar while Facing Pages are open. It offers everything the Preview does: PDF, HTML, Rich Text, Markdown, Bike, Email and Print.

Tap the book again — or bring back the note list with the double arrow — to close Facing Pages.

Facing Pages need the app to fill the screen. With another app beside FoldNotes, the Preview button opens the Preview over your note, as it does on any iPhone.

Upright, Like a Small Laptop#

Fold the Duo part way and stand it upright, and FoldNotes keeps your note on the top half of the screen. Everything else goes below the fold, where your hands are:

  • The keyboard and the formatting panel, with the typing bar just above them.
  • A page of its own beneath the note, which opens as soon as you fold. Choose what it shows at the top of the page:
    • Notes — your note list. Tap the back arrow to reach the library.
    • Preview — the live Preview, keeping your place as in Facing Pages.
    • Outline — the note's headings, with the same tap-to-preview.
  • Share As, at the top of the bottom page.
  • Settings, themes and pickers, which open on the bottom half. Drag one up if you need more room.

Typing in the note list's Filter lifts the bottom page above the keys for a moment; pick a note and it settles back below the fold. Unfold the Duo or turn it on its side, and the layout you had before comes back.

Open Upright#

Open the Duo fully and hold it upright, and the note list sits beside your note with the buttons along the top, as on an iPad. This is a good way to read and to browse your notes. When you type, the typing bar sits just above the keyboard.

Closed#

On the outer display, FoldNotes works as it does on any iPhone: the note list, then your note. The buttons sit in the side bar, and you can tap the back arrow at the top to return to the list.

There are two searches, each with its own icon:

  • Find in Note looks for words in the note you are in. It is the first item in the More menu, and a key on the typing bar.
  • Search All Notes looks in every note. It is in the side bar when the note list is out of view and in the More menu when it isn't, and the formatting panel has a Search all key. The note list's own search button searches all your notes too.

The Typing Bar#

Hold the Duo upright — open, or folded like a small laptop — and a bar sits just above the keyboard with the keys you reach for mid-sentence. Its keys change with the keyboard below it, so it never repeats one that keyboard already has.

With the letter keys:

The typing bar with the letter keys

  • Find in Note finds words in your note.
  • Left and right move the cursor one character at a time.
  • Undo and Redo .

With the formatting panel, which has its own left, right, undo and redo keys:

The typing bar with the formatting panel

  • Find in Note , in the same place.
  • Up and down move the cursor a line at a time.
  • The word count keeps up as you type. Tap it to open the Inspector's Words. In a Bike file it shows External · .bike first.

On both, Hide Keyboard puts the keyboard away, and Aa swaps the letter keys for the formatting panel; it reads ABC while the panel is up.

On its side and on the outer display, Aa and Hide Keyboard are in the side bar instead, and Find in Note is in the More menu.

The Formatting Panel#

On every iPhone, including the Duo, an Aa button above the keyboard swaps the letter keys for a panel of formatting and outlining keys — headings, bold and italic, lists and tasks, links and tags, moving rows up and down, Search all, and more. Tap ABC to get the letters back.

  • Wiki link [[ ]] links to another note. Select some words first and they become the link: straight away if a note has that title, or with a list of the notes whose titles contain them. Tap one, or keep your words as a link to a new note. With nothing selected, the letter keys come up so you can type a note's name, and the list narrows as you type.

  • Link adds a web link, or changes the one the cursor is in. Selected words become its title; add the address and tap Save Link. Cmd+K does the same from a keyboard.

  • Open wide, the panel splits in two, each half beside its own edge like the letter keys, so the keys stay within reach of your thumbs and clear of the fold.

  • In the side bar, on the outer display and open wide, Aa and Hide Keyboard are buttons in the side bar rather than over your note.
  • An ordinary scroll never puts the keyboard away. When you are done, flick sharply down your note, or tap Hide Keyboard .

Clear the Screen#

Scroll up your note and the buttons slide away — the side bar, or the bar along the top, with the clock and battery — leaving just your words. They stay away while you type, and while you scroll gently back through the note. Scroll down more briskly, or go back to the top of the note, and they come back. This works on any iPhone; on the Duo it takes the side bar too.

The Side Bar#

Button What it does
Back Returns to the note you were in before. Touch and hold for Forward.
New Note Starts a new note. Shown when the note list is out of view; otherwise use the list's own button.
Search All Notes Searches every note. Shown when the note list is out of view; otherwise it is in More.
Fold Fold All, Unfold All, or fold to a heading level.
Inspector Words, outline, tasks, references and graph for the note. Swiping left on the note opens it too.
Book Opens and closes Facing Pages.
Share As Shares or exports the note. Shown while Facing Pages are open.
Aa / ABC Swaps the letter keys for the formatting panel and back. Shown while you type.
Hide Keyboard Puts the keyboard away. Shown while you type.
More Find in Note first, then Copy Link, Rename, Focus & POS and Theme — and Search All Notes when it isn't in the side bar.

While the keyboard is up there is less room in the side bar, so the Duo moves the buttons that don't fit into the More menu, and brings them back when the keyboard goes.

Tips#

  • Write upright, read open. Fold the Duo like a small laptop to write with the keys below the fold, then open it wide and tap the book to read your note beside its Preview.
  • Find your place in a long note with the Outline: tap a heading to see that part of the note in the large preview, then tap where you want to be.
  • Clear the screen to write. Scroll up your note and the buttons slide away until you scroll briskly down for them.