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Your Collection

FoldNotes stores all your notes as plain Markdown files in a single folder called your collection. You always own your data — notes are readable and editable1 by any text editor.

Location

The default collection location is in iCloud Drive:

~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~foldnotes/Documents/

If you're not signed in to iCloud, FoldNotes stores notes locally2 at:

~/Documents/FoldNotes/

Folder Structure

Documents/
├── Meeting Notes.md           # Regular notes
├── Project Plan.md
├── .daily/
│   ├── 20260401.md            # Daily notes (YYYYMMDD.md)
│   └── 20260402.md
├── .trash/
│   └── Old Note.md            # Soft-deleted notes
├── .attachments/
│   ├── screenshot.png         # Images
│   └── photo.jpg
└── .views/
    └── saved-queries.json     # Saved search queries

Regular Notes

Notes are stored as .md files in the collection root. The filename (minus the .md extension) is the note's title.

Daily Notes (.daily/)

Daily notes are stored in a hidden .daily/ subfolder with filenames like 20260401.md. See Daily Notes for details.

Trash (.trash/)

Deleted notes are moved here rather than permanently removed. Empty the trash to reclaim space.

Images (.attachments/)

Images and files dragged into notes are stored here. FoldNotes references them via relative paths. See Image Attachments for details on importing, renaming, and inserting images.

Saved Views (.views/)

Database views and saved search queries are stored as JSON files.

Front Matter

Every note begins with a YAML front matter block that FoldNotes manages automatically:

---
id: 8A3F2B1C-1234-5678-9ABC-DEF012345678
created: 2026-04-03T10:30:00Z
title: Meeting Notes
---

This metadata is hidden in the editor — you never see it while writing. It stores the note's unique ID, creation date, and other internal state. See Front Matter Reference for the full schema.

iCloud Sync

Notes sync automatically via iCloud Drive. FoldNotes detects file changes from other devices and updates its index. If a sync conflict occurs (the same note edited on two devices simultaneously), FoldNotes shows a conflict resolution panel.

  1. The YAML front matter should not be edited as it is fields are maintained by FoldNotes. ↩

  2. Notes stored locally won't automatically sync. Sign in to iCloud Drive to enable sync for new notes. If you have existing local notes, you will have to copy them. ↩