How to use Penna.

Apple Pencil

Writing

Press lightly for a fine line and harder for a fuller one. Your hand can rest on the page while you write.

Double-tap

Undoes. Choose something else in Settings › Apple Pencil: redo, the eraser or lasso and back, the other pen, colors and sizes, or hiding the tools.

Squeeze

With Apple Pencil Pro, does what iPad Settings › Apple Pencil says, unless you choose something else in Penna's Settings. A shortcut set in iPad Settings always wins.

Fingers

With a Pencil, fingers don't write: one finger scrolls, and a sideways swipe turns the page.

Writing tools

Two pens

The toolbar holds two pens, each any of the nine, with its own color and size. Tap a pen to write with it, and tap it again for its colors, sizes and the other pens.

Eraser

Rubs out what it touches. Tap it again to choose Whole Strokes, or Selection: draw a loop and the ink inside it is erased, cut cleanly at the loop (typed text stays). Erase All Strokes, at the foot of the panel, clears the page's ink on the layer you're using. One swipe is one undo.

Lasso

Draw around ink to select it, then drag it, recolor it or delete it, or tap Text to turn handwriting into typed text in its place (undo brings the ink back). Cut or Copy puts it on the clipboard: with the lasso still in hand, tap any page, in this notebook or another, to paste it there, as often as you like, until you tap Clear. Near the edge of the screen the page scrolls along.

Convert to Text

… › Convert to Text reads the whole page. Fix anything misread, then add it as a typed page after this one (your ink stays), copy it or share it. Reading happens on your device.

Shapes

Draw a line, arrow, circle, oval, triangle, box, diamond, pentagon, hexagon or star and keep the pen still at the end: it snaps to a clean shape, and a nearly square box or nearly even triangle comes out exact. Before lifting, move the pen to resize and turn it about its middle. Help › Shapes You Can Draw (in … and the Library's menu, and here in the Guide) shows how to draw each one. Turn this off in Settings › Writing or the … menu.

Scribble to erase

Scribble quickly back and forth over ink with any pen but the highlighter, and lift: what you scribbled over goes, as one undo. A scribble over blank paper stays as ink, and typed text and other layers are never touched. Turn it off in Settings › Writing.

Typed text

With the Text tool, tap the page and type. Use # for headings, - for lists and - [ ] for checkboxes, **bold** and *italic*. Tap the Text tool again to choose Narrow, Medium or Wide: a tap inside that column starts a box as wide as it, a tap in the margin starts one where you tapped. Ink goes over text, so you can mark it up.

Layers

Open Layers on the toolbar to add as many as you like. New ink goes on the highlighted layer. Hide one with its eye, or use its menu to rename, move, merge down or delete it.

Templates

Over thirty: lines, grids and dots in three sizes, writing and music paper, storyboards, planners and meeting pages. Choose one for a new notebook, or from the foot of the Layers panel or a page in All Pages, for one page or all of them. A new page keeps the template of the one before it, and planner pages start the week on the day set in Settings.

Landscape

Turn a new notebook's paper sideways in the New Notebook sheet, or with … › Orientation until you write in it. Settings sets the paper and orientation new notebooks start with.

Find, Go to Page and Share

… › Find looks through the notebook's typed text, handwriting and PDF text, and steps from match to match. … › Go to Page jumps to a page number. … › Share › Share Pages shares chosen pages as a PDF, pictures, SVG or text, upright or turned on their side, in grey if you like, by Mail, Messages, AirDrop or any app.

Pen settings

… › Pen Settings tunes how the pen in hand responds to pressure, tilt and speed. Ink you've already written keeps its look.

Markdown

Start a file

Tap + › Markdown File for a page of typed text. It's saved as plain Markdown, so it opens in any editor when you share it.

Formatting

Type # for headings, - for lists, - [ ] for tasks, **bold** and *italic*, or use the bar above the keyboard (at the top on a Mac): Style, Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, Code, Link, List and + for a table, divider or code block. With nothing selected, Bold styles the word you're in, or what you type next; tap it again to stop. A text box on a page has the same bar, without Link and +. Tap a task's box to tick it.

Three views

Switch with the three buttons at the top of the file's rail, which sits on the same side as a notebook's and collapses the same way. Formatted never shows the markup: type # and a space for a heading or - and a space for a bullet and it changes as you type, the cursor steps over the hidden marks, and backspace at the start of a heading or list item turns it back into text (a nested item moves out a level first). Current Line shows the markup only on the line you're typing on, and Markdown shows it all, with line numbers if you turn on Settings › Markdown › Show Line Numbers. Penna remembers your choice. In any view, Return continues a list and Return on an empty item ends it, and with a keyboard Tab nests a list item under the one above and Shift-Tab brings it back out.

Links

Tap Link on the bar (⌘K) to search the whole Library: link a Markdown file, notebook or PDF, one of its headings or pages, a heading in this file, or type a web address. Or type [[ and pick from the list. Tap a link to follow it (while you're typing on its line in Current Line view, or in Markdown view, use the Open button that appears, ⌘-click or ⌘↩), and touch and hold it to open, edit or copy it. Back (‹) at the top of the rail, or ⌘[, returns to where you were; hold it to go back further. Backlinks shows every file that links here, and Outline jumps to a heading. Properties at the top of a file (between --- lines) fold into one line showing their tags; tap it to edit them. Tables show as a grid; tap a cell to edit the table's Markdown, and it turns back into a grid when you move on. Code blocks in Swift, JavaScript, TypeScript, JSON, shell, HTML and SQL are colored by language (name it after the opening ```, or use + › Code Block).

Open Quickly

Press ⌘O and type part of a name to open any notebook, PDF or Markdown file. Search in the Library finds the text inside Markdown files too.

Font, size and markup

Choose sans, serif or mono, the text size, and the view new files open in, in Settings › Markdown.

Organizing

Folders

Tap + › Folder. Folders can hold folders. Drag a notebook onto a folder, or touch and hold it and choose Move to…, to put it in one.

Favorites and Recent

Touch and hold a notebook and choose Favorite. Favorites and Recent are in the Library's menu, and over any page with two fingers down from the top.

Tags

Tap the tag button on the toolbar, under the page number, to tag the page (or switch to Notebook): tap a tag to add it, a filled one to take it off, or New Tag. Select › Tag in the Library tags several notebooks, and folders get tags when you edit them. Tags in the Library shows what has every tag you choose.

Quick sheets

Touch and hold + for a fresh sheet to jot on. Each is kept under Quick sheets until you move it into a folder.

Search

Search at the top of the Library finds names, typed text, handwriting, Markdown files and the text in PDFs. Type a few words in any order to find the pages that have them all, put a phrase in "quotes" to keep it together, and add #tag to look only in what has that tag. Results are a list (Top Hits first, then one row per document, with its pages found under it): pick one to open it beside the list (on iPad, to look at it first; tap it to write), and its words are marked inside. Tap the empty search field for your recent searches and tags. Handwriting is read on your device in the background, so a page just written may take a moment to show up.

Columns

Choose Columns in the Library's View for a list of what's in a place beside what you open, as in Notes: each row shows when it was edited and its first line, Recent is grouped by day, and on a Mac or with a keyboard ↑ and ↓ step through it. The sidebar on a Mac then lists folders only, and the sidebar button puts the sidebar and the list away together while a file is open, so the file has the window.

Sort and view

The Library's menu goes to Recent, Favorites, Quick sheets, Tags or Trash (‹ Library at the top left brings you back), sorts by date, name, size or pages, shows covers small, medium or large, as a list or as Columns, and lets you select several at once. The page number chip says when a page was last written on, and a Markdown file says when it was edited at its top.

Trash

Deleted notebooks wait in Trash for 30 days, then go for good. Touch and hold one to Restore it, or to Delete Forever now.

PDFs

Bring one in

Tap + › Import, or drag a PDF into the Library. Each page keeps its own size. Import takes Markdown and text files too, which become Markdown files.

Photos and scans

Tap + › From Photos for a photo or screenshot to write on, or + › Scan Document to point the camera at paper. Pictures that come in together, and every page of a scan, make one PDF with a page each.

Write on it

Mark up, fill in and sign with any pen. Your ink stays on the PDF's page wherever you read it.

Links

Tap a link with your finger (click it on a Mac) to follow it, as in a linked planner. The Pencil always writes, even over a link.

Send it back

… › Share on the page: Share Pages, Export PDF or Print. Or touch and hold it in the Library and choose Share as PDF or Share Pages. Your ink is flattened into the file.

A clean copy

Touch and hold a PDF and choose Duplicate › Original Document for the file without your ink.

Planners

Tap + › Planner… for a linked calendar, or choose Planner and turn on sections such as Habits, Goals, Meals or Money. Pick the year, the month it starts, the paper and which pages it has. Tap a date, week, month or tab with your finger to go to its page. Touch and hold a planner and choose Make Next Year's… for another with the same choices.

Sync

Sign in

Penna works fully without an account. Sign in from Settings, with Apple or a code by email, to keep your notebooks in step across devices.

What syncs

Notebooks and PDFs with your ink, Markdown files, folders, tags and favorites. Pen settings and the page each notebook is open at stay on each device.

Offline

Write anywhere. Changes sync when you're back online, and edits made on two devices are merged. In the Library, a small mark on a cover or folder shows a change on its way, then a check for a moment once it's synced.

Leaving

Delete Account in Settings stops sync at once and removes what's on Penna's servers within 30 days. Notebooks on your devices stay.

Folder Sync

Sync with a folder

Settings › Folder Sync › Sync with a Folder… keeps a folder on this Mac and your Library, or one Penna folder, the same both ways. Right-click a folder in the sidebar to start from it. Before anything happens, Penna says what it will add on each side.

What the files are

Folders are folders, Markdown files are .md files, PDFs stay exactly as they are with your ink in a hidden .penna folder beside them, and notebooks and quick sheets are .penna files.

Both ways

Edit a file in another app and Penna follows; write in Penna and the file follows. Rename or move a file in Finder and the document moves too. Changes made on both sides at once are merged.

Nothing is lost

Removed on one side, it goes to the other side's Trash. Where both sides have something with the same name, both are kept. Stop Syncing leaves every file and document where it is.

Cloud folders

A folder in iCloud Drive or Dropbox works: that service moves the files, and Penna syncs what's on this Mac.

Moving from reMarkable

Straight from reMarkable

With the reMarkable app for Mac installed, signed in and synced, choose File › Import from reMarkable…, then Import…, and open the folder Penna shows. Your notebooks and PDFs come over into a reMarkable folder with your handwriting as ink, and new writing on the tablet follows whenever you come back to Penna. Penna never changes anything on your reMarkable.

The toolbar

One thin toolbar on the side, as you're used to. Choose its side in Settings › Writing and collapse it with its top button.

Pens

The nine pens are in the same order, and two sit on the toolbar with their own colors and sizes, like reMarkable's pinned tools.

Gestures

Two-finger tap undoes and three-finger tap redoes. Swipe in from the edge to turn the page (anywhere, on iPad with a Pencil). Two fingers down from the top opens Recent and Favorites, where reMarkable has its menu.

Your files

Export a notebook or PDF as a PDF from the reMarkable app, then import it here with + › Import. Your reMarkable ink comes across as part of the page, and you can write on it further.

Typed text

Text boxes are written in Markdown, so headings, lists and checkboxes come from what you type.

Moving from Apple Notes

Straight from Notes

Choose File › Import from Apple Notes…, then Notes on This Mac…, and open the folder Penna shows. Every note comes over into an Apple Notes folder, sketches and scans included, and new writing in Notes follows whenever you come back to Penna. Penna only reads Notes; a note you change in Penna keeps your changes.

Export from Notes

On a Mac, choose notes in Notes (⌘A in a folder chooses them all) and choose File › Export As › Markdown, into a new folder. On iPhone or iPad, open a note, tap Share, then Export as Markdown, and save it in Files. Unlock locked notes first.

Bring them in

Tap + › Import from Apple Notes… and choose that folder, or drop the folder on the Library. Any folder of Markdown files, PDFs and pictures comes in the same way.

What you get

Each note is a Markdown file, with its headings, lists, checklists, tables and links, and folders stay folders. A note's #tags become its tags.

Pictures and PDFs

They go in an Attachments folder beside the note, and the note links to them: a note's pictures become one PDF with a page each, to write on. Recordings and other files stay in Notes.

Gestures

Writing

Write

With Apple Pencil, or one finger on iPhone and iPhone Duo (Pen Settings › Draw with finger).

Scroll a page

Two fingers where a finger writes; one finger where only the Pencil does.

Zoom

Pinch. It catches at 100%, where the percentage at the top fills in; tap the percentage to go back to 100%.

Undo and redo

Tap with two fingers to undo, three to redo. Or use the buttons on the toolbar, or ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z with a keyboard.

Draw a shape

Draw a line, arrow, circle, box, star or another shape and keep the pen still at the end: it snaps to a clean shape in the same pen. Keep the pen down and move it to resize and turn the shape about its middle (a line's end follows the pen). Lifting sets it. Help › Shapes You Can Draw shows them all. Turn shapes off in Settings › Writing or the … menu.

Scribble to erase

With the Pencil, scribble quickly back and forth over ink and lift: it's erased, and undo brings it back. Over blank paper it stays as ink. Turn it off in Settings › Writing.

Type

With the Text tool, tap the page and type. Tap text to edit it, drag it to move it, and tap a checkbox to tick it. The bar above the keyboard sets headings, lists, checkboxes, bold and italic.

Select and move

With the lasso, draw around ink, then drag it. Near the screen's edge the page scrolls along, and a loop keeps going past the page's edge.

Getting around

Turn the page

Swipe in from the left or right edge with one finger, even across the toolbar. On iPad, where only the Pencil writes, a clearly sideways swipe anywhere on the page turns it too, but not while you're writing or with your palm. Past the last page, a New Page button appears: tap it, or swipe again, to add one. A chip at the bottom says which page you're on.

Recent & Favorites

Swipe down from the top edge with two fingers, or touch and hold the × in the page's corner. On a Mac or keyboard: ⇧⌘O.

Close the notebook

Tap the small × in the page's top corner. With a keyboard: ⌘W.

All pages

Tap the grid button (it shows the page number). Touch and hold a page to duplicate, move or delete it.

Follow a link in a PDF

Tap it with a finger. The Pencil writes over links, so a planner's cells stay writable.

Quick sheet

In the library, touch and hold +.

Apple Pencil

Double-tap

Undoes, unless you choose something else in Penna's Settings › Apple Pencil: redo, the eraser or lasso and back, switch pens, colors and sizes, or show and hide the tools.

Squeeze (Apple Pencil Pro)

Does what iPad Settings › Apple Pencil says, unless you choose something else in Penna's Settings › Apple Pencil.

With a keyboard

Pages

← and → turn the page. ⌘J goes to a page number, ⇧⌘J shows all pages, ⌘F finds text in the notebook and ⌘G finds the next match.

Zoom

⌘+ and ⌘− zoom in and out; ⌘0 fits the page.

Tools

⌘1 and ⌘2 pick your two pens, ⌘3 the eraser, ⌘4 the lasso, ⌘5 text. ⌘\ hides and shows the toolbar.

Undo

⌘Z undoes and ⇧⌘Z redoes.

Pages and layers

⇧⌘P adds a page, ⌥⌘L shows the layers, ⌥⌘G the page's tags, ⇧⌘T converts the page to text. ⌘P prints.

Back to the Library

⌘W. Esc closes a panel, Find or a selection.

In the Library

The arrow keys choose a notebook, ⌘↓ opens it, Return renames it and ⌘⌫ moves it to Trash. In search results or Columns, ↑ and ↓ step through the list. ⌘, opens Settings.

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