Jotsend help

Getting started

The first time Jotsend starts, a short tour helps you set and try the capture shortcut and pick the actions you use most.

Press Ctrl+Alt+N from any app to open the capture window, and start typing.
Press Esc to hide it. The note is kept in your Inbox.
Left-click the tray icon to open the capture window too. Right-click it for New draft, Open Jotsend, Recent drafts, Settings, Check for updates, About / License and Quit.

In the capture window, Ctrl+Shift+N starts a new draft. In Settings, you can place the window in the middle of the screen or near the mouse pointer, and keep it on top.

Sending a draft

Your first four actions sit in the bar at the bottom of the capture window. The rest are a keystroke away.

Ctrl+Enter runs your default action (Copy and archive unless you change it in Settings).
Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+9 run the action with that number.
Ctrl+K opens a list of every action. Type to find one and press Enter.

Each action then keeps the draft, archives it or moves it to Trash, as you set on the Actions page. When the result isn't obvious, a notification says what happened, such as "Appended to Journal.md". Click it to open the file.

The built-in actions

Copy and Copy and archive put the whole draft on the clipboard.
Email opens your mail app with the first line as the subject and the rest as the body.
Save as file saves the draft as a new .md or .txt file in a folder you choose. It never overwrites a file.
Append to file adds the draft to the end (or top) of a file you choose, with an optional date line above it, which makes a simple journal.
Create calendar event reads a date from the first line, such as "Lunch with Sam tomorrow 1pm" or "Review Nov 4 3-4pm", and opens the event in your calendar app.
Search the web opens your browser with the draft as the search. Set the search address in Settings.
Share opens the Windows share panel, so you can send the draft to another app.
Open in app opens the draft as a text file in an app you choose.
Split into drafts turns each line, or each part between separator lines, into its own draft.

The first time an action needs a folder, file or app, Jotsend asks for it once.

Making your own actions

On the Actions page, build an action from steps that run in order: copy, save as a file, append to a file, open a web address, run a program, email, share, create a calendar event, or split. Then choose whether the draft is kept, archived or moved to Trash.

Use tokens to fill in details from the draft:

{title} the first line, {body} everything after it, {text} the whole draft
{date}, {time}, {datetime}, or {date:dd MMM yyyy} for your own format
{tags} the draft's tags, and {file} a text file with the draft, for programs

For example, a Save as file step named {date}-{title} in your Notes folder, followed by archive. You can also reorder actions and give each one its Ctrl+number shortcut here.

Finding and organizing drafts

The main window lists your drafts under Inbox, Flagged, Archive, Trash and Tags.

Search with plain words, "an exact phrase", #tag or tag:name.
Ctrl+Shift+L flags a draft, Ctrl+Shift+A archives it and Ctrl+Delete moves it to Trash. Drafts in Trash can be restored, and are removed after 30 days. Change that under Keep deleted drafts in Settings.
Ctrl+F finds and Ctrl+H replaces text in the editor.
Export all drafts in Settings › Storage saves every draft as a Markdown file.

Good to know

Blank pages aren't saved. A draft starts with your first keystroke, and a page you empty again is dropped when you hide it.
Appending is careful. If the file is open and locked by another app, Jotsend tries again, then tells you, and leaves the file untouched. It keeps the file's encoding and line breaks, and won't add to a file that isn't text.
Full-screen apps: the capture window opens on top of them. To stop the shortcut working there, turn on Ignore the hotkey in full-screen apps in Settings.
Long emails: mail links have a length limit, so a long body is shortened and the full text is put on the clipboard to paste in.

Keyboard shortcuts

These work from anywhere in Windows while Jotsend is running.

Action	Default shortcut
Open the capture window	`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`N`

Trial and license

Jotsend is free to try for 14 days, with everything turned on. After that: Capturing, editing, searching and exporting keep working. Actions are limited to Copy, Copy and archive, Save as file, and your own actions made only of copy and save steps.

Entering your license key

Buy a license. Your key appears on screen as soon as the payment goes through, and arrives by email.
In Jotsend, open the License page in Settings.
Paste the key and choose Activate. The PC needs to be online for this step.

Using it on more than one PC

One key works on up to 3 PCs. To move it to a new PC, deactivate it on the old one from the License page first. If the old PC is gone, free up its place at Manage devices, using the email address you bought with or the key itself.

Once activated, Jotsend works offline. When it's online it checks the license about once a week, so a refunded or revoked key stops working on its next check.

Bought Jotsend in the Microsoft Store? The Store edition is licensed through your Microsoft account instead, and doesn't use a key.

Updates

Jotsend checks for a new version on its own shortly after it starts and then every 6 hours, and asks before installing it.

Each update is checked against a fingerprint (SHA-256) before it runs, and installs over the current version without touching your data. Updates for the Microsoft Store edition come through the Store.

See what’s new in each version.

Your data and uninstalling

Jotsend keeps its settings and data on your PC, in this folder (paste it into File Explorer’s address bar to open it):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Hedgerow\Jotsend

To back it up, quit Jotsend and copy that folder.

To uninstall, open Windows Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Jotsend and choose Uninstall. The uninstaller asks whether to remove your data too.

Still stuck?

Email support@hedgerowapps.com and we’ll get back to you. Mention your Jotsend version (shown in Settings › About) and your Windows version. More answers are on the support page.