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OrbNote documentation
Use OrbNote with confidence.
Short, practical guides for capturing an idea, organizing it later, and keeping your notes private across Apple devices.
Quick answer
The essential answer
- Start with Quick Jot when you need to preserve an idea immediately.
- Use AI Organization when you want help moving a saved message into a useful Thread.
- Every guide has its own permanent URL and links to related explanations.
Start here
Choose the task closest to what you want to do. Each guide begins with the answer, followed by the details.
Getting started
Capture an idea with Quick Jot
Use Quick Jot as a low-friction inbox for text, photos, voice, files, and small tasks before deciding where they belong.
Pro Features
Subscription and feature boundaries
Understand the difference between the free and Pro versions of OrbNote, and how subscriptions work technically.
Security & Privacy
Thread password protection
Lock sensitive Threads with a password. Locked content is isolated from search and lists, and re-locks after app restart.
Advanced
Voice transcription
Transcribe recordings to text on-device using Apple Speech or WhisperKit, with automatic engine routing and searchable transcripts.
Advanced
MCP protocol service
Let external AI tools (Claude Code, Codex, etc.) read and write OrbNote data via MCP, with message queries, creation, and Thread reorganization with rollback support.
Security & Privacy
Message expiration
Set a retention period at the Thread level. Expired messages are cleaned up automatically by a background timer for temporary notes and privacy scenarios.
Organization
Organize Quick Jot messages with AI Organization
Let OrbNote suggest a suitable Thread after capture, then review the reason and decide whether to organize the message.
Getting started
Threads, groups, and replies
Organize a topic's timeline with Threads, group related Threads together, and quote a message with replies to keep discussion context.
Advanced
Global search
Search across Threads for message content, attachment text, OCR results, and voice transcripts. An OrbNote Pro feature.
Security & Privacy
Local-First and cloud sync
Data is stored locally first in Core Data and synced through the private Apple CloudKit database associated with the current iCloud account.
Organization
Message operations: edit, forward, merge, and move
Edit message content in place, forward to another Thread, merge multiple messages, or move a message to a new destination.
Find the right page
| What you need | Recommended page |
|---|---|
| Capture without choosing a Thread | Quick Jot |
| Organize a saved message | AI Organization |
| Understand the capture-first method | Conversational note-taking |