CintaNotes is a simple application for taking quick notes, which makes it easy to collect, find and store information. In this quick start guide you are going to learn the basics of working with this program.
Collecting notes
CintaNotes is a perfect tool for those who collect numerous pieces of information on a daily basis. With the help of this program you can be sure to keep track of any important data that you find both on- and offline.
Clipping text
CintaNotes allows you to save quotes from any application, that works with the system clipboard. For example, to save a quote from an e-book, simply highlight the text you need and press Ctrl+F12. CintaNotes will automatically create a new note with this text.
Taking notes manually
Sometimes you need to write down your own thoughts and ideas, for example, create a shopping list. For this, simply hit the Insert button in the main CintaNotes window. The program will display the editor, which is where you can enter the note’s title and text.
Pasting notes from the clipboard
You can also create notes by pasting text from the clipboard right into the main CintaNotes window (Ctrl+V). In this case CintaNotes automatically determines the source program of the note and uses its name as the note’s title.
However, clipping notes is preferable, because this way CintaNotes also captures the link to the note’s source. For example, if you clip a note from a web page, the link field will receive the URL of this page.
The note’s link can also lead to a file on your computer. You can reopen the note’s source by activating this link.
Editing and formatting notes
You can edit your notes at any time. Simply double-click on any note to enter new data in the displayed window. Here you can also format your text with the basic formatting tools. For this you need to right click on any selected text and choose a formatting command from the “Format” context menu.
Attaching files to notes
In CintaNotes you can attach office documents, e-books, audios, videos and other files to your notes. Just open any note, click on the paperclip button at the top right corner of the editor, and select the files you need.
Now click Open, and your files will appear in the attachments panel.
You can access them at any time by opening the note and double-clicking on any file.
Taking notes on mobile devices
To clip notes on your mobile devices, you need to sync them with Simplenote. Simplenote is a free cloud service for sharing and synchronizing notes. First, go to simplenote.com to create your Simplenote account.
Then open the Synchronization window and log into your Simplenote account.
After this, your notes will be synced.
Now run the Simplenote app on your mobile device. Each time you create a note with Simplenote on your mobile device, it will automatically be synchronized with the notes on your computer. This way, the notes you take on your phone or tablet PC will never be lost.
Using Simplenote, you can access your notes from the web and on platforms other than Windows, such as Mac, iOS, Android and Kindle. However, Simplenote doesn’t support file attachments. That’s why we offer you 100 Mbs on our own server to sync your files. They’ll be encrypted with your Simplenote password, and no one will be able to access them without this password.
Organizing notes
One advantage of CintaNotes is that it organizes your notes into a crystal clear hierarchy. This allows you to always keep your important data a mere mouse click away.
Notebooks
CintaNotes stores your notes in notebook files. Having multiple notebooks can help you classify your notes by topics.
To create a new notebook, go to the File menu and select the New command.
This is also where you can open existing notebooks with the Open command.
Sections
You can further improve organization of your notes by using sections. Sections are small tabs in the upper part of the main window, which help you keep notes on different topics apart from each other within one notebook.
To add a new section, simply click on the plus icon on the right.
After this you can rename your section by right-clicking on it, going to the properties window and specifying a new name.
Tags
If you want to add even more levels to the classification of your notes, you can use tags. Tags are keywords used to describe and group your notes. They help you quickly find any piece of information you save, even in a long list.
For example, to add a to-do item to your notes list, you need to simply create a new note and type “to-do” into the Tag field.
This tag immediately appears in the Tag Sidebar. Clicking on it will display the notes with this tag only.
Adding several tags to one note is also supported: if you separate tags with spaces, CintaNotes will recognize them as different tags.
If you’re not satisfied with the name of a tag, you can rename it at any time by choosing the Rename command from the context menu.
Hierarchical tags
One advantage of CintaNotes is that it can organize tags into a tree-like structure. In this structure, tags are bounded by parent/child relationships, where child tags are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Using hierarchical tags, you can add even more levels to your classification.
Here is an example of using hierarchical tags for creating a database with software developer vacancies.
Now with just one click I can view all Liverpool vacancies.
You can also display all vacancies from only London and Liverpool. For this. simply select London and then click on Liverpool while holding Shift. This will create a tag union to display any one of the selected tags.
Ctrl+Click, on the other hand, creates tag intersection with all of the selected tags. This may come in handy, for example, if you need to see all C++ vacancies in London.
Using Alt+Click you can exclude vacancies from view.
Finding notes
CintaNotes makes it really easy to find your notes. Just switch to the program’s main window and start typing anything related to your note. CintaNotes updates the notes list as you type.
Sometimes you want CintaNotes to focus on specific fields of your notes when you search. Click on the magnifying glass icon to choose from a list of available fields.
Securing notes
Privacy and security are what makes CintaNotes special compared to many other similar solutions. CintaNotes allows you to always stay in control of who can access your notes.
No forcing into the cloud
CintaNotes values your privacy. That’s why it doesn’t require that you use any cloud drives to store notes. Instead, they reside only on your device. This means you can work away, regardless of your Internet connection.
It’s not even necessary to install CintaNotes! Simply download the portable version, and you’re ready to run it directly from your flash drive. This allows you to always control who can access your notes.
Protecting notebooks with passwords
To keep your notes private, protect your notebooks with passwords. Tick the box right next to this option in the Password Protection menu, and enter your password. From now on, each time you try to access your notes, CintaNotes will ask you to enter your password first.
In this menu you can set CintaNotes to either forget, or remember your password. Forgetting passwords is safer, because your password will be stored only in RAM. However, this means that all background processes – such as cloud syncing – will stop when your notebook is locked. Remembering your password will allow background processes to run, but will store the encrypted password on your computer. Here you can also change or remove your password.
Notebooks backup
CintaNotes is a stable application, that minimizes the risk of data loss. However, bugs can happen. But don’t worry – you can always restore backed-up versions of your notes (as long as you don’t suffer a hard-drive crash).
By default, CintaNotes creates a daily and weekly backup copy of your notebook. Normally, this is enough for working safely, however, you can set CintaNotes to create a backup copy every hour.
In case of emergency, you can also back up immediately with the Back up now command.