Quick Note Taking – Type

Type is a menu bar app designed with one purpose in mind, to capture time-stamped notes in plain text or Markdown format quickly and to get out of your way. It's fast and more versatile than using the fn+Q Apple Quick Note feature which doesn't time stamp and is available only in Apple Notes which isn't universally used. I set my shortcut keys to ^+, (control+comma) and I saved my default note as a .md file in my Obsidian vault. Now I have a super quick way to add lines to the note throughout the day. Obsidian doesn't even have to be open to add to your note, but if it is closed and you want to open it, you can do so from within Type.

You can have more than one active note at the time. The interface allows you to use the mouse or arrow keys to switch between them.You can create a new note at any time. The preferences are pretty utilitarian. You can set you shortcut key, choose to have the app open at login (recommended), choose to have a menu bar icon and select an app to open your notes, as mentioned, that is Obsidian in my case.

You can also set your formatting options for the date and time and choose whether you want new notes to appear at the top or the bottom of documents.

Type comes with a one-week free trial before reverting to read only mode. It is a $4.99 one-time purchase in the Mac App Store.