Last checked by the TextEditor.com team
What an online notepad is for
A notepad is for text you need right now and may not need next week. A phone number from a call. The three things to say in a meeting. A paragraph you cut from one document and want to paste into another. You type it, it saves itself, and it is still here when you come back.
This notepad holds many notes, not one long page. Each note has its own title, taken from its first line. The newest note sits at the top, pinned notes stay above the rest, and the search box finds a word in any of them.
- TypeClick New note and start typing. The first line becomes the title.
- It saves itselfEach pause in typing saves the note in this browser. No save button needed.
- Find it againOpen the page later and the notes are there. Search finds a word in any note.
Where your notes are stored
Your notes are stored by your browser, on your device, in a database called IndexedDB. Every modern browser has it. It holds far more than a cookie, and it stays when you close the tab or restart the computer.
Nothing goes to our server. We can't read your notes, and we can't get them back for you if they are lost.
- Your keyboardYou type in a note.
- This browserOpen or type a note to see the save happen.
- Our serverNever. No note is sent.
Notes are gone when you clear the browsing data for this site, or when a private window closes. Another browser, another profile or another device does not have them.
Notepad, text editor, rich text or Markdown?
Four editors on this site write text, and each is good at one thing. This notepad is for many short notes. The text editor is for one long plain text with find and replace, line tools and file open and save. The rich text editor adds bold, lists and links that paste into email or Word. The Markdown editor is for text with # and * marks that turn into headings and lists, with a live preview.
- Many short notes✎ ✎ ✎This notepad. Each note saves itself and is one click away.
- One long plain textAaThe text editor, with find and replace and .txt files.
- Bold, lists and linksB I UThe rich text editor. Paste the result into email or Word.
- Markdown with a preview# *The Markdown editor for readme files and posts.
How to keep your notes safe
A browser is a fine place for a quick note and a poor place for the only copy of something important. Three things can remove your notes: you clear the site data, the browser clears old storage when the disk is full, or the device is lost. So keep a copy.
Press Ctrl+S to download the open note as a .txt file. To back up everything, pick Export all under the list of notes. One .txt file puts every note in one file with its title above it. A .zip holds one .txt file per note, named after its first line. Both open in any text editor, including Windows Notepad and TextEdit.
Your notes have not been downloaded or exported from this browser yet.
The date of your last download or export is kept in this browser only, next to the notes.
Keyboard shortcuts
Browsers take Ctrl+N for a new window, so a new note is Ctrl+Alt+N here. On a Mac, use Cmd in place of Ctrl.
| What it does | Keys |
|---|---|
| New note | Ctrl + Alt + N |
| Download the open note as .txt | Ctrl + S |
| Open .txt files as notes | Ctrl + O |
| Commands and jump to a note | Ctrl + K |
| Previous or next note | Ctrl + Alt + ↑ or ↓ |
| Focus mode | Ctrl + Shift + F |
| Leave search or focus mode | Esc |
| Undo typing | Ctrl + Z |
A short history of Notepad
The name comes from Microsoft. Notepad first shipped in 1983 as a mouse driven program for MS-DOS, sold with the Microsoft Mouse. Windows 1.0 came out in 1985 with Notepad included, and every version of Windows since has shipped it. For most of that time it did one thing: open a plain text file, let you type, save it.
- 1983Multi-Tool Notepad for MS-DOS, bundled with the Microsoft Mouse.
- 1985Windows 1.0 ships with Notepad as a built in program.
- 2018Notepad learns to open files with Unix and Mac line endings.
- 2023Notepad on Windows 11 gets tabs, so one window holds several files.
An online notepad keeps the same idea, plain text and no setup, and adds the one thing the desktop program lacked for forty years: the text is still there when you come back, even if you never pressed Save. Checked October 2026.
Privacy: no account, no server
Most online notepads ask you to sign up. Your notes then live on the company's servers, which is how they sync between your phone and your laptop. It also means the company holds a copy, and that a lost password or a closed service can take the notes with it.
This notepad has no account because it has no server side. Notes never leave the browser. The trade is clear: you get privacy and speed, and you give up sync. If you need the same notes on two devices, export them here and import the files there.
| This notepad | Notepads with an account | |
|---|---|---|
| Sign up | None | Email and password, often a phone number |
| Where notes are stored | In this browser, on this device | On the company's servers |
| Who can read them | Only someone using this browser | You, and the company under its terms |
| Sync between devices | No. Export and import files instead | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes, once the page is loaded | Often, with sync later |
| Notes are lost when | You clear the site data or lose the device | You lose the account or the service closes |