WriteOnSide

Your notes, one shortcut away.
A local-first Markdown and text editor that lives at the edge of Windows.

Download for Windows · Quick start · Run from source

WriteOnSide（随边记）is a lightweight side-panel editor for quick capture, Markdown writing, local knowledge bases, and small source-file edits. Press one global shortcut and it slides in beside whatever you are doing. Press it again and it gets out of the way.

There is no proprietary database and no required account. Notes remain ordinary files in a folder you choose, ready to use with VS Code, Git, backup software, or any other tool you trust.

Note

WriteOnSide is under active development. Back up important notes and review release notes before upgrading.

Why WriteOnSide?

• Instant access. Show or hide the panel globally with Ctrl+Shift+Enter.
• Local by default. Your notes and attachments stay in your chosen folder.
• A real Markdown workspace. Edit, render, search, link, tag, and organize notes without opening a full-screen application.
• Rich linking. Wiki links, embeds, backlinks, YAML metadata, tags, and portable attachments.
• Useful beyond notes. Edit common text, configuration, web, and source-code files with syntax highlighting.
• Fits your desktop. Choose either screen edge and configure width, opacity, typography, theme, behavior, and shortcuts.

Quick start

No installer required. Download the portable executable, choose your notes folder, and start writing.

1. Download the newest WriteOnSide.exe from GitHub Releases.
2. Run it and select a notes folder.
3. Follow the generated Welcome.md guide to create your first note and explore the workspace.
4. Use Ctrl+Shift+Enter whenever you want to show or hide the panel.

WriteOnSide is a portable, single-file Windows application. Windows SmartScreen may warn about unsigned development builds; verify that the executable came from this repository before running it.

Highlights

✍️ Write and read

• Live Markdown highlighting in Edit mode and a clean rendered Read mode
• Formatting commands for headings, emphasis, color, highlights, quotes, lists, tasks, tables, links, images, and code
• Rendered images, clickable links, callouts, note embeds, footnotes, and copyable fenced code blocks
• YAML front matter editor for titles, tags, dates, aliases, and other metadata
• Line numbers, heading folding, sticky headings, and outline navigation
• Find and replace, configurable auto-save, and command shortcuts
• Large-document safeguards that keep editing responsive

🔗 Connect and organize

• Wiki links with completion: [[Note]], [[Note|alias]], [[Note#Heading]], and [[Note#^block-id]]
• Ctrl+click navigation and create-on-follow for missing wiki-link targets
• Backlinks for every note that points to the current note
• Note and image embeds with ![[...]]
• Inline and nested tags such as #idea and #project/writeonside
• Multi-select YAML tag filtering from the Files panel
• Eight preset file-label colors plus one user-defined color, with text-only, color-only, or combined tag views
• Portable writeonside_colors and writeonside_pinned YAML properties for Markdown notes
• Optional creation-date filtering, enabled from the Tags adjustment menu
• Incoming wiki-link updates when a note is renamed

📁 Work across files

• Recursive workspace search by filename and content
• Create, rename, move, copy, paste, delete, preview, reveal, and open files externally
• Drag files and folders within the workspace to move them; drag external items in to copy them
• Pin important notes to the top of Files with a visible 📌 marker
• Paste or drag images directly into Markdown notes
• Configurable attachment folder with portable relative links
• Image preview with zoom and pan
• Split editing with up to four open notes

🪟 Stay out of the way

• Borderless, always-on-top panel on the left or right screen edge
• Resizable editor and Files panel with adjustable opacity
• Global show/hide shortcut and Windows system-tray controls
• Optional launch at Windows startup
• Single-instance behavior and multi-monitor work-area positioning
• Light and dark themes with configurable fonts and sizes

Markdown features

Feature	Support
Standard Markdown headings, emphasis, lists, quotes, links, images, tables, and code	Yes
Wiki links, aliases, heading links, and block references	Yes
Note and image embeds	Yes
Backlinks and rename-aware incoming links	Yes
YAML front matter, aliases, and tag filtering	Yes
Inline and nested tags	Yes
Task lists, footnotes, comments, and dividers	Yes
Callouts	Read mode
Inline HTML colors, underline, superscript, and subscript	Yes

WriteOnSide reads and writes normal Markdown as a fully standalone application; no other note-taking software is required.

Supported files

Markdown, plain-text, log, CSV, web, configuration, data, script, and common source-code formats can be edited directly. This includes Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, JSON, YAML, TOML, PowerShell, shell scripts, C/C++, C#, Java, Kotlin, Rust, Go. Images in PNG, APNG, JPEG/JFIF, GIF, BMP/DIB, WebP, TIFF, ICO/CUR, JPEG 2000, SVG/SVGZ, ICNS, DDS, PSD, TGA, PCX, PPM/PGM/PBM, QOI, XBM, XPM, and other Pillow-decodable formats can be inserted or previewed. Other files can be opened with their default Windows application.

Privacy and data safety

• WriteOnSide has no account system, built-in cloud, or hidden note database.
• No telemetry, no analytics, no update pings — see the full Privacy Policy.
• Notes leave your computer only when you place their folder in a separately configured sync service.
• Files are saved atomically to reduce the risk of partial writes.
• Replaced files receive timestamped managed backups outside the workspace.

Managed backups are a recovery aid, not a complete backup strategy. Use a versioned or synced backup for important work.

Essential shortcuts

Action	Default shortcut
Show or hide WriteOnSide	Ctrl+Shift+Enter
New note	Ctrl+N
Open file	Ctrl+O
Save	Ctrl+S
Toggle Edit / Read mode	Ctrl+E
Find / Replace	Ctrl+F / Ctrl+H
Outline	Ctrl+Shift+O
Backlinks	Ctrl+Shift+B

Editor command shortcuts and the global shortcut can be reassigned in Settings.

Interface languages

English · 中文 · Português · Deutsch · Français · Nederlands · 한국어 · Italiano · हिन्दी · Українська

Change the interface language under Settings → General → Language.

Run from source

Requirements

• Windows 10 or Windows 11
• Python 3.12

git clone https://github.com/Thymine2001/WriteOnSide.git
cd WriteOnSide

py -3.12 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements.txt
.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe .\writeonside.py

Development

Run the test suite:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m unittest discover -s tests -p "test_*.py"

Build a portable Windows executable:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install pyinstaller
.\build_release.ps1

The release script updates version metadata, exports application icons, builds the single-file executable, and writes it to a versioned distribution folder. See BUILDING.md for the complete packaging workflow.

Data locations

Data	Location
Notes and attachments	User-selected folder
Settings	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WriteOnSide\config.json
Managed backups	%LOCALAPPDATA%\WriteOnSide\Backups\

License

WriteOnSide is released under the MIT License. Third-party components retain their respective licenses; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

_{Local files. Fast capture. No lock-in.}