Changelog

All notable changes to NoteDrop will be documented in this file.

[Unreleased]

Changed

• File-note engine (models, note types, billing-unit rounding, PDF and Markdown generators, markdown parser) extracted to the shared FileNoteKit Swift package (../FileNoteKit), consumed as a local package dependency and also used by Certum Draft. No behaviour change; engine tests now run in the package (swift test)

[3.0.3] - 2026-07-21

Fixed

• Note panel + onboarding: square-cornered shadow band at the top corners — SwiftUI content painted past the unclipped NSGlassEffectView, and the window's shadow silhouette followed the square alpha; the glass now clips to its corner shape
• Onboarding: a stray segmented tab control and scrollbar chrome peeked past the window edges — the AppKit-backed TabView is replaced with direct page switching

Changed

• Billing unit for telephone attendances now defaults to 6 minutes instead of Off (applies only where the setting was never changed)

[3.0.2] - 2026-07-20

Fixed

• Onboarding: the welcome guide's window cast right-angle shadows that ignored its rounded corners. The window is now borderless like the note panel — NSGlassEffectView owns the window shape on macOS 26 (corner-radius layer mask as fallback), and closing via ⌘W behaves like Skip

[3.0.1] - 2026-07-20

Important

• Sparkle update key rotated again: the 3.0 release was signed with a mismatched update key and could not be installed automatically. Users on 3.0 or earlier must download 3.0.1 manually once from the website; automatic updates resume afterwards.

[3.0] - 2026-07-19

Changed

• Minimum macOS version raised to 26 (Tahoe); earlier macOS versions stay on 2.13 and won't be offered this update
• Spotlight indexing is now optional — Settings > General toggle, and disabling it purges NoteDrop's existing entries from the Spotlight index
• Sparkle system profiling disabled, matching the zero-data privacy manifest
• PDF pagination rewritten: page breaks always land on line boundaries, generation is faster on long notes, and the Duration row respects custom/blanked labels
• notedrop:// URLs now require a valid extension request or a folder under the granted matters folder

Fixed

• Saving: worst-case rollback can no longer delete the only copy of a note — leftover originals are recovered as "(recovered)" files
• Saving: a deleted or renamed save folder is reported as missing instead of looping through a permission re-grant
• Bookmarks: one corrupt entry no longer wipes every granted folder; security-scope access is reference-counted
• Matter detection: year folders like "2024 Invoices" no longer hijack the matter root; manual-mode subfolder promotion fixed
• Note panel: midnight preview/save date mismatch, draft autosave now covers note-type and date changes, auto-height no longer disables itself, edit-mode dirty check covers date/type
• Shortcuts: recording suspends the live hotkey; system-reserved combos (⌘Q, ⌘W, ⌘,, ⌘H, ⌘M, ⌘Space) are rejected
• Finder extension: files are no longer created inside bundles (.app, .rtfd); creation is atomic against name races
• PDFs: no more blank trailing pages or silently dropped pages; client-identifying filenames redacted from public logs
• Toasts size to their content and action toasts stay up long enough to click
• The update badge clears when the update session ends

Internal

• NoteCreationPanel and OnboardingView split into focused, testable components; AppSettings gains an injectable UserDefaults for tests
• Cross-process defaults keys consolidated into AppConstants; Finder extension entitlements now explicitly declare the sandbox
• Test suite: 234 tests / 12 suites, including new panel-logic, shortcut-validation, and shared-contract suites; tests no longer touch real user defaults or bookmarks
• Release automation hardened: version validation, deployment-target-derived appcast minimum, DMG mount-point parsing, kill confirmation, trap cleanup

[2.13] - 2026-07-12

Added

• New app icon — a note page catching a water drop, drawn properly for the macOS Dock

Improved

• The welcome guide is a third shorter — six focused pages (welcome, industry, your details, folder access, Finder extension, ready) with the explainer slides retired
• The guide's final page shows your actual keyboard shortcut and all three ways to start a note; the folder-access page explains that notes file themselves from any folder inside a matter

[2.12] - 2026-07-11

Added

• The note editor now shows your formatting as you write — bold looks bold, italic looks italic, markup characters fade into the background; the Bold and Italic buttons light up to show the style under the cursor
• Templates — give any note type boilerplate text (Settings > Note Types), and new notes of that type open pre-filled
• One-click timestamps — the clock button (or ⇧⌘T) inserts the current time at the cursor
• Find bar inside the note (⌘F) and a quiet word count above the editor; dictation moved up beside the formatting buttons

Improved

• More comfortable long-form typing — relaxed line spacing and clearer paragraph separation in the editor
• Formatting part of an already-formatted phrase now produces clean results in the saved PDF
• Saving is fully off the main thread again, so very long notes can't briefly freeze the panel, and settings are snapshotted at the moment you press Save

Fixed

• Discarding a restored draft now asks first, and starting fresh brings back your template instead of an empty note; a discarded or saved note can no longer reappear later as a phantom draft
• Editing a renamed telephone attendance no longer loses its recorded duration
• While the folder-access prompt is up, the note is protected from edits that would have been silently lost; undo can no longer garble the note after a draft restore or template change
• A typed phone number or duration now counts as unsaved work — closing the panel asks first and the draft keeps it

[2.11] - 2026-07-11

Added

• Draft protection — NoteDrop quietly saves a draft while you type; if the app quits unexpectedly or your Mac restarts, the panel restores your unsaved text the next time you open it for that folder, with a clear banner and a Discard option
• Filename preview — see the exact filename before you save, including its number for the day and the subfolder it will land in
• Recent Notes can now open the note itself — each entry offers Open Note, Reveal in Finder, and Edit Note
• Billing duration for Telephone Attendance notes — optional billing unit (6, 15 or 30 minutes) in Settings > Documents; durations round up to the next unit, show a live "bills as" hint, and print on the PDF

Improved

• After saving, the confirmation names the file and offers a Show button that reveals it in Finder
• The menu bar's New File Note shows your keyboard shortcut and, on macOS 14.4 and later, which folder the note will go to based on your current Finder window

[2.10] - 2026-07-11

Important

• This update is signed with a new Sparkle update key. If you're on 2.9 or earlier, the automatic updater will report a verification error — download this version once from the website; automatic updates resume from then on

Added

• NoteDrop now asks before discarding a note with unsaved text — pressing Escape or ⌘W can no longer silently destroy what you've typed
• The format picker in the note panel now applies to that note only, instead of quietly changing your default output format; editing a note keeps its original format
• Custom note types can be reordered with the new up/down buttons, duplicate names are prevented, and the add field focuses automatically

Fixed

• Multi-page PDFs containing emoji or accented characters no longer show corrupted characters at page breaks, and page breaks land where they should
• Notes stay findable in Spotlight — previously they silently dropped out of search results after about a month
• The "Subfolder names" field no longer swallows commas and spaces as you type
• Switching industry now asks before replacing your customised folder settings, and re-selecting your current industry no longer resets them
• The shortcut recorder no longer accepts combinations that would hijack normal typing (like Shift+letter alone), shows why a key was rejected, and unsupported keys are no longer silently recorded as "N"
• Filenames always use the standard calendar and Western digits, regardless of your macOS region settings — so notes keep sorting chronologically

Improved

• Settings polish — the Finder extension status updates live, "Last checked" refreshes after an update check, ⌘, and the menu bar now open the same settings window, and the extension button opens the right place in System Settings
• VoiceOver users can now reach the Retry and Dismiss buttons on error messages
• Welcome guide fixes — pages scroll instead of clipping, closing the window no longer brings the full guide back on every launch, and a dark-mode visual artifact is gone
• Recent folders in the folder picker show their full location on hover, so identically-named folders are distinguishable; double-click the note panel's top edge to restore automatic sizing after a manual resize

[2.9] - 2026-07-02

Improved

• The note panel's glass corners now render cleanly on macOS Tahoe and later — no more faint double edge around the top corners
• Saving happens in the background, so the panel stays responsive while a long note is written to a slow or network drive
• "Launch at login" now tells you when macOS needs your approval, with a one-click shortcut to System Settings
• Imported logos are optimised automatically, keeping settings lean no matter how large the original image is

Fixed

• When NoteDrop asks you to re-grant folder access, the note is now always filed in its original folder — selecting a parent folder in the prompt no longer misfiles the note
• Editing a note whose type you've since hidden keeps its original type instead of silently changing it
• Long firm names wrap correctly in the PDF header instead of overlapping the matter details, and very tall headers now flow the note to the next page cleanly

[2.8] - 2026-06-11

Added

• Formatting in the note editor — Bold, Italic and bullet buttons above the note field, with ⌘B and ⌘I shortcuts; lists continue automatically when you press Return; the "Aa" button shows everything available

Improved

• Recent Notes now follow your files — rename a note in Finder and it stays in the list, opens correctly, and keeps your wording when you edit it
• The update window appears in front of other windows instead of hiding behind them, without interrupting your typing
• On macOS Tahoe and later the note panel uses the system's native glass material

[2.7] - 2026-06-11

Added

• Resizable note window — drag any edge or corner to make room for longer notes; remembers your chosen size

Improved

• The menu bar dot signalling an available update is now red
• If a save fails, the note stays open with your text intact; pressing the shortcut while a note is open brings it forward instead of discarding it
• Editing a note keeps its position in the day's sequence and always saves back to the folder it lives in
• NoteDrop no longer asks for Accessibility permission — the keyboard shortcut never needed it
• Sharper PDF layout with long client or matter names, better page breaks, and emphasis inside bullet lists

Fixed

• Edits that only change capitalisation in the description now save correctly
• Folders with "&" in the name (e.g. "Smith & Co") work from the Finder right-click menu, and network drives connected after login now show the menu

[2.6] - 2026-05-08

Improved

• Editing a note is now transactional — the original file is only retired after the new file is in place, and is restored if anything goes wrong during a save
• Switching a saved Both note to PDF only on edit cleans up the orphan Markdown file automatically (and vice versa)

Fixed

• Refuses to overwrite an unrelated file at the destination path

[2.5] - 2026-05-05

Fixed

• Website download form was serving an outdated build; release tooling hardened so it can't recur

[2.4] - 2026-05-03

Improved

• Date picker UX overhaul — click the date for a calendar popover, pick the time in its own field

[2.3] - 2026-05-03

Added

• Scroll-wheel support on the date picker — scroll for ±1 minute, ⇧-scroll for hours, ⌘-scroll for days

Improved

• Date picker is now minute-precise — no more 30-minute snap

[2.2] - 2026-05-02

Added

• Date editing — opt-in setting that adds a date and time picker to the note panel for backdating or post-dating notes

Improved

• Editing a Recent Note preserves the original date instead of re-stamping it to "now"
• Filename changes during edits clean up stale Recent Notes and Spotlight entries automatically
• Spotlight indexes notes with their document date, so date-based searches respect the chosen date

Changed

• Markdown frontmatter date: field is written in local time with a timezone offset instead of UTC

[2.1] - 2026-03-17

Added

• Recent Notes submenu in menu bar — shows last 10 notes, click to reopen and edit
• PDF logo/letterhead — choose an image in Settings > Documents, renders in PDF header
• Spotlight integration — notes indexed on save, searchable system-wide by type, matter, client
• Keyboard-only flow — Return advances through Description → Telephone → Body fields
• Release script version argument: ./scripts/release.sh 2.1

Changed

• Industry profile switching resets subfolder mode correctly
• GlassButtonStyle refactored for correct SwiftUI state management

Fixed

• Finder extension "New File Note" context menu now works reliably (missing action target)
• Path traversal protection in file save fallback chain
• Thread-safe request deduplication between Finder extension and URL scheme
• Context resolution moved off main thread to prevent UI freezes
• IPC race condition — requests no longer lost during decode
• Timer leaks in accessibility monitoring and onboarding
• Filename sanitization handles null bytes, leading dots, and length limits
• Settings encoding failures now logged instead of silently ignored
• Note panel action bar no longer overflows panel width
• DMG creation fixed for macOS Sequoia translocation protection

Removed

• Orphaned Layout constants (ElementSize, Opacity, Shadow, LineWidth, etc.)
• Deprecated UserDefaults.synchronize() calls

[2.0] - 2026-03-13 (build 14)

Added

• Accessibility permission status indicator in Shortcuts settings with "Open Settings" link
• Finder extension status indicator in General settings
• Persistent error notifications with dismiss button and optional action button
• Industry-driven display strings: folderLabel, folderLabelPlural, tagline on IndustryProfile
• Centralized applyPreset(to:) for consistent industry preset application
• Output format Picker menu replacing cycling button for better discoverability
• Cmd+W keyboard shortcut to close note creation panel
• Return key advances through onboarding pages
• Page indicator dots now meet 44pt minimum click target

Changed

• All hardcoded "Matter"/"Matters"/"court-ready" strings now driven by active industry profile
• Preview dates in settings use selected date format instead of hardcoded DateFormatter
• Settings window is now resizable and miniaturizable
• Preview boxes adapt to dark mode (removed forced light color scheme)
• Subfolder text field uses glass styling consistent with rest of app
• Error notifications stay until manually dismissed; success still auto-dismisses
• Onboarding Finder extension messaging clarified for "unknown" vs "not detected" state

Fixed

• Placeholder text contrast in dark mode — uses NSColor.placeholderTextColor
• VoiceOver hints use macOS phrasing ("Click") instead of iOS ("Tap"/"Double-tap")
• Icon buttons in Note Types settings bumped from .footnote to .callout with proper hit areas
• Reduce-motion support added to GlassButtonStyle and NotificationView animations
• Accessibility labels added to onboarding Firm Name and Your Name fields
• Removed misleading "Drag to reorder" text from custom note types
• Error toast now shown when dock Quick Note fails to resolve folder
• FolderPickerView buttons use GlassButtonStyle instead of .borderedProminent

[2.0] - 2026-02-22 (build 10)

Added

• Finder context menu "New File" submenu — quickly create Text (.txt), Markdown (.md), and RTF (.rtf) files directly from Finder
• Finder context menu toggle in Settings → General
• Configurable file types for the "New File" context menu
• Release automation script for streamlined builds

Changed

• Redesigned Settings UI with sidebar navigation and pill buttons (replaces tab-based layout)
  • General, Documents, Note Types, Industry, and Shortcuts sections
• Redesigned note creation panel with liquid glass aesthetic, larger size, and fully rounded corners
• "Note Types" moved to its own settings section (previously under Document tab)
• Removed App Store target — direct distribution only (signed & notarized DMG)
• Minimum macOS version raised to 14.0 (Sonoma)
• Automatic update checking setting added to General section
• Centralized shared types between main app and Finder extension

Fixed

• Sparkle update sync — DMG now consistent across public/ and dist/
• Cross-process bugs between main app and Finder extension
• Note creation panel corners now fully rounded
• Multiple build stabilization fixes

[1.5] - 2026-01-21

Fixed

• PDF rendering issue where first lines of paragraphs were invisible (text was present but clipped due to malformed clipping rectangle in PDF output)
• Root cause: Using CGFloat.greatestFiniteMagnitude for text drawing rectangles caused zero-height clipping paths when combined with coordinate transforms

[1.4] - 2026-01-20

Fixed

• PDF rendering issue where text after paragraph breaks (Cmd+Enter) appeared white/invisible
• Fixed attribute inheritance for newlines in NSAttributedString to ensure consistent text rendering

[1.3] - 2026-01-18

Added

• VoiceOver accessibility support for all views (NoteCreationPanel, SettingsView, OnboardingView, NotificationView)
• Accessibility announcements for save/error notifications
• Industry Profiles feature - bundle PDF labels and folder parsing patterns together
  • Legal (default), Medical, Real Estate, Accounting, Generic, and Simple profiles
  • New "Industry" tab in Settings with profile picker
  • Live PDF label preview showing how headers will appear
  • Live folder parsing preview showing how folders will be parsed
  • Dynamic PDF labels based on selected profile (e.g., "Matter No." becomes "Patient ID" for Medical)
  • Pattern-aware folder parsing for different naming conventions
• Simple Mode - new profile for users who want quick notes without folder parsing
  • No metadata extraction (no reference number, name, or type fields)
  • PDF shows only: Date, Author, Note Type, and Content
  • Works with any folder - no pattern matching required
  • Perfect for freelancers, creatives, or anyone who doesn't need structured metadata
• Markdown Output - save notes as Markdown files instead of (or in addition to) PDF
  • New "Output Format" setting in Settings → Document: PDF / Markdown / Both
  • Markdown files include YAML frontmatter with all metadata
  • "Both" saves PDF and Markdown simultaneously with same filename
  • Output format toggle in note creation panel (click to cycle through formats)
  • Notification message reflects output format
• Flexible folder detection - choose how project folders are identified
  • Numeric Prefix: folders must start with numbers (default, backward compatible)
  • Any Parseable: any folder matching the industry pattern (works with alphanumeric IDs)
  • Manual Only: don't auto-detect, use selected folder directly
• Flexible save location - control where notes are saved within project folders
  • Search for multiple subfolder names (comma-separated list like "Correspondence, Notes, File Notes")
  • Option to save directly to project root folder (skip subfolder search)
• First-run industry selection in onboarding wizard
  • Choose your industry when first launching NoteDrop
  • Automatically configures profile, folder detection, and subfolder names
  • Legal selected by default for backward compatibility
• Configurable note types
  • Add custom note types in Settings → Document → Note Types
  • Hide built-in types you don't use (click the eye icon)
  • Delete custom types when no longer needed
  • Hidden types don't appear in the note type picker
• Quick Note from dock icon - click dock icon to open folder picker and create a note
• Dictate button in note creation panel - one-click access to macOS system dictation

Changed

• Replaced deprecated Carbon API with HotKey library for keyboard shortcuts
• Keyboard shortcut recording in Settings now actually captures keystrokes
• Added "Reset to Default" button for keyboard shortcuts
• Extracted magic numbers to LayoutConstants for maintainability (window dimensions, padding, spacing, etc.)
• Note creation panel now shows output format toggle (click to cycle PDF → Markdown → Both)
• Success notification now specifies output format (e.g., "File note saved as PDF & Markdown")
• Menu bar icon changed to water drop symbol
• Note creation panel redesigned:
  • Larger size (480×440) for better usability
  • Removed traffic light buttons (use Cancel button instead)
  • Increased corner radius for modern appearance
  • Always floats on top of other windows

Fixed

• Finder extension now appears in context menu when browsing any folder (previously only worked in home directory)
• Extension now monitors root filesystem and all mounted volumes
• Note creation panel can now be dragged from the top area
• Output format toggle and buttons no longer wrap text incorrectly
• Settings toggles in Behavior section now properly aligned

[1.2] - 2026-01-15

Added

• Markdown support in note body text - use bold, italic, inline code, lists, and numbered lists in your notes and they'll render with proper formatting in the PDF output
• Multi-page PDF support - long notes now automatically flow across multiple pages instead of being cut off

Fixed

• Improved performance when typing long notes (debounced text height calculation)
• Notes longer than one page no longer get truncated

[1.1] - 2026-01-12

Added

• Quick Actions/Services menu support (right-click folder → Quick Actions → New File Note)
• Works automatically without needing to enable extensions
• Optional Dock icon (can be enabled in Settings → Behavior)
• Update badge on menu bar icon when new version is available (Sparkle gentle reminders)
• Send Feedback menu item with automatic system info (app version, macOS version)
• Telephone field for Telephone Attendance notes (included in PDF output) — thanks Melinda Ditchburn!
• Auto-resizing note panel - grows as you type (up to 700px)

Fixed

• Keyboard shortcut now works after granting accessibility permission (no restart required)
• Onboarding screen updates in real-time when accessibility permission is granted
• "Check for Updates" now actually works (Sparkle updater wasn't starting)
• Close button (red X) now works on all windows (panel, onboarding, settings, folder picker)

Changed

• App now polls for accessibility permission changes and re-registers shortcut automatically
• Improved Finder extension onboarding with clearer step-by-step instructions
• Added note that app must be in Applications folder for Finder extension to work
• Updated Finder extension instructions for macOS Tahoe (General → Login Items & Extensions)
• Onboarding now emphasizes Quick Actions as the primary right-click method

[1.0] - 2026-01-11

Added

• Initial release
• Menu bar app for creating file notes
• Global keyboard shortcut (⌃⌥⌘N)
• Finder extension for right-click "New File Note"
• Automatic matter folder detection from folder names
• Professional PDF generation with firm branding
• Daily file numbering
• Support for multiple note types (File Note, Telephone Attendance, Conference Note, etc.)
• Automatic Correspondence subfolder detection
• Sparkle auto-updates
• Onboarding guide for first-time setup