Keyboard Shortcuts

The global shortcut, the note panel's shortcuts, and how to change them.

Global Shortcut

ShortcutAction
⌃⌥⌘N New File Note (works from any app)

You can customize this in Settings › Shortcuts (General › Keyboard Shortcut shows it too, with a Change Shortcut… button).

Note Panel Shortcuts

ShortcutAction
⌘↩ Save note
Esc Cancel and close (asks first if there's unsaved text)
⌘W Close panel (asks first if there's unsaved text)
⌘1 – ⌘9 Choose the first to ninth note type (in the order set in Settings › Note Panel › Note Types)
⌘D Go to the Date row
⌥⌘F Switch output format: PDF / Markdown / Both
⇧⌘A Go to Attendees or "With"
⌥⌘S Apple Intelligence: Suggest Description & Type
⇧⌘T Insert the current time (in the note field)
⌘B Bold (in the note field)
⌘I Italic (in the note field)
⌘Z Undo, including Tidy Up Text and Expand Points into Note
⇧Tab From the note back to Description (the panel opens with the cursor in the note)

In the note field, pressing ↩ inside a bullet or numbered list continues the list on the next line. Settings › Shortcuts › Panel Shortcuts lists every panel shortcut.

App Shortcuts

ShortcutAction
⌘, Open Settings
⌘Q Quit NoteDrop

Customizing the Shortcut

  1. Open Settings › Shortcuts
  2. Click the current shortcut to start recording
  3. Press your new key combination
  4. The shortcut updates immediately

Click "Reset to Default" to restore ⌃⌥⌘N, or "Turn Off" to have no global shortcut. If another app already uses your combination, Settings says "Another app is using this shortcut" — choose a different one.

To start a note by voice or from an automation instead, see Shortcuts, Siri & Spotlight.