Note History

Note History is a per-note version timeline with a built-in A/B compare, backed by cloud sync's encrypted version storage. It protects against a stale save from another device replacing newer work: committed saves become recoverable versions, and History lets you compare any two of them and bring one back without losing the current content. Saves to the same note are coalesced until editing has been quiet for 10 seconds, while a 60-second cap ensures continuous editing still produces periodic uploaded versions.

Requirements

Note History needs cloud sync enabled and its encryption unlocked. Restoring a version additionally requires an active subscription. Viewing history does not — it is available to any synced workspace.

Opening History

Command Palette — search "Note history" (Mod+K). Shown only when the active frame is a Note Tray (Inbox, Archives, or any pin backed by the Note Tray provider); disabled with a hint when sync isn't ready, rather than hidden.
Keyboard shortcut — Mod+Shift+H by default (rebindable in Settings → Shortcuts → History), opens History for the note currently active in the frame. When sync isn't ready, it shows an explanatory toast instead of opening.
History header action — in the Note Tray frame header (inside its overflow menu when narrow). Hidden (not shown disabled) when sync isn't ready.
Note pill context menu — right-click a listed note pill or use its keyboard context menu and choose Note history. This works for an inactive pill and for named (non-numbered) notes too. Empty or not-yet-listed pills only offer Open. Also hidden when sync isn't ready.

Pile View card menus do not have a History entry in this release — open the note first, then use one of the entry points above.

The timeline

History opens as a full-viewport surface (the same full-bleed treatment as Pile View) with a version timeline on the left and the compare pane on the right; on narrow/mobile viewports the timeline collapses into a scrollable sheet above the compare controls.

The timeline lists every retained saved version of the note, newest first, grouped under sticky day headers ("Today", "Yesterday", or a full date). Each row shows the save time, the device it was saved from, and a +N −N line-change count against the previous retained version — stats fill in progressively as you scroll, so opening History on a long-lived note does not wait on downloading every version up front. Recent versions remain at full resolution; older history is thinned to hourly representatives for 24 hours–7 days, daily representatives for 7–30 days, and weekly representatives after 30 days.

Every Checkpoint in the workspace also appears on this timeline, as a tag marker directly above whichever version of this note was current when that checkpoint was created — even if the checkpoint itself did not change this particular note, this places it correctly relative to your saves. A checkpoint created before the note's first save has no version to anchor to and renders at the bottom of the list.

A/B compare

Two slots, A and B, each hold one version; the pane on the right shows an inline or side-by-side diff between them (toggle in the compare header), plus the aggregate +N −N for that pair.

Clicking anywhere on a timeline row assigns that version to A.
The small A / B buttons at the right edge of a row assign that row to either slot individually.
Clicking a checkpoint tag assigns the version it maps to into A and scrolls it into view.
Swap exchanges A and B.

By default, B is the current (newest) version and A is the next most recent one — so History opens already showing what changed in your last save. Assigning the same version to both slots shows a "select a different version" message instead of an empty diff.

Restoring a version

The footer's Restore to A button writes A's content as a new version — restoring never deletes or overwrites anything. The confirm dialog shows the target version's date/device and a +N −N preview of what would change relative to the current content. The button is disabled when A already is the current version (nothing would change).

After a restore, the workspace document and its open editor buffer are updated immediately — you do not need to wait for another sync round-trip to see the restored content. The current content, from just before the restore, remains in History as its own version, so restoring is always reversible by restoring again.

Save as note N

Below the compare header, each slot has its own "save as note …" control: pick a note number and save that slot's content into the same Note Tray directory as a new (or, with confirmation, overwritten) numbered note — a quick way to fork an old or alternate version out to its own note instead of overwriting the one you're comparing. The number field defaults to the next free slot in that directory.

What appears in history

Every committed workspace write becomes a version initially, including saves, note creation, deletion, moves, archiving, Tidy Up, and other supported workspace operations. The current version and every version pinned by a Checkpoint are always kept; the nightly retention pass only thins unpinned older versions. Local-only External File Editor activity targets separate files and never enters workspace note history.

Empty and error states

A note with no synced versions yet shows a plain "no history" message instead of an empty timeline. If cloud sync is off or locked, History explains that requirement instead of opening blank; if a version's content fails to load (network hiccup, etc.) the diff pane offers a retry rather than failing the whole dialog.

Closing

Press Escape, or use the × button in the header.

Empty history

When a note has no history, the dialog explains how versions accumulate and offers Create checkpoint…, opening the existing checkpoint creation form directly. Returning from that form restores History focus. The Manual action opens the history manual page.