Online Notepad

About the Online Notepad

What is an online notepad?

An online notepad is a web page for writing quick notes without installing an app. Ours handles plain text only. It saves each note to IndexedDB, the database built into your browser, about half a second after you stop typing. The notes are there when you come back.

You can keep as many notes as the browser has room for. A note is named after its first line. A note you open from a file, or save under a name you choose, takes that file's name. The notes list beside the editor lets you search and switch between them.

• Your notes stay off our server. A note reaches our server only if you press Send to another device and then save it on the Online Clipboard.
• Find and replace is built in. It has Match case and Whole words options, and Ctrl+Z (Cmd+Z on a Mac) undoes a replacement.
• The status bar counts as you type. It shows words, characters, lines and the cursor's line and column.
• Edits in two tabs never overwrite each other. If one note changes in both tabs at once, the later version is saved as a separate note.

How to write and save notes

1. Start typing in the editor. The note saves itself each time you pause, and the status bar reads Saved in this browser.
2. Press New note to start another one. It appears at the top of the notes list.
3. Press Find to search the note. Type a word, press Enter to jump between matches, and replace one or all of them.
4. Press Save file to keep a copy on your computer. Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac) does the same while you're working in the notepad.

Where are your notes stored, and how long do they last?

Your notes live in this browser's storage on this device. They stay until you delete them or clear the site's data. Unlike online notes kept in a cloud account, they don't sync to another device or browser.

A few situations can remove notes without you deleting them:

• Private windows. Chrome deletes their data when the last Incognito window closes, and Firefox when the last private tab closes. Safari deletes a private tab's data when that tab closes.
• Safari's seven-day rule. Safari deletes a site's stored data after seven days of browsing without a click, tap or key press on that site. Web apps added to the Home Screen are exempt, but a Home Screen app has its own storage, so notes saved in Safari won't appear in it.
• Low disk space. When storage runs short, browsers can clear data from the sites you used least recently.
• Clear on exit. A browser set to delete site data when it closes removes the notes each time.

Download all saves every note as a text file inside one ZIP. Open that ZIP in the notepad later, in any browser, and the notes in it come back, skipping any you already have.

How do you open and save .txt files?

Press Open file, or drop files onto the editor, to open any plain-text file. That includes .txt, .md, .csv, .log and .json, up to 25 MB each.

The notepad reads UTF-8 files and UTF-16 files that start with a byte order mark. Files that look binary, such as UTF-16 without a byte order mark, don't open.

A mostly UTF-8 file with a few invalid bytes usually opens with the replacement character (�) in their place. Other text files open as Windows-1252, the code page older Windows apps use for Western European languages, and a notice tells you so.

Save file writes UTF-8 without a byte order mark. Windows Notepad has saved the same way by default since Windows 10 version 1903. A UTF-8 file that already had a byte order mark keeps it, and a file that mostly uses Windows line endings (CRLF) keeps those too.

In Chrome and Edge, a note opened from a file saves straight back to that file once you allow it. The first time you save a new note, the browser asks where to put the file. Other browsers download a copy, and Save as lets you choose its name.

The line-ending button in the status bar switches a note between Unix (LF) and Windows (CRLF). Windows Notepad has supported both since Windows 10 version 1809.

How does the Online Notepad compare with Windows Notepad, TextEdit and Google Keep?

Our notepad keeps notes on your device and needs no account. Windows Notepad and TextEdit save ordinary files, while Google Keep and Google Docs store everything in your Google account.

Common mistakes

These mistakes can lose notes kept in a browser or let other people read them.

• Leaving notes on a shared computer. The next person to open the page in that browser can read them, so delete the notes before you leave.
• Expecting the notes on another device. Notes stay in the browser that saved them. Move one with Send to another device, or all of them with Download all.
• Clearing site data without a backup. A full cleanup deletes the notes too, so press Download all before you clear anything.
• Keeping passwords in a note. The notepad doesn't encrypt notes, so anyone using your browser profile can read them. A password manager is the safer place.

Common Use Cases

A notepad that saves as you type works as a scratchpad for text that has no home yet.

• Drafting before you paste. Write a long reply, post or form answer where a refresh won't wipe it.
• Stripping formatting. Paste text from a web page or a document, then copy it back out as plain text.
• Editing a text file on someone else's computer. Open a .txt, .csv or .log file on a machine where you can't install an editor.
• Keeping a running list. Leave a to-do list or meeting notes open in a tab all day.

To turn a note into a PDF, paste it into Text to PDF. Text Cleaner removes extra spaces and line breaks, Find and Replace Text handles regular expressions, and the Diff Checker shows what changed between two versions. Paste HTML you wrote into the HTML Viewer to see it rendered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Google have a notepad you can use online?

Google Keep is Google's note app, and it needs a Google account. Keep stores notes on Google's servers and syncs them across your devices, while our notepad keeps them on your device with no account.

Does your text survive closing the browser?

Yes, notes written in a normal window are still there when you open the page again. Private windows and browsers set to clear site data on exit are the exceptions.

Can anyone else see what you write in the notepad?

We only receive a note if you send it and save it on the Online Clipboard. Anyone who uses your browser profile on this device can open the page and read your notes, though.

Does the notepad work offline?

Yes, once the page has loaded. Writing and saving keep working without a connection, but loading the page again needs one.

How much text can one note hold?

A note has no fixed character limit, but every note shares the browser's storage space. Notes of several megabytes make typing slower, and files over 25 MB won't open.

Is WordPad still part of Windows 11?

No, Microsoft removed WordPad starting with Windows 11 version 24H2. Windows Notepad still opens plain .txt files, and so does our notepad.

How do you move notes to another computer?

Press Download all, then open the ZIP file in the notepad on the other computer. To move just one note, press Send to another device and save it on the Online Clipboard to get a PIN.