Before you start
You need Marknote on the computer whose notes you want to sync, and an email address you can open on that computer. That is all. The free plan syncs one folder; the plans page has the rest.
Open Marknote and choose Set up sync — it is in Settings, under Sync, and on the sync button in the sidebar when you have not signed in. The first time you open the app after writing something, it offers itself.
Step 1: Your account
The dialog offers two doors: Create an account and I already have an account. Either one opens your browser, and the dialog stays open behind it, waiting.
- Creating an account. Enter an email address and a password on the page that opens. We send a confirmation email; open it and press the button in it. The page that confirms your address has one thing on it: Continue to Marknote. Press it, sign in once, and the browser tells you that you are signed in and can close the tab. Back in Marknote, the dialog has moved on to the next step by itself.
- Signing in. The sign-in page opens. A passkey, a security key or a password all work there. The app never sees the password: signing in through the browser is what lets passkeys work at all.
If the confirmation email is slow, the dialog waits half an hour. If you opened the email on your phone, the page will say to go back to the app: choose I already have an account there and sign in, and you are through.
Step 2: The folder
One folder syncs. If you have one open, the dialog offers it; otherwise, or if you want a different one, choose a folder. The folder's name becomes the name of your vault, which is what a synced folder is called once it is on the service. Nothing is uploaded yet.
If your account already has a vault from another machine, the dialog stops here and shows you the vaults you have instead, so you join the one you meant rather than making a second.
Step 3: The passphrase
This is the step worth reading slowly. Your passphrase is not your account password. Signing in gives you your account; the passphrase gives you your notes. Your notes are encrypted on your computer with a key made from it before they are sent anywhere, so we never see the passphrase and cannot reset it. If it is lost, and the recovery key from the next step is lost too, the notes in the vault cannot be recovered by you, by us, or by anyone.
Choose four or five unrelated words. The dialog shows how strong it is as you type, asks for it twice, and asks you to type one short sentence to confirm you understand what it is. That sentence is there on purpose.
Step 4: The recovery key
The dialog shows a thirty-character recovery key, once. It is the only other way into your notes: if you forget the passphrase, the recovery key opens the vault. Copy it, save it to a file, or send it to 1Password if the app finds it on your machine — then put it somewhere that is not this computer: a password manager, or paper.
Before it goes on, the dialog asks you to type the key back in, to be sure it has been kept. Case, spaces and dashes do not matter, and pasting it from where you saved it is fine.
Step 5: The first sync
The vault is created and the first sync runs while you watch. When it finishes, this folder is your vault: changes sync in the background as you write, and Sync now in the account menu runs one whenever you like.
On your other machines
Install Marknote, choose Set up sync, and sign in with the same account. The dialog lists your vaults; choose this one, pick the folder it should live in on that machine, and enter your passphrase once. Your notes arrive on the first sync. Conflicts, when two machines edit the same note before syncing, keep both versions rather than choosing one.
Common questions
- I forgot my passphrase. Choose Sync now, and on the passphrase prompt choose to use your recovery key instead. Once you are in, set a new passphrase from Settings.
- I lost my recovery key. While you still know your passphrase, Settings can issue a new one; the old one stops working the moment it does.
- Can I sync a different folder later? Yes. The free plan has one vault, so the folder it is bound to is the one that syncs; paid plans can have several.
- Does Marknote read my notes? No, and it cannot: they are encrypted before they leave your computer. The security page explains how.