Inklingfor Mac

A scratchpad on a Mac that is always one key away

· 6 min read

A useful scratchpad opens with one key from any app and shows the same page every time, so whatever you left there is still there. macOS gets you most of the way: set Quick Note to resume the last note and Globe-Q becomes a one-key scratchpad. If you want a scratchpad app that opens from the notch, starts the day from a template and keeps earlier versions, Inkling does that behind Option-N.

What a scratchpad is for

A scratchpad is not a notes library. It is where text goes before it has a home: a phone number read out on a call, a command you are about to run twice, three things to do after lunch, a sentence you are rewording before it goes into an email.

That gives it rules an ordinary notes app does not follow:

  • One page, not many. You never choose which note to open.
  • The same page every time. What you wrote an hour ago is still there.
  • No filing. Nothing asks for a title or a folder.
  • One key in, one key out. If opening it takes longer than the thought, you stop using it.

Most methods fail the second rule. They open a fresh, empty page each time, which is the opposite of a scratchpad.

Quick Note, set to resume

Quick Note has been in macOS since Monterey. It opens a floating Notes window over any app with Globe-Q (Fn-Q on keyboards that label the key Fn), or when the pointer hits a hot corner. Whether it reopens your last Quick Note or starts a fresh one depends on a setting in Notes, and a fresh note each time fills a folder with fragments. Check it first:

  1. Open the Notes app.
  2. Open its settings from the Notes menu in the menu bar.
  3. Find the option to always resume to the last Quick Note and make sure it is on.

With it on, Globe-Q brings back the same note every time, which is exactly what a scratchpad needs. If your keyboard has no Globe or Fn key, set a hot corner instead: System Settings, Desktop & Dock, then the Hot Corners button, and choose Quick Note for a corner.

What it does well: it costs nothing, it is already there, and the note reaches your iPhone through iCloud if Notes syncs. What it does less well: it is still an ordinary note, so it sits in your notes list and turns up in every search, and the hot corner fires whenever the pointer drifts that way.

Stickies, kept on top

Stickies, in the Applications folder, is the scratchpad you can see all day.

  1. Open Stickies and press Command-N for a new note.
  2. Choose Window, then Float on Top, so it stays above other windows.
  3. Drag it into a corner and resize it to fit.

Text saves as you type and is still there next time. Being visible all the time is the point, and also the cost: the note takes up screen space whether you need it or not, and its notes stay on that one Mac. Stickies also has no global key of its own. You can give it one with the Shortcuts app: make a shortcut that opens Stickies and add a keyboard shortcut in the shortcut’s details.

A plain text file you never close

The plainest scratchpad of all is a text file.

  1. Open TextEdit and press Command-N.
  2. Choose Format, then Make Plain Text.
  3. Save it with a name you will remember, such as scratch, somewhere you will not move it.
  4. Leave it open. To get back to it, press Command-Space, type scratch and press Return.

TextEdit saves as you go and keeps earlier versions: choose File, then Revert To, then Browse All Versions to see them. The weakness is getting there. Spotlight plus a name is a few keystrokes rather than one, and an open window gets buried under everything else you have open.

The notch as a scratchpad

Inkling puts the scratchpad above everything instead of behind it. Hover over the notch or press Option-N from any app, and the note drops down over what you are doing. Write, then press Command-Return and it tucks away; Ink, the pair of eyes in the notch, gives a nod as it goes. Come back later and the same note is there, which covers the rule most methods miss.

The parts that matter for scratchpad use:

  • A template for each morning. The daily scratchpad template gives each day a starting page. Any note you shape yourself can be saved as your own template too, alongside the meeting, project and journal ones.
  • Pinning. Pin the scratchpad so it is always easy to find among your other notes.
  • Earlier versions. You can revisit previous versions of a note, which matters more on a scratchpad than anywhere else, because you overwrite it all day.
  • Structure when you need it. Checkboxes for a quick list, code for a command, and tables you can move through with Tab or fill by pasting cells from a spreadsheet.
  • Search. Find a phrase across every note, including last week’s scratch.

Both shortcuts can be changed in Settings. That is worth knowing if you type accented letters on a US keyboard, since macOS also uses Option-N for the tilde in ñ. On a display without a notch, a virtual notch takes its place, so the scratchpad opens in the same spot on an external monitor.

Notes stay on the Mac and work offline, with daily local backups. Sync to your other Macs goes through your own private iCloud, is off by default, and if two Macs change the same line, both versions are kept.

Which one to pick

Pick by where your scratch text comes from and where it needs to go:

  • You need it on your iPhone too: Quick Note set to resume. Inkling has no iPhone or iPad app.
  • You want it in view all day: Stickies, floating on top.
  • You want a plain file you can open with anything: TextEdit.
  • You want it out of sight but one key or a hover away, with a fresh template each day and earlier versions to fall back on: the notch.

The notch app is $12 once after 24 hours free, with no card needed, on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and one license covers up to 3 Macs. If you do not buy, every note stays readable, searchable, copyable and exportable; a license is what unlocks writing and editing.

Questions

Does a scratchpad need to sync? Usually not. Most scratch text is useful for an hour and then either moves somewhere permanent or gets deleted. Sync starts to matter when you work on two Macs and want the same page on both.

What if I delete something from the scratchpad by mistake? In TextEdit, Browse All Versions brings back an earlier copy of the file. In Notes, Undo is the main way back while the note is open. In the notch app, previous versions of the note are kept, and daily local backups sit underneath that.

Can I move the scratchpad shortcut off Option-N? Yes. The open shortcut and the tuck-away shortcut can both be changed in Settings.