Capture, daily notes and templates

Some notes start as a thought you want out of your head before it's gone. Canto gives you a capture window that works in any app, an Inbox where captures wait to be filed, a note for each day, templates for notes you write often, and a Spark: one note from your past, once a day.

Quick capture#

Press ⌥Space in any app. A small window opens over whatever you're doing, without bringing Canto's window forward. It works even when Canto's window is closed, as long as Canto is running. You can also open it from File › Quick Capture…, from ⌘K, or from Canto's menu-bar icon when Sparks puts one there.

Type or paste:

• A thought. ↩ saves it; ⇧↩ starts a new line.
• A link. Canto keeps it as the capture's source.
• A picture. Paste one, or press Attach.
• Tags. Type # and a name, or press #tag.

The chip at the top says where the capture goes: Inbox, or Today's note to add it to the end of today's daily note. Click it to switch. Esc hides the window and keeps what you typed for next time.

To change the keys, or turn the shortcut off, use Settings › Keyboard › Quick capture. Type the new keys there, with ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥. If another app already uses the keys you chose, Settings says so.

The Inbox#

The Inbox is in the sidebar, under Home. It holds your captures and the suggestions Canto makes on your Mac, and nothing in your vault changes until you press a button:

Filter the list with All, Captures and Suggestions. Home shows what's waiting under Waiting for you. Suggesting tags uses the model on your Mac; if none is loaded, the row says so.

Today and daily notes#

Each day can have its own note. Open today's with Go › Today, from Today in the sidebar, or from Home's Today strip, which also has a calendar of earlier days. ⌘K's Open today's note works too.

Set daily notes up in Settings › General › Daily notes:

• Title: how a daily note is named. It starts as YYYY-MM-DD (for example 2026-10-10); other choices include "Oct 10, 2026" and "Saturday, Oct 10".
• Time zone: which day "today" is. It follows your Mac unless you pick another.
• Template: what a new daily note starts with, in Markdown. {{date}}, {{day}}, {{isoWeek}} and {{spark}} are filled in.

Quick capture can add straight to the end of today's note; see Quick capture.

Templates#

⌥⌘N (File › New Note from Template…) opens New note from a template: the templates on the left, a preview of the note each one makes on the right, and the new note's title. ↩ or a double-click makes the note.

Canto comes with Project spec, Bug report, Daily plan and Weekly review. A new vault also starts with Meeting notes and Research log.

To make your own, choose New template… in the same sheet, or Edit… to change one. A template is Markdown. {{cursor}} marks where typing starts in the new note, and {{title}} and {{date}} are filled in. Settings › Writing › Note templates opens the same sheet.

Sparks#

A Spark is one note from your past, chosen each day on your Mac without AI. It shows on Home, and in today's daily note if its template has {{spark}}. Open it, or let it go.

There are six kinds, each of which you can switch off in Settings › General › More about Sparks:

The same page can put Sparks in the menu bar (on), badge the Dock icon while today's Spark is unopened (off), and hint at tomorrow's kind (on). Sparks you hid brings back the ones you dismissed or snoozed. Turn Sparks off altogether with Settings › General › Home and Sparks › Sparks.

Send to future me#

To have a note come back on a day you choose, use ⋯ › Send to future me… in the note's header, or right-click the note in the sidebar. Give it a title and a message, pick when it comes back, and it returns as your Spark that day.

For a surprise now, ⌘K has Surprise me and Open a random note.