Write it down
The capture bar
The capture bar is the input that is always one gesture away, wherever you are in NewTwos.
Why you'd care
The gap between having a thought and writing it down is where notes die. If capture takes four taps, you will not bother, and the app slowly becomes a place you visit rather than a place you use.
The bar exists to make that gap as close to zero as the platform allows. On a laptop that is one chord. On a phone it is already on screen.
The 60-second version
Web, Mac, Windows, and Linux
Press ⌘K, type, and press Enter. Press Enter again for another thing, or Escape to close.
iPhone, iPad, and Android
The bar sits at the bottom of the screen. Tap it, type, and tap the arrow. It stays open so you can keep writing.
Whatever you write lands on Today, unless you are inside a list, in which case it lands there.
Step by step
Opening it
Web, Mac, Windows, and Linux
⌘K opens it from anywhere, including from inside a thing you are editing. There is no need to click into the page first.
iPhone, iPad, and Android
It is already there at the bottom. If you have scrolled, it stays pinned. Tap once to focus it and raise the keyboard.
Writing more than one thing
Press Enter after each one. The bar stays open and the things stack up in order, so you can empty your head in one go rather than reopening it five times.
If you would rather Enter insert a line break inside one thing instead of starting a new one, that is a setting. It is worth knowing about because it surprises people either way round.
Choosing where it lands
By default, capture goes to Today. Two things change that:
- Being inside a list. Whatever list you have open is the destination.
- A default list. Set one in Settings Appearance & Accessibility Default add to list and everything captured from outside a list goes there instead.
Slash commands
Type / at the start and a menu appears. It is the fastest route to a to-do, a photo, a reminder, or a divider without leaving the keyboard.
Going further
Capture without opening NewTwos at all. The bar is the in-app route, but it is not the only one. Quick Capture puts the same input on your lock screen, in your menu bar, or behind a system-wide hotkey, so you can write a thing down without switching apps. On desktop that is ⌘⌃␣.
Dictate instead of typing. The microphone in the bar transcribes as you speak. For anything longer than a sentence or two, Ramble is the better tool: it listens continuously and turns what you said into separate things rather than one long paragraph. Plus
Paste a list in. Paste several lines at once and NewTwos offers to split them into separate things, one per line. This is the quickest way to move a list in from a message or an email.
Write a date in plain words. "Call the dentist Thursday at 3" is understood as a reminder while you type. See set a reminder.
Shortcuts and gestures
| Action | Mac | Windows and Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Open capture bar | ⌘K | Ctrl+K |
| Open Quick Capture window (system-wide)desktop app | ⌘⌃␣ | Ctrl+Shift+␣ |
| Search | ⌘/ | Ctrl+/ |
| New list | ⌘⇧N | Ctrl+Shift+N |
Settings that change this
- Settings Appearance & Accessibility Default add to list sets where captured things land when you are not inside a list.
- Settings Lists & <i>Things</i> Default <i>thing</i> type decides whether a new thing is a note, a to-do, or a dash by default.
- Settings Lists & <i>Things</i> Default photo size controls how a photo captured from the bar is displayed.
Tips
- Write it badly. The bar rewards speed, and a half sentence you can search for beats a tidy note you never wrote.
- Enter twice in a row is the fastest way to dump several things. Do not reach for the mouse between them.
- If you capture the same kind of thing all day, set a default list once and stop thinking about destinations.
- On a phone, the bar is easier to reach than any menu. It is usually faster to capture and then move than to navigate first and capture second.
If it's not working
The bar is not on screen. On mobile it hides while you are editing an existing thing. Tap Done or tap away, and it comes back.
Enter makes a new line instead of a new thing. That is the return-key behavior setting, working as configured. Change it under Lists and things.
Everything is landing in the wrong list. You almost certainly have a default add-to list set from a while ago. Check Settings Appearance & Accessibility Default add to list.
⌘K does nothing in the browser. Some browser extensions claim that chord before the page sees it. Rebind capture to something free in Settings, Help and about, Keyboard shortcuts.
Related
- Today, where most captured things land
- Thing types, for turning what you wrote into a to-do
- Set a reminder, for capturing something with a time attached