Use case
Notes that resurface instead of getting buried
Most note apps are a drawer. You put something in, and it stays exactly where you left it until you happen to go looking. Some notes deserve that. A few need to find you instead.
Most notes are a drawer. A few need to be on the desk
A note app's whole job, most of the time, is to hold something without losing it: the wifi password, the measurements for the shelf, the half-formed idea from the train. None of that needs to interrupt you. It needs to be there, searchable, when you go looking.
But some notes are not really notes. They are instructions attached to a moment — read this before the call, check this before you sign, do not forget this detail when you're at the pharmacy. Filed the normal way, they sit in the drawer with everything else until the moment has already passed.
Timelee keeps both. Notes are silent by default, because most of them should be. Attach one to a reminder and give it a time, and it can ring like anything else in Timelee — an alarm, a full-screen call, or further up the ladder if it genuinely needs to.
A note in Timelee is more than a text box
Three layers, from a quick line to a document.
A short note on any reminder
Every reminder kind takes a quick note. It is the detail you would otherwise have to remember alongside the title.
A rich detail page when it needs more
Formatted text, checklists, images, tables and drawings, with a cover and an icon, autosaving as you write. The reminder still rings; the detail page is what you read when it does.
Categories and tags, same as any reminder
File a note under Work or Personal, or tag it, so it turns up in the same filters as everything else rather than living in a separate app.
Silent by default, loud when you choose
A note does not ring unless you attach it to a reminder and give that reminder a time. That is deliberate. Most notes are reference material — a phone number, a gate code, a paragraph you want to find again — and turning every one of them into an alert would make the ones that actually matter harder to spot, not easier.
When a note does need to reach you at a moment, it inherits the same delivery setting as any other reminder. A plain alarm for most things. An in-app call for the note you genuinely need to read before you act. A real phone call, if you are the sort of person who has already ignored the first two on something like this.
The distinction is the whole point: a filing system for the things you might need later, and a delivery channel for the handful of things you need at an exact moment.
- Notes stay silent until they are attached to a timed reminder
- A note-carrying reminder uses the same delivery ladder as any other kind
- Rich detail pages autosave, so nothing is lost mid-edit
Three ways a plain note app lets you down
Each of these is the app doing exactly what it was built to do, which is the problem.
The detail you needed was three taps away
The note existed. It was accurate. It was also filed under a title you did not think to search for at the moment you needed it.
The reminder and the detail lived in two apps
One app held the appointment time. Another held what you actually needed to say when you got there. You needed both, open, at the same time, and usually only had one.
A drawing or a table did not survive the format
Plain text notes flatten anything more structured than a sentence. A table becomes a wall of dashes. A sketch becomes a photo you have to zoom into.
When a note is worth attaching to a reminder
- It has a moment attached — before the call, at the appointment, on the day
- Reading it late would be worse than not reading it at all
- It holds something you would otherwise have to remember to check
- It is meant for someone else, and they need to see it, not just have it exist
- You have already missed it once by leaving it as a plain note
- It carries a table, a drawing or a checklist the moment actually needs
The detail editor lives on the web
Rich detail pages — formatted text, tables and drawings — are a web dashboard feature, built for a keyboard and a bigger screen. Notes still sync to your phone, and a note-carrying reminder still rings there. Write the detail on a laptop; the reminder reaches you wherever you are.
Questions about notes in Timelee
Do notes ring by default?
No. A note is silent until you attach it to a reminder and give that reminder a time. Most notes never need to.
Can I put a table or a drawing in a note?
Yes, on the rich detail page attached to any reminder. It holds formatted text, checklists, images, tables and drawings, and autosaves as you write.
Is this a replacement for a general notes app?
Not necessarily. Timelee's notes are built around reminders, not free-form knowledge management. If you keep a large personal wiki, keep it where it is. Attach a Timelee note to the things that need to reach you at a moment.
Can I share a note with someone else?
You can share the reminder it is attached to. They see the note as part of the reminder they have accepted, not as a separate document handed over.
Where do I write the detail page — phone or laptop?
The rich detail editor is built for the web dashboard. Write it on a laptop; the note syncs to your phone and the reminder rings there.
Attach one note to a reminder this week
Pick the one piece of detail you always have to double-check at the last minute, and put it where the reminder will actually show it to you.