Manual · Using tagwerk
The day note
Write in the note of a day, move between days, format text, divide a day into sections, link to web pages, days and files, and get back an earlier state.
One file per day
Every day has one note, and every note is one Markdown file named after its date, such as 2026-10-28.md. What you write in it is the whole record: tasks, appointments, tags and plain text stand in it as lines. The task list, the calendar and the statistics are read from these lines.
- Saving is automatic. tagwerk writes the note while you type. There is no save button. If a write fails, a strip under the note says Changes are not being saved., and Show details names the reason.
- A day without text has no file. Opening an empty day writes nothing. The file appears with the first character you type.
- Changes from outside arrive by themselves. When a sync tool or another editor changes a note, tagwerk picks up the new text.
Writing
A note is plain text, and the first characters of a line decide what the line is:
| Line | What it is | More |
|---|---|---|
- [ ] Send the proposal | A task | Tasks |
09:30 Standup | An appointment | Appointments |
# Work or --- Private --- | A heading or a named section | Sections |
| anything else | Text, Markdown | Formatting |
A #tag or an @person can stand in any of these lines. Typing # or @ offers the tags and people you have used before; see Tags and search.
# Work
09:30-10:00 Standup @team
- [ ] Send the proposal to @paul #work
- [x] Check the numbers
- [ ] Attach the PDF
Lunch was good. **Ask about the budget** on Friday.An indented task under another one is a sub-task and travels with it. The complete rules are in the format specification.
The editor toolbar
The row of buttons under the note works at the position of the cursor. With mouse and keyboard it is always visible. On a phone it comes up with the keyboard and stands above it, because without the keyboard there is no cursor for it to work at.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Task | Turns the line into a task (Insert task). On a line that already is a task, it opens the task's form (Edit task). |
| Time | Opens a sheet that gives the line a time (Insert time). On a line that has one, it changes it (Edit time). |
| Repeat | Opens the sheet that sets how a task or an appointment repeats. |
| Contact | Inserts @ and offers the people you have used. |
| Tag | Inserts # and offers your tags. |
| Outdent, Indent | Move the line one level out or in. A sub-task is an indented task. |
| Undo, Redo | Appear at the end of the row as soon as there is something to undo or redo. |
On a narrow phone the row scrolls sideways when it holds more buttons than fit.
Undo and redo
Undo and Redo take back and repeat your own edits in the open note: typing, a task ticked in the note, a line inserted by a button. With a keyboard, Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Y redoes.
- The undo history belongs to the day on screen. When you change to another day, it starts afresh.
- A new version of the note that arrives from outside - from sync, or from a task moved here from another day - is not an edit of yours and cannot be undone. To go back past it, use the revision history.
Formatting
The editor draws a few Markdown marks and keeps the characters in the file:
| You write | You see |
|---|---|
**bold** | bold |
`code` | code in a monospaced box |
~~struck through~~ | struck-through text |
# Heading to ###### Heading | a heading, larger the fewer hashes |
| a line of three backticks before and after | a code block; nothing inside it counts as a task, time or tag |
--- on its own line | a dividing line |
The marks step back while the cursor is elsewhere and show again on the line the cursor is on, so you can edit them. Everything else in Markdown - lists, quotes, tables - stays as you wrote it.
On Windows and Linux, Ctrl+B sets or removes bold around the selection and Ctrl+E does the same for code.
Sections
A heading divides a day into sections. Two kinds of line start one:
- a Markdown heading:
# Work,## Morning; - a named divider:
--- Private ---- three hyphens, a title, three hyphens. tagwerk draws it as a line with the title in the middle.
A section runs until the next heading of the same or a higher level. A blank line does not end it. A plain --- ends a section without starting a new one.
Fold a section
The small arrow in front of a heading or a named divider folds its section away. Tap it again to unfold. With a keyboard, Ctrl+Alt+F folds the section the cursor is in.
Folding goes by the title, not by the day. Fold Habits once and the section called Habits is folded on every day, until you unfold it. The choice is kept on this device; the file does not change. Typing or pasting into a folded section unfolds it, so what you write stays in view.
Sections and moved tasks
A task that moves to another day, or comes back through a repeat, lands under the heading with the same title there. If that day has no such heading yet, tagwerk writes the heading first. The exact rules are in the format specification.
Links
tagwerk recognises four kinds of link in a note. The text stays editable; a small mark behind the link opens it.
| You write | It leads to | How to open it |
|---|---|---|
https://example.org/page | a web page | Tap the arrow behind the address. |
[Docs](https://example.org/page) | a web page; the title is shown, the address folds away | Tap the arrow behind the title. |
>2026-11-02 | that day | Tap the marker. |
2026-11-02 | that day | Tap the calendar mark behind the date. |
[[Project notes]] | a file in a linked folder | Tap the file mark behind the link. |
On Windows and Linux, Ctrl+click on a link opens it as well, and Ctrl+Alt+Enter opens the link on the cursor's line.
Web links
Only addresses written out in full with http:// or https:// are links. www.example.org on its own is text. Nothing inside an address counts as a tag or a contact, so the #section in https://example.org/page#section stays part of the address.
Day links
>2026-11-02 is the marker tagwerk writes when a task moves to another day, and it can stand in any line. A date written on its own also leads to its day, except the date of the note you are in.
- [>] Review the offer @paul >2026-11-02
Invoice from 2026-10-01 still open, check on Friday.Links to files
[[Name]] opens a file in a folder you have linked to tagwerk. Link the folders first:
- Open Settings → Linked folders.
- Tap Link a folder... and pick the folder.
A link names a file ([[Meeting notes]]) or a path inside the folder ([[Clients/Meier]]). Without an extension, .md is meant. After a |, a label can stand in for the name: [[Meier|the offer]]. If several files carry the name, tagwerk asks which one.
| File | What happens |
|---|---|
Markdown (.md) | Opens in a sheet inside tagwerk, formatted. Formatted and Source switch between the two views. |
Text (.txt, .log) | Opens in the sheet as plain text. |
| Pictures, PDFs, audio, video, office documents | Open in the app your system uses for them. |
| Anything else | Opens only after a question. |
The list of linked folders belongs to the profile on this device. A note carrying a link opens the file where that folder is linked, and reports that it found nothing where it is not.
What the day shows
The View menu (the eye at the top) hides parts of the day without touching the file:
- Hide finished tasks hides done, dropped and moved tasks, with their sub-tasks.
- Hide appointments that have passed hides today's appointments whose time is over.
A strip under the note says how many lines are hidden; Show brings them back.
A repeating appointment that falls on the day appears above the note under From a repeat, because it is not written in the day's file. Write it in puts it into the note. More in Appointments.
Revision history
tagwerk keeps earlier states of every day: when the day is opened, before a sync writes over it, before another program's change is taken over, and before a restore. It keeps up to 20 states per day and nothing older than 180 days. The history is free.
To get back an earlier state:
- Open the day.
- In the side panel Calendar and tags, tap History → Earlier states. The button appears once the day has a kept state. On a phone, open the side panel with the button at the left of the day row first.
- Each state shows what differs from the note now. Tap Restore on the one you want.
Restoring keeps the state it replaces, so a restore can be taken back the same way. The history lives in the app's own storage on this device, not in your notes folder.
Day templates
A day template is the text a new day starts with - your headings, the habits you tick every morning. It is applied when you open a day that holds nothing, and when a moved or repeating task lands on an empty day.
To write one:
- Open Settings → Templates & tag colours.
- Under Day templates, tap Write a template... (or Manage templates... once one exists).
- Choose the default template, or New template... for a weekday or a day of the month.
A day takes the most specific template that exists: one for its day of the month first, then one for its weekday, then the default. Templates are never combined. A template writes nothing by itself: a day you open and leave stays without a file.
## Morning
## Work
--- Habits ---
- [ ] 07:00 Run #sport
- [ ] Weigh myself #weightThe templates are files in the templates/ folder of your notes folder and travel with your notes.
When a day exists twice
If a day was changed on two devices, or by another program while tagwerk had it open, a strip above the note says This day exists twice. - how to compare and merge the versions is explained in Sync.