How to work effectively in the Bear Notebook

Bear is one of the best notebooks for iOS and macOS. First of all, it attracts by the convenience of organizing notes: the creation of cross-references and tags with several levels of nesting, the principle of tagging. With the help of Bear, you can not only quickly write down something, leave it as a keepsake, but also create a personal "Wikipedia".

Below is an analysis of the main functions and tips for productive use of the service.

Navigation

The mobile version has the ability to quickly navigate through the note. When you touch the screen with two fingers, the corresponding arrow bar appears. Notes you've recently viewed or edited make it easy to navigate to the beginning or end, back and forth. You don't have to call the panel, but just slide two fingers in the desired direction.

In the desktop version, move faster using the keys:

Сmd + up or down arrow - to the beginning or end of the note;
Cmd + Option + Left or Right Arrow - Back and Forward in Recently Viewed.

Creating a table of contents

The application does not have the ability to view only the headings of the note, i.e. the structure, as it is conveniently implemented in Google Docs. Other note-taking and word processing applications do not have this feature either. Unless in Ulysses, and even then only in the desktop version. But Bear has added the ability to link to the headings and subheadings of the same post. Click on the title and select "Copy link here", it will be saved to the clipboard. Then you can insert it anywhere.

When planning a large text with several sections, it is convenient to create a separate table of contents note from which you can refer to the section notes. The easiest way is to immediately register the names of the still empty sections and frame them with square brackets. When clicked, a note with this name will be created, and a link to it will remain in the table of contents note.

Tags:

Although tags replace folders in the application, they are still tags and can be used appropriately. Add more labels of various kinds, with reference to the context. This will make it easier to find the note you are looking for.

As tags, you can use not only single words, but also phrases. To do this, end the label with a pound sign (for example, # what you need for vacation #).

To create a sub-tag, separate it from the main tag with a slash. Using a multilevel system, it is convenient to structure diary entries: # diary / 2018 / December / 27.

The app automatically picks the icon for the tag in the left pane. Holding your finger on such an icon, you can assign it yourself.

Merge notes

In standard applications, the ability to combine several notes into one is sorely lacking. Bear has such a function. In the macOS version, you can select the notes you want, open them in the menu "Notes" → "Merge" or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd + M.

Multi-selection works on both iPad and iPhone. Pinch the note, hold it and slide it to the side. A panel will appear at the bottom, onto which you can drag this note for further actions. To select more without releasing your finger, tap others on other notes, thereby adding them to the set. Drag the resulting stack to the bottom panel and select "Combine".

Advanced Search

It is convenient to search and view records with pictures, files, bookmarks in standard notes. To find something similar in Bear, use the keyword search:

@images - search for notes with images;
@files - search for notes with files;
@attachments - with all attachments;
@task - with tasks;
@done - completed tasks;
@todo - incomplete;
@date - search by creation date (for example: @date (2018–12–13));
@ lastХdays - search for notes for the last X days;
@yesterday - search for yesterday's notes;
@today - of today.

To refine your search, enter a keyword and a title for the note.

And in order not to drive in requests every time, create a command in iOS (Shortcuts). With its help, you can select a key request. An example of such a command: search in Bear.

Search by note

In a note, you can highlight the text you like. To do this, it is framed with double colons, according to the Markdown markup rules used by the annotator. To find the selection, enter these two colons in the search bar.

From the search bar, you can quickly make a note with a ready-made title. Type in a request and click on the icon for creating a note: a new one will appear with a ready title from the request text.