Callouts Essential

A callout is a colored, titled box that pulls one part of a note out of the flow — a warning, a tip, a definition you keep forgetting. Each callout has a heading you can rename and a body that can hold paragraphs, lists, code and other blocks, and it can be collapsed down to its title alone.

Callouts are part of the Essential plan and above.

Insert a callout

1. Place the cursor where you want the callout, or select the text you want to put inside it.
2. Click the + (Insert) button in the toolbar.
3. Hover Callout in the menu.
4. Pick a type from the submenu.

The new callout is titled with the type name in capitals — INFO, WARN — and the cursor lands in that title so you can type a real one straight away. If you had text selected, that text becomes the callout's body.

The eight types in the menu

Type	Use it for
Abstract	a summary at the top of a long note
Hint	an aside that helps but isn't required
Info	neutral context
Success	something that worked, or a confirmed result
Warn	something that can go wrong
Error	something that failed or must not be done
Example	a worked example
Quote	a quotation or citation

Write a callout with a markdown shortcut Essential

On an empty line, type > immediately followed by the callout type — no space — then press Enter:

>warning

To give it a title in the same step, add the title after the type:

>warning Back up before you upgrade

The first form titles the callout WARNING; the second titles it Back up before you upgrade. Either way the cursor ends up in the body, ready for content.

Markdown shortcuts need Essential too

This is a Markdown shortcut, so it needs the same Essential plan as callouts themselves, plus the setting switched on. Markdown shortcuts are off by default on web and desktop — turn on Markdown shortcuts in Settings → Customization → Editor. On mobile they are on by default. Typing > followed by a space still makes a plain blockquote, on any plan.

Types the shortcut accepts

The shortcut understands far more type names than the menu offers — many of them aliases that map onto the same styling, so you can write whichever word comes naturally:

note, abstract, summary, tldr, info, todo, tip, hint, important, success, check, done, question, help, faq, warning, warn, caution, attention, failure, fail, missing, danger, error, bug, example, quote, cite

So >tldr, >faq, >caution and >bug all work even though none of them appear in the insert menu.

Collapse and expand a callout

Callouts fold away to a single title line, which is useful for long asides you only need occasionally.

1. Move the pointer to the right-hand end of the callout's title row.
2. Click the collapse control there.

Click it again to expand. The collapsed state is saved with the note content, so a callout you collapsed is still collapsed the next time you open the note, on any device.

Related pages

• Editor toolbar — every block you can insert into a note
• Outline lists — the other collapsible block in the editor
• Markdown shortcuts — the full shortcut list and how to switch it on
• Tasks and todo lists — checkable to-do blocks inside a note
• Plans & limits — what Essential unlocks, and everything else