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How does sync work in Notesnook? ​

Sync is free in Notesnook, on an unlimited number of devices, on every plan. Your notes are encrypted on your device before they are sent, so the sync server stores nothing it can read — it only moves encrypted blobs between the devices you are logged in on.

Is sync free? ​

Yes. Sync is on the free plan, and every plan — Free, Essential, Pro and Believer — allows unlimited devices. Nothing about syncing itself is behind a paywall. Only the sync settings that turn parts of syncing off, and full offline mode, need a paid plan.

What gets encrypted, and when ​

Everything is encrypted on your device, with a key derived from your password, before it leaves it. That includes note content, titles, notebooks, tags, colors, reminders and attachments. The server receives ciphertext and hands the same ciphertext to your other devices, which decrypt it locally.

This is why nobody at Notesnook can read your notes, and why nobody can recover them for you if you lose your password and your recovery key. See how your data is encrypted for the full picture.

When does Notesnook sync? ​

Sync is not on a fixed timer. It runs when something actually happens:

  • After a change. Editing a note, creating a notebook, adding a tag or setting a reminder schedules a sync a moment later. Several quick changes are collapsed into one sync instead of one sync per keystroke.
  • In realtime. While a note is open, changes arriving from your other devices are applied to the editor as they come in, so you can watch a note update on your laptop while you type on your phone.
  • On app start, and when the app comes back. The app syncs when it starts, when you switch back to it, and when it detects that the internet came back after being offline.
  • Manually, whenever you want to force the issue.

INFO

Automatic and realtime sync can both be switched off individually on a paid plan — see sync settings.

Sync now ​

  1. Look at the status bar along the bottom of the window.
  2. Click the sync icon next to your account indicator.

The icon starts spinning and its tooltip changes to Syncing — or Downloading / Uploading — until it finishes.

What the sync status indicator means ​

Only the icon is drawn in the status bar at the bottom of the window — hover it and the tooltip tells you the state. There are seven:

TooltipWhat it means
Synced <time> agoEverything is up to date.
Syncing, Downloading or UploadingA sync is running right now. The number in brackets is how many items have been transferred.
Merge conflictsSync stopped because two versions of a note need your decision. The icon becomes a red alert triangle.
Sync disabled, with a red alert iconYour email address is not confirmed yet. The status bar also shows Email not confirmed next to your account dot.
Sync failedThe last sync did not finish.
Synced <time> ago (offline)You have no internet connection.
Sync disabled, with a greyed-out iconYou turned sync off in settings.

Clicking the icon starts a sync, unless sync is disabled.

Sync while the app is closed ​

On mobile there is an extra setting called Background sync (experimental): "Sync your notes in the background even when the app is closed. This is an experimental feature. If you face any issues, please turn it off."

With it on, the operating system wakes Notesnook up periodically — at most every 15 minutes, and only when the OS decides it is a good moment — to run a full sync, refresh your reminders and update note widgets. It also restarts after your phone reboots.

Because the OS controls the schedule, background sync is best-effort: it is not a guarantee that your notes are current the second you open another device. Desktop and web have no equivalent — they sync for as long as the app is running, which on desktop includes when the window is closed to the system tray.

INFO

Background sync (experimental) lives under Settings → Account → Sync settings, on mobile only. It is available on every plan. The three Disable … switches next to it are not — see sync settings.

Keep a single note off sync ​

Any individual note can be excluded from sync entirely. This is useful for a scratchpad or something you want to exist on one device only.

  1. Right click the note in the notes list, or open its properties.
  2. Choose Sync off.
  3. Confirm — the dialog warns that the note "will be automatically deleted from all other devices & any future changes won't get synced."

The note now shows a crossed-out sync icon in the list. Choose Sync off again to turn syncing back on.

This removes the note from your other devices

Turning Sync off on a note deletes it from every other device. Only the copy on the device where you switched it off remains, and it will not be in any backup taken on another device.

What happens when two devices edit the same note ​

Notesnook never merges the text of two versions together and never silently throws one away.

When a note comes in from another device, Notesnook compares when each side was last edited:

  • If the two edits are less than 60 seconds apart, or the content is identical, the more recent version wins and no conflict is raised. This is why typing on two devices at the same time, with sync working on both, does not create conflicts.
  • If they are more than 60 seconds apart, the note is marked conflicted. It moves to the top of your notes list under a Conflicted group, and sync will keep flagging it until you pick a version.

Resolving a conflict is a two-click job — keep one version, discard the other, or save both. See what are merge conflicts? for the full walkthrough of the resolution screen.

Do I need an internet connection to use Notesnook? ​

No. Notesnook is a local-first app: everything you write is saved to your device first and works with no connection at all. Sync catches up the moment you are online again. If you also want every attachment available offline, turn on full offline mode.