Start Here

Begin
- Create a project by typing a line that ends with
- Create a task by simply pressing enter, or typing - at the start of a line
Try Now
- Tap the indent beside a task to mark it done
- Pull down from the top to open Search

Projects, Tasks, and Notes

Learn the Line Types
- A project is a heading that ends with
- A task begins with -
- A note is plain text without a project or task marker
Build a Hierarchy
- Indentation creates parent and child items
- Projects and tasks can contain child tasks and notes
- Notes live directly in the outline rather than in a separate note field

Edit Text
- Tap on a line to place the cursor
- The line type control cycles between task, note, and project
- Undo and redo use the system undo stack
Shape the Outline
- Use Tab and Shift-Tab on a hardware keyboard to indent and outdent
- Use the move controls to move lines up and down
- Long-press the move controls to move a selection between sections
Pick Up Where You Left Off
- PaperTrail saves your cursor position for each file
- Reopening a document restores the previous insertion point

Use the Main Controls
- The Tool Belt appears above the keyboard while editing
- It can insert projects and tasks
- It can toggle done, archive completed items, and change line type
Open the Menus
- It includes due date, alarm, priority, tag, indent, outdent, move, reformat, fold, and colour controls
- Long-press a button to see its hint
- Open the Tool Belt help panel to learn the icons and customise what is shown

Set Dates
- Use for due dates @due(YYYY-MM-DD)
- Type when you want a start date in the text @start(YYYY-MM-DD)
- Natural date parsing understands phrases such as today, tomorrow, next week, and times like 6 pm
Set Alarms
- can create reminders through iOS Reminders integration @alarm(...)
- Removing an alarm tag also cleans up the associated reminder

Search the Document
- Pull down from the top of the editor to reveal Search
- Search can run across the whole document or inside the current focused node
- Open Search Syntax Help to see the supported query language
Use Query Features
- Search supports TaskPaper-style tag queries, boolean logic, paths, and date comparisons
- Save searches in the document and reopen them from the sidebar
Filter Quickly
- The sidebar lists projects and tags for quick filtering
- Filtered and searched views remain editable and write changes back to the source document

Focus In
- Focus In isolates the current project, task, or note subtree
- This helps when you want to work inside one branch without losing the source document
Focus Out
- Focus Out steps back to the parent
- Repeating it takes you back to the full document
Use Search with Focus
- Search can stay scoped to the current focused subtree

Fold a Section
- Tap the fold marker to collapse or expand a branch
- Use Cmd+. on a hardware keyboard to fold the current line
- Use Cmd-9 and Cmd-0 to collapse or expand the current item
- Use Option-Cmd-9 and Option-Cmd-0 to collapse or expand it completely
Fold More Broadly
- Use the fold menu in the Tool Belt to collapse the document to a chosen depth
- Fold state is saved per file
- This Guide opens collapsed the first time so you can explore it section by section

Read the Styling
- Projects are shown in bold
- Completed tasks are struck through
- Tags are highlighted in the editor
Change the Colouring
- Colour By can tint lines by priority, outline level, or due date proximity
- Dynamic Type is supported

Clean Up
- Archive moves completed items into an Archive section
- Reindent can tidy indentation in flatter documents
Sort
- Sort Projects can order top-level projects by name, due date, task count, or priority

Open Files
- PaperTrail works with files in Files, including iCloud Drive
- Documents can sync through iCloud Drive
Import Formats
- PaperTrail opens TaskPaper, plain text, Markdown, and OPML files
- OPML is imported into the PaperTrail outline structure when opened
Resolve Problems
- PaperTrail automatically resolves some recent file conflicts when opening a document

Search and Tags
- Cmd-F opens Search in the current scope
- Shift-Cmd-F searches all projects
- Cmd-T opens the tag picker
Editing and Structure
- Cmd-D toggles done
- Control-Cmd-T toggles line type (task, note, project)
- Shift-Cmd-A archives items @done
- Cmd-. toggles fold
- Cmd-9 and Cmd-0 collapse and expand, Option-Cmd-9 and Option-Cmd-0 collapse and expand completely
- Cmd-Return adds a task, Shift-Cmd-Return adds a note, and Option-Cmd-Return adds a project
- Option-Return also inserts a task as a compatibility shortcut
- Tab and Shift-Tab indent and outdent
- Shift-Cmd-Arrow keys match TaskPaper for move and indent actions
Tags
- Cmd-Y toggles @today
- Control-Option-D picks a due date
- Control-Option-A toggles @alarm
- Control-Option-Up and Control-Option-Down toggle and @high @low
- Option-Cmd-X clears all tags on a line and Control-Option-Cmd-K removes tags
Focus
- Option-Cmd-Arrow keys support focus navigation
- Option-Cmd-Home and Option-Cmd-End also focus in and out

Explore Further
- Open Welcome.taskpaper for a shorter walkthrough
- Focus into one project, then search only within that focus
- Add tags such as , , and to see filtering and colouring in action @due @high @today
- Experiment with folding, archive, and saved searches on a real document