---
audience: beginner
summary: From your first note to a workspace knowledge graph.
title: Create and organise notes
path: tutorials/first-steps/create-and-organize-notes
status: published
---

# Create and organise notes

Notes are durable documents that live alongside rooms. Use them for
runbooks, meeting summaries, specifications, todo lists, or anything
you'll come back to.

## 1. Create one

Three ways:

- **From the sidebar**: click **Notes** → **+ New**. A blank note
  opens in the right pane.
- **From a chat message**: hover any message → **Save as note**. The
  AI suggests a title; you can edit before saving. The new note
  keeps a back-reference to the source room.
- **From an AI**: ask in a chat: *"Save the last five messages as a
  note in this workspace."* The AI calls `create_note` for you.

## 2. Write

The editor is GitHub-flavored markdown with live preview:

- Headings, lists, tables, code fences, footnotes, task lists.
- `[[wiki links]]` to other notes. Autocomplete suggests names as
  you type.
- `![[embedded note]]` inlines another note's body (live, kept in
  sync).
- `$inline math$` and `$$display math$$` (KaTeX). Live preview
  inside the editor *and* in the rendered view.
- `- [ ] task` lines become trackable todos. Adding `!high`, `📅
  2026-05-20`, `@alice`, `#sprint` annotates them.

`Cmd/Ctrl+Enter` on a checkbox line toggles it.

## 3. Switch between Edit and Preview

The header has **Edit** / **Preview** toggles. Both are mounted at
the same time (the inactive one is hidden); switching is instant and
doesn't lose state.

Pro tip: while typing math (`$x^2$`), the in-editor live preview
shows the rendered equation in-place. Move the cursor into it →
back to source.

## 4. Organise

Notes live in a **workspace**. By default new notes land in your
personal workspace. Use the workspace picker (top of the notes panel)
to file them elsewhere.

Within a workspace, organisation is via:

- **Tags** — set in frontmatter or via the **Tags** field. Click a
  tag to filter the list.
- **Categories** — AI-suggested (or manually set). One per note.
- **Wiki links** — the note graph builds itself as you link.
- **Today pin** — one note per workspace can be pinned as "Today";
  it shows up in the cross-workspace **Today** view alongside todos
  due today.

## 5. The graph

Notes panel → **Graph** tab. Each node is a note; each edge is a
`[[link]]`. Hovering shows the note title and a preview snippet.
Filter by tag or category. Use to:

- Find orphan notes (no outgoing or incoming links).
- See how a topic clusters.
- Navigate by structure rather than by name.

## 6. Comments

Each note has its own comment thread (below the body). Lightweight
chat scoped to that document — good for review feedback or
clarification.

## 7. Sharing

Notes inherit the visibility of their workspace. If your workspace
is shared with three other people, the note is too. To send a link
to a specific note, just copy the URL — it includes the note id and
falls back to the title-based wiki-link.

## What's next

- [Todos from notes](/docs/scaiwave/tutorials/power-user/todos-from-notes) — the cross-workspace todo system.
- [Voice-dictate into notes](/docs/scaiwave/tutorials/power-user/voice-dictate-into-notes).
- [Math rendering](/docs/scaiwave/tutorials/power-user/math-rendering).