Documentation

Getting started

Laypen is a document app for the Mac. A document is a page of text that can also hold tables, boards, timelines and other components, so a plan and its numbers live in the same place.

Install

Open the downloaded Laypen.dmg and drag Laypen into the Applications folder. Laypen needs macOS 13 or later and runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

First launch

A one-minute tour points out where things are. You can replay it any time from Settings › App tour.

Your first document

Press ⌘N or the + next to the workspace name. Give the page a title and start writing; everything is saved as you type.

Where your work is kept

Everything stays in one file on your Mac. There is no account and nothing is uploaded. See Your data.

The beta

The beta is free for 90 days from the first time you open the app. When it ends, Laypen keeps working and shows a note with a link to the feedback form.

The window

The window has three parts: the sidebar on the left, the page in the middle and the format panel on the right.

Workspace

The name at the top of the sidebar. Workspaces keep unrelated work apart, for example work and home. Click the name to switch, add or rename one.

Search

The magnifier, or ⌘K, searches document titles, text and Stash.

Overview, Tasks, Calendar

Three views that gather things from all your documents: recent documents, every to-do, and every date.

Stash

A place for links, images and short notes you want to keep. See Stash.

Documents

Your documents and folders. Drag to reorder or to move a document into a folder. Right-click for more actions.

Tags

Tags you have given to documents. Click one to see every document that carries it.

Tabs

Open documents stay as tabs along the top. ⌘W closes a tab; ⇧⌘] and ⇧⌘[ move between them.

Document tools

At the top right: undo and redo, favourite, the Stash drawer, notes, version history, the format panel and the … menu with exporting.

Format panel

Shows options for whatever you have selected: text, a table, a board and so on. ⌥⌘I shows or hides it.

Settings, help, theme

At the bottom of the sidebar: the gear opens Settings, ? opens Help, and the three buttons switch between automatic, light and dark.

Tip Hide the sidebar with ⌃⌘S, or hide everything except the page with focus mode, ⌥⌘F.

Writing and formatting

Click on the page and type. Formatting is in the format panel, and the most common styles also have shortcuts you can type.

Headings

Type # and a space for a heading, or choose Heading or Subheading in the format panel.

Lists

- and a space starts a bulleted list; choose Numbered in the panel for a numbered one.

To-dos

[] and a space starts a to-do. Ticked and unticked to-dos from every document appear in the Tasks view.

Quote, code, divider

> and a space makes a quote, --- a divider. Code in the panel sets text in a monospaced font.

Bold, italic, underline

⌘B, ⌘I and ⌘U, or the buttons under Character. Strikethrough is there too.

Dates and document links

Date inserts a date that also shows up in the Calendar view. Doc link inserts a link to another document.

Tags

Under the title, type a tag and press ↩. Tags appear in the sidebar.

Cover

Hover over the title and choose Add cover to give the document a cover in one of ten colours.

Page width and text size

Drag the edge of the page, or use Width and Text size at the top of the format panel.

Inserting components

A component is a block inside the page: a table, a board, a timeline. Each one is described in its own section below.

The “/” menu

On an empty line, type / and pick a component, or keep typing to filter the list.

The “+” button

Appears to the left of an empty line. It opens the same menu.

The format panel

With the cursor in text, the Insert list in the panel adds a component at that point.

Writing below a component

Click just below a component to get an empty line under it.

Selecting and removing

Click a component to select it; its options appear in the format panel, including the button that removes it.

Tip Everything you do to a component can be undone with ⌘Z.

Table

A small spreadsheet inside the page, with formulas, number formats and totals.

Editing cells

Click a cell and type. ↩ confirms and moves down, ⇥ moves right. ⇧ with an arrow key extends the selection; ⌫ clears it.

Formulas

Start with =, for example =B2*C2 or =SUM(D2:D6). The formula of the selected cell is shown in the bar above the table.

Functions

SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, MAX, COUNT, COUNTA, PRODUCT, MEDIAN, ROUND, ABS, SQRT, INT, MOD, POWER, IF, AND, OR, NOT, SUMIF and COUNTIF.

Quick formulas

With a cell selected, Total, Average, Max and Min in the format panel write the formula for you. Fill down copies a formula down the column.

Total row

Total row adds a row at the bottom that sums the columns.

Column format

Plain, thousands separator, percent, or a currency ($, €, £). The .0 and .00 buttons set the number of decimals.

Rows and columns

Add or delete them with the buttons under the table or in the format panel. Formulas adjust when a row or column is deleted.

Sort and filter

Sort ascending, Sort descending and Filter work on the selected column.

Copy and paste

Cells copied from Excel or Numbers paste into the table, and cells copied from the table paste into them.

Show as board

Turns the table into a board grouped by one of its columns. The board stays linked: changing one changes the other.

Tip A table exports to Excel with its formulas; see Exporting.

Board

Columns of cards, for work that moves through stages.

Columns

Click a column name to rename it. Add a column at the right-hand end; each column can have its own colour.

Cards

+ at the bottom of a column adds a card. Drag a card to another column or to another place in the same column.

Card details

Click a card to open it: a description, labels, a date and a checklist. A date on a card shows up in the Calendar view.

Linked boards

A board made from a table with Show as board reads its cards from the table rows. Unlink under the board turns it into an independent board.

With the keyboard

With a card focused, ⌥← and ⌥→ move it between columns and ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ reorder it. From version 0.9.3.

Gantt chart

A timeline of tasks with start and end dates.

Tasks

+ Add task adds a row. Click the name to rename it; click the circle to mark the task as done.

Moving and resizing

Drag a bar to move the task; drag its right edge to make it longer or shorter. You can also type the dates in the format panel.

Dependencies

In the format panel, Depends on ties a task to another one, so it cannot start before the other has finished.

Milestones

A task can be turned into a milestone: a single day shown as a diamond.

Today

The vertical line marks today. Weekends are shaded.

With the keyboard

With a bar focused, ← and → move the task by a day and ⇧← and ⇧→ change its end date. From version 0.9.3.

Tip Every task also appears in the Calendar view.

Process

A row of steps that shows how far along something is.

Steps

Click a step name to rename it. Add or remove steps in the format panel.

State

Click the circle of a step to cycle it through three states: Waiting, In progress and Completed.

Cards

Images with a title and a line of text, set side by side. Good for products, people or references.

Adding cards

Add a card with +, then drop an image on it or choose one. Type the title and the text directly on the card.

Layout

One, two or three cards per row, with the image filling the card or set inside it. Both are in the format panel.

From Stash

Drag an item from the Stash drawer onto the page and it becomes a card that stays linked to the original.

Whiteboard

Sticky notes you can place freely and connect with lines.

Notes

Double-click an empty spot to add a note. Drag a note to move it; click it to type.

Connections

Drag from the dot on a note to another note to connect them.

Colour and images

Give a note a colour, or put an image on it, from the format panel.

Export

The format panel saves the whiteboard as a PNG or JPG image.

With the keyboard

⇥ adds a note connected to the current one. ⌥⇥ goes to the next note, ⌥ with an arrow key moves the note, and pressing ⌥↩ on one note and then on another connects them. The last three from version 0.9.3.

Calendar

The Calendar view shows every date from all your documents in one month.

What appears

Gantt tasks, cards with a date, to-dos and dates you inserted in text. Click an entry to open the document it comes from.

Your own events

Click a day to add an event that belongs to no document.

macOS calendars

Turn on Settings › External calendars to also see events from the Calendar app. Laypen only reads them; it never changes your calendars.

Reminders

With Settings › Notifications on, Laypen reminds you of dated items.

Overview and Tasks

Two views that save you from opening documents to find out what is waiting.

Overview

Recent and favourite documents, what is due, and a field to start a new document. ⌘1.

Tasks

Every to-do from every document, grouped by document. Tick one here and it is ticked in the document. ⌘2.

Today’s note

⌘D opens a note for today, creating it if needed.

Stash

A place to collect things, separate from your documents: links, images and short notes you want to return to.

Adding

Paste a link or write a note in the field at the top and press ↩. Drag in images or paste them. From anywhere in the app, ⇧⌘S opens a quick-add window.

Details and fields

Click an item to give it a title and description, replace its image and add your own fields, such as price, code or supplier.

Categories

+ Category creates one, and a category can contain other categories. Right-click a category to rename or delete it. Deleting a category keeps its items.

Read and unread

Opening a link marks it as read. The Unread filter shows what is still waiting.

Using an item in a document

Open the Stash drawer with the bag icon at the top right and drag an item onto the page, or type / and choose From Stash. The card stays linked: change the original and the card changes too.

Good to know

Link titles and cover images are fetched from the internet, so offline you only see the address. Images are stored in your data file.

Templates

Eighteen ready-made documents, from meeting notes to a project plan and a quotation.

Using a template

Open Templates in the sidebar (⌘5) and click one. It opens as a new document you can change freely.

Your own templates

In a document, open the … menu and choose Save as template.

Organising and finding

A few tools keep a growing pile of documents manageable.

Folders

Create a folder from the File menu or by right-clicking in the document list, then drag documents into it.

Favourites

The star at the top right pins a document to the Overview.

Duplicate and move

Use the … menu to duplicate a document or to move it to a folder or another workspace.

Search

⌘K searches titles, document text and Stash. Use the arrow keys and ↩ to open a result.

Trash

Deleted documents go to the Trash at the bottom of the sidebar, where you can restore them or delete them for good.

Undo, versions and notes

Three ways to go back or leave a comment.

Undo and redo

The two arrows at the top right, or ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z. They cover everything in the document: text, tables, boards, timelines, cards and whiteboards.

Version history

The clock icon lists earlier versions of the document. Open one to look at it and restore it if you want it back.

Notes

Select some text and click the speech-bubble icon to attach a note to it. Notes are listed in a panel beside the page and are not part of the text.

Exporting and importing

Take a document out of Laypen in the format the other person needs.

PDF

Uses its own print design. It is always light, whatever theme you use, and includes the tables, boards and timelines in the document.

Word

Exports the whole document as a .docx file.

Excel

Exports the tables in the document as an .xlsx file, formulas included.

Markdown

File › Export also offers Markdown, for plain-text tools.

Whiteboard image

A whiteboard is saved as PNG or JPG from its format panel.

Importing

File › Import opens Markdown and plain-text files as new documents.

Settings

Open Settings with the gear at the bottom of the sidebar, or press ⌘,.

Language

English, Turkish, German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese.

Appearance

Light, dark, or follow macOS.

Colour palette

Seven palettes; Laypen (orange on anthracite) is the default.

Interface scale

Makes menus, the sidebar and all text larger or smaller.

App lock

Asks for Touch ID or your Mac password when you open Laypen and after five minutes of inactivity. It locks the app window; the data file itself is not encrypted.

External calendars

Shows events from the macOS Calendar app in the Calendar view, read-only.

Notifications

Reminders for dated items.

Updates

Laypen checks once a day whether a newer version exists. You can turn this off.

Feedback

Opens the feedback form on this site.

App tour

Replays the one-minute tour.

Data

Shows where your data file is and lets you save or load a backup copy.

Keyboard shortcuts

The same list is in the app under Help › Keyboard Shortcuts (⌘/).

General

While writing

In tables

Boards, Gantt charts and whiteboards (from 0.9.3)

Your data

Laypen has no server. What you write stays on your Mac.

The data file

Everything is kept in ~/Library/Application Support/Laypen/data.json. Images you add are stored inside the same file.

Automatic backups

Laypen keeps a copy of the previous save and one copy per day for the last seven days, in the yedekler folder next to the data file.

Moving to another Mac

Save a backup from Settings › Data and load it on the other Mac.

What goes over the internet

Three things only: fetching the title and cover image of a link you add to Stash, the daily check for a new version (which you can turn off), and whatever you send through the feedback form.

Tip Laypen does not back up to the cloud. Include the Laypen folder in your own backups, for example Time Machine.