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macOS text editor · now version 2

WhyNote is a tiny macOS text editor for BIG daily frictions

A minimal native app for those quick text jobs: paste, clean up formatting, find and replace, move on. Version 2 adds the most requested one: notes that save themselves.

Download Free See what's new

Free for macOS 26+ · about 3 MB · updates itself

WhyNote 2 with the sidebar open and a note mid-sentence WhyNote 2 in dark mode with the sidebar open and a note mid-sentence

Every note app wants to be a second brain. WhyNote just wants to be a napkin.

Your notes, kept. New in 2

The sidebar holds everything: pin what matters, recents keep themselves in order. Every note is saved the moment you type it, as a real .txt file on your Mac. Close the app mid-sentence; your sentence will be here.

Drag a note out and it becomes a file. Drag a file in and only the words come through.

Dragging a note out of the WhyNote sidebar to make it a file Dragging a note out of the WhyNote sidebar in dark mode

Clean Formatting Instantly

Paste anything: emails, web text, styled documents. It all comes in as pure, clean text. No menus. No extra steps. A quiet "Formatting removed" toast confirms it happened.

Messy formatted text in another app arriving in WhyNote as clean plain text Messy formatted text arriving in WhyNote as clean plain text, dark mode

Sleek Find & Replace Rebuilt

Matches light up as red pills while you type, a counter shows where you are, Enter walks forward, Shift-Enter walks back, and the view glides to each match. Replace one, or all of them.

⌘ + F to trigger

WhyNote find and replace with highlighted matches and a match counter WhyNote find and replace in dark mode with glowing match pills

What Else?

WhyNote stays out of your way. No onboarding, no cloud accounts. Open the app, start typing. Everything you'd expect from a native Mac app, nothing you wouldn't.

  • Saves as simple .txt files
  • Live word and character counter new
  • Set as your default app for .txt new
  • Native spell check new
  • Every shortcut visible in real menus new
  • Updates itself, one click new

Also new: undo that survives emoji, float on top, print, text size with ⌘= and ⌘–.

Try it yourself

WhyNote settings with Light, Dark, Black and Auto themes WhyNote settings in dark mode with the theme picker

Light & Dark Mode, now joined by Black new

Simple by design.

WhyNote is intentionally simple, but simple doesn't mean finished. Version 2 exists because 55 of you wrote in; the About window scrolls every name. If anything feels rough or missing, drop a quick message.

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Free for macOS 26+