Notebooks & Groups
Notebooks are the core building block of Neatbase. Each notebook is its own structured collection with a custom set of fields. This page covers creating, customizing, and organizing your notebooks, along with groups for keeping things tidy.
What is a Notebook
A notebook is a collection of notes that all share the same structure. You define the structure by adding fields (like Name, Email, Due Date, or Rating), and every note in that notebook will have those fields.
Each field has a specific type — text, number, date, toggle, and many more — so your data stays consistent. In Notes view, fields appear as individual cards you can edit one at a time. In Table view, they become columns in a grid where you can sort, filter, and compare across all your notes.
You can have multiple notebooks for different purposes. A "Contacts" notebook, a "Project Tracker" notebook, a "Recipe Collection" notebook, and so on. Each one has its own independent structure.
Creating a Notebook
- Click the New Notebook button at the top of the sidebar.
- Choose New Notebook.
- A template picker appears with 20 pre-built templates plus a Blank option.
- Pick a template (like Contacts, Expense Tracker, or Project Tasks) to create a notebook instantly with a pre-set name, icon, color, and fields — ready to use.
- Or choose Blank to start from scratch. You'll enter a name, pick an icon from over 30 options, and choose a color (red, orange, green, purple, pink, gray, or default), then click Create.
On Mac, you can also press Cmd+Shift+N to create a new notebook.
If you chose a template, your notebook already has fields configured and you can start adding notes right away. If you chose Blank, the next step is to add fields to define its structure.
Notebook Settings
Each notebook has a Settings tab where you can configure how notes are displayed.
To open it, click the gear icon in the toolbar while viewing a notebook, then switch to the Settings tab.
Note Title Mode
By default, the first text-based field in your notebook is used as the note's display title. Only these field types are eligible as titles:
- Short Text
- Long Text
- Phone
- URL
Other types — Tags, Select, Toggle, Rating, Number, Currency, Date, Image, Color, Formula, Reference, Checklist, Comments, Heading, Description, Divider, Button, and so on — are skipped when picking the title. Reordering a non-text field to the top of your notebook won't break the title; the title will simply use the next text-based field below it. If no text-based field exists at all, notes show "Untitled".
In the Fields list, a filled star icon marks the field currently being used as the title. To change which field is the title, drag a different text-based field above it.
You can turn this off by unchecking Use a field as the note title. When disabled, each note gets its own separate title field that you can edit independently.
Customizing Appearance
You can change a notebook's name, icon, and color at any time. Right-click (or long-press on iPhone) the notebook in the sidebar and choose Edit Notebook. A sheet opens where you can:
- Rename the notebook
- Change the icon — pick from over 30 options
- Change the color — choose from red, orange, green, purple, pink, gray, or default
Tap Done to save your changes.
Groups
Groups are folders for organizing your notebooks in the sidebar. If you have many notebooks, groups help you keep related ones together.
Creating a Group
- Long-press (or right-click) the New Notebook button at the top of the sidebar.
- Choose New Group from the menu.
- An edit sheet opens where you can name the group and pick a color.
On Mac, you can also press Cmd+Option+N.
Using Groups
- Click the chevron next to a group name to expand or collapse it.
- Drag notebooks into a group to move them inside.
- Groups can be nested one level deep: you can put a group inside another group, but not deeper than that.
To rename a group or change its color, right-click (or long-press) the group and choose Edit Group.
Reordering and Moving
Drag to Reorder
Drag notebooks and groups up and down in the sidebar to change their order. This works both at the root level and within a group.
Move to a Group
Right-click a notebook and choose Move to, then select the group you want to move it into. You can also move it back to the root level or into a different group.
Move Up and Move Down
Right-click a notebook or group and choose Move Up or Move Down to nudge it one position in the sidebar without dragging.
Pinning Notebooks
Pin frequently used notebooks to the top of the sidebar for quick access.
Right-click a notebook and choose Pin. Pinned notebooks appear in a separate Pinned section at the top of the sidebar, above your groups and other notebooks. They stay at the top regardless of which group they belong to.
To unpin, right-click the notebook and choose Unpin. The notebook returns to its original position in the sidebar.
You can have multiple pinned notebooks. Drag them within the Pinned section to reorder.
Archiving
Archive a notebook or group to hide it from the sidebar without losing anything. The data stays intact, sync keeps running, the notebook still shows up in search and notifications — it's just out of view until you want to see it again.
Archiving a Notebook
Right-click a notebook and choose Archive, then confirm. The notebook disappears from the sidebar. To bring it back:
- On iPhone or iPad, tap the More menu (three-dot button) in the sidebar and choose Archived.
- On Mac, choose View → Archived Notebooks from the menu bar.
The sheet lists everything you've archived. Tap Unarchive next to any item to restore it to the sidebar.
Archiving a Group
Right-click a group and choose Archive. The entire group disappears from the sidebar — along with every notebook and subgroup inside it. Unarchiving the group brings the whole subtree back at once.
What Archiving Doesn't Change
Archive is purely about cleaning up your sidebar. It does not:
- Delete any notes or data.
- Affect sync — changes from other users (on shared notebooks) still arrive.
- Pause web form submissions or API access.
- Remove the notebook from Spotlight, the widget, or the unread badge count.
- Count against the free 3-notebook limit any differently — archived notebooks still count.
Archive is Private to You
When you archive a shared notebook, only your own devices hide it. Other people the notebook is shared with see no change on their side.
For your own personal notebooks, archived state syncs across all your Apple devices via iCloud — archive on your Mac, and it's archived on your iPhone too.
Deleting
Deleting a Notebook
Right-click a notebook and choose Delete. A confirmation dialog shows how many notes will be deleted along with it. This action cannot be undone.
Deleting a Group
Right-click a group and choose Delete. A confirmation dialog shows the total number of notebooks inside the group (including any in nested subgroups). Deleting a group deletes all notebooks and notes inside it.
Free vs. Pro Limits
On the free plan, you can create up to 3 notebooks with up to 50 notes in each one in addition to the basic set of field types.
With Neatbase Pro, you get unlimited notebooks, unlimited notes, and access to advanced features like Formula fields, Reference fields, Web Forms, Sharing, and the REST API.
See Neatbase Pro for the full comparison.