Change settings in Notes on Mac
In the Notes app on your Mac, use Notes settings to set default options for using Notes and to set, change, or reset the password for locked notes.
To change these settings, choose Notes > Settings.
Option | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sort notes by | Choose the default sort order for your notes. Important: Pinned notes always appear at the top of the notes list. See Sort and pin notes. | ||||||||||
New notes start with | Choose the default paragraph style used at the beginning of new notes. See Change the default title paragraph style. | ||||||||||
Default account | Choose the account used when you use Siri to create a new note. Usually, this is your iCloud account. See Add or remove accounts in Notes. | ||||||||||
Group notes by date | Choose whether to group notes by how recently they were created or edited (for example, Today, Yesterday, or Previous 30 Days). Note: This option doesn’t appear if you’ve chosen to sort notes by title. See Sort and pin notes. | ||||||||||
Always resume to last Quick Note | When you create a Quick Note, open your last Quick Note instead of creating a new one. See Create a Quick Note. | ||||||||||
Automatically sort checked items | Automatically move checklist items to the bottom of the list as they’re checked (and subsequently move unchecked items to the top of the list). See Change a checklist. | ||||||||||
Allow mention notifications | Get notifications when your name is mentioned in a shared note in Notes. See Collaborate on a shared note. | ||||||||||
Enable the On My Mac account | Store notes on your computer using the On My Mac account. | ||||||||||
Default text size | Set the preferred text size in notes. | ||||||||||
Locked notes | Select your iCloud or On My Mac account (if both accounts are enabled), and choose whether to use the login password for your Mac or a custom password to lock or unlock notes in the selected account. If you haven’t set a password, click Set Password. Important: It’s highly recommended that you add a hint. If you forget your custom password and you can’t unlock your notes with Touch ID on your Mac or Magic Keyboard, you won’t be able to view your locked notes. Apple can’t help you regain access to those locked notes. You can create a new password that lets you password-protect any notes that you want to lock going forward. See Change your password for locked notes. | ||||||||||
Change password | Change the password for locking and unlocking notes. (If you’re using your login password to manage locked notes, this opens System Settings.) | ||||||||||
Reset password | Create a new custom password for locked notes. The new password applies to any notes that you lock after resetting the password. (The password for notes that you’ve already locked remains the same.) | ||||||||||
Use Touch ID | Choose whether you can use your fingerprint instead of your password to unlock your notes, if your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID. Choose the account from the “Locked notes” pop-up menu (if you have more than one), then select this option. | ||||||||||