Writing on Mac
Formatting the text
There are two text formatting popup windows, which make it easy to format your entries. To access them:
- Click on the left side of a line of text. This will bring up the line formatting window, which formats a whole line or paragraph.
- Header
- Unordered (bullet) list
- Ordered (numbered) lit
- Task or to-do list
- Quotation

- Select any text with your mouse. This will bring up the selection formatting window, which formats only the selected text. Options include making the text bold, italic, add a link, and more. You can also format the whole line or paragraph.
- Bold
- Italic
- Striketrough
- Underline
- Highlight
- Insert location
- Insert link

👆 Diarly uses markdown as the base for text editing and formatting. We recommend learning how to use it, as it can make writing faster and more enjoyable. To learn more about markdown, visit our markdown guide.
Keyboard shortcuts
You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts to format text:
⌘B
to bold⌘I
to italicize⌘U
to underline⇧⌘E
to strikethrough⇧⌘C
to add code or mono-space format⌘L
to start an unordered list⇧⌘L
to start an ordered list⇧⌘U
to create a quote^⌘C
to create a code block⌘T
to start a checklist⌘D
to toggle a checklist as done
⌨️ Diarly has many keyboard shortcuts available. Visit the keyboard shortcuts article for the full list.
Auto completion
The editor supports multiple auto-completion options:
- Type
[[
to link to other entries and notes. Select one from the list, or keep typing a name or date to find the note you want to link to. - Type
:
followed by the name of an emoji to insert an emoji, like so::smile:
😄 - Type
/
to open the insert menu, such as the current time, location, weather, and more.

Further reading
- How to insert galleries
- How to insert images, audio recordings and more.