Hi there - heavy OneNote user at work, I am sorely missing in Joplin the possibility to create an unfiled note just with a “Win+N” shortcut, whatever application I am using at the moment. It would be great should the windows version of Joplin have this feature!
P.S. A sincere thank you for this tool which I run in a self-hosted cloud across many devices. The world is better with it.
Sorry, it’s Ctrl+N.
But at one point (not now) we might change the shortcut system to allow people to choose their own shortcuts. Until then, you have to live with the fact that you have to press Ctrl instead of Win.
You read my post too quickly:
whatever application I am using at the moment
Joplin Ctrl+N exclusively works when the window focus is on Joplin. The point of my post is about having a shortcut that allows you to create a note on the spot, wherever the window focus is (e.g. create a note when using excel, or chrome, or...)
That and the minimalistic interface that OneNote puts on those new note screens, as well as the filing in a default folder chosen in the config section is the whole user experience I'm looking for.
Ah, you were talking about global shortcuts.
Well, this will be a problem, especially since Ctrl+N, Cmd+N, and Win+N, is used in almost every application I know. So how do you think this should work?
Also, I’m not sure how well global shortcuts work in Electron applications. AFAIK Laurent plans to overhaul the shortcut system anyway, so in that case maybe one could just mark a shortcut as global.
This seems more like a job for autohotkey than Joplin.
@milkywade joplin doesn’t support what you would need yet, but even if it does support that kind of operation, global shortcuts are probably better left to autohotkey (and Windows apps).
Thanks John. I discovered a new app!
I guess I will wait for Joplin to maybe include it one day.
Autohotkey looks nice and is maybe very powerful, but it has to be learnt and tinkered for what looks like hours and I’m not really sure it would allow to fully replicate the OneNote experience / feature so I’m like “I could also learn assembler and code the feature from scratch”.
naa… you don’t need Assembler for this…
just add this to your Autohotkey script and adjust the path for joplin:
;joplin 'new note'
#n::
IfWinExist Joplin
{
WinActivate, Joplin
}
Else run c:\_office_\joplin\joplinportable.exe
WinWaitActive, Joplin
Send, ^n
returnMany thanks, works like a charm, if you have Joplin launched and have clicked on the desired notebook.
In OneNote, initiating windows+n does not just create a new note anywhere where the application was when you last used it, it actually goes into a specific notebook that you can indicate in your settings and there in that notebook it creates a new note. The user experience is one when all your “unfiled” notes (the ones you did not want to file before creating them as you were in a hurry) will always be available in the same notebook.
Can these steps be automated with AHK somehow ?
If Joplin was not active when you click the shortcut, then the only thing that happens is that Joplin launches but a new note is not created. Also, Joplin takes a noticeable time to launch all the while you’re just waiting. However, these issues can be solved same as with onenote, by automatically launching Joplin at boot.
AHK allows you to create GUI so you could display a text area, type your note, then use the clipper API to have it saved into the notebook of your choice. The disadvantage is that you won’t have a Markdown editor but if it’s for a quick simple note that would work.
looks a bit convoluted if you ask me 
Thanks for the feedback anyway. If anything, I see myself using the AHK script to create a new joplin note, even though not the perfect solution, so thanks for all the tips.
Yes kind of, but once you're familiar with AHK it's very good to create all kind of custom workflows.
I have the same need. I'm wanting to switch over from Evernote. With Evernote, as long as it's running -- even if it's minimized -- Ctrl-Alt-V automatically pastes into a new note in the default notebook. (The newest update seems to have removed this feature, which is actually one major reason I'm looking for an alternative, although I prefer Joplin for security reasons, now that I've found it.) I use this method All. Day. Long. so it's a big deal not being able to create a note like this without multiple steps.
Global shortcuts are on the roadmap.
Not sure what the status is. I asked a while back (twice) when the Shortcut Editor was released, but I'm still waiting for an answer.
We need a new section in the shortcut editor or need to revise the current design. For the exampe of a new note, it might make sense to just use a checkbox that sets New note as global....
Two years on in this thread. I just tried this with the ahk script and it works a treat.
Notes on how OneNote does it. Putting a note in a specific notebook was one of the reasons I gave OneNote up. It kept putting notes where I couldn't find them. The AHK script drops the note in whatever Joplin notebook and folder is active. If a notebook is not defined it puts it at the top of All Notes. Drag and drop to the right folder - done.
OneNote launches at boot by default. You have to turn it off. Joplin has you turn it on at boot. Much more control.
Also, did anyone see that M$oft is discontinuing OneNote for Windows 10 next year? Yet another reason I'm happy I dropped it.
Just republishing PatrickatGitHub's AHK script. Change the C:_office yada yada to your Joplin location: