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📝 Notes

Write, think, and refine with AI by your side.

You search, you discover, you synthesize. Notes is where that becomes lasting knowledge. It's a dedicated workspace for content that lives outside of any single conversation: drafts, cheat sheets, research findings, project briefs. Things you build up over time, refine with AI, and inject into future chats as context.

Unlike standard chats, which are linear and ephemeral, Notes are persistent documents you can return to, edit, and share. Unlike Documents (RAG), which use vector search to find relevant chunks, Notes inject their full content directly into context, giving you precise control over what the AI sees.


Why Notes?

AI-assisted writing, built in

Highlight text and click Enhance to let the AI rewrite it in place. Or open the Chat sidebar to brainstorm, critique, or expand on your content in a focused conversation without leaving the editor.

Precise context injection

When you attach a Note to a chat, the AI reads the entire document, word for word. No chunking, no vector search, no guessing. You control exactly what the model sees.

Persistent, not disposable

Notes exist outside of chats. Write a coding reference, refine it over weeks, and attach it to any conversation whenever you need it.

AI can read and write your notes

With native function calling enabled, models can search, read, create, and update your notes autonomously, turning Notes into a dynamic long-term memory.


Key Features

✍️ Rich editorMarkdown and Rich Text with a floating formatting toolbar
🤖 AI EnhanceRewrite or improve selected text in place
💬 Chat sidebarHave a focused AI conversation about your note's content
📎 Context injectionAttach notes to any chat for full-fidelity context
📌 Pin to sidebarPin frequently used notes for quick access from the sidebar
🔍 Agentic accessModels can search, read, and update notes autonomously
📤 ExportDownload as .txt, .md, or .pdf

The Editor

Notes uses a context-aware floating toolbar for formatting:

  • Click on empty space to start new headers, lists, or task lists
  • Double-click text to apply bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, or inline code
  • Drag-and-drop list items to reorder

The top bar shows real-time word and character counts, and a microphone icon enables voice dictation.

Rich Text in Chats

This editor can also be enabled for standard chats: Settings > Interface > Rich Text Input for Chat and Show Formatting Toolbar.


AI Integration

Click the AI button (bottom right) to access:

Enhance

Select text (or leave nothing selected for the whole note) and click Enhance. The AI rewrites it in place using the model selected in the note's controls.

Chat Sidebar

Opens a dedicated conversation focused on the note's content. Ask the AI to summarize, extract data, critique, or rewrite specific sections. Use the Edit toggle to manually modify the context sent to the AI before submitting.

All AI changes are tracked by Undo/Redo (top right), so you can always revert.


Using Notes in Chat

  1. Go to the Chat Input bar
  2. Click the + (More) button
  3. Select Attach Notes
  4. Choose the note(s) to attach

The full content of the note is injected into the context window for that conversation.


Agentic Note Management

With native function calling enabled, models can work with your notes autonomously:

ToolWhat it does
search_notesSearch your notes by title and content
view_noteRead the full content of a note
write_noteCreate a new note
replace_note_contentUpdate an existing note

You: Search my "Project X" notes and find the database schema.

You: Add a new task to my "Weekly Todo" note to review the PR.


Pinning Notes

Pin important notes to the sidebar for quick access. Pinned notes appear in a dedicated Notes folder in the sidebar, just like pinned chats.

How to pin

  • From the Notes list: click the menu on any note and select Pin to Sidebar
  • From the Note editor: click the menu in the top right and select Pin to Sidebar

How to unpin

  • From the sidebar: hover over the pinned note and click the button
  • From the Notes list or editor: click the menu and select Unpin

The sidebar Notes folder only appears when at least one note is pinned and the Notes feature is enabled.


Management and Sharing

Access management options via the More (...) menu in the top right corner.

Export

  • Plain text (.txt) or Markdown (.md) for raw content
  • PDF (.pdf) with visual formatting (dark mode detected automatically)

Sharing

  • Copy Link to share the note URL
  • Copy to Clipboard to paste the content elsewhere

Administrators can control sharing via environment variables or the Admin Panel:

  • USER_PERMISSIONS_NOTES_ALLOW_SHARING for internal sharing
  • USER_PERMISSIONS_NOTES_ALLOW_PUBLIC_SHARING for public links

These can also be configured in Admin Panel > Settings > Users > Default Permissions.

Quick creation

  • Navigate to /notes/new to open a blank note
  • Add query parameters: /notes/new?title=My%20Title&content=Initial%20text
  • Create from global search (Cmd+K / Ctrl+K) by selecting "Create a new note"
  • Import .md files by dragging them onto the Notes list

View options

Toggle between Created by you and Shared with you filters, and switch between List and Grid layouts.

Admin Visibility

Notes are workspace items. By default (BYPASS_ADMIN_ACCESS_CONTROL=True), administrators can see all users' notes. Set BYPASS_ADMIN_ACCESS_CONTROL to False to restrict this. See Environment Configuration for details.


Use Cases

Living drafts

Draft something in Notes, use Enhance to expand bullet points into paragraphs, and use the Chat sidebar to brainstorm titles. The Note is the final product, not just a reference.

High-fidelity code context

RAG uses vector search, which is probabilistic and might miss a crucial line. Paste specific functions into a Note and attach it so the model sees 100% of your code, exactly as arranged.

Data sanitization

Paste server logs containing sensitive data into a Note, redact the keys (or use Enhance to "Anonymize this text"), then attach the sanitized Note to a chat. This prevents leaking sensitive data into your chat history.


Limitations

Context window usage

Attaching a note injects the full text. A very large note attached to a model with a small context window may cause the model to lose earlier conversation context.

Write access

When manually attached, notes are read-only. In Native Mode with the replace_note_content tool enabled, models can modify your notes. Review changes and use Undo/Redo if needed.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a warranty, guarantee, or contractual commitment. Open WebUI is provided "as is." See your license for applicable terms.