User guide

The same guide as in the extension — open it there with F1. Not installed yet? Add it free from the Chrome Web Store.

Getting started

Layout

Notes live in a Notebook → Section → Page hierarchy. Open the sidebar with the panel button in the top-left; hover over a notebook or section and use the + buttons to add sections and pages, or the ⋯ menu to rename, recolor or delete (delete takes two clicks, and Undo brings it back). Drag pages to another section and sections to another notebook, or to reorder them.

Saving

Everything is saved automatically in this browser (IndexedDB). With Backup → Google Drive your notes are backed up to your own Drive and follow your Google account to every computer — or export a single backup file.

Page lock

The Lock button under the title (Ctrl+Shift+L) makes a page read-only: toolbars are hidden and nothing can be added by accident. Search still works on locked pages.

Home

The house button in the header opens Home: quick actions (new page, snip, clip, drawing), your notes for the site in the open tab, and recently edited pages. To open the panel on Home, choose it under Settings → On open.

Focus mode

The focus button in the header or Ctrl+Shift+F hides everything but your text. Press Esc to leave.

Settings

Use the gear button in the top-right to change the theme (light / dark / system) and the interface language.

Writing

Markdown shortcuts

Type at the start of a line; it converts when you press space:

Color & highlight

Select text and pick a text or highlight color with the A button in the toolbar. The highlighter button applies the last used highlight color in one click (Ctrl+Shift+H).

Charts

Use the chart button in the toolbar to add a column, bar, line, area, pie or donut chart. Type the data into the table or paste it from Excel / Sheets; the preview updates as you go. Make a chart in a table’s menu turns that table into a chart. Double-click a chart to edit it.

Media

Paste a YouTube, Vimeo or .mp4 link and it turns into a player. Drag & drop or paste images. Web clip adds the current tab as a link card.

Search

Search all notes

The search box in the sidebar (Ctrl+K) searches titles, tags and text. Type #tag to filter by tag; with several words, only pages containing all of them are listed.

Each result lists its matches one by one. Click one to open the page right at that word, highlighted.

Find in page

Ctrl+F or Find in the toolbar. Enter goes to the next match, Shift+Enter to the previous one; Esc closes and leaves the cursor at the last match.

Snipping

Capturing an element

Use the Snip button or Alt+Shift+S. Hover over an element on the page and click it. ↑ / ↓ move to the parent / child element. To grab any area, hold the mouse button and drag.

Cancel with Esc (on the page or in this panel), by pressing the shortcut again, or with × on the banner. Closing the panel or switching tabs also cancels.

Add the captured image straight to your note, or annotate it first.

Limitations

Snipping isn't possible on browser pages (chrome://) or the Chrome Web Store. Elements larger than the visible area are cropped to what's on screen.

Drawing

Drawing canvas

Draw in the toolbar opens a blank canvas; double-click an image to annotate it. Boxes, ellipses, arrows, freehand and text — stroke/fill color, fill style, width and font are in the style panel.

Connector arrows: start an arrow on one shape and release it on another; the arrow follows when you move the shapes. Double-click a shape to type inside it.

Layered keeps shapes editable later; Merged burns them into the image.

Groups and locking: select a few shapes, right-click → Group (Ctrl+G); a group moves as one piece; double-click it to add a caption underneath, Ctrl + double-click to pick an element inside. Lock (Ctrl+Shift+L) protects shapes from accidental edits; right-click a locked element to unlock it.

Library: save a shape you draw often (e.g. a database symbol) with right-click → Add to library, giving it a name and tags. Use the Library button in the toolbar to search by name or tag and add it with one click. The Ready-made tab has 41 templates such as database, server, person and API (they can be hidden in the options), and you can sort your own drawings into collections.

Sketch pages: when adding a page (the arrow next to the add button in the header, or a section's ⋯ menu) choose Sketch page — the page itself becomes an infinite canvas that saves as you draw. You can paste pictures (Ctrl+V), drop image files, or use Snip to grab an element or area from the page straight onto the canvas.

Keyboard shortcuts

Backup

Making a backup

The Backup button at the bottom of the sidebar downloads all notebooks, or the ones you pick, as a single .json file. For one notebook you can also use Export in its ⋯ menu. Images and editable drawings are included. With Encrypt backup with a password the file is saved as an AES-256 encrypted .webpad file that only someone with the password can import. A forgotten password cannot be recovered.

PDF and Word

Export above a page, or a page / notebook ⋯ menu, downloads the page or the whole notebook as PDF or Word. Web clips and videos appear as cards with clickable links; drawings as images.

Restoring

Restore notebooks: the notebooks in the backup come back exactly as they were; others are untouched. Replace everything: all data on this device is replaced by the backup (when moving to another computer). After restoring, the page you were on opens again.

Google Drive

Your notes are backed up to your own Google Drive automatically. On every computer where you are signed in to Chrome with the same Google account, WebPad opens with the same notes.

If a note changes on two devices, the most recently edited version wins; deleted pages are deleted everywhere.

Shortcuts

General

Formatting

Extension shortcuts can be changed at chrome://extensions/shortcuts.