Notes

Create notes and folders, add frontmatter properties, and know which Markdown syntax Loam reads.

This page shows how to create and organize notes, set their properties, and which Markdown syntax Loam reads. Each step works in the app or from the loam command line.

Create a note

1. Press Cmd+N to open a new note in a new tab.
2. Or press Cmd+O, type a name, and create the note from the quick switcher.
3. Or open the Files panel and create a note in the folder you want.

From the command line, loam --vault ~/Notes daily.append text="Met Bob" adds a line to today's daily note, and creates the note if it is missing.

Organize with folders

Folders are plain folders in the vault. Moving or renaming a note also rewrites the links that point to it.

Restore a trashed item with trash.restore, or list what is in the trash with trash.list.

Add properties

Properties sit at the top of the note, between two --- lines. Write them as YAML: key: value, lists in brackets, and dates as YYYY-MM-DD.

---
status: doing
created: 2026-10-28
tags: [project, work]
---

# Plan

Set one property from the command line. The rest of the note stays as it was:

loam --vault ~/Notes query.set-property path=Projects/Plan.md key=status value=done

An empty value removes the property.

Formats Loam reads

Notes use CommonMark with the GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extensions. Loam also reads YAML frontmatter and wikilinks. Stick to the standard syntax, so that any tool can read your notes.

• CommonMark and GFM: headings, lists, tables, task lists and code blocks.
• YAML frontmatter, between two --- lines at the top of the note.
• Links to notes: [text](Folder/Note.md), or [[Folder/Note]] and [[Folder/Note|label]]. See links and search for what each one does.
• Tasks: - [ ] Draft plan 📅 2026-11-02 #work. The due date is 📅 YYYY-MM-DD.