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Notes

Attach text or voice notes to any moment in your timeline. Record audio memos with automatic transcription, or quickly add text annotations to mark important screenshots.

Updated August 2026

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What Are Notes?

Notes let you add intentional context to any moment in your visual history. Type a quick text note to tag an important screenshot, or record a voice memo when you need to capture a thought faster than you can type. After a one-time speech model download, voice notes are automatically transcribed on your Mac and become searchable alongside your timeline.

Note
All note processing happens entirely on your Mac. Voice recordings are transcribed locally using an on-device speech model. Nothing leaves your computer.

Creating Notes

There are three ways to add notes to your timeline:

  • Quick Capture Note: From another app, press ⌘ + ⇧ + N. Retrace opens the latest captured moment and the note editor
  • Text Note: Press ⌘ + T while viewing the timeline to add a text note to the current frame
  • Voice Note: Press ⌘ + D while viewing the timeline to record a voice note

You can also right-click any screenshot and choose Add Text Note or Add Voice Note to annotate that moment.

Text Notes

Text notes are the fastest way to add context to a screenshot:

  1. Navigate to the frame you want to annotate
  2. Press ⌘ + T
  3. Type your note in the editor that appears
  4. Click Save

A yellow note badge appears on the thumbnail, showing at a glance that the screenshot has an annotation.

Tip
Text notes are perfect for quick labels like "Client meeting", "Design v2", or "Bug to fix". They're instantly searchable.

Voice Notes

When you need to capture more than a few words, record a voice note:

  1. Navigate to the frame you want to annotate
  2. Press ⌘ + D
  3. Start speaking when the recorder appears
  4. Click Stop when finished
  5. Review the recording, then click Save

Automatic Transcription

The first time you use transcription, save your voice note, right-click its screenshot, open the voice note's submenu, and choose Play. Click Transcribe, then Download to approve the one-time speech model download.

After that setup, Retrace automatically transcribes new voice notes in the background. Your spoken words become searchable text that you can copy into other apps.

Note
The speech model is about 142 MB. It downloads once, and all transcription runs entirely on your Mac.

Silent Recording Detection

If Retrace detects that a recording contains only silence, it shows a friendly message instead of empty transcription text. Just record again with audible speech.

Global Capture

The ⌘ + ⇧ + N shortcut works while another app is active:

  1. Press the shortcut when you have an "aha moment"
  2. Retrace opens the latest captured moment
  3. The note editor opens so you can type or record

This workflow is designed for capturing thoughts in real-time without interrupting what you're doing.

Tip
Global Capture is great for logging quick thoughts during meetings, marking design decisions, or saving context when debugging.

Browsing Your Notes

To see all your notes in one place:

  1. Press ⌘ + O
  2. The Browse Notes popover shows all notes in your timeline
  3. Click any note to jump directly to that moment

Inline Playback

Voice notes in the browse list have a play button. Click it to listen to the recording without leaving the popover. This makes it easy to review audio memos quickly.

Filtering to Notes

Select Show All Notes to filter your timeline to only show screenshots that have notes attached. This is useful when reviewing all your annotations for a project.

Editing and Deleting Notes

To modify an existing note:

  • From the timeline: Right-click a screenshot, open the existing note's submenu, then choose Edit for a text note or Replace for a voice note
  • From Browse Notes: Right-click a note in the list and choose Edit Note

To delete a note from Browse Notes, right-click it and choose Delete Note. From the timeline, open the note's submenu and choose Delete. The screenshot stays in your timeline.

Important
Deleting a note can't be undone. The screenshot stays in your timeline.

Keyboard Shortcuts

ActionShortcut
Quick Capture Note⌘ + ⇧ + N
Add Text Note⌘ + T
Add Voice Note⌘ + D
Browse Notes⌘ + O
Dismiss EditorEsc

When you search your timeline, Retrace looks in both OCR text (words visible on screen) and your notes. If a search term matches a note, the result is marked with a special indicator so you know it came from your annotation rather than screen text.

This makes notes powerful for adding searchable context that wasn't captured visually. Tag screenshots with client names, project codes, or ideas that only exist in your head.

Combining with Other Features

Notes work seamlessly with other Retrace features:

  1. Add Labels to categorize screenshots, then add notes for detailed context
  2. Use Time Filtering to narrow your view, then add notes to the important moments
  3. Search for notes by their content to find annotated moments quickly
  4. Export any screenshot that has a note attached
Tip
Use Notes for detailed context and Labels for broad categorization. Together, they make your visual history highly organized and searchable.

Next Steps