How to Add AI, Markdown, and Other Features to Apple Notes

For Apple users, the built-in Notes app is an excellent way to quickly jot down important information and even maintain a simple knowledge base. However, for power users, the app's capabilities are clearly insufficient.

How to Turn Apple Notes into Something Really Cool

If you're one of those users, you can install ProNotes — an extension for Notes that adds Markdown formatting, AI support, and many other cool features.

How to Export Apple Notes

The application is free (almost), but to get the installer, you need to provide your email.

How to Use It

Immediately after installation, a new icon will be added to the Menu Bar, from which you can access the settings. There aren't many settings.

On the General tab, you can set the main language for Apple Notes and the formatting options you need.

The Ask AI tab allows you to fully configure the AI that the application works with. You can choose models and set a default prompt. Additionally, you can edit other built-in prompts or add your own.

The basic set includes spell checking, summarizing, shortening or lengthening text, and explaining written content.

Then, just launch Notes and start working with them. At first, it may seem like nothing has changed. But if you look closely — when selecting text, a new Ask AI item and a formatting panel appear at the bottom right.

Clicking on it allows you to call any of the built-in or added prompts. After that, in the pop-up window, the AI will perform its task, and you can insert the resulting text back into the note.

Markdown is even easier. Just start writing text with formatting, and it will be applied immediately.

The formatting is perfectly preserved on devices without ProNotes because the application does not add any text settings that are not provided by Apple Notes by default.

Cost

In the free version of ProNotes, you can use formatting and link notes together. For $7.99 per month, you can use the app's AI features.