Agenda Notes

An intriguing method for taking notes on a Mac, Agenda organizes your notes based on the dates and times that you specify in your calendar. The application is gorgeously designed, and it has a surprising number of features for a version 1.0. However, it does not have an iOS equivalent (which is currently being developed), and it does not have any features that facilitate collaboration, which will prevent it from appealing to some users. Even though there are some rough spots in the app, Agenda has a lot of potential and should be appealing to anyone who has a lot of things to keep track of on their calendars at once.

Notes are arranged in an agenda according to projects, which are a part of categories. Notes pertaining to a specific project are displayed in the middle of Agenda’s window, and on either side of those notes are panels that allow you to navigate through your notes. The ‘jump menu’ is located at the top of the window and is referred to as the ‘jump menu’ by Agenda. Although it offers a significant portion of the same functionality as the left-hand panel, the jump menu is useful for navigating notes when the left-hand panel is not visible.

Your notes take up the majority of the space in the middle column of the window when navigational panels are placed on both sides. The layout offers symmetry and balance, with the focus being placed more squarely on the notes as opposed to the navigation, which is something that I really like about it. Both panels have the ability to be covered up, but I don’t find either of them particularly distracting because they can be shrunk down to the size of strips that are not only functional but also very thin.

You can create notes in Agenda by either clicking on the plus button that is located at the top of the window or by typing Cmd+N. By default, new notes are displayed at the top of the window in reverse chronological order; however, the order of the notes can be changed by clicking on the name of the project or note in the jump menu. This will bring up a menu that allows you to navigate between projects and notes.

A selected note has a background that is light yellow, but other than that, the distinction between one note and the next is primarily determined by the titles of the notes. The following screenshot includes three different types of notes: Test Note, Topics, and Issue 112. The Test Note that is located at the bottom of the window is currently selected, as can be seen from the jump menu that is located at the top of the window. This menu indicates that the note is located in the Weekly project within the MacStories category.

The pricing model of Agenda is something that should be mentioned as well because of how unusual it is. The fundamental features of Agenda do not cost anything. The ability to create calendar events, save searches, copy and export Markdown, and other premium features can be unlocked by making an in-app purchase within the app. The in-app purchase also includes access to any new features that are released in the app during the subsequent year after the initial purchase. If you do not pay for the app again at the end of the year, it will continue to function normally, you will continue to receive bug fixes, and any features that you have unlocked will continue to work; however, you will not receive any new features that are added.