Kept whole, so it still makes sense next month.

When you say "save this" or "remind me to call these guys", the note is read later, when the screen is long gone. So Springle keeps what makes it stand on its own, as well as the words.

What goes with a keep

• Your own words. The note shows what you asked ("You asked: remind me to call these guys"), so you know why you kept it. Searching with words like that finds it too.
• When, and what you were doing. "Kept Sat 3 Oct, while planning the Kathmandu trip."
• A way back to the exact spot. Open where it was opens the page scrolled to the words you kept, with them highlighted. From an email in Mail, Open the email opens that email. Links are tidied first: tracking bits are taken out, and a link that would sign you in or reset a password is never kept.
• What the page said. For a web page, a copy of its words as they were, and the details it lists about itself (a phone number, an address, opening hours, a price), dated. They’re under the note as Page words as they were and The page said.
• A picture, when it helps. See below.

The card’s receipt says what went with it, for example "With a picture and a link to marriott.com".

When there’s a picture

Springle keeps a picture of that part of the screen when:

• you asked for one ("save this with a screenshot", "remember how this looks"),
• you circled something before asking,
• it’s a reminder about what’s on screen, so you see it again when the reminder goes off,
• how it looks matters (a product, a place, a chart, a design, an error message),
• there’s no link back to it (a chat, a dialog, an app without web pages), or
• it’s a confirmation or receipt page, which rarely opens again.

The picture is cut down to the thing you kept, inside the window you’re working in, with the words you kept marked on it. Password, card and code boxes are blacked out first, as in every picture Springle takes.

Taking a picture back out

The receipt in the card has Remove picture. It takes the picture out of the note and deletes it.

To choose for yourself, go to Settings › Notebook › Pictures with things I keep: Automatically (the rules above), Always, or Never. Keep a copy of the page’s words is beside it.

Pictures stay in your notebook folder on this Mac (or in iCloud Drive, if you keep the notebook there). Once a note is a month old, its picture is kept smaller, unless the note is pinned.

When it goes off

A reminder kept with a picture shows it in the island when it goes off, in place of the bell, with Call for a number that was kept and Open page, which opens the page at the number.

Files and folders

Select a file or folder in Finder, or have a document open, and ask:

Springle always remembers where it is. The link follows the file if you rename it or move it on the same drive.

• A document you ask to keep (a PDF, a Word or Pages document, a text file, a picture of a letter) is also copied into your notebook and read on this Mac, page by page, as before.
• "Remember where…" keeps the link only. Nothing is copied.
• Anything else (a spreadsheet, slides, a video, a zip) is linked where it is, with its own preview as the picture.

The document’s page says Linked, not copied, with Keep a copy, or that a copy is in your notebook, with Link only. Show in Finder opens the original. A file you downloaded shows the site it came from.

It also works for the attachments of the email open in Mail (Mail saves them to Downloads first), a PDF open in your browser, and the folder a Finder window shows when nothing is selected. "Save this whole page" keeps a web page as a PDF.

Files that hold keys or passwords (SSH keys, .env files, password exports) are never kept.

Folders

A folder becomes a Folder note: where it is, what’s in it, and the documents in it read on this Mac, where they are. Ask about any of them ("when does my tenancy end?") and Springle answers from the right document and page.

Springle reads up to 200 documents, two folders down, and leaves out hidden folders, apps, code folders, videos and music. A folder with more than that is remembered straight away, and the card asks Read the documents in …? first.

While the notebook is open, kept folders are watched: new and changed documents are read, and ones you removed are let go. Check again on the folder’s page counts it now.

When a file moves or goes

• Renamed or moved on the same Mac: the note follows it.
• In the Bin: the note says so.
• Gone: the note says where it was last seen, with Find it, which looks for it on your Mac.
• On a drive that isn’t plugged in: the note says which drive.

Check the page again

Under a note kept from a web page, Check the page again opens it out of sight and says what changed in what you kept: "Price now GBP 749 (was GBP 899)", "The numbers you kept aren’t on the page any more", or "Nothing you kept has changed".

How-tos with pictures

When Springle does a task with you and you save the steps as a how-to, it keeps a small picture of where each step clicked, under the steps. See The notebook.