No. You can start writing immediately. Your notes live on your device. An account is only needed if you want end-to-end encrypted sync across devices, or shared notebooks.

Yes. Klarinotte is local-first — everything you write is stored on your device, and the app itself is cached in your browser after the first visit, so you can open it and keep working with no connection. When you come back online, sync catches up automatically.

Two caveats on the web version:

• A hard reload (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R) bypasses the cached copy of the app and will fail while offline. A normal reload or reopening the tab works fine.
• Features that download a model the first time you use them — OCR and semantic search — need a connection for that first download. Afterwards they run entirely on your device.

The desktop app has neither caveat: it is installed locally and always works offline.

Yes. The web app works fully on mobile browsers, with the same features as on desktop. For a better experience, install it as a web app and add it to your home screen:

• Chrome (Android): open the menu and tap Install app or Add to Home screen.
• Firefox (Android): open the browser menu and tap Install or Add to Home screen.
• Safari (iPhone/iPad): tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.

This gives the app its own icon and a full-screen, app-like experience.

On your device — in your browser's local storage (IndexedDB) on the web, or in the app's local data directory on desktop. If you enable sync, an encrypted copy is also stored on our servers; we cannot read it.

Open Settings → Data:

• Export Notebook — a ZIP of one notebook. Importing it later fully restores notes, folders, attachments, and metadata (timestamps, tags, bookmarks, settings).
• Export All Notebooks — an archive containing every notebook.

You can also export a single note or folder from its right-click menu (Export…), as Markdown, HTML, or PDF. Those keep the content but not the metadata, so they're good for sharing, not for a full backup.

We recommend exporting regularly. Notes are plain Markdown, readable in any text editor — with or without Klarinotte.

On the web version, clearing site data, cookies, or "browsing data" for Klarinotte deletes your local notes. Some browsers also evict site storage automatically when disk space runs low, or after long periods of inactivity in private/strict privacy modes.

You are protected against this if either of the following is true:

• You have sync enabled — your notes are on the server and will come back after signing in again.
• You have a recent export — restore it via Settings → Data → Import Notebook.

If neither is true, cleared data is gone. Two things reduce the risk: keep regular exports or install the desktop app.

Yes. Deleted notes go to the trash and can be restored. They're only removed permanently when you empty the trash (unless you've chosen Delete permanently in Settings).

Your notes are on your device, so they don't disappear when the service does.

• Desktop app: it keeps working — it's a local application. Installers are hosted on GitHub, so they remain available even if the Klarinotte website goes offline.
• Web app: it keeps working offline as long as your browser data isn't cleared. But if the site is gone and your browser data is cleared, only a previous export can bring the notes back.

That is why we recommend regular exports: plain Markdown files that open anywhere. We designed against vendor lock-in, and exports are your safety net.

Put your notes in a ZIP and import it via Settings → Data → Import Notebook. The expected structure is:

• Markdown notes (.md) in the root of the ZIP or in any subfolder — your folder structure is preserved.
• Attachments in a folder named assets at the top level of the ZIP.
• Links to attachments must include the full relative path, i.e. the assets folder name before the file name — for example [my picture](assets/pic.png) or ![diagram](assets/diagram.png).

Klarinotte's own export uses exactly this layout (plus a hidden metadata file), so its ZIPs always re-import cleanly. Notes coming from another Markdown app usually just need their attachment folder renamed to assets and their links adjusted to match.

You can reset it through a standard email verification flow. When you signed up you were given a Recovery Key — if you saved it, use it during the reset to recover all your encrypted data. If you didn't save it, recreate and save it before it's too late. Your master encryption key is re-protected with your new password, and nothing is lost.

If you lost both your password and your Recovery Key, the encrypted data on the server is unrecoverable: the account can be reset, but the synced data is wiped. Your local copy still works. This is the tradeoff of real end-to-end encryption — we can never access your data on the server, not even to help you recover it.

All encrypted data on our servers is permanently deleted. Your local copy remains accessible.

You can always use the app locally, without an account and without limits. There is also a free sync tier: up to 250 synced items (notes + attachments combined), 50 MB of synced storage, and 2 devices. Paid plans with higher quotas will be available.

All of them. End-to-end encrypted sync, semantic search, OCR for images, shared notebooks, and the full Markdown editor are available on every tier. The tier only caps how much you can sync and how many devices you can connect.

Yes — 25 MB per file on the free tier, 100 MB on paid plans. The same limit applies to very large notes (e.g. notes with many inline images), though most notes are far below it. Files above the limit are still saved locally so you can keep working with them; they just don't sync.

Such files show a small red cloud icon next to their name (in the file explorer and at the top of the open note), and a count badge appears on the sync indicator. After upgrading, the next sync retries automatically and the icon clears once the upload succeeds.

Yes. With sync enabled, changes propagate across devices. Each device keeps a full local copy, and concurrent edits are merged automatically. You can write on your laptop and pick up on your phone.

Yes. You can share a notebook with other Klarinotte users by inviting them via email. Shared notebooks stay end-to-end encrypted — each member receives a securely wrapped copy of the notebook key. You can assign roles (editor or viewer) and remove members at any time. The owner retains full control.