---
title: "Getting started"
---

Mimir runs on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Every device keeps its own copy of
your notes in a local database. Nothing is stored anywhere else unless you
turn on [Cloud Sync](/sync-across-devices) yourself.

## Installing Mimir

On a Mac:

1. Download Mimir from [justmimir.com](https://justmimir.com).
2. Open the downloaded file.
3. Drag Mimir into Applications.
4. Open Mimir.

On iPhone and iPad, install Mimir from the App Store link on
[justmimir.com](https://justmimir.com).

Mimir works fully offline from the first launch. You don't need an internet
connection, and nothing you write leaves your device unless you turn on
Cloud Sync. To see where Mimir keeps your notes, and how to back them up,
see [Where your notes live](/where-your-notes-live).

## Opening Mimir for the first time

Mimir opens straight into today's journal entry: an empty bulleted line,
ready to type. There's no account to create, no welcome screen, and no
setup to get through.

A few things are different from a typical notes app:

- **There's no "new page" button.** You start writing in today's journal.
  A page comes into existence the moment you link to it. See
  [Pages & wikilinks](/pages-and-wikilinks).
- **Every note is a bullet.** Press **Return** to start a new one, **Tab**
  to indent it under the line above, and **Shift-Tab** to outdent it. This is how
  every page in Mimir is structured, including the journal.
- **Today is always where you land.** Close Mimir and reopen it, and
  you're back on today's entry, ready to keep writing.

Start by writing. The rest of this manual covers what becomes useful
once you have more than a few days of notes: linking pages together,
searching, and connecting devices with Cloud Sync.

## Finding your way around

Mimir has almost nothing on screen besides your notes. Everything else is
in a few places.

- **Today's journal** is where Mimir opens. Press **Cmd/Ctrl-J** to come
  back to it from anywhere.
- **Search** opens with the spark button in the bottom-left corner, or
  **Cmd/Ctrl-P**. On iPhone and iPad, pull down past the top of the feed.
  See [Search & find](/search-and-find).
- **The row along the bottom of search** holds the rest:
  - the globe icon, to [see and take down your published
    pages](/publishing-a-page)
  - on a Mac, the icon to [export your notes](/exporting-your-notes)
  - at its right end, the **Focus** switch for
    [focusing on one thread](/focusing-on-one-thread),
    and the sync icon for
    [Cloud Sync](/sync-across-devices#turning-on-cloud-sync)
- **The right-click menu**, on a Mac, shows what you can do with whatever
  you click. See
  [Using the right-click menu](#using-the-right-click-menu).
- **The keyboard toolbar**, on iPhone and iPad, sits above the on-screen
  keyboard while you write, with buttons for search and undo.

Mimir has no settings screen.

## Using the right-click menu

On a Mac, right-click anything in Mimir to see what you can do with it. The
menu shows the keyboard shortcut next to each item that has one.

- **Text you're editing**: **Cut**, **Copy**, **Paste**, **Select All**,
  the [Format menu](/formatting-text), and **Link to a Page**.
- **A note**: **Format**, **Copy**, **Cut**, **Delete**, and **Publish as
  Page**. With one note selected, you can also edit, fold, or mark it as a
  to-do. Right-clicking a note that isn't selected selects it first.
- **A link to a page**: **Go to Page**, **Copy Page Name**, and **Copy
  Mimir Link**. A Mimir link is a `mimir://open?page=<title>` address that
  opens the page from another app.
- **A page's title**: **Rename**, and the same two copy items.
- **A web link**: **Open Link**, **Copy Link**, and showing or hiding its
  embed.
- **A code block**: **Copy Code**.

Right-click any empty space around your notes, above, below, or on either
side, for the actions that apply everywhere:

- **Undo** and **Redo**
- **Search…**
- **Restore from Backup…**, to [put back a backup](/troubleshooting#restoring-from-a-backup)
- **Find on Page**, on a page but not in the journal
- **Today**, to jump back to [today's entry](/the-journal#jumping-back-to-today)
- **Text Size**, to make the text [larger, smaller, or back to
  normal](/changing-the-text-size)
- **Keyboard Shortcuts**