Slip Switch Documentation

A track is a standalone note within Slip Switch. Each track appears as a tab in the launcher (the sidebar that stays visible on your screen). Tracks are stored as Markdown files in your data directory, making them portable and future-proof.

Tracks display an emoji or 1-2 character abbreviation on their tab button, automatically derived from the track name.

All your notes and settings are stored in your data directory. By default, this is located in your user application data folder (e.g., ~/Library/Application Support/Slip Switch/data on macOS).

You can change this location by clicking the ellipsis button (…) at the end of the launcher and selecting “Change Data Directory…”. This is useful if you want to keep your notes on an external drive or in a cloud-synced folder like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, or iCloud.

Inside the data directory, you’ll find your active notes as .md files, plus a hidden .slip-switch folder containing track-specific data like snapshots and embedded images.

The .slip-switch folder is located in your data directory and may be hidden by default. This folder contains important data like snapshots, archived tracks, and embedded images for each of your notes.

To view hidden folders on macOS:

• Open Finder and navigate to your data directory
• Press Cmd + Shift + . (period) to toggle hidden file visibility
• The .slip-switch folder should now appear

To view hidden folders on Windows:

• Open File Explorer and navigate to your data directory
• Click the View tab in the ribbon
• Check the Hidden items checkbox
• The .slip-switch folder should now be visible

Reminders are simple visual indicators (colored bars) that appear on launcher tabs to gently nudge you to check in on a track. They’re not task counters or notification badges, just a subtle “hey, take a look at this” signal.

Each track can have its own reminder schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly), or you can use app-wide defaults.

Right-click on any track tab and select “Reminder Settings…” to configure that track’s reminder schedule and dismissal behavior.

You can also set app-wide defaults by clicking the ellipsis button (…) at the end of the launcher → Settings… → Reminders. This includes the default schedule, dismissal criteria (view, edit, or manual), and snooze presets.

Depending on your settings, reminders can be dismissed automatically when you view or edit a track, or you can dismiss them manually via the right-click menu.

To snooze a reminder, right-click the track and use the “Snooze for…” submenu to pick a preset duration, or choose “Snooze until…” for a custom date and time.

Slip Switch just saves your notes as plain Markdown files. It does not have built-in automatic backups or version history. However, you can use the snapshot feature to create point-in-time backups of individual tracks.

If you need automatic backup and version history, consider syncing your data directory to a cloud storage solution like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive.

Snapshots are timestamped backups of your track content. They’re stored in the .slip-switch folder within your data directory, organized by track.

You can create a snapshot manually by right-clicking a track and selecting “Create Snapshot”. This is useful before making major changes or as a general backup practice.

Right-click on a track and select “Restore Snapshot…” to open a file picker in that track’s snapshot directory. Select the .md file you want to restore. A safety backup is automatically created before restoration.

Archiving moves a track out of your active launcher without deleting it. This keeps your launcher clean while preserving old work. When you archive a track, a snapshot is automatically created.

To archive a track, right-click it and select “Archive Track”.

Click the ellipsis button (…) at the end of the launcher and select “Settings…”. Look for “Restore Archived Track…” in the Data section. This will show you a list of archived tracks that you can bring back to active status.

Right-clicking on a track tab or within the editor reveals many useful options that aren’t visible elsewhere:

• Track management: Move Up/Down, Move to Top/Bottom
• File operations: Reveal Note in Finder/Explorer, Open Track Folder
• Snapshots: Create Snapshot, Restore Snapshot…
• Reminders: Dismiss, Snooze, Reminder Settings…
• Editor-specific: Toggle toolbar, Read-only mode, Delete completed tasks, Refresh from disk

Just drag and drop them in the launcher.

You can also right-click on any track tab and use the move options (Move Up, Move Down, Move to Top, Move to Bottom), as well as configure custom keyboard shortcuts for these actions in Settings… → Options → Shortcuts.

Hover over the left margin of any block (paragraph, heading, list item, etc.) to reveal a drag handle. Drag to move the entire block up or down.

You can also configure custom keyboard shortcuts for this in Settings… → Options → Shortcuts. By default, these are Alt/Option + Up/Down to move elements, or Alt/Option + Page Up/Down to jump to document start/end.

Read-only mode prevents accidental edits to a track. Right-click in the editor and toggle “Read-Only Mode” to lock or unlock a track. You can still view and copy content, but changes won’t be saved.

Slip Switch supports common Markdown formatting:

• Text formatting: Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, inline code
• Block elements: Headings (H1-H6), paragraphs, blockquotes, code blocks with syntax highlighting
• Lists: Bullet lists, numbered lists, and task lists (GFM checkboxes)
• Links: Standard Markdown links
• Horizontal rules: Divider lines

Task lists use GitHub-Flavored Markdown (GFM) syntax with checkboxes:–[ ] for unchecked and–[x] for checked items. Click a checkbox to toggle it.

You can optionally enable “Strike completed tasks” in Settings… to automatically apply strikethrough styling to checked items.

To remove all completed tasks at once, right-click in the editor and select “Delete Completed Tasks”.

Yes, your notes are stored as standard .md files in your data directory. This means they’re portable, future-proof, and can be opened with any text editor or Markdown application.

You can attach a file to a track using three methods:

• Toolbar button: Click the paperclip icon in the editor toolbar to open a file picker.
• Keyboard shortcut: By default, this is Cmd+Shift+U in macOS and Ctrl+Shift+U in Windows.
• Drag and drop: Drag files from your file manager directly into the editor.

Attached files appear as clickable links in your note, marked with a file icon. You can attach multiple files at once.

Click on a file link to open it in your default application for that file type. Keyboard users can use Cmd+Enter (macOS) or Ctrl+Enter (Windows). Right click on a link for additional options.

Attached files are copied into a files folder inside your track’s .slip-switch directory. This means each track’s attachments are self-contained alongside the track’s snapshots and other data.

When you archive a track or restore a snapshot, attached files are preserved automatically.

Slip Switch is a desktop application only. However, since all your notes are stored as plain Markdown files, you can sync them to a cloud service like Dropbox, Google Drive, or iCloud and access them on mobile using any Markdown-compatible app like Obsidian, iA Writer, or 1Writer.

Yes. All your notes are stored locally on your computer. There is no cloud sync, no analytics, and no data collection. Your notes never leave your machine unless you explicitly sync them using a third-party service.

For complete details, see our Terms & Privacy page.

Slip Switch is designed as a focus manager—a quick reference that stays visible while you work on other tasks. The always-on-top behavior lets you keep your priorities in view without switching windows.

Yes, just click the ellipsis button (…) at the end of the launcher and select a new position, or go to Settings… → Display.

Yes, you can enable this in Settings… → Display.

Slip Switch has a setting to hide the + button. This helps save space in the launcher and prevent accidental track creation. To create a track, click the ellipsis button (…) at the end of the launcher. There should be an option to create a new track there.

To change this setting, go to Settings… → General → New track button

By default, the note popup closes when you click away. Click the pin icon in the top right of the note popup to make it stay visible even when focus moves elsewhere. This is useful when you need to reference your notes while working in another application. You can close the window by either unpinning the note or clicking the track tab button in the launcher again.