> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.peernotes.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Notes: turn raw thoughts into structured PeerNotes writing

> Notes are where raw thoughts become structured ideas — compiled from your thoughts, refined in the editor, and shared with your workspace when ready.

A **Note** is a structured piece of thinking: a titled document you develop from your raw [Thoughts](/core-concepts/thoughts), refine over time, and eventually share. If a thought is a fragment, a note is the synthesis — the place where scattered ideas on a topic get composed into an argument, a proposal, a summary, or a piece of writing worth keeping.

## Create a note

There are two ways to start a note:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Compile from thoughts" icon="layer-group">
    In the Thoughts feed, select the thoughts that belong together and choose **Convert to Note**. The new note opens pre-populated with your selected thoughts — the fastest way to turn accumulated thinking into a draft.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Start from scratch" icon="plus">
    Create a blank note from the Notes feed when you already know what you want to write. Add a title, then start writing in the editor.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## The note editor

The editor is built for prose and structure — headings, bullet and numbered lists, bold and italic, and links. Your work saves automatically as you type.

While you write you can:

* **Attach sources** — connect the documents, pages, and files that informed the note, so readers can trace your thinking back to the original material.
* **Tag topics** — keep the note discoverable alongside related thoughts and notes.
* **Ask the assistant** — use the [AI assistant](/guides/ai-assistant) to pressure-test the draft: what's missing, what's assumed, what a reader will ask.

## Share a note with your workspace

Notes start private, like thoughts. When a note is ready for other eyes, share it with workspace members so they can read it and weigh in. Sharing a note is how individual thinking meets collective scrutiny — like code review, but for ideas.

<Info>
  You control the audience: share with your whole workspace or with specific members. You can adjust sharing at any time from the note's share panel.
</Info>

## Publish a note as an article

When a note has been refined to the point where it's worth the whole workspace's attention, publish it as an [Article](/core-concepts/articles):

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the note and select Publish">
    The publish dialog shows a preview of how the article will appear, including its reading time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose note visibility">
    Decide whether the underlying note stays visible alongside the published article, or whether readers only see the polished result.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish">
    The article appears in your workspace's Articles feed for every member to read. If you keep editing the note afterwards, you can republish to update the article.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## The pipeline at a glance

Notes sit at the center of the PeerNotes pipeline:

1. [**Sources**](/core-concepts/sources) — what you read and collect
2. [**Thoughts**](/core-concepts/thoughts) — your raw, private reactions
3. **Notes** — thoughts composed into structured thinking, opened to peers
4. [**Articles**](/core-concepts/articles) — refined notes published to the workspace

<Tip>
  A note doesn't need to be perfect before you share it. Sharing early — with a clear "draft, feedback welcome" note at the top — is exactly what PeerNotes is built for.
</Tip>