Lists & Notes
Your notes and lists, on your Mac. Nothing else required.
A private, offline note taking app and to-do list manager. Markdown editor with live preview, checklists with priorities, PDF and Word export. Optional AI writing tools — works fully without them.
$15 AUD
One-time purchase · macOS
14-day money-back guarantee
Most note-taking apps want you to create an account, sync to their cloud, and pay every month for the privilege. Lists & Notes takes a different approach. Your notes are plain Markdown files on your Mac. Your lists live locally. There's no account, no sync, and no subscription. If you want AI help with writing or grammar, you bring your own key and control the costs. Otherwise it just works, offline, forever.
What it does
To-Do Lists & Checklists
Create lists with checkable items, priority levels, and categories. Mark items as complete, reorder, expand vague items into specific alternatives with AI, or get suggestions for what else to add.
Markdown Editor with Live Preview
Write notes in Markdown with a side-by-side preview pane. Full support for headings, lists, tables, code blocks, and checklists. Notes are stored as individual .md files on your machine.
Categories & Subcategories
Organise lists and notes with categories, including subcategories (e.g. travel/japan). Filter and search across everything from the sidebar.
AI Writing Assistance
Optional AI features powered by your own API key. Get a TLDR summary, check grammar and spelling, improve writing clarity, or generate opposing viewpoints on a note. A version is saved before any AI changes so you can always undo.
PDF & Word Document Export
Export any note to PDF with clean formatting, font selection, and optional metadata. Or export to Word (DOCX) for sharing and collaboration. Lists can also be exported as text.
Offline & Private by Design
All data is stored and processed locally on your Mac. No account, no cloud, no tracking. Daily auto-backups protect against data loss. API keys are encrypted at rest on your machine. If you use AI features, only the specific note or list you trigger it on is sent to your chosen provider.
Who it's for
Keep track of shopping lists, project ideas, reading lists, travel plans — anything that works as a list or a note. Categories keep it all findable.
A distraction-free writing app with Markdown support and real-time preview. Export finished documents to PDF or Word.
Meeting notes, client briefs, project checklists, research notes. Create polished PDF documents or Word files for sharing.
No account, no cloud, no tracking. Your data lives on your Mac. Nothing leaves your machine unless you explicitly ask AI to process a note.
Organise research by topic, take lecture notes in Markdown, group with categories. Export to PDF or Word for papers and presentations.
Tired of cloud apps that require an account and charge monthly? This is a one-time purchase that works offline, forever.
Why Lists & Notes instead of a cloud app?
Download, open, start writing. No signup, no email, no password.
Plain .md files on your filesystem. Open them in any text editor, version-control them, back them up however you like.
Pay once, use it forever. No subscription that stops working when you stop paying.
Lists and notes with categories, priorities, and export. Not a project management platform pretending to be a note app.
14-day money-back guarantee
See it in action
Getting started
Screenshots
What's included
- macOS desktop app (Intel + Apple Silicon)
- Unlimited to-do lists with priority levels
- Unlimited Markdown notes with live preview editor
- Categories with subcategory support
- PDF and Word (DOCX) export
- AI list suggestions & item expansion (optional)
- AI grammar, writing improvement & TLDR (optional)
- Note version history (auto-saved before AI changes)
- Daily auto-backups (15 rolling)
- Full data import & export
- Trash with 14-day recovery
- Light & dark themes
- Free updates
FAQ
Do I need an AI API key?
No. Lists & Notes works fully without AI. You can create lists, write notes, organise with categories, export to PDF — all without an API key. AI adds optional features: list item suggestions, grammar checking, writing improvement, and note summaries.
Do I need a subscription?
No. Lists & Notes is a one-time purchase. If you choose to use the AI features, you'll need your own API key from Anthropic or OpenAI, which you pay for based on usage — typically a few cents per request.
What format are notes stored in?
Notes are stored as individual Markdown (.md) files on your Mac. The app manages the files for you. You can export your full dataset as JSON at any time for backup or migration.
Can I back up my data?
Yes. The app automatically creates daily backups (up to 15 are kept). You can view and restore from any backup in Settings. You can also manually export all data as a JSON file and import it on another machine. Import is non-destructive — existing items are skipped, only new ones are added.
Is my data stored in the cloud?
No. All data is stored locally on your Mac — lists, notes, settings, and backups. API keys are encrypted at rest on your machine. Note content is only sent to your chosen AI provider when you explicitly trigger an AI feature on that specific note.
Can I export notes?
Yes. Export any note to PDF (with page formatting, font choice, and optional metadata) or Word (DOCX). You can also export your entire dataset as JSON for backup or migration.
How is this different from Evernote or Notion?
Lists & Notes is a one-time purchase that runs entirely offline on your Mac. There's no account, no cloud sync, no subscription, and no tracking. Your notes are stored as plain Markdown files you can access with any text editor. If you want a private, offline alternative to cloud-based note taking apps, this is built for that.
Does it work on Windows?
Currently macOS only (12 or later). A Windows version may follow based on demand.
How is payment processed?
Payments are processed by Gumroad in USD using the current exchange rate. Prices are displayed in AUD for reference. Your bank may apply a small foreign transaction fee.
What's changed in the latest version?
All updates are free for existing customers. You can see the full list of changes on the changelog page.
Built by David Tiong
Experience spanning product management, agency ownership, SaaS tech support, and product enablement — and the person behind davidtiong.com. I built Lists & Notes because I wanted a simple, private place for my notes and to-do lists that didn't require an account or a monthly fee. Nothing more, nothing less.