Quick Capture¶
Capture a note from anywhere without opening the main Stratum window. Quick
Capture is a desktop-only feature backed by the system tray and a global
keyboard shortcut. It writes a block into today's journal (or a configurable
inbox page) through the normal block path, and the .md file on disk is updated
so that Git sync sees it.
System Tray¶
On desktop, Stratum runs a system tray icon. Click the tray icon and a menu appears with:
| Menu Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Open Stratum | Shows and focuses the main window |
| Quick Capture | Opens the Quick Capture dialog in text mode |
| Voice Capture | Opens the Quick Capture dialog in voice mode |
| Sync Now | Runs the same sync flow as the Settings → Sync tab |
| Quit | Saves your library and exits the app |
Close to Tray¶
By default, clicking the window close button hides the window to the tray instead of quitting Stratum. The app keeps running in the background so you can re-open it from the tray icon or a shortcut. Disable this in Settings → Tray if you prefer the close button to quit the app.
Global Shortcut¶
The default global shortcut that opens Quick Capture is
CmdOrCtrl+Shift+Space (⌘⇧Space on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+Space on Windows/Linux). You
can change it in Settings → Tray under Quick capture shortcut. The
shortcut works even when the main window is hidden or another application has
focus.
Capture Dialog¶
- Press Enter (without Shift) to save the capture. The note is written to the configured target page and the dialog closes.
- Press Escape to discard the capture and close the dialog.
- Click the voice button to record a voice memo instead of typing. The voice memo is transcribed into today's journal.
- The footer shows the capture target (today's journal or your inbox page) so you always know where a capture will land.
Capture Targets¶
Quick Capture writes to one of two places, configurable in Settings → Tray:
| Target | Location |
|---|---|
| Today's journal | journals/YYYY-MM-DD.md (the current date's daily note) |
| Inbox page | A vault-relative page path you configure (default Inbox.md) |
When the target is the Inbox page, you can set the page path in Settings. The page is created automatically if it does not exist.
Settings¶
Open Settings → Tray to configure:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable tray icon | Show or hide the system tray icon |
| Close to tray | Hide the window to tray on close instead of quitting |
| Quick capture shortcut | Global keyboard shortcut that opens Quick Capture |
| Quick capture target | Where captures are written: today's journal or an inbox page |
| Inbox page path | The vault-relative path of the inbox page (shown only when the target is the inbox) |
Platform Notes¶
Quick Capture and the tray are desktop-only. On mobile there is no tray icon and closing the app quits it.
Troubleshooting¶
- The tray icon does not appear on Linux. Some Linux desktop environments (notably without a StatusNotifier host) do not display tray icons. Install a StatusNotifier host such as an AppIndicator extension, or use the global shortcut to open Quick Capture.
- The global shortcut does nothing. The shortcut may conflict with another application or a previous Stratum shortcut registration. Choose a different shortcut in Settings → Tray and save.
- A capture went to the wrong page. Check Quick capture target and Inbox page path in Settings → Tray.