Build Your Knowledge Garden, One Thought at a TimeCleft makes it effortless to expand your notes with new insights whenever they strike. No need to start from scratch—just append and watch your knowledge grow organically.
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Adding to Your Notes Is Simple

1

Find Your Note

Open the note you want to expand with new brilliance.

Your best ideas deserve to grow!

2

Tap the Append Button

iOS: Tap the + button in the bottom right corner.macOS: Click the + icon or use ⌘ ⌥A.
3

Capture Your New Thoughts

Speak into the microphone or type your additional ideas—Cleft will add them to your existing note.

Just like before, no need to organize—just let your thoughts flow!

4

Save and See the Magic

Tap “Save” and watch as your new thoughts blend seamlessly with your existing note.
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Your note is growing! Keep adding brilliant thoughts whenever inspiration strikes.

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More Ways to Grow Your Notes

Voice is Your Superpower: When appending by voice, try saying “new paragraph” or “new line” to create natural breaks in your added content.

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✏️ Point-and-Add Magic

Want to insert thoughts somewhere specific? Open edit mode, place your cursor exactly where your new idea belongs, and type away. Your note structure stays intact with your new brilliance precisely where it matters.

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🔀 Merge Notes Together

Have related thoughts scattered across different notes?
  1. Select the source note
  2. Tap the “More” menu (three dots)
  3. Choose “Merge with…”
  4. Pick your destination note
  5. Watch two great ideas become one amazing super-note!
Merged notes can’t be automatically un-merged, so consider making a backup of important notes first!

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🌐 Bring In Outside Brilliance

Found the perfect quote online? A snippet from another app?
  1. Copy that external wisdom
  2. Open your Cleft note
  3. Long-press and select “Paste” right where you want it
  4. Boom! Outside knowledge, integrated.

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🤖 Automate Your Genius

Why manually append when robots can do it for you?
  1. Visit Settings > Integrations
  2. Connect to Zapier, Shortcuts, or other automation tools
  3. Set up triggers to automatically append your emails, tweets, or other content
  4. Watch your notes grow even when you’re not looking!
Explore our Zapier Recipes and Apple Shortcuts Recipes for automation inspiration!

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Append vs. Edit: What’s the Difference?

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✨ Append

  • Adds new thoughts to the end
  • Preserves all original brilliance
  • Quick operation for capturing inspiration
  • Perfect for journals and ongoing projects

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✏️ Edit

  • Changes existing content anywhere
  • Can reshape or remove original content
  • More control over exact placement
  • Better for refining and restructuring

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Pro Tips for Brilliant Appenders

For frequently updated notes, try the “reverse-chronological” style—newest thoughts at the top instead of the bottom!
  • Time-stamp your additions with “Added on [date]” to track your evolving thoughts
  • Create section breaks between original and new content with --- or *** for visual clarity
  • Tag different append sessions with #update-1, #update-2 for easy tracking
  • Schedule regular review sessions to reorganize frequently-appended notes

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Troubleshooting Your Append Adventures

Having trouble adding to your notes? Try these quick fixes:
  • Nothing saving? Check your edit permissions and storage space
  • App being quirky? Close and reopen Cleft
  • Still stuck? Update to the latest version or contact our friendly support team

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Sample Voice Append in Action

Here’s what the append process looks like in real life:

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📝 Original Note: “Project Milestones”

Project Milestones - Q2 Launch

  • UI design finalization - April 10
  • Beta testing - April 25
  • Marketing materials - May 5
  • Press release - May 15
  • Launch event - May 30

Need to follow up with Sarah about venue options for the launch event.

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🎙️ Voice Append Transcript

”I just got out of the meeting with the dev team and we need to update our timeline. Um, looks like we’re going to need an extra week for QA testing so we should push the beta testing to um May 2nd instead of April 25th. New paragraph. Also Sarah confirmed that the downtown convention center is available for the launch event but we need to pay the deposit by next Friday. New paragraph. Action items: Call accounting about the venue deposit and new bullet point update the press release draft to reflect the new beta testing timeline.”

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✨ Result After Append

Project Milestones - Q2 Launch

  • UI design finalization - April 10
  • Beta testing - April 25
  • Marketing materials - May 5
  • Press release - May 15
  • Launch event - May 30

Need to follow up with Sarah about venue options for the launch event.

Update - May 12:

I just got out of the meeting with the dev team and we need to update our timeline. Looks like we’re going to need an extra week for QA testing so we should push the beta testing to May 2nd instead of April 25th.

Also Sarah confirmed that the downtown convention center is available for the launch event but we need to pay the deposit by next Friday.

Action items:

  • Call accounting about the venue deposit
  • Update the press release draft to reflect the new beta testing timeline
Notice how saying “new paragraph” and “new bullet point” in your voice recording creates proper formatting in the appended content. Cleft understands these verbal formatting commands!
Remember, regular appending transforms fleeting thoughts into a rich tapestry of connected ideas. Your brilliant note garden grows one append at a time!