User guide
Learn Treetor, one screen at a time.
Step-by-step guides with real screenshots and numbered callouts where they help, so you can match what you read to what you see. Start at the top if you are new, or search for the control you are looking at.
Start here
New to Treetor? Read these four first.
What Treetor isTreetor is a desktop editor for notes that have structure. You write in a tree: a Tree holds Branches, a Branch holds Items, and any Item can open into a Branch of its own. Pictures, screen captures and annotations live in the same tree as your text.Install TreetorTreetor runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Download the installer for your computer from the Treetor download page, run it, and launch Treetor — the whole thing takes about a minute.Create your first treeA tree starts with a title and an optional note. Treetor creates it with one empty item, opens it in the editor, and you start typing.Writing itemsType straight into an item. Enter starts a new line inside it; Ctrl+Enter starts the next item. That is the whole rhythm of writing in Treetor.
Part 1
Getting Started
What Treetor is, installing it, signing in, and a quick tour of the app.
What Treetor isTreetor is a desktop editor for notes that have structure. You write in a tree: a Tree holds Branches, a Branch holds Items, and any Item can open into a Branch of its own. Pictures, screen captures and annotations live in the same tree as your text.Install TreetorTreetor runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Download the installer for your computer from the Treetor download page, run it, and launch Treetor — the whole thing takes about a minute.Sign in & the 30-day Pro trialTreetor asks you to sign in once. Signing in creates your account if needed and starts a 30-day trial of Pro picture tools. Text notes, tree editing and Markdown export stay free after the trial.Free after the Pro trialWhen the Pro trial ends, Treetor keeps working as a text-first tree editor. Writing, arranging, searching and Markdown export stay free; only Pro picture tools pause.App tourTreetor separates tree work from app administration: use the Tree Library and Tree Editor for your content, Tree styles for how trees look, and Settings for your account and the app.
Part 2
Tree Library
Create, open, duplicate and delete trees, and organize them with Collections.
Create your first treeA tree starts with a title and an optional note. Treetor creates it with one empty item, opens it in the editor, and you start typing.Open, duplicate, delete treesEverything you do to a whole tree happens in the library: select a card, then use the toolbar or the card's right-click menu.Organize with CollectionsCollections are named groups of trees in the library sidebar — projects, clients, years, whatever helps you find a tree in one click. A tree belongs to one collection at a time.Edit tree detailsA tree's title and note can be changed at any time from the editor: the pencil next to the title opens the Tree Info dialog.
Part 3
Tree Editor Basics
The editor layout, writing and arranging items, navigation, links, and saving.
Editor layoutWhere everything lives in the Treetor Tree Editor: the header toolbar, the columns that show each level of your tree, and the green bar that marks the column you are working in.Anatomy of an itemEvery row in a Treetor column is an item, and every item has the same five parts: a grip, a number, the text, a state dot and an actions button. Learn them once and every guide after this reads faster.Writing itemsType straight into an item. Enter starts a new line inside it; Ctrl+Enter starts the next item. That is the whole rhythm of writing in Treetor.Navigating the treeFour keys move you anywhere: Up and Down within a column, Ctrl+Right into an item's children, Ctrl+Left back to its parent. Your hands never leave the keyboard.Arranging itemsMove an item up or down its column, push it one level deeper under the item above, or pull it back out to the parent level — from the Arrange menu or with Ctrl and Alt plus the arrow keys.Drag and dropDrag an item by its grip and drop it on another item. Where you let go on the target decides what happens: the top quarter puts it before, the bottom quarter after, and the middle makes it a child.Duplicate, merge, deleteCtrl+D copies an item with everything under it. Ctrl+Insert folds an item's children into the item above. Ctrl+Delete removes an item — and asks first when children would go with it.The item context menuRight-click any item — or click its ⋯ button — for every action that applies to it. The menu is the map of what you can do to an item; this page is the legend.Links in itemsAn item whose text is a web address, a file path or a folder path becomes a link automatically: Treetor underlines it in teal, and a double-click opens it in your browser or file manager.Saving & auto-saveTreetor saves your tree every 30 seconds while you edit, and again when you press Back. The Save button is for when you want to be sure right now.Formatting, code and math in itemsItems are plain Markdown. Treetor renders bold, italic, strikethrough, highlight, inline code, colour-highlighted code blocks and LaTeX math whenever an item is not selected, and shows the raw text again the moment you click or arrow into it.
Part 4
Pictures
Add pictures, capture your screen, and annotate with callouts, arrows and blur.
Add a picture from a fileA picture is an item like any other. Press Ctrl+Shift+I or click Picture, choose a PNG, JPG or WebP up to 25 MB, and it appears as a new item below the selected one — with a caption box underneath.Picture item controlsThree small buttons sit under every picture: Annotate, Replace and Remove. Double-clicking the picture itself is the shortcut to Annotate.Screen captureCapture grabs part of your screen — or all of it — straight into a new picture item and opens it for annotation. It is the fastest way to document anything you can see.Annotation editor tourThe annotation editor opens for every capture and every picture you choose to annotate. One toolbar holds the drawing tools; the bar underneath picks the preset; Insert puts the result back into your tree.Annotation workflow exampleA typical annotation takes under a minute: two numbered callouts on the things you want to explain, an arrow to the button that matters, a blur over what should not be shared, then Insert.Annotation presets & image backgroundA preset is the set of colours, pen widths and fonts your tools use. Treetor keeps one preset for light pictures and one for dark, chosen in the bar under the picture so your callouts stay readable on both.Re-editing annotations laterAnnotations never get baked into the only copy. Treetor keeps the original picture and your marks alongside the flattened image, so you can reopen a picture weeks later and move, edit or delete any callout.
Part 5
Formatting
Tree-wide and per-item formatting, and reusable content profiles.
Formatting panelThe Formatting button opens a panel beside the columns with two halves: List Formatting for the whole tree and Selected Item Formatting for one item. Changes show in the columns as you make them.Tree-wide formattingList Formatting sets how every item in the tree looks: typeface, size, weight, style, colours, alignment and the spacing between rows. The columns update live, and the preview box shows the result before you commit.Per-item formattingOne item can look different from the rest — a heading in bold, a warning in red. Tick Custom formatting for this item, adjust the same fields, and Reset to Tree Defaults when you change your mind.Content profilesA content profile is a named set of formatting plus the annotation presets that go with it. Treetor ships four — Treetor Focus and Treetor Presentation, each with a dark counterpart — and you can save as many of your own as you like.
Part 6
Export & Import
Markdown, Word, PDF and Treetor Pack backups; importing trees and branches.
Export dialog overviewExport turns a whole tree into a Markdown file, a Word document, a PDF, a Treetor Pack or an OPML outline. One dialog covers all five: pick a format card, choose where to save, and the button at the bottom names what it will do.Export to MarkdownMarkdown export writes your tree as headings and nested lists that any editor, wiki or git repository understands. Pictures can travel in a folder next to the file or be embedded inside it.Export to Word & PDFWord and PDF exports produce a document people can read without Treetor: headings for branches, indented paragraphs for items, pictures scaled to fit the page.Backup with Treetor Pack (.tpack)A Treetor Pack is a complete copy of one tree in a single file: every item, every picture with its annotations, and the tree's details. Import it on any computer and the tree comes back exactly as it was.Export a subtreeYou do not have to export a whole tree. From the editor, Export Item and Children… writes just the selected item and everything underneath it as a Treetor Pack.Import a treeImport in the Tree Library creates a new tree from a file: a Treetor Pack restores a tree exactly, a Markdown file becomes a tree built from its headings and lists, and an OPML outline brings a tree across from Dynalist, Workflowy or another outliner.Import a branchThe editor's Import button attaches a file into the tree you are editing: a Treetor Pack, a Markdown file or an OPML outline becomes a new item — with its own children — in the active column, right after the selected item.
Part 7
Tree Styles & Settings
Tree presentation and annotation presets, plus account, sync, storage, appearance, and updates.
Content profiles in Tree stylesTree styles is where profiles are managed for every tree: set the active one, duplicate a built-in profile to make it editable, rename or delete your own, and edit both halves of a profile — Text & Layout and Annotation Tools.Annotation Tools editorEvery drawing tool in the annotation editor has properties — pen width and colour, fill, drop shadow, arrow size, fonts. The Annotation Tools tab (also reachable from the gear in the annotation editor) is where you set them, separately for light and dark pictures, and save the result as a preset.Data & storageTreetor keeps a working copy of your trees in one local data folder. Settings › Data & storage shows the folder this installation uses and lets you move it to a bigger drive or another local location.
Part 8
Reference
Keyboard shortcuts, data locations, multiple accounts, and troubleshooting.
Keyboard shortcutsEvery keyboard shortcut in the Tree Editor, exactly as listed in the app under Help, plus the annotation editor's keys. Print this page or keep it open in a second window while you learn Treetor.Where your data livesTreetor is local-first: a working copy of every tree stays on your own disk, while optional Sync & Backup stores only end-to-end encrypted copies. This page maps every local file and folder Treetor writes.Multiple accounts on one PCTwo people — or your work and personal accounts — can use Treetor on the same computer. Signing accounts in or out does not change the local tree folder; a marker only records which account owns Sync for that folder.Troubleshooting & FAQReview Treetor's current limitations, including conflict-safe sync copies, then find fixes for screen capture, save, export, and import problems and learn what to send support.
Still stuck?
Ask a human.
If a guide does not answer your question, contact support — a short description and a screenshot is all we need.