Theme and defaults

Theme covers light or dark mode, an accent colour and a body font chosen from a curated list or anything on Google Fonts. Defaults set what new notes and shapes start as — colours, font, size, stroke — and whether clusters open as a canvas or a list. All of it is stored on your account and follows you between devices.

Theme

Settings → Theme.

  • Mode — light or dark. ⌘K → "toggle theme" switches it without opening settings.
  • Accent — the highlight colour used through the interface.
  • Body font — a curated list of around twenty-five families, plus anything available on Google Fonts.

Theme is stored on your account, not the browser, so it follows you to any device you sign in on. Fonts you have used recently are pre-loaded so text does not flash in a fallback face on a cold load.

Readability across themes

Text colour in notes and documents is resolved against the background it actually sits on. A note authored in light mode stays readable to a collaborator working in dark mode, and to anyone opening a public link.

The reserved accent

The gold accent means active, selected or focused. It is reserved for the interface and is not part of the content palette — so "this is selected" never gets confused with "this is gold" on a colourful board.

Defaults

Settings → Defaults. What new things start as, so you are not restyling every one.

DefaultApplies to
Note background, text colour, font, sizeEvery new note
Shape font, stroke colour, fill colour, stroke widthEvery new shape
Default viewWhether clusters open as canvas or list

Defaults are workspace-scoped, so a workspace can have a consistent look without anyone enforcing it by hand.

Display

Settings → Display.

  • Clean mode (⌘.) — hides interface chrome for presenting or screenshots
  • Sidebar open by default

Custom fonts

Beyond the curated list, any Google Fonts family can be added and is then available everywhere a font is chosen — notes, documents, shapes and the body font.

Screenplays are the exception: they are always Courier, because the format requires it and page count depends on it.

Frequently asked questions

Does my theme follow me between devices?

Yes. Theme is a per-user account setting, not a browser one, so it syncs everywhere you sign in.

Can I use any font?

A curated list of about twenty-five is built in, and beyond that you can pull any family from Google Fonts.

Will notes made in light mode be unreadable in dark mode?

No. Text colours are resolved against the actual background, so notes stay legible in either theme.

Machine-readable: /docs/account/theme-and-defaults.md · /llms.txt