See the "Pads User Manual" for complete documentation. This overview is provided to give you a quick idea of the main features of Pads. This is mostly the same information that is included on the web site <http://www.fractaldomains.com/pads/>
Introduction
The major features of Pads can be described in a few sentences:
The basic function of Pads is similar to Note Pad. See "Note Pad Functions" for more.
A page in Pads can hold any amount of text, limited only by available memory. Text may contain any combination of fonts of any size or style. See "Pads Text" for more.
A title may optionally be assigned to each page. A menu button next to the title allows a page to be selected by title. See "Pads Titles" for more.
Pages can be grouped by category. Initially there is a miscellaneous category named "Notes" which always exists. You may create as many additional categories as you want. A single page may belong to more than one category if you wish! A pop up menu in the document window allows you to change categories quickly and easily See "Pads Categories" for more.
Any page may become a "tear-off" page (similar to the notes in Stickies) by clicking on the tear-off bar directly above the page text. The original note remains in the Pads document, and closing the tear-off window does not delete the original page. Any changes made to the page in the document window are refected in the tear-off page, and vice-versa. See "Pads Tear-off Pages" for more.
Note Pad Functions
The standard Apple "Note Pad" application keeps a file with your notes in the System Folder. You can add new notes at any time by picking "New Note" from the file menu or by typing Command-N. You can page through the notes sequentially or find a string in a note with the "Find..." menu item.
Pads works the same way. A default file is initially created with for your notes, although you may create new files and have more than one open at once (hence the application is named "Pads" in the plural). You can page through them by clicking the arrows at the bottom left of the Pads window, and the page number is shown on the bottom right. A new note is created with "New Page" or a Command=N, and a Find function is also available.
The basic Note Pad functions in Pads are so similar to the Note Pad application that you can start using it right away. You can even import any notes you are currently keeping in "Note Pad" into Pads very easily. Just use the "Import Note Pad" function, choosing the file named "Note Pad File" in your System Folder.
Just as there is no "Save" command in Note Pad, there is no "Save" command in Pads. Whenever you change pages or quit Pads, the current page is saved to disk. (There is a "Save As..." command available if you want to save a copy of your Pads document under another name).
The default document that is opened when you open Pads resides in a folder named "Pads Files" which resides in the Preferences folder of your System Folder. The default document is named "Notes."
Pads Text
The amount of text that can be stored in a Pads page is limited only by the amount of memory available.
The font, size and style of any characters can be changed by selecting the text to be changed and using the menus labled Font, Size and Style.
Styled text may also be pasted in from another document; text selections may be dragged in from other documents.
Text within a page may be rearranged by dragging and dropping text selections.
Pads Titles
A title may be added to any page. Titles can be displayed in two styles; you can choose which style you prefer in the Pads preferences.
Clickable titles are the default style. The titile is displayed as a button at the top of the page. A new title can be added, or an existing title can be edited by clicking directly on the button.
If you don't like having your titles displayed as buttons, you can choose the "non-clickable" style. The title is displayed in an inset gray box. Above the title, there is an "Edit Title" button with a pencil icon. The title can be created or edited by clicking on the Edit Title" button.
With either title style, you can also edit the title by typing Command-Space.
A menu of titles in the current category is available to the right of the title. Using this menu, you can go directly to any page with a title in the current category.
Pads Categories
All notes in Pads belong to at least one category. Categories exist so that you don't have to keep your notes in one big hodgepodge (although you can if you wish!)
One category exists in every Pads document. This category is named "Notes" and cannot be deleted or renamed. You can create additional categories via the "New Category..." command in the Pads menu.
There is a pop-up menu at the bottom of the Pads window for switching categories. Each category acts like a separate note pad with its own set of pages.
Here is a subtle point: a page can belong to more than one category. When viewing a page in any category, you can choose "Add Page To Category..." from the Pads menu to make the page a member of another category whilre remaining a member of the current category. The page is not copied, there is still one page but it belongs to two cateogries. Any changes made to the page while in one category will be seen when viewing the page in the other category.
If you wish to move the page to another category (making it a member of another category while removing it from the current category) then choose "Move Page To Category..." from the Pads menu.
The ability to make a page a member of more than one category gives you an extra degree of versatility. You can make temporary categories for current projects and add pages from more permanent categories in order to make small working groups of nots from your larger body of notes.
Because a page can belong to more than one category, there is a difference between the commands "Delete Page" and "Remove Page From Category" in the Pads menu. "Remove Page From Category" removes the currently viewed page from the current category, but does not remove it from any other category it may belong to. "Delete Page" removes the page completely from the document, removing it from all categories it belongs to.
Although a page may belong to more than one category, it must always belong to at least one category. Therefore, if the command "Remove Page From Category" is applied to a page that belongs to only one category, it has the same effect as "Delete Page."
Pads Tear-off Pages
Tear-off pages are one of the most useful features of Pads. Similar to the notes you can make in Stickies, you can create and destroy tear-off pages without affecting the underlying note.
A tear-off page may be formed from any existing Pads page by clicking on the tear-off bar directly above the text of the note and dragging the outline of the new tear-off window to the location you wish the window to be placed.The tear-off page is a mirror of the text in the original page — any further editing of the original page will be reflected in the tear-off page.
The default color may be chosen in the Pads Preferences, but at any rate you can change the background color of any tear-off page via the Tear-Off menu or via a contextual menu.
The tear-off pages can be temporarily hidden via a menu command, so that the Pad document may be accessed without having the tear-off pages in the way. You may also hide the Pad document while leaving the tear-off pages visible if you wish.
All tear-off pages are remembered when the Pads document is closed. When the document is opened again, all tear-off pages will appear in the location they were left at.
Tear-off pages are very useful for simultaneously viewing disparate pieces of information in your notes collection. If you need to consult more than one note you can click the tear-off bar for each one and view them all at once without flipping back and forth between notes.
