Tack User Guide
Tack is a visual memory drawer for notes, links, files, screenshots, photos, fragments and secure information. You do not have to build the perfect filing system first. Capture the thing, give Tack enough context to recognize it later, and let retrieval do the work.
This guide explains the everyday workflow from first capture through search, previews, tags, related memories, Bring Back, Secure Tacks, editing, appearance, and library cleanup.
Start here
You can learn almost everything important about Tack from this simple loop.
Drop a file, save a note, capture a link, or create a Secure Tack.
Tack builds the searchable context and visual identity it can use later.
Use the words, subject, filename, tag, project, visual memory or fragment you actually remember.
Use the detail pane, related memories, versions, tags and Bring Back to move forward.
Capture
Use whichever intake method creates the least friction at the moment.
Drag material onto the Tack window and Tack creates a new memory from it. File URLs, web URLs, HTML and text are accepted through the main drop surface.
For file-backed Tacks, Tack keeps its own managed copy so the memory remains usable inside Tack.
Choose New Tack for a rich-text note. The name is optional; if you leave it blank, Tack can derive a useful title from the note itself.
Rich-text notes are stored locally with the Tack.
Tack can turn clipboard content into a Tack. Copied Finder files remain files; a clipboard containing exactly one web URL becomes a link; normal text remains text, even when it contains a link.
Rich text and HTML can retain useful formatting.
The Secure control creates protected entries for secrets or credit-card information. Secure Tacks are visually identified as protected and are handled differently from ordinary notes.
Rich-text notes
The note editor is intentionally useful enough for real working memory without trying to become a word processor.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bold, italic, underline | Emphasize important fragments and headings. |
| Heading / Body | Switch selected text between a stronger heading style and normal body text. |
| Text size | Choose from the sizes provided in Tack’s formatting menu. |
| Bulleted / numbered lists | Turn working notes into compact lists. |
| Checklist | Create checkbox-style list items for punchlists and reminders. |
| Radio list | Create circle-style choice items when that visual structure is useful. |
| Alignment | Left, center or right-align text. |
| Link | Add a web link to selected text. |
Search & surfacing
The Search field is labeled “What do you remember?” for a reason. Start with the clue that survived in your head.
A person, subject, product, location or phrase.
Part of a filename, note, URL or remembered sentence.
A manual tag you deliberately attached to a Tack.
A related idea that helps Tack surface something nearby in meaning or memory.
During a search, matching Tacks can show a retrieval hint so you can see why something surfaced.
If the result set is too broad, keep typing. Search is meant to tolerate imperfect memory rather than require a perfect query on the first try.
Change the vocabulary: project instead of filename, person instead of document title, place instead of date, or a phrase from inside the note.
Cards & detail pane
Tack keeps the browsing surface visual and compact, then brings the selected memory forward on the right.
Cards show the Tack’s title, date, type and a visual or text preview. Images lean heavily on recognition; notes and links retain enough text to be identifiable.
Select a Tack to bring forward its full title, content, tags, Bring Back state, related material, file path or other type-specific actions.
The preview can show the managed path and includes an Open File action. Tack also records when the source was created when that metadata is available, plus when it was Tacked.
Ordinary text Tacks can be edited without creating a second Tack.
The saved web address remains part of the Tack, making the page retrievable from the context that mattered when you saved it.
Video moments
Long videos often contain only a few seconds you want to remember. Tack can save that moment as a new related clip without changing the original video.
Choose a moment length of 10, 20, 30 or 60 seconds, then click Save Moment. Tack centers the new clip on the current playhead position.
A 20-second moment saves about 10 seconds before and 10 seconds after the current point. A 60-second moment saves about 30 seconds before and 30 seconds after.
If there is not enough video before or after the playhead to fill the selected length, Tack shortens the exported moment instead of failing.
The saved moment becomes its own related Tack. Tack gives it a readable title such as Ride — Moment at 12:43, selects the new clip when it is ready, and keeps it connected to the source video.
If you choose 30 seconds, Tack remembers that setting so the next moment is ready to use with the same duration. You can change it at any time.
Tags
Tack does not require tagging, but manual tags are useful for recurring projects, people, places, categories or workflows.
Add a tag from the selected Tack’s detail area. Keep tags short and human-readable.
Tags shown in the detail pane are active retrieval controls. Selecting one tells Tack to surface the Tacks carrying that tag.
Bring Back
Bring Back lets a Tack return at a future date so you do not have to keep carrying the reminder in your head.
Good for something you simply want waiting for you the next morning.
Useful for follow-ups, items that need time to mature, or things you deliberately do not want occupying today.
Useful for recurring reviews, product ideas and items you want to revisit after some distance.
Pick a custom date and time when the quick choices are not specific enough.
If the Tack no longer needs to come back, cancel its schedule from the same Bring Back menu.
Secure Tacks
Tack includes a separate Secure flow for secrets and credit-card information rather than treating sensitive material as an ordinary text note.
The Secure composer supports a title, identifying details, the protected secret itself and an optional note.
The credit-card form supports a title, descriptive details, card number, expiration, CVV and an optional note.
Secure Tack cards identify themselves as Protected in Keychain. Tack also deliberately avoids a keyboard shortcut that would reveal or copy protected values automatically.
Use the Secure workflow for information that should not behave like an ordinary searchable note.
Editing
Ordinary text Tacks can be edited directly from the detail pane.
The editor loads the Tack’s current name and rich text.
The name remains optional. Leaving it blank lets Tack continue deriving a usable title from the note.
Saving replaces the existing note content rather than creating a duplicate memory.
Appearance
Tack supports System, Light and Dark appearance modes. The memory model does not change when the surface does.
Tack changes with the Mac’s current appearance.
Choose a fixed appearance when you want Tack to stay visually consistent regardless of the rest of macOS.
Library management
The Library Actions menu holds the operations that affect groups of Tacks or the whole library.
Use this for product information without leaving the app.
This is especially useful after narrowing the library with Search.
Return to ordinary single-item browsing without changing the library.
Tack asks for confirmation before deleting the selected items.
This is intentionally destructive and requires confirmation.
When deleting, Tack’s confirmation explains that it removes Tack’s managed copies, thumbnails, database records, embeddings and relationships.
Original source files that live outside Tack remain where they were.
Everyday habits
The product gets better when you stop trying to make every capture perfectly organized.
Give important Tacks strong titles, but let quick notes stay quick. Searchable content is often enough.
A short note such as “good reference for Tack search behavior” can be more useful later than a bare URL.
Projects, people and recurring topics make better tags than one-off details.
If something matters later, schedule the Tack and stop rehearsing the reminder in your head.
When the Tack you found is close but not quite right, check what it reminds Tack of before starting another search.
Tack is supposed to reduce organization overhead. A rich, retrievable memory space is more useful than a pristine empty one.
Questions
No. Tack’s deletion confirmation explicitly says that original source files outside Tack are not touched. Tack removes the copies and records that Tack itself owns.
No. Tags are optional. Use them when a named association will genuinely help later.
The built-in rich-text Edit flow is for ordinary text Tacks. Files, URLs, HTML and Secure Tacks use their own type-specific behavior.
It schedules a Tack to return later. Quick choices include tomorrow at 9 AM, one week, two weeks and one month, plus a custom date and time.
They are items Tack believes look like iterations of the same work. The panel makes those passes easier to move between.
That panel surfaces a small set of related Tacks using Tack’s meaning-and-memory relationships. It is a second retrieval path beyond direct search.
Secure Tack cards identify protected values as being protected in Keychain. Secure items are also deliberately excluded from keyboard actions that would reveal or copy protected values automatically.
Yes. The separate Tack Keyboard Guide covers summon, search navigation, Quick Look, Command-Return, Escape behavior, clipboard capture, multi-selection and delete flow.
Tack
Tack works best when it becomes the place you trust with the half-finished, hard-to-classify, “I know I’ll need this again” parts of everyday work and life.