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Using Multiple Panes / Split Screen
Using Multiple Panes / Split Screen

You can open several documents or parts of a document at once and show them side by side.

Soren Bjornstad avatar
Written by Soren Bjornstad
Updated over a week ago

You can open several documents (or parts of a single document) at once and show them side-by-side on your screen, making it easy to refer to information in one while writing the other, drag and drop Rems between them, or compare them.

Opening a second pane

In general, any time clicking or pressing Enter would take you to a new location in RemNote, holding down the Shift key will instead open that location in a new pane.

Shift+click on a bullet, Rem Reference, or sidebar item

When scrolling through your notes, you can hold Shift and click on any bullet or Rem Reference to open it in a new pane. This also works with documents shown on the sidebar.

Shift+Enter while searching

While searching your knowledge base with Ctrl+P (Cmd+P on a Mac), press Shift+Enter to open it a new pane, rather than pressing Enter or clicking on it to replace the current pane.

Opening more panes

With either method described above, you can open more panes until everything you need is in view; RemNote will split the current pane in the opposite direction of the last split each time.

Resizing panes

You can change the relative size of your open panes by clicking and dragging on the dividers between them.

Moving and swapping panes

You can move and swap panes by clicking and dragging the top bar of the Pane. Holding near the edges will highlight different possible placements in blue. Find the one you want and drop the pane there.

Moving and copying between panes

While you have two or more panes open, you can move Rems between them with a simple click and drag. You can even select multiple Rems and move them all at the same time. Simply highlight all the ones you want to move then click and drag.

You can also copy a Rem in one pane and paste it in another, including as a reference, portal, or tag. When you press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac) without selecting anything, the current Rem will be copied to your clipboard. When you then paste into the other pane, a menu will appear asking how you want to paste.

Managing panes with the keyboard

You can use omnibar commands to change the relative size of a pane: press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac) to open the command menu, then type rd or ru to resize the current pane a small distance down or up, respectively. The commands rr or rl do the same right or left.

This is slow and annoying by itself, though; these commands exist mostly so you can bind them to more convenient keyboard shortcuts of your choice in the Split Pane section of Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts. There are similar shortcuts (not assigned by default) for switching panes, closing them, and so on.

Related plugins

If you like to create complex layouts of panes, the Tabs and Window Manager plugins (both of which you can find in Settings > Plugins) can help you save them for later use so you don’t have to keep recreating them every time you switch tasks.

Use cases for multiple panes

As a student

  • Keep your textbook open as a PDF while studying to save time and connect your notes to it more easily.

  • Take notes while reading research papers using the PDF Annotator in Split Screen

  • Create synthesized notes after each class by turning raw notes from one Pane into organized and connected ones in another.

  • Open details on complex or difficult topics in new panes so you can refer to them while reading your main notes.

  • Keep today's Daily Document open in a second pane to quickly add reminders or tasks for the day.

In the workplace

  • Easily move or copy important information across or into and out of client folders

  • Use the PDF annotator in Split Screen to take notes on company copy or content

  • Turn raw meeting notes into actionable tasks and well-organized minutes by keeping them open in another pane.

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