Guide

How to use Clurb

Everything Clurb does, and how to do it with touch, a trackpad or keys.

Getting started

Clurb needs macOS 27 or later. While it's in beta, you install it through TestFlight: ask for an invite, open the link on your Mac, and choose Install.

When Clurb opens, you'll see a short welcome. After that, Clurb lives in two places:

  • The pin in your menu bar. Click it for New Note, New Board, Save Link, your recent clips and Settings.
  • Clurb in the Dock. Click it to open the Clurb window with everything you've made. Right-click it for New Note and New Board.

You can hide the Dock icon in Settings, Desk, if you'd rather Clurb live only in the menu bar.

Notes

Make one

Press ⌃⌥N in any app. You can also choose New Note from the menu bar pin or the Dock, or press ⌘N while Clurb is in front. The note opens ready to type.

Move it and type in it

  1. Drag the strip with three dotsMoves the note
  2. Tap or click the paperStarts typing
  3. Click the strip onceSelects the note and shows its tools
  4. Return on a selected noteStarts typing
  5. EscStops typing, then deselects
  6. Arrow keys, or ⇧ + arrow keysNudge 1 or 10 points

Notes rest on your desktop, behind your windows, so they stay out of your way while you work.

Lists

Start a line with - [ ] for a checkbox, - for a bullet, or 1. for a numbered list, or choose from Format in the note's tools. Tap a checkbox to tick it. Ticked items sink below the ones still to do. The first line of a note is its title.

Color, size, copies

  1. C, or Color in the toolsButter, Mint, Peach, Lilac
  2. Drag the round corner handle, or pinchResize
  3. ⌘= and ⌘−Bigger and smaller
  4. ⌘DDuplicate

Photos and drawing

Drop an image on a note, or paste one with ⌘V, and it's taped on. A note holds three. Click a photo to see it large.

Press D (or Draw in the note's tools) to draw with a pen, a highlighter or an eraser. Press D again or Esc when you're done. Ink sits above the text.

Links in a note

Web addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and street addresses get a dotted underline. Tap one to open it in Safari, Mail, FaceTime or Maps.

Pins and reminders

Pin a note (P, or Pin in its tools) and it floats above your windows until you unpin it. Pinned notes wear your pin, which you can restyle in Settings.

Remind yourself (R, or Reminder in its tools). Pick a suggested time, or type one, like tomorrow 9am or fri 3pm, and repeat it weekly if you like. When it's due, the note comes forward, even if your desk is hidden, and macOS shows a notification. Snooze it for 10 minutes, an hour or until tomorrow.

Bookmarks can have reminders too.

Boards

A board is a set of columns on your desktop, for a project, a trip or the week ahead. Its background is clear, so your wallpaper shows through.

  1. New Board, in the menu bar pin or the DockMakes a board with To Do, Doing, Done
  2. Click the board's name, then click it againRenames it
  3. Drag a note or bookmark onto a columnPuts it on the board
  4. Drag a card off the boardMakes it a note on your desk again
  5. Move to Board, in a note's menuThe same, without dragging
  6. ⌥⌘← ⌥⌘→Moves the selected card to the next column
  7. Double-click a card, or ReturnEdits it
  8. The + after the last columnAdds a column

Drop a link from Safari, a file, a folder or an image onto a column and it becomes a card. Tick checkboxes right on the cards. When a project is over, archive the whole board. It comes back exactly as it was.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks are small luggage tags for websites, files and folders.

  1. ⌃⌥L in your browserSaves the page in front of you
  2. Save Link, in the menu bar pinPaste or type a link, or choose files
  3. Drop a file or folder on a board, or on Clurb in the DockMakes a tag for it
  4. Tap the tagOpens it
  5. Drop one tag on anotherStacks them into a group
  6. Return on a selected tagRenames it

The first time you press ⌃⌥L, macOS asks whether Clurb may read your browser's current page. That's the only thing Clurb ever asks your browser for.

Clipboard

Clurb can keep what you copy for a while, so you can find it again. It's off until you turn it on in Settings, Clipboard. macOS will ask you to allow it.

  1. ⌃⌥VShows the clips you copied lately
  2. Click a clipCopies it again
  3. Pin a clipKeeps it on your desk, so it doesn't expire
  4. ⌃⌥PPauses and resumes watching
  5. ⌃⌥MPresenting mode: masks everything while you share your screen

Sign-in codes, card numbers and keys show as stripes until you peek, and items from password managers are skipped entirely. Clips expire on their own (a day by default, private ones sooner) and never leave your Mac.

The Clurb window

Click Clurb in the Dock, or press ⌘0 while Clurb is in front. The window lists every note, bookmark and board and shows where each one is: on the desk, on a board, or in the Archive. Search finds things anywhere.

  • Show brings an item forward on your desk.
  • Archive keeps what you're done with, off the desk. Unarchive puts it back where it was.
  • Recently Deleted (⌘Y) keeps what you delete for 30 days. Put Back restores it.

Keeping the desk tidy

  1. ⌃⌥HHides everything, and shows it again
  2. ⌃⌥BBrings your boards in front of your windows
  3. ⌃⌥TSee through Clurb to the window behind
  4. Delete on a selected itemDeletes it. ⌘Z brings it back
  5. Move to Display, in an item's menuSends it to another screen

Clurb remembers where everything sits on each of your displays, and puts it back after a restart.

All the shortcuts

The ones that work in any app (you can change them in Settings, Shortcuts):

  1. ⌃⌥NNew note
  2. ⌃⌥LSave the front browser's page
  3. ⌃⌥VShow clips
  4. ⌃⌥BShow boards
  5. ⌃⌥HHide or show everything
  6. ⌃⌥PPause or resume clipboard watching
  7. ⌃⌥MPresenting mode
  8. ⌃⌥TSee through Clurb

On a selected note: Return type, C color, P pin, R reminder, D draw, ⌘D duplicate, ⌘= ⌘− size, Delete delete. Help, Keyboard Shortcuts in the app lists them too.

Settings worth knowing

  • Desk: whether notes and bookmarks rest behind or float in front of your windows, see-through, the sticky pad, dates on notes, the Dock icon, and opening Clurb at login.
  • Touch: tap paper to type, press and hold for the menu, bigger touch targets, pinch to resize.
  • Pin: your pin's face and color.
  • Shortcuts: change any shortcut above.

Something not working?

See Support, or write to hello@getclurb.com.