Introduction

Welcome to Plainpad — a simple, self-hosted note taking application designed with privacy and ease of use in mind.

What is Plainpad?

Plainpad is an open source, self-hosted note taking application that runs on your own server. It provides a clean, distraction-free interface for writing and organizing your notes. Because it's self-hosted, your data stays entirely under your control — no third-party services involved.

Key Concepts

Notes

Notes are the core of Plainpad. Each note has a title and content, written as plain text. Notes are saved automatically as you type and are accessible from any device connected to your server. Rich Markdown editing with live preview is available as a premium enhancement.

Users

Plainpad supports multiple user accounts. Each user has their own private collection of notes. Administrators can manage users and application settings, while regular users can create and manage their own notes.

Encryption

Plainpad offers optional database encryption. When enabled, your notes are encrypted before being stored in the database, ensuring that no one — not even the server administrator — can read your encrypted notes without your passphrase.

Offline Access

Plainpad includes Progressive Web App (PWA) foundations, but full offline access is not enabled by default. Installable offline use with background sync — so changes you make offline are synced when you reconnect — is available as a premium enhancement we enable and configure for you.

Getting Started

Once your administrator has set up Plainpad, you can:

  1. Log in with the credentials provided by your admin
  2. Start creating notes from the main interface
  3. Use the search feature to find notes quickly
  4. Adjust your personal settings (language, encryption, etc.)

Browser Compatibility

Plainpad works best with modern, up-to-date browsers. Supported browsers include:

  • Google Chrome (v80+)
  • Mozilla Firefox (v78+)
  • Microsoft Edge (v80+)
  • Apple Safari (v13+)

The optional PWA enhancement (offline mode, home screen install) works best on Chrome or Edge on desktop and Safari on iOS.

Continue to Initial Configuration to learn how to set up your account preferences.