Tired of endlessly scrolling through a sea of text in Apple Notes, hunting for the piece of info you need? Not only can you separate your rumblings, receipts and recipes into different notes and folders, but you can also organize the text within each note with easy-to-navigate hierarchy using titles, headings, and collapsible sections. Find out here how to structure text with hierarchy in Apple Notes on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and the web via iCloud.com.
First, Your Ideas are Stupid Nonsense
“Your ideas are garbage.”
So, purportedly, wrote composer Richard Strauss to his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal — or vice versa; it really does not matter who said it to whom. The two shared a long and spirited, productive working relationship on quite equal footing.
“Your ideas are garbage… just stupid nonsense… truly awful. I hope you are doing fine.”
Such a cocktail of critique and goodwill can only thrive like this, of course, free from rigid or explicit structure. Any libretto, then and now, shall benefit from a structured approach, though — as can your notes in Apple Notes:
How to Structure Text Hierarchically in Apple Notes
Apple Notes for Mac
Time needed: 1 minute
To give the text in a note clear hierarchical structure in Apple Notes for Mac:
- Position the text cursor in a line you want to use for structure (as a title or heading).
Here’s where: You can highlight the full headline text or put the cursor anywhere on the line.
Contiguousness: Each headline must be on a line of its own. - Click Aa in the toolbar.
- Choose the hierarchy level for the headline from Title, Heading and Subheading.
Notes keyboard shortcuts: Press Command Shift T for Title, Command Shift H for Heading and Command Shift J for Subheading.
Using the menu: You can also select Format from the menu and pick Title, Heading and Subheading. - For text body, select Body.
Notes keyboard shortcut: For the body text, press Command Shift B.
Their word for it: Apple includes information on formatting notes in Notes for Mac User Manual.
Now, you can collapse sections, for example, to use a kind of outline view in Apple Notes and re-arrange whole sections easily.
Making any text stand out: How to Highlight Text with Color in Apple Notes
Notes for Mac Structuring Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keyboard Shortcut | Structural Element |
|---|---|
| Command Shift T | Title |
| Command Shift H | Heading |
| Command Shift J | Subheading |
| Command Shift B | Body |
Text finally sound and structured?
Tips help fuel these email and tech how-tos.
Apple Notes for iPhone and iPad
To apply structure and hierarchy to text in Apple Notes for iOS and iPadOS:
- Tap the line you want to use for structure.
A line of its own: Do make sure the line is contiguous, of course; any newline character separates two levels of hierarchy. - Tap Aa in the toolbar above the keyboard.
- Select Title, Heading, Subheading and Body as desired in the Format sheet.
Getting the text into Notes in the first place: How to Add a Voice Recording (+ Transcript) in Apple Notes
Apple Notes at iCloud.com
To mark lines of text as headlines or body using Apple Notes in a browser at iCloud.com:
- Position the text cursor in the line whose hierarchy and formatting you would like to change.
- Now click Aa (Choose a style to apply to text) in the toolbar.
- Select Title, Heading and Subheading from the menu for title and headlines or Body for body text.
How to Structure Text Hierarchically in Apple Notes: FAQ
Can I use Markdown in Apple Notes?
No.
Apple Notes does not recognize Markdown markup such as # for a heading. You can import from Markdown, though, and then integrate the text into other notes.
Can I add more headline levels?
No.
Apple Notes is limited to the three levels of title, headline and subheading. You can always apply some structural formatting to a line of body text with boldening or italicizing it.
(Tested with Notes on macOS Tahoe 26.0–26.2 and Sequoia 14.5, iOS 18 and iCloud.com in a desktop browser; first published May 2025, last updated December 2025)