Amplenote Explained 11: All about tagging, part 1

Tags in Amplenote are the practical answer to a common problem: as note libraries grow, scrolling and keyword search stop being reliable ways to find the right note or task. Instead of relying on titles or memory alone, tags let users organize content by type, life area, or project—functioning much like folders or notebooks in other apps. A single note can carry multiple tags, so it can belong to more than one category at once. For example, a home office renovation note can be tagged both as a “project” and as part of a broader interest like “home building,” and a writing draft can be tagged as “work” to separate it from personal items.

In Amplenote’s interface, tags appear in a sidebar and can be used to filter what shows up in different modes. In Notes mode, selecting a tag lists all notes with that tag. In Tasks mode, the same tag filters down to tasks created from notes that carry the tag. In Jots mode, the tag selection becomes a way to create new daily jots under that tag. This mode-aware behavior is the core payoff: tags aren’t just labels—they drive navigation and retrieval across the app’s note, task, and jot workflows.

Creating and assigning tags is designed to be fast. Users can add a tag directly from a note by clicking “add a tag” and searching for the tag name, then pressing Enter to create it if needed. Tags can also be assigned by dragging and dropping a note onto a tag in the note list panel. Keyboard shortcuts streamline editing: pressing Tab jumps into the tag field from the title editor, another Tab moves into the note contents, and Shift+Tab returns to the tag field. If a tag is needed as an empty container first, it can be created from the tag panel via the triple-dot menu, then later assigned to notes—effectively acting like an empty folder for checklist-style groupings.

For deeper organization, Amplenote supports hierarchical (nested) tags, where tags can contain subtags and subtags can contain more. The hierarchy is useful when a single criterion should group related items—such as separating notes by “area of life.” One approach is to create a parent tag like “area,” then drag existing tags like “personal” and “work” under it, producing a structure such as area/personal and area/work. Autocomplete then helps users avoid memorizing exact tag names by suggesting the correct hierarchy as they type.

Nested tags can also be created by editing tag settings. Renaming a tag using a slash expresses parent/child relationships—for example, changing “habits” to “to-do/habits” makes “to-do” the parent and “habits” the child. Once the hierarchy exists, related tags like “projects” can be dragged into the parent tag, keeping the sidebar tidy and making retrieval faster as the library expands.