Themes and appearance
Pick a theme or compose your own, then set the writing color, the accent color, font, page width, bars, density and how a click on a file behaves.
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Secciones de la ayuda
Filarr lets you change how it looks without touching your files: a theme, a color, a font, and how much space the bars and lists take. Almost everything is in Settings → Appearance. The density lives in your profile menu.
Choose a theme
Open Settings → Appearance and click a card under Theme. The change is immediate.
| Theme | Look |
|---|---|
| Light | White and light grey |
| Dark | Deep blue-black |
| Space | Dark, with violet tones |
| Lofi | Light, warm beige |
| Sky | Light, pale blue |
| Aurora | Dark, with a green accent |
| Sakura | Light, soft pink |
| Twilight | Dark, with an orange accent |
| Forest | Dark green |
| Terracotta | Light, with a terracotta accent |
| Paper | Plain white, sober |
| Midnight | Night blue with a gold accent and a starry sky |
| Risograph | Light, cream paper, blue ink and offset pink shadows, headings in Bricolage Grotesque |
| India Ink | Pure black, grey washes and a single vermilion red, headings in Shippori Mincho |
| System | Follows your computer's light or dark setting |
| Custom | Your own theme, see below |
Each profile keeps its own theme.
Risograph and India Ink also change the font of headings: the note title, its section headings and the greeting on the home screen. The rest of the text keeps your font. They have their own texture too. Risograph puts an offset pink shadow under menus and windows, and highlights links between notes in yellow. India Ink has no shadow at all, only thin rules, and underlines the active tab with a vermilion stroke. Its vermilion only marks the active item and the main button: the rest of the text, links included, is written in ink, and links show by their underline. When Windows high contrast is on, the shadows go away and the borders stay.
Animated background (on by default) makes living themes move: the Midnight sky twinkles slowly. Turn it off to save battery. The stars stay, they stop moving.
Writing color
Under the themes, Writing color sets the color of your notes’ text and of the app’s main text, for the theme on screen. Each theme keeps its own color: a dark ink picked for a light theme doesn’t end up writing on India Ink’s black page.
- The theme’s own (the first dot) keeps the ink designed for the theme.
- The next six dots are inks matched to the theme: deep inks for a light theme (black, midnight blue, sepia, fir green, violet, burgundy), pale inks for a dark theme (ivory, pearl grey, light amber, mint, lavender, pale pink). Only the ones that stay clearly readable on that theme are offered.
- Custom… opens a picker for any color.
- The preview line shows the text on the theme’s page, with its contrast. Below 4.5:1, Filarr warns you that reading will be tiring.
- Reset gives the theme its own ink back.
If a chosen color becomes unreadable on its theme (less than 3:1, for instance after you rework a custom theme), Filarr writes with the theme’s ink and tells you so under the dots (Hard to read on this theme). Your choice comes back as soon as it is readable again.
The same color can also be set with Aa, in a note’s bar: see Write in comfort. It is kept on this device, for the current profile, like the notes’ typography.
Light or dark in one click
- The Toggle theme button in the top bar (sun or moon icon) switches between Light and Dark. From any other theme, it goes to Dark.
- In the command palette (
Ctrl+P), type Light theme or Dark theme.
The button is hidden when the window is very narrow. The setting stays in Settings → Appearance.
Create your own theme
- In Settings → Appearance → Theme, click Custom. The Theme studio opens, with a live preview on the right.
- Under Starting points, click one of the eight swatches (Ink, Night, Forest, Plum, Paper, Sand, Mist, Rose). Each one is a background and an accent that already go together.
- Under Colours, set the Background and the Accent (buttons, links, selection). The Text color is derived from the background unless you pick one. Derive goes back to automatic.
- Read the line under the colors: it gives the contrast of the text on the background. If the background cannot reach a comfortable contrast, the studio says so and pushes the text as far as it can.
- Under Backdrop, click Choose an image if you want a picture behind the app. Adjust Presence (how visible it is) and Blur.
- Pick a living backdrop if you like: None, Cursor glow, Constellation, Aurora or Clock behind. It can sit on top of the image.
- Under This theme also carries, tick what the theme should pin down: Font, Accent colour, Bars display, Panels on hover, Animated background. A ticked box saves your current value in the theme. An unticked one leaves that setting alone.
- Click Apply this theme.
About the image:
- PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and AVIF are accepted. Animated GIF, WebP and AVIF keep their animation.
- A living backdrop and an animated image freeze when Animated background is off, or when your system asks for reduced motion.
- An animated image that is too heavy is refused. If the theme is too large to be saved, Filarr applies it but warns you that it will be gone at the next start: pick a lighter image.
The custom theme is kept on this device, for the current profile. Click Custom again to edit it.
Accent color
Accent color changes the main color of buttons, links and selections.
- Theme color (the first dot) keeps the colors designed for your theme.
- The next dots are ready-made colors.
- The + dot opens a color picker for any color.
Any color other than Theme color replaces the theme's own tones. It doesn't color the text: headings, names and figures keep the theme’s ink, or your writing color.
Font
Under Font, pick the typeface used throughout the app: Inter, System, Geist, JetBrains Mono, Georgia, Nunito, Space Grotesk, Atkinson Hyperlegible or Plus Jakarta Sans. The desktop app starts with Inter, the web app with Plus Jakarta Sans. With Risograph or India Ink, headings use the theme's font, and the rest of the text keeps the one you pick here.
To change the font of a single note, use the note's own options instead, see Write in comfort.
Page width
Page width sets how wide the pages are:
- Centred: a bounded column, easier to read. This is the default.
- Full width: pages take the whole window.
It applies to vaults, the marketplace, reminders and the trash. The home screen has its own width setting, in its editing bar: see Customize your home.
Bars display
Bars display chooses which bars frame your tabs. Press Ctrl+Shift+B at any time to go to the next mode, in the desktop app and in the web app.
| Mode | What you see |
|---|---|
| All bars | The top bar (search, sync, profile) and your tabs, in that bar when there is room |
| Floating bar | The top bar as a floating pill, centered, plus the tabs |
| Side rail | The top bar folded into a vertical rail on the left, plus the tabs |
| Top bar on hover | The top bar appears when the pointer reaches the top, plus the tabs |
| Tabs only | The tab bar alone |
| Search only | The top bar alone, tabs hidden |
| No bars | No bar at all |
Density
Density is set in your profile menu: click your avatar at the top right. It sets how tight lists and grids are:
- Comfortable (the default)
- Compact
- Dense
A check mark shows the current density. In the bars modes without a top bar, the avatar is not on screen: switch back to All bars first.
What a click on a file does
File click behavior is on by default: a single click on a file opens its details panel, and a double-click opens the file. Turn it off to open files with a single click.
Other appearance settings
- Note panels on hover (off by default): the notes list and the note inspector step aside and come back when the pointer reaches the edge of the page. The small buttons in the top corners of the note pin them again. In a narrow window, they always open on demand, as a drawer and a panel.
- Recent notes on the home screen (on by default): shows your latest edited notes on the home screen. Daily notes are left out.
- Hide the enterprise space: see Create or join an organization.
When your organization decides
An organization can set a theme and a font on its members' devices, and enforce them. When the theme is enforced, the theme grid in Settings → Appearance is greyed out with the message Your organization chose the app theme. The choice is not available on this device. The Toggle theme button and the command palette can still switch between light and dark until Filarr restarts. Admins set all this in the console, see Run your organization.