An offline notepad inside your browser
What works with no connection, and what does not. No guesswork.
Short answer: Notes you already saved open and edit offline. Loading a website and syncing to Google Drive need the internet. Nothing else does.
Why this works offline at all
Floating Notes keeps every note in your browser’s own storage, on your machine. There is no server call between you and your text, so a lost connection changes nothing about reading or writing.
Most tools called an online notepad are websites: no network, no notepad. This one is an extension, which is why it behaves like a notepad offline while still living on the web pages you use.
No account is needed for local notes. Signing in exists only for paid features, so being offline never locks you out of your own writing.
What works with no internet
- Reading saved notes: every note you already wrote opens as usual.
- Editing and formatting: typing, checklists, lists, bold and links all work.
- Creating a note: on a page that is already open, or in the floating window.
- Search: the notes page searches your local notes, not a remote index.
- Export to JSON: a full copy of your notes, saved to your own disk.
What still needs a connection
- Loading a website: the browser needs the network to open the page you want to annotate. Your notes for that page are already local.
- Google Drive sync (Pro): changes queue up and go out when you are back online.
- Signing in and buying: account and payment pages are online by nature.
Where a browser notepad without internet actually helps
- On a plane, reading a downloaded page and writing your notes beside it.
- On hotel or conference wifi that drops every few minutes.
- On a train, where the connection comes and goes and a web app keeps losing your draft.
- In an office with a strict network, where an external notepad service is blocked but the browser is not.
The honest limits
- Removing the extension can remove its local data. Export a JSON copy before reinstalling.
- A note is tied to a page address, so to see it in context you still open that page, which needs the network.
- Free notes hold up to 5,000 characters; Pro raises that to 100,000. Neither limit depends on being online.
Related
- Quick notes: how capture works when you have two seconds.
- Save from a page: keeping a quote together with its source.