SEO Note graphical user interface

Open SEO Note and you get two panes, not a ribbon full of mystery. Left: the tree of notes. Right: the editor for whatever node you selected. Everything else — format indicator, toolbars, status bar — hangs off that split. Once you know where focus lives, the rest stops feeling cryptic.

SEO Note is a free Windows notes manager: one local file, hierarchical notes, plain text / rich text / HTML. No account. The GUI is built for structuring and editing offline, not for cloud dashboards or mobile parity.

Main window at a glance

Left — tree panel

• Notes as a hierarchy
• Bookmark / section labels (e.g. Addresses, Reports)
• Expand parents with [+] / [-]

Right — editor

• Article for the selected note
• Format-specific toolbars
• Click tree vs click editor to move focus

Tree panel and bookmark sections

The tree is the navigation surface. Each item is a note; selecting it loads its article on the right. If the list is taller than the panel, use the scrollbar on the right of that window.

Bookmark (section) labels let one document hold several independent trees. Typical split: Addresses on one tab, Reports on another — same file, different maps. You are not stuck stuffing every theme under a single root.

Document
  [Addresses]   ← bookmark / section
    Home
    Work
  [Reports]
    Q1
    Q2
      Draft

That sketch is the mental model: sections up top, nested notes underneath. Drag and rename freely once you are past the first dump of content.

Focus: tree vs editor

Click the tree when you want to walk nodes, expand parents, or reorganize. Click the editor when you want to type. It sounds obvious; it matters when a shortcut seems “dead” because focus is still on the other pane. Same idea as Explorer versus Notepad side by side.

Rule: if a keystroke does nothing useful, click the pane you meant to use — tree for structure, editor for text.

Main toolbar

The main toolbar covers everyday file and clipboard work:

• Create a new SEO Note document
• Open an existing document
• Save changes
• Cut / copy / paste highlighted text
• Insert date and time into the article (dialog)

Those actions also show up in menus and hotkeys; the toolbar is the visible reminder for people who do not live in shortcuts yet. See Hot keys when you are ready to go keyboard-first.

Status bar

The status bar carries short notifications about what is going on, plus descriptions or comments for the selected program element. Glance there when you hover or select something unfamiliar — it often explains the control without opening help.

Current format indicator

Each note’s article has a format. The indicator shows which view you are in for the current note:

View	What you get
TEXT VIEW	Simple text-editor interface
WEB VIEW	HTML like a browser view
SOURCE VIEW	HTML source code of the page
RTF VIEW	Rich-text (RTF) editor

SEO Note supports three article formats (txt, html, rtf), so the chrome changes with the note. Plain text stays lean; HTML and RTF bring their own toolbars.

Editor toolbars

Toolbars exist to edit articles without hunting every command in menus. Because formats differ, you get two specialized bars: one for HTML, one for RTF.

HTML toolbar

Change font, size, and color; insert pictures and hyperlinks; apply the usual formatting you expect when the article is HTML. Pair this with Web / Source views when you need to see the rendered page or the markup.

RTF toolbar and ruler

Change font, size, color, and background color; adjust text position; insert lists; and use the other RTF editing controls. The RTF toolbar includes a ruler for layout in the editor. Units available: inches, points, centimeters, and picas — pick what matches how you think about margins.

Which chrome appears when

1 Select a note in the tree

2 Format indicator shows TEXT / WEB / SOURCE / RTF

3 Matching editor + toolbar load on the right

4 Status bar reflects selection and actions

Context menus

Both the tree panel and the editor have context menus. Right-click, or use the keyboard menu key (usually left of Ctrl). Use them for note options and editor commands without leaving the mouse near the content.

What this GUI is not

There is no multi-user live canvas, no phone layout, and no built-in AI pane. The window is deliberately close to classic Windows outliners: tree + editor + toolbars. If you need Notion-style databases or always-on sync, look elsewhere; if you need a clear map of private notes on one PC (or a USB copy of the file), this layout is the point.

Mini FAQ

Why do I see different toolbars on different notes?
Because the article format differs. HTML notes show the HTML toolbar; RTF notes show the RTF bar and ruler; plain text stays minimal.

Can one file hold more than one tree?
Yes — bookmark / section labels (Addresses, Reports, and so on) give you multiple trees inside a single document.

Where do I learn the day-to-day moves?
How to operate SEO Note covers parent/child notes, create/delete pairing, import/export, and HTML shortcuts (Ctrl+R / Ctrl+W).

Next steps

1. Download SEO Note and open a sample or empty file
2. Create two bookmark sections and add a few nested notes
3. Switch a note between formats and watch the indicator and toolbars
4. Skim Quick Start and Main features
5. When structure clicks, read Tree outliner for notes and plans

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