Our main focus as we've been designing Kortex is simplicity. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to sit down, open a document, and start writing anything you want.

But we've also been adding some powerful features - ones that can easily be overlooked. Here's a quick overview of 10 "hidden" features of Kortex that are a little more out of the way yet can add a lot of power to your workflow:

Note: under each feature overview is a short clip showing you how to use it.

‍

1) Focus Mode and full width

Sometimes you want to write without all the other visual clutter distracting you. That's why we added a toggle for Focus Mode - toggle it on, and the left sidebar is hidden, letting you focus on your document. You can also activate/deactivate Focus Mode by opening the Command Menu (shortcut: command k) and typing "focus".

Similarly, sometimes it's good to have your document take up more space on your screen, which is why we also added a toggle for full width.

‍

2) Favorites

As you add more documents in your second brain, things can quickly get crowded - so you need to be able to efficiently locate your most-used documents. For those, we recommend marking them as a Favorite, which will show them high on the left sidebar for easy access.

‍

3) Capturing to a document

Captures are another area that can become crowded without proper organization. One of the best ways to keep your Captures neat is to utilize the Capture to document feature. There are 3 ways to activate this (all shown below):

• Right click a document in the left sidebar then click Capture in the popup
• Click the Capture button in the top right corner of the document open in your main pane
• While in capture, type @ or [[]], then type in the name of a document you want your Capture(s) related to

Each of these methods will put the Capture window in a "filtered" state (as shown by the words "Capturing to documentname" and the background overlay). In the filtered state, only Captures related to that document are shown, and Captures you enter will be related to that document.

‍

4) Connections

Your brain contains trillions of connections between neurons. Your second brain should contain connections between documents. Why? Because it helps with organization as well as retention, comprehension, and idea generation.

The more connections you create, the easier it is to navigate your documents, and the faster you'll think of novel intersections of ideas. However, it's not something you have to do for every document. Be intentional with your connections to make sure they're useful to you.

To connect a document to any other document - type [[ or @ and you'll see suggested documents pop up. You can either pick from this list or start typing the name of the document you want to add a connection to.

‍

5) Properties

A longer document can easily get cluttered with the subdocuments, incoming/outgoing connections, and tags you use with it. That's why we created the Properties dropdown - so you can see these things at a glance. You can also:

• Click on a subdocument to open that document in the main pane
• Click on a connection to open that document in a side pane
• Click on a tag to jump to the first instance of that tag

Note that the Properties dropdown won't show until there's something to show. It won't be there in an empty document. It'll only become active when a subdocument, connection, or tag is added to the document.

‍

6) Reminders

Imagine you write out a few posts for the week ahead… but then you forget about them (and maybe even lose them amongst your documents). To make sure you remember to post them, you can easily set a Reminder in the document containing those posts by typing @remind me in timeperiod.

For example, if you want a reminder in 3 days, simply type @remind me in 3 days. You'll get a notification in the bottom left corner of your screen, and when you click on it, you can navigate right to the document where you put the reminder.

‍

7) Character and word count

Many social media platforms limit the number of characters you can have in one post. We added a simple character and word counter which is shown at the bottom left of every document so you can keep up with them. We also made it so that when you highlight a certain area of your text, the counter switches to only count the characters and words in your selection, making it easy for you to double check sections meant for longform posts like threads on X.

‍

8) PDF Reader (and Highlighter)

When you add a new Source to the Library, you have the option to upload a PDF for that Source. This is particularly useful for things like books, articles, and research papers. If you upload a PDF, then navigate to that Source, you can then read the PDF inside Kortex - and you can even create highlights right there in the reader which can then be referenced in your documents.

‍

9) Custom elements

One of the most customizable features in Kortex is Elements. The default Elements in Kortex are useful, but when your work requires something a little more specific, you can create your own custom Elements.

Simply type /new and you'll see the New Element option /new pop up. Click it (or arrow down to it and hit Enter on it) and the Create New Element window will pop up. Give your element a name, and then if you want, you can change its icon, give it a description, and/or add it to an Element Group.

And if you want to edit (or delete) an Element (or Element Group)? You can easily do so by going into Settings → Elements.

‍

10) Publishing

Elements (custom or standard) are the best way to start making templates you can reuse for your own work. You can also Publish those templates so that others can use them. To Publish a document, click on the Share icon in the top right corner, go to the Publish tab, click Publish to Web, then copy the new URL shown in the box.

Note: It's important to make sure you're sharing the correct link when trying to share a Published document. You can easily tell when you have the right URL because it'll say "public" in it - like this one:

https://app.kortex.co/public/document/e9c3da08-b546-4e84-bea4-3225d702538b

When someone else clicks on the link for your Published document, they'll see the document along with a Duplicate button in the top right corner, which will allow them to create a copy of that document in their account's workspace.

‍

Your next steps

Now go try these features out for yourself! If you run into any issues - or if you just have questions - feel free to contact Joey by sending him an email (joey@kortex.co) or a direct message on Discord (joeyjusticeco). Speaking of Discord, if you haven't yet joined the Kortex community, do so now! It's free to join - click right here to accept the Discord invite and you'll be able to ask questions, come to free live events, and network with other users.

Thank you for reading!

‍