✱ Home

✱ Home is the central hub of your note-taking system. It provides a quick overview of your key information and links to all major sections, like ✱ Journal, ✱ Hubs, and Resources.

You can include any information or links you use frequently. For example, I keep links to my bank details and social security number in my ✱ Home note.

It’s the first note you’ll create and access when using the Forever ✱ Notes system.  

Step 1: Setup ‍

Get the Apple Shortcut: Create ✱ Home Note in Apple Notes

or:

1. ‍Open the Notes app.
2. Tap the New Note icon (bottom-right corner).
3. In the first line, type ✱ Home (this will automatically become the title of the note).
4. Tap the “Aa” formatting button (usually above the keyboard).
5. From the formatting options, select “Heading”‍
6. Type your categories of choice, i.e. "Projects", "Areas", "Resources".
7. Then link your existing notes or create new ones for each category by typing >>
8. Add the tag #ForeverNotes to the bottom of the note.
9. To pin the note, go back to the Notes list by tapping the back arrow.
10. Find your note titled ✱ Home in the list, swipe right on it, and tap the Pin icon for easy access.

Step 2: Access

We want super fast access to the ✱ Home note, so we will set up shortcuts to this note.

Get the Apple Shortcut: Open ✱ Home Note

or:

Create the Shortcut:

1. Launch the Shortcuts app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the “+” icon in the top-right corner to create a new shortcut.‍‍
3. Tap “Add Action.”‍
4. In the search bar, type “Find Notes” and select it from the options.
5. Tap on “Find Notes where” and set it to search for “Name” and then type “✱ Home” in the field. This tells the shortcut to search for a note called “✱ Home.”‍
6. Tap the “+” again to add another action.
7. In the search bar, type “Open Note” and select it. This will open the note that was found in the previous step.
8. Tap the play icon (triangle) at the bottom of the screen to test the shortcut and ensure that it opens the correct note.‍‍
9. Tap “Done.”‍
10. Rename the shortcut to something like “Open ✱ Home Note.”

Step 3: Add to Home Screen and/or Lock Screen Control

Add the Shortcut to the Home Screen

1. Tap the three dots (…) in the top-right corner of your newly created shortcut.
2. Tap “Add to Home Screen.”‍
3. Customize the icon by choosing the asterisk (✱)  and name if desired, then tap “Add.”

Now, whenever you tap the Shortcut on your Home Screen, it will directly open the ✱ Home note in the Apple Notes app.

Add the shortcut to the Lock Screen Control

1. Press and hold your Lock Screen.
2. Tap Customize.
3. On the Lock Screen customization screen, tap the left Lock Screen Control area at the bottom of the screen.
4. You will see a list of widgets you can add.
5. Scroll through the list of available widgets and look for the Shortcuts widget.
6. Tap to add the widget to your Lock Screen.
7. After adding the Shortcuts widget, you’ll be asked to select the specific shortcut to display.
8. Choose the shortcut that opens your note called “Open ✱ Home Note.”.
9. Tap Done to save your changes to the Lock Screen.

Now, whenever you tap the Shortcuts Lock Screen control from your Lock Screen, it will directly open the ✱ Home note in the Apple Notes app.