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Get Subtextual.

Subtextual runs in any modern browser at editing.help/app. On a Mac, there are two apps: Subtextual for Mac and Subtextual Capture. On Windows, Linux and Chromebook, install the web app and it opens like any other app.

For Mac

Subtextual for Mac

The writing page with depth, as a Mac app. Every paragraph keeps its thinking beneath it, and your documents are saved as files on your Mac.

Download for Mac

Coming to the Mac App Store

The download from this page adds sign-in, to sync, share and publish to Field Guides, and, if you want it, Claude on this Mac through your own Claude Code.

Version 1.0.13 · 4.5 MB · signed and notarized by Apple

Verify this download

SHA-256 7cde15a22990fbee07a49a5e459fe339912e3a52a50b83d2d924e5dc52cca3c8

Requires
macOS 14 Sonoma or later
Runs on
Apple silicon and Intel Macs
Price
Free to download
Updates
Downloaded from this page, the app checks editing.help for new versions. From the App Store, it updates through the App Store.
The whole Subtextual window: the sidebar with its documents, the page with the sample essay, and the second paragraph’s thinking open beside it.

Subtextual Capture

A small menu-bar app for catching what you read: highlight a sentence or drag over part of the screen, and add a note about why it caught your attention. Mac only. More about Capture

Coming to the Mac App Store

Requires
macOS 15 Sequoia or later
Runs on
Apple silicon and Intel Macs
Price
Free for now

Windows, Linux and Chromebook: install the web app.

The web app installs from Chrome or Edge. It opens in its own window, with its own icon, and it’s the same Subtextual as in the browser.

  1. Open the app.

    Go to editing.help/app in Chrome or Edge.

  2. Choose Install.

    Chrome: click the install icon at the right end of the address bar, or open the ⋮ menu, then Cast, save and share, then Install page as app.
    Edge: open the ⋯ menu, then Apps, then Install this site as an app.

  3. Write.

    Subtextual opens in its own window. Find it again with your other apps: the Start menu, the launcher or the dock.

Chrome’s install icon sits at the right end of the address bar.
  • Safari on a Mac: open editing.help/app, then choose File, then Add to Dock. The Dock app keeps its own website data, separate from Safari’s, so documents written in a Safari tab without an account stay in Safari. Export them from there and import them in the Dock app, or sign in to sync.
  • Firefox: Firefox doesn’t install web apps. Subtextual works in a regular tab.