Keep It for iPad and iPhone Support
Below are some answers to questions you may have about Keep It for iPad and iPhone. For questions about Keep It for Mac, see the Keep It for Mac support page.
You can also find comprehensive, searchable help files in the app by tapping this link on the iPad or iPhone where you have Keep It installed, or as follows:
- Tap the gear icon above the Lists view
- Tap the Help button in the lower right
- Choose Get Started with Keep It for a quick tour, or Browse Help to see a full list of topics
On iPad the help browser can be opened in a separate window by tapping the button next to the back button.
Questions
Paying for Keep It
- How can I buy Keep It for iPad and iPhone?
- Is there a combo subscription for Keep It for Mac, iPad and iPhone?
iCloud
- Are all the items from an iCloud library downloaded?
- How can I remove items that have been downloaded to save space?
- Is data encrypted in iCloud?
Organizing
- How can I see only what is in a folder, rather than everything?
- How can I see things that are not in any bundle or folder?
- How can I see the number of items in a particular list?
- How can I stop notes from being renamed to the first line?
Importing
- Can Keep It save web links that require a password?
- Why does trying to save a web link not work correctly?
- Can Keep It import messages from Mail?
- Can Keep It import a bookmarks HTML file?
Formats
- What formats does Keep It support?
- Can Keep It create files in other formats?
- Can Keep It create a different file format by default?
- What is the syntax for Markdown styles?
Search
General
Get In Touch
If you are having problems, please request support from within the app, as this will include additional diagnostic information. To do that:
- Tap the gear icon above the Lists view
- Tap the Help button in the lower right
- Tap Get In Touch
Otherwise, if you can't do that or find an answer here, send questions to
Generally you should expect a reply to a support request within 1 - 2 working days. If you do not, make sure to check your junk / spam folders.
Answers
How can I buy Keep It for iPad and iPhone?
Keep It for iPad and iPhone can be paid for with a monthly or yearly subscription that you purchase in the app.
See here for more information about subscriptions: Keep It Subscriptions.
Keep It for Mac and Keep It for iPad and iPhone are always paid for separately.
Is there a combo subscription for Keep It for Mac, iPad and iPhone?
No, Keep It for Mac and Keep It for iPad and iPhone are always paid for separately. For information on buying Keep It for Mac, see Trying and Buying Keep It for Mac.
Are all the items from an iCloud library downloaded?
By default items are only downloaded on demand, apart from favorite items, which are always downloaded. To set Keep It to download all items:
- Tap the gear icon at the top of the Lists view
- Switch Download All Items on
Alternatively, you can also set Keep It to download all items in favorite folders or bundles. To do that:
- Tap the gear icon above the list
- Tap Settings
- Switch "Download Items in Favorite Lists" on
How can I remove items that have been downloaded to save space?
You can remove individual downloaded items or all downloaded items. These will be removed from your iPhone or iPad, but still available in iCloud.
Note that favorite items are always downloaded, and if an item with changes has not yet been uploaded, it will not be removed. You will not be able to remove items if “Download All Items” is enabled in Library Settings.
To remove the download for a single item:
- Tap and hold on the item in the list
- Tap Remove Download
To remove several items:
- In the item list, tap Edit and select the items to remove
- Tap the remove button and tap Remove Download
To remove all items:
- Tap the gear icon at the top of the Lists view
- Tap Remove Downloads
Is data encrypted in iCloud?
Yes, with iCloud, all data is encrypted both while in transit, and when stored on Apple’s servers. See iCloud security overview for full details — Keep It uses the same encryption as iCloud Drive.
It’s also possible to encrypt individual items in Keep It with a password that only you know:
- Tap on the item to view it
- Tap the action (…) button
- Tap Encrypt
How can I see only what is in a folder, rather than everything?
By default, Keep It shows everything a folder, its subfolders and nested bundles contains, with the folder shown below the name. You can change that behavior:
- Tap the action button above the Lists view
- Tap "Show All Items In Folders"
- Choose "Never" or "When Collapsed"
Choose Always to revert to the default behavior.
How can I see things that are not filed in any bundle or folder?
To see unfiled items:
- Tap the action button above the Lists view
- Tap Show Unfiled
The Unfiled list will be shown in the Lists view below all other bundles and folders; selecting it will show all the items that are not in any folder or bundle.
How can I see the number of items in a particular list?
The number of items can be shown below the list, when there is no iCloud activity:
- Tap the (…) button above the items list
- Choose “Show Number of Items” from the menu shown
How can I stop notes from being renamed to the first line?
By default, Keep It always names notes after the first line (or sentence). To change that:
- Tap the gear icon above the Lists view
- Tap Settings
- Under the Automatically Rename heading, tap on Notes
- Tap on either "Never" or "When First Saved"
Can Keep It save web links that require a password?
Keep It cannot share login information with Safari or any other app. To save content from a web page where access is restricted that way, save a PDF directly from Safari instead:
- Tap the share button in Safari
- Tap the Options button in the share sheet
- Choose one of the PDF options and tap Done
- Tap Keep It
Why does trying to save a web link not work correctly?
Some web pages can’t be saved as PDFs, because they rely on JavaScript to put the content on screen.
Keep It disables JavaScript before loading pages to save as PDFs, as this forces well-designed web pages to load their content immediately, rather than, for example, only when you scroll portions of them into view.
To get around this, save a PDF directly from Safari instead:
- Tap the share button in Safari
- Tap the Options button in the share sheet
- Choose one of the PDF options and tap Done
- Tap Keep It
Can Keep It import from Mail?
Keep It can import messages from Mail on iPad, and on iPhone with iOS 15 or later.
To import messages from Keep It on iPad:
- Arrange Keep It side-by-side in split view, or with one of the apps in slideover (instructions here)
- Select and drag the messages to the items list, or to All Items, a folder, or a bundle in Lists view
To import messages from Keep It on iPhone with iOS 15 or later:
- In Keep It, go to the Lists view, or the items list where you want to add the message
- Select and start dragging the messages from Mail
- With another finger, swipe up from the bottom of the screen on iPhone models with Face ID, or double-click the Home button on other models, to show the multitasking screen
- Tap on Keep It to make it active
- Drop the dragged messages
It is not possible to drag and drop between apps on iOS 14 or earlier, but you can "print" a PDF of a message to Keep It:
- View the message in Mail
- Tap the Reply button
- Tap Print
- Pinch to zoom the preview until it fills the screen
- Tap the share button
- Tap Keep It
If the message includes attachments, you will not be able to access them through a printed PDF. Instead, save them individually to Keep It:
- Tap on the attachment to view it
- Tap the share button
- Tap Keep It
Can Keep It import a bookmarks HTML file?
To import a bookmarks HTML file, such as one exported by a web browser:
- Tap the + button below the Lists view or items list
- Choose Files
- Select a single bookmarks HTML file
- Tap Import Bookmarks
The folder structure will be preserved. Tags on the bookmarks will also be imported if these are included in the HTML file. The web links will not be saved for offline.
Some services such as Pocket do not export standard bookmarks files. Instead, see this guide to download scripts, shortcuts or workflows to do that, as well as a export a bookmarks HTML file from Keep It:
What formats does Keep It support?
You can add any kind of file. Keep It can edit its own notes, Markdown, rich and plain text files, add highlights and notes to PDFs, and save web links either as live links or as PDFs. Keep It will use Quick Look to show previews for most other file formats.
Can Keep It create files in other formats?
Keep It can create any kind of file using its stationery feature. Stationery can either be empty files, or templates.
Keep It provides stationery for Rich Text, Plain Text and Markdown files:
- Tap + below the Lists or items views
- Choose Rich Text, Plain Text, or Markdown from the menu shown
To add stationery from an existing item (e.g. to create a template):
- Tap on the item in the list to view it
- Tap the action button (second from the right)
- Tap Save as Stationery
- Set the name and tap Save
Can Keep It create a different file format by default?
Yes, you can set any active stationery item as the default when tapping the new button:
- Tap + below the Lists or items views
- Tap Manage Stationery
- Tap "Note" next to Default New Item
- Choose the item to use
What is the syntax for Markdown styles?
Editor Styles
Keep It uses styles compatible with MacDown. The file names must end in a .style extension, and the synxtax is described here:
Preview Styles
Any CSS stylesheet can be used.
Does Keep It search the content of files?
Yes, Keep It will search the contents of notes, plain and rich text files, bookmarks, web archives, HTML files, email messages, and PDFs, and will perform text recognition on scanned PDFs and images, including attachments — see How does text recognition work in Keep It? for more information.
To start a search:
- Swipe to the top of the items list
- Tap in the search field
When searching for multiple words in content, the words don’t necessarily need to be next to each other, or all appear. For example “chocolate chip” would find anything that contains either “chocolate” or “chip”. To match a phrase such as “chocolate chip” exactly, place the phrase in double quotes.
To make the content searchable it needs to be indexed. Any files on your device are indexed immediately, but files that are in iCloud will be temporarily downloaded and indexed when your device is connected to Wi-Fi.
How does text recognition work in Keep It?
Keep It 1.6 and later will perform text recognition on PDF documents and images, including attachments on notes, RTFD files and mail messages.
Keep It doesn’t modify PDFs or convert images to make them searchable, but rather indexes the text so that it can be found again, and stores that text in iCloud to save repeating the work on other devices.
Keep It has always been able to index the text in generated (as opposed to scanned) PDFs, or PDFs that have had OCR performed on them already, and does not perform unnecessary text recognition on those, or on images that do not appear to contain any text. On iOS 16 and later, scanned text can be selected, highlighted, copied, etc.
Read more about text recognition in Keep It here:
How can I open and access Keep It’s files in other apps?
Any document in Keep It can be opened in another app, and apps can save documents directly to Keep It, provided the app uses the standard document browser. First, enable Keep It in the list of Locations in the Files app.
To do that on iPhone:
- Open the Files app
- Tap the action (…) button above the top-level Browse view
- Choose Edit from the menu shown
- Switch Keep It on
- Tap Done
To do that on iPad:
- Open the Files app
- Tap the action (…) button above the side sidebar
- Choose Edit Sidebar from the menu shown
- Switch Keep It on
- Tap Done
Once enabled, you will be able to browse and view the files and folders in Keep It not only in the Files app, but any other app that uses the standard document browser, and you can open files in other apps directly from Keep It too:
- View the item you want to open
- Tap the activity button (rectange with an arrow pointing up)
- Tap the app you want to open the file in
How can I export all data from KeepIt?
To export all your files and folders:
- Tap and hold on All Items
- Select Export All Files
- When the download has completed, choose whether to export the files (and folders) or share a ZIP file.
When performing this export, Keep It will convert all notes to RTFD files, so that they can be read in other applications.
Note that your device will need enough free space to download everything Keep It stores in iCloud. Keep It will perform an approximate check before starting the export.
Why do I see a “Content Unavailable” error in the Files app?
If you see an error in the Files app reading “Content Unavailable. The folder contents could not be displayed because of an unknown error”, this is an issue with the Files app. Try this:
- Tap the action (…) button in the top-level Browse view (iPhone) or sidebar (iPad), and choose Edit
- Switch Keep It off
- Tap Done
- Restart the device
- Open the Files app
- Tap the action (…) button in the top-level Browse view (iPhone) or sidebar (iPad), and choose Edit
- Switch Keep It on
- Tap Done
- If you still see the "Content Unavailable" message, tap Try Again
If you are still having problems, please send a support request with log files attached.
Can Keep It be automated?
Yes, Keep It for iPad and iPhone can be automated with the Shortcuts app and x-callback-urls. See the following topics for more information:
Does Keep It support any URL schemes?
Linking to Items
Keep It can copy a link to a specific item that can be pasted anywhere:
- Tap on the item to view it
- Tap the activity button (looks like a rectangle with an arrow pointing up)
- Tap Copy Item Link
Linking to Lists
Keep It can copy a link to a specific list that can be pasted anywhere:
- Swipe left on the list
- Tap the … button
- Tap Copy Link
x-callback-urls
Keep It supports x-callback-urls for automation. See Keep It URL Support for documentation.