Tutorials

"Tutorial: solve a mystery"

Track clues across several days with questions, links between notes and search, then close the case with an answer in your own words.

Mysteries in games span many sessions: a clue on one day, a suspect on another, and the answer weeks later. This tutorial shows how to keep the thread. It uses the Default template and made-up notes. Start from your first session if you have no journal yet.

1. Open the case with a question#

On Today, type Who left the lantern at the ruins?.
Choose ? and add a tag: type #mystery on a new last line, or use the Tag button.
Save with ⌘Enter.

Expected: the note shows a ? and open since Day …. Today gets a link 1 open question.

2. Add clues as you find them#

Move the day on if the game has: the › button next to the date.
Write the clue. Mention people with @ so each person's page collects what you learn about them: Footprints lead to the old boathouse. @Marta saw someone there at dusk.
Turn on ✦ if it feels like a real find, and add #mystery again so every clue shares the tag.

3. Connect clues to the question#

Link the new clue to the original question so you can jump between them.

In the clue's text, type [[ and a few words of the question: [[lantern.
Choose the question note from the list. A link chip is added and the typed text is removed.
Save. Open the question note's own page (choose its link chip anywhere, or search for it): under Linked from you now see the clue.

The note box with the text Back at the door, see [[ and a list of notes below the caret, outlined in orange. — The `[[` list searches your notes.

4. Review the case#

Everything on the case is now one click away:

All clues: choose the #mystery chip on any note, or pin the tag (Settings → Tags → Pin) so it sits in the sidebar. The Journal shows only those notes, grouped by day.
Open questions: Journal → Questions → Open.
One person's part: People → Marta lists every note that mentions her.
Search: boathouse is:discovery finds discoveries that mention the boathouse; #mystery -lantern finds mystery notes that do not mention the lantern. See Search syntax.

The Journal with the Tag filter open, a small panel outlined in orange with a Find a tag field and a checkbox list of tags. — Filtering the Journal by tag.

5. Close the case#

Open the original question (Journal → Questions).
Choose Mark solved, type the answer, press Enter.

Expected: a ✓, Solved Day … and your answer under the note. The question leaves the open list. Mossnote never suggests an answer; this is yours.

A solved question with a check mark, the words Solved Day 12, a Reopen link and the answer text. — A solved question.

Tips#

One tag per case beats many. Tags are cheap to add and easy to merge later (Settings → Tags → Merge).
Use a title on the question note so it is easy to spot in search results.
Pin the case's map marker to the question, too. See Tutorial: map an area.