Your vault is
a folder.
Where your notes live, how to run more than one vault, how to sync the folder yourself with whatever you already use, and how version history hands every save back.
Point it at a folder,
start writing
There is no setup wizard and no import step. A vault is simply whichever folder you opened last.
Pick a folder
On first launch Ampersand offers a folder in iCloud Drive, or in Documents if you don’t use iCloud. Any folder works, including one already full of notes. Nothing is converted — it reads what is there.
Point it somewhere else
The Vaults menu, or “Open vault” in the command palette (Cmd + K, or Ctrl + K), aims Ampersand at a different folder. Your notes never move; the app does.
Add another
“New vault” makes a second folder with its own notes, sidebar order, templates and history. Vaults are genuinely separate — search, backlinks and tags never reach from one into another.
Switch between them
Pick a vault from the menu or the palette. Ampersand rebuilds its indexes before opening anything, so search never answers from the vault you just left, and unsaved work is offered to you first.
No database,
no container
A vault is a directory of plain markdown files. Notes are .md with optional YAML frontmatter, folders are folders, and images sit beside them. Nothing about your writing is stored in a format only Ampersand can read, which is why importing from Obsidian or Notion is a copy rather than a conversion — and why leaving is a copy too. Ampersand only ever reaches inside the vault you have open, so a second vault is a separate world rather than a filter over one big pile.
You can still open a note that lives elsewhere: double-click any .md file in Finder and it opens in a tab and saves normally. Being outside the vault, it is invisible to search, backlinks and tags, so the status bar says so and offers to add it — which copies it in and re-points the tab, so you don’t carry on typing into a file nothing can find.
Ampersand doesn’t sync.
You do.
No server and no account means nothing has to be trusted with your notes. Whatever already moves folders between your machines will move this one.
iCloud Drive
Keep the vault in iCloud Drive and every Mac on that account has it. iCloud can leave files in the cloud rather than on disk, so after a fresh sign-in give it a few minutes before expecting search to find everything.
Dropbox, Drive, OneDrive
Identical in practice: the vault is a folder in the synced tree. A note edited on two machines at once is resolved by keeping both as a “conflicted copy” — untidy, but it never quietly loses writing.
Syncthing
For when you would rather no company held the folder at all: it copies straight between your own devices. Conflicts arrive as extra files with a date in the name.
Git
Markdown diffs beautifully, so a vault in a repository gets branches, a remote and a log still readable in ten years. Ampersand’s own history is a separate repository elsewhere, so the two never collide.
One syncer per folder
The rule that matters: don’t stack them. A git repository inside a cloud-synced folder, or a folder two services both watch, is the reliable way to end up with a broken directory.
Your settings, optionally
Preferences stay on the machine unless you switch on iCloud settings sync, which carries your theme, editor options and shortcuts between Macs. API keys are excluded and never leave the machine they were typed on.
My Vault/
├── Projects/
│ ├── Launch plan.md
│ └── Research.md
├── Inbox.md
├── attachments/ ← files brought in by an import
└── .ampersand/ ← templates, pasted images, sidebar
order, per-vault settings, key file
~/Library/Application Support/Ampersand/
└── history/ ← version history, kept OUT of the vault
One hidden folder,
and one exception
A single .ampersand folder in the vault holds what belongs to the notes rather than to a machine: templates, images and files you pasted in, your sidebar order, an optional per-vault settings file, and the wrapped key file if you use encryption. It is meant to sync with everything else.
Version history is the deliberate exception. It is a git repository — a churning directory of small files rewritten on every save, which is exactly what a sync service juggling two machines corrupts. So it lives outside the vault, with its working tree pointed back at your notes. History is per-machine as a result, and no .git directory rides along with your writing.
- Templates, attachments and sidebar order sync with the notes
- Version history is stored outside the vault, per machine
- Tabs, recent files and API keys stay on the machine
Every save,
kept quietly
Ampersand commits your vault to a private repository as you write. Saves are coalesced, so a burst of autosaves mid-paragraph becomes one entry rather than forty — about fifteen seconds of quiet closes an entry, and you can change that. Nothing is recorded when nothing changed.
Open the timeline with ⌘ ⇧ H, or find it in the document panel on the right. Each entry shows its time and how many lines moved; select one and the diff appears inline, comparing against the file as it is now or against the version immediately before it. Restoring never overwrites — the older text loads into the open tab as unsaved changes, so you read it, keep what you wanted, and save. Or undo, and pretend it never happened.
Settings → Version history turns it off, widens the window that groups saves, caps how many versions a file keeps, sets a retention period, or deletes a vault’s history outright. History covers markdown and small images; notes you have encrypted are never committed, because a diff of ciphertext is meaningless and readable snapshots of a locked note would defeat the lock.
Free vs Pro
Sync is not a backup
Good to know
Can I keep my Ampersand vault in iCloud Drive or Dropbox?
Yes. A vault is a plain folder, so anything that syncs folders will sync it: iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Syncthing or a git remote. Ampersand does not sync anything itself — it reads and writes ordinary .md files and lets your service move them. Avoid stacking two mechanisms on one folder, such as a git repository inside a cloud-synced directory.
Does Ampersand sync my notes between my computers?
No, and deliberately so. Ampersand has no server and no account, so there is nothing for your notes to sync through. You choose the mechanism — iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Syncthing, git — and it applies to the folder, which means you can change your mind later without exporting anything. Your preferences, not your notes, can optionally sync between Macs through iCloud.
Can I use more than one vault in Ampersand?
Yes. Each vault is a separate folder with its own notes, templates, tags and history, and nothing crosses between them, so a search in a work vault never surfaces a personal note. Switch between vaults you already have from the Vaults menu or the command palette. Switching is free; creating additional vaults is part of Ampersand Pro.
How do I get back an earlier version of a note in Ampersand?
Open the version history timeline for that note with Cmd + Shift + H, pick a point in time, and read the line-by-line diff. Restoring never overwrites: the older text arrives in the tab as unsaved changes, so you keep what you want and save, or undo. Browsing the timeline and reading diffs is free; one-click restore is part of Ampersand Pro.
Is my Ampersand version history synced between my computers?
No. Version history is a git repository kept outside your vault, separately on each machine. That is on purpose: a repository is a busy directory of small files rewritten on every save, which is exactly the workload a sync service handling two machines at once tends to corrupt. Keeping it out means your notes sync cleanly and your history cannot be damaged by a sync conflict.
What is the .ampersand folder inside my vault?
It holds what belongs to the vault rather than to a computer: your templates, images and files you pasted into notes, your sidebar order, an optional per-vault settings file, and — if you use encryption — the wrapped key file, which is useless without your passphrase. It is meant to travel with the notes, so let it sync with them.
A folder you own,
for as long as you want it.
Download Ampersand, point it at a folder, and write in files that will outlive the app that made them.
Free to start · Mac, Windows & Linux · No account required