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Aside
a fast, local, out-of-the-way notes app for Windows 11
A frameless note window for Windows that slides up from the corner of your screen, catches the thought, and gets out of the way (plus a typed Pomodoro timer and live-rendering Markdown).
Professors at my college always seem to love cramming the important information about an upcoming exam, homework assignment, or update to the course at the very end of class. I've caught myself countless times needing to write a reminder in BOLD at the top of the notes page I was populating during the class, only to never pay attention to it again until later in the semester when it's too late. In the library, i'm studying with friends and classmates for an upcoming exam. Laptop is out and open and one of my buddies decides to pull us away from our work and talk about this semester's upcoming intramural soccer tournament. I have to get cleared by my PCP, so while they're discussing the team I search online for a doctor near my hometown and write the number down on Google docs (mind you: untitled document, just like the tens of other spur-of-the-moment notes I've had). Im reading on Readest (best open-source EPUB and PDF reader btw) and get touched by a beautiful quote. I don't wanna open Google Docs for this. I don't wanna delegate a single quote to an entire file. and so I open Apple Notes on my phone and add it in there.
Pretty soon, after my life has been lived for a year, information I once thought was important and worth writing down is now scattered throughout several note-taking environments, platforms, and inaccessible at times.
I always, always wanted a note-taking app that is quick and doesn't distract. In this day and age, with the sheer accessibility of resources to learn online, I captured one feature I REALLY wanted and figured out how to make this wish a reality: Summon and vanish. Press Alt+A from anywhere (even over full-screen apps) to catch a thought, and when you dismiss it, your cursor lands exactly where you left off (no alt-tabbing, no lost focus). This got the ball rolling and for months, I got caught in a feedback loop of feature-adding.
Today, I think I am satisfied enough to release a public beta for the app for anyone to try, even break if they can, and suggest any future features they might find golden in their own workflow or busy lives!
Would love a global hotkey to summon the note from anywhere without needing to click the tray icon, and maybe a quick toggle to make the window stay-on-top while im referencing something in another app.
Slides in fast, no chrome eating up my screen, and the Markdown rendering kicks in as I type. Pomodoro tucked in there is a nice bonus too.
Love how minimal Aside feels, that corner-slide behavior is exactly what I've wanted for quick notes. One thing that would make it stick for me is letting the note window persist across virtual desktops so I don't lose a thought when I switch contexts. Maybe a checkbox in settings to pin it to all desktops?
Would love to see a global hotkey to summon the window even when it's already open, so I can quickly jump between jotting a thought and getting back to work without hunting for the corner.
the slide-up-from-the-corner behavior is such a thoughtful little detail, it feels like the app actually respects your workspace instead of fighting for attention. love that the pomodoro and markdown rendering live in the same unobtrusive shell.
Love how minimal this is, the slide-up corner window feels really natural. One thing I'd find useful is a quick hotkey to instantly paste whatever's currently in the note into whatever app I'm focused on, would save me a few clicks when moving thoughts into Notion or Slack.
About Aside on Product Hunt
“a fast, local, out-of-the-way notes app for Windows 11”
Aside was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 8 upvotes and 13 comments, placing #101 on the daily leaderboard. A frameless note window for Windows that slides up from the corner of your screen, catches the thought, and gets out of the way (plus a typed Pomodoro timer and live-rendering Markdown).
Aside was featured in Productivity (656.2k followers), Writing (59.3k followers) and Notes (8.3k followers) on Product Hunt. Together, these topics include over 162k products, making this a competitive space to launch in.
Who hunted Aside?
Aside was hunted by Andres Gumucio. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
Want to see how Aside stacked up against nearby launches in real time? Check out the live launch dashboard for upvote speed charts, proximity comparisons, and more analytics.
Andres Gumucio
Professors at my college always seem to love cramming the important information about an upcoming exam, homework assignment, or update to the course at the very end of class. I've caught myself countless times needing to write a reminder in BOLD at the top of the notes page I was populating during the class, only to never pay attention to it again until later in the semester when it's too late. In the library, i'm studying with friends and classmates for an upcoming exam. Laptop is out and open and one of my buddies decides to pull us away from our work and talk about this semester's upcoming intramural soccer tournament. I have to get cleared by my PCP, so while they're discussing the team I search online for a doctor near my hometown and write the number down on Google docs (mind you: untitled document, just like the tens of other spur-of-the-moment notes I've had). Im reading on Readest (best open-source EPUB and PDF reader btw) and get touched by a beautiful quote. I don't wanna open Google Docs for this. I don't wanna delegate a single quote to an entire file. and so I open Apple Notes on my phone and add it in there.
Pretty soon, after my life has been lived for a year, information I once thought was important and worth writing down is now scattered throughout several note-taking environments, platforms, and inaccessible at times.
I always, always wanted a note-taking app that is quick and doesn't distract. In this day and age, with the sheer accessibility of resources to learn online, I captured one feature I REALLY wanted and figured out how to make this wish a reality: Summon and vanish. Press Alt+A from anywhere (even over full-screen apps) to catch a thought, and when you dismiss it, your cursor lands exactly where you left off (no alt-tabbing, no lost focus). This got the ball rolling and for months, I got caught in a feedback loop of feature-adding.
Today, I think I am satisfied enough to release a public beta for the app for anyone to try, even break if they can, and suggest any future features they might find golden in their own workflow or busy lives!