Themes in Noto

Noto has a flexible theming engine that allows you to entirely modify the appearance of the editor windows. You can also export the themes you create to files and share them, and also import theme files created by other users so you can use them yourself.

  1. In Noto, choose Noto > Preferences….
  2. On the Preferences panel, select the “Theme” tab.
Noto preferences panel showing the themes controls
The following controls are visible in this panel:
Control Label Type Description
Theme Popup Button

Chooses the theme currently used for all editor windows.

The default themes are:

  • Light: A theme with dark text over a light background.
  • Dark: A theme with light text over a dark background.

Select “Import theme from file…” to import a theme from a file. Read more.

Notice: You can not select different themes for individual editor windows.
Editor Text Color Color Well The color used to draw the file’s text content.
Background Color Color Well The color used to draw the background of the file’s text content.
Lines Counter Text Color Color Well The color used to draw the text in the lines counter gutter.
Background Color Color Well The color used to draw the background of the lines counter gutter.
Editor Preview Text Area Displays a quick preview of what the editor windows look like with the currently selected theming options.

Custom editor themes

Once you modify any of the theme colors, Noto will clone the currently selected theme into a new theme and name it “Theme (Custom)”. You can then give it a different name, or delete it if you wish.

Noto preferences panel with a custom theme selected, and showing the themes controls
Once a custom theme is selected, some extra buttons are displayed next to the theme selector control:
Rename Theme   n/a Renames the currently selected theme.
Delete Theme   n/a Deletes the currently selected theme.
Share Theme   n/a

Exports the currently selected theme to a file.

  1. Click   n/a

  2. Name the file, add one or more tags, then select a location.

    To save your theme file in the Noto folder in iCloud Drive, click the Where pop-up menu, then choose “Noto — iCloud.” If you choose iCloud Drive in the pop-up menu, your theme file is saved in iCloud Drive, but not in the Noto folder. If you don’t see the pop-up menu, click Noto in the iCloud section of the Finder sidebar.

  3. Click Export.
Color picker panel
The color picker panel. Click anywhere on the color wheel to choose a color. Read more.

To change any of the theme colors, click on the colored rectangle next to the desired label for the color you wish to change and select the desired color from the color picker.

All changes made to the colors are saved instantly and all editor windows are updated automatically.

Importing custom themes

If you have a theme shared with you from another user, or downloaded from Noto’s homepage, you can use it in Noto by importing it from the Theme selector.

  1. Click the Theme selector

  2. Choose Import theme from file…, then navigate to a valid theme file (it has a “.plist” extension).

    If your theme file is stored in iCloud Drive, you can select Noto in the iCloud section of the Finder sidebar, then double-click your file. For more information about working with files in iCloud, see Store documents with iCloud Drive.

  3. Click “Import Theme”.