Glossary
The words that keep coming up across TaskNote, explained once, plainly. Where an idea has a page of its own, the term links to it.
Encryption and security
- End to end encryption#
- Notes are locked on your device before they are sent anywhere, and can only be opened on a device of yours. The server never sees readable text.Read next
- AES-GCM, 256 bit#
- The cipher we encrypt with. It keeps content secret and also notices if anyone alters it. TaskNote applies it on your device, before storing or syncing anything.Read next
- Encryption key#
- The secret that opens your notes. In TaskNote it is generated on your device, separately from your password, and we never hold a copy.Read next
- Encryption on the client#
- All locking and unlocking happens in your browser or app, before anything reaches the server.Read next
- Zero knowledge#
- We cannot read your notes, your password or your key. Only you can reach the readable version.Read next
- Local encryption#
- Encrypting data on the device itself, before it is stored or synced.
- Decryption#
- Turning encrypted data back into readable text, which takes the right key.Read next
- Encrypted data#
- Information transformed into a form nobody can read without the key.Read next
- Plain text#
- Readable data, either before it is encrypted or after it has been unlocked.
- Cipher#
- The algorithm that performs the encrypting and the decrypting.
- Key derivation#
- Producing a key from a password by putting it through a cryptographic function.
- Password based encryption#
- Deriving the key from a password rather than storing a key anywhere.
- Hashing#
- A one way transformation into a fixed length value, commonly used to check a password without storing it.
- Salt#
- Random data added to a password before hashing, so precomputed tables are of no use to an attacker.
- At rest and in transit#
- At rest protects data on the disk, in transit protects it on the wire. We use both, and encrypt on your device besides.Read next
- Secure storage#
- Keeping data in a form that stays useless to whoever gets hold of the storage.
Signing in and access
- Account password#
- What you sign in with. On its own it does not open your encrypted notes.
- Master password#
- The one password that guards everything else in a system built this way.
- Session#
- The period in which the app treats you as signed in, so you are not asked again on every action.
- Authentication#
- Establishing that you are who you say you are, usually with a password.
- Login session#
- The stretch of time during which you stay signed in.
- Signing out#
- Ending the session, so access requires signing in again.
- Password reset#
- Setting a new password. It changes how you sign in, and on its own it does not recover encrypted notes.
- Two factor authentication#
- A second check at sign in, so a stolen password is not enough by itself.
- Recovery key#
- Your encryption key, under the name it goes by on the day you need it back. Keep a copy outside the app.Read next
Notes and data
- Note#
- One piece of writing kept in TaskNote.
- Task#
- Something to be done, tracked next to your notes and ticked off when it is. Planning and the work itself stay in one place.Read next
- Reminder#
- A notification set for a date and a time, so something that matters does not slip past.Read next
- Encrypted note#
- A note stored locked, readable only once it is unlocked on your device.
- Folder#
- A place to keep related notes together.Read next
- Notebook#
- A group of folders or notes kept as one collection.
- Rich text#
- Formatting such as bold, headings and lists, applied without typing any special characters.
- Markdown#
- A light way of writing structure into plain characters, which is also how notes leave TaskNote.Read next
- Plain text editor#
- Writing without formatting, encrypted all the same.
- Formatting#
- The visual shape of text: headings, lists, emphasis.
- Attachments#
- Files added to a note and stored with the same protection.
- Metadata#
- Facts about a note rather than its contents, such as when it was made or last changed.
- Search index#
- The structure that makes searching your notes fast.
- Local search#
- Searching on your own device, without sending the contents of notes to a server.Read next
- Encrypted search#
- Finding notes without their contents ever being exposed in readable form.
Sync and storage
- Cloud storage#
- Encrypted notes kept on remote servers so your devices can share them.
- Sync#
- Keeping every device you use up to date with the same notes.
- Server#
- The remote machine that holds encrypted data and passes changes along.
- Client#
- Your device or browser, where the locking and unlocking happens.
- Local cache#
- Encrypted data kept on the device so things open without waiting.
- Offline#
- Reading and writing notes with no connection at all, and syncing later when there is one.Read next
- Backup#
- A copy of your encrypted data, kept in case the original is lost.
- Data loss#
- Losing access for good, whether because data was deleted or because the key is gone.
- Version history#
- Earlier versions of a note, kept so you can go back.
Privacy and policy
- Privacy#
- Keeping what you write away from anyone you did not choose.
- Owning your data#
- Your notes are yours, to take elsewhere whenever you want them.
- User data#
- Your notes, your settings and the facts recorded around them.
- Third party access#
- Any outside service that can reach your data.
- Breach#
- Someone reaching stored data who was never meant to.
- Security policy#
- What we do to keep the service safe, written down.
- Privacy policy#
- What happens to your data, and what does not, written down.
Plans and account
- Free plan#
- The everyday features of TaskNote, at no cost.
- Subscription#
- A recurring payment that keeps the paid features open.
- Billing#
- Payments and everything around managing them.
- Upgrading#
- Moving an account from the free plan to the paid one.
- Downgrading#
- Moving an account back from the paid plan to the free one.
- Cancelling#
- Stopping future payments. The account returns to the free plan.