Bear 2.9.2

Bear

A Markdown note-taking app for Mac that keeps writing fast and uncluttered while tags, links, and sync handle organization in the background.

Bear targets people who want plain-text notes without giving up polish. You open a note and write; formatting uses Markdown for bold, lists, tables, tasks, and headings, but the editor hides syntax for a clean reading view. Tags replace rigid folders—you can nest tags with #project/subtopic syntax and pin important ones in the sidebar. Wiki-style links connect related notes into a personal knowledge base, and the info panel shows a table of contents plus backlinks for longer documents.

Writing, media, and export

Beyond text, Bear handles photos, sketches, PDF attachments, and scanned documents in the same note. A Safari extension clips web pages into Bear; Shortcuts and Siri can create notes from elsewhere on the system. Export covers Markdown, TextBundle, PDF, HTML, DOCX, ePub, and other formats, with additional export options in Bear Pro. Pro also unlocks OCR search across images and PDFs, note encryption, extra themes, and iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad according to the vendor.

Workspaces and integrations

Version 2.9 introduced Workspaces: right-click a tag to focus the app on that topic, showing only matching notes and related sidebar tags, including archive and trash entries under the same scope. Bear also ships a CLI and MCP server integration for automation; Pro users can scope external tool access by included or excluded tags. These features suit writers, students, and professionals who outgrow a single inbox but do not want a heavy database-style notes app.

Licensing and fit

Bear is free to download with local note access; Bear Pro adds sync, themes, encryption, and advanced export through a subscription with a seven-day trial per the product page. macOS 12.4 or later is required on Mac. Privacy-focused users benefit from notes stored in iCloud without vendor access to content. If you need real-time collaboration or a Windows client, Bear is not the right fit. Version 2.9.2 adds Mermaid diagram support and reliability fixes for search and BearCLI.