Tana Cheatsheet

Nodes: The basic building block of Tana. Every piece of content is a node that can be nested, tagged, and linked.

Supertags: Reusable templates that define the structure for types of nodes (e.g., Book, Project, Person). Apply tags to nodes to add fields.

Fields: Attributes on tagged nodes that store structured data. Types include text, numbers, dates, references, and more.

Instances: References to specific nodes of a given supertag type. Use instance fields to link related entities.

References: Create connections between nodes using [[node name]] syntax. Two-way links enable relationship tracking.

Live Searches: Dynamic queries that automatically show results matching your criteria. Searches update as content changes.

Creating a Supertag

Right-click node → Add tag → Name tag

Tag Inheritance with Extends

Apply existing tags to a new tag to inherit their field definitions:

Create new tag → extends: [Parent Tag Name]

Field Configuration

• Name: Display name of the field
• Type: Data type (plain, number, date, etc.)
• Default: Default value for new nodes
• Description: Help text for users
• Required: Mark field as mandatory
• Multi-value: Allow multiple values in one field

Search Operators

• AND: All conditions must match (implicit at root level)
• OR: Any condition can match
• NOT: Exclude matching results

Query Examples

Find all tasks due today:

#TODO
Due Date = TODAY

Find incomplete projects assigned to you:

#Project
Status = Active
Assigned to = [Your Name]
NOT DONE

Time Filters

• CREATED LAST 7 DAYS
• EDITED LAST 7 DAYS
• DONE LAST 7 DAYS

AI Commands

Access AI features via ⌘⌥I in Tana:

• Summarize: Create brief summaries of content
• Expand: Add detail and context
• Translate: Convert text between languages
• Write: Generate new content based on prompts
• Edit: Refine and improve existing text
• Custom Prompts: Create personalized AI workflows

AI Field Generation

Configure fields to auto-generate content based on other fields using AI.

Basic Syntax

- Node name
  - Child node
  - [[Reference to existing node]]
  - #TagName
  - [[Field Name]]:: value

With Supertags

- Book #Book
  - Author:: Stephen King
  - Rating:: 5
  - Read:: [x]
  - ISBN:: 978-0451191730

Creating References

- [[^exactNodeId]]  # Link by ID (most reliable)
- [[Node Name]]      # Find or create by name
- [[name #tagName]]  # Find by name and tag

Date Format

- Task
  - Due Date:: [[date:2026-02-15]]
  - Scheduled:: [[date:2026-02-15 14:30]]

Daily Page Workflow

Press ⌘J to navigate to today’s daily page. Tana automatically creates daily pages for calendar views.

Date Fields

Date fields enable:

• Scheduling tasks to specific days
• Viewing items on calendar
• Date-based filtering in searches
• Due date tracking

Calendar View

Use %%view:calendar%% on searches to display items by date.

Publishing to Web

Share your Tana content publicly:

1. Right-click node → Share → Publish to web
2. Configure public/private access
3. Share link with others
4. Control which fields are visible to readers

Share Settings

• Public: Anyone with link can view
• Private: Only invited users can view
• Password Protected: Require password to access
• Comments: Enable/disable reader comments

Command Node

Create a command node to run custom workflows. Use %%search%% syntax to create dynamic queries.

Templates

Use supertags as templates. When you add a tag to a node, all default field values populate automatically.

References vs Copies

• References: Point to the same node (bidirectional)
• Copies: Duplicate content into a new node

Use references to maintain single source of truth.

Inbox Workflow

1. Quickly capture ideas in your inbox
2. Use ⌘J for daily page
3. Review and organize regularly
4. Move to appropriate supertag/folder

Keyboard Efficiency

Learn the most-used shortcuts (⌘J, ⌘K, ⌘/, ⌘⇧T) for significant speed improvements.