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Typehall

Lesson 9 of 12 · Intermediate

Checklists that stay checkable

Empty boxes for open work, crossed boxes for done — stored as text.

In this lesson you will learn task-list syntax, how checking a box works in Typehall, and why the plain-text storage matters.

Syntax

- [ ] Write the announcement
- [x] Freeze the feature list
- [ ] Ship on Thursday

A list item starting with [ ] is an open task; [x] (lowercase or uppercase X) is done. Anything else in the brackets — [-], [?] — is not a task, it renders as literal text.

Checking boxes in Typehall

In Preview, every checkbox is clickable: ticking it flips the source text from [ ] to [x], autosaved like any other edit, and the change flows through history, backups, and exports exactly like typed text — because it is typed text. The editor toolbar's List button toggles the same syntax in place while you type. There are no due dates, priorities, or reminders here; when you need those, you need a task manager, not a checklist.

A real example

## Release checklist

- [x] Changelog drafted
- [x] Screenshots updated
- [ ] Deploy to production
- [ ] Announce in the changelog

Mistakes to avoid

  • Forgetting the dash — [ ] task without the list marker is a paragraph with brackets, not a task item.
  • No space after the box — - [ ]Task needs the space before the text, like any list item.
  • Expecting progress tracking — the note records states, not statistics. Counts of open tasks are eyeballed, not computed.

Exercise

## Release checklist

- [x] One thing already done
- [ ] Two things still open
- [ ] One thing with an owner: name them

Tick a box in Preview and watch the source text change — that round-trip is the whole feature.

Try this exercise in Typehall

New to Typehall? Edit the Markdown in the new note, then choose Preview to see the rendered result, or Split to edit and preview at the same time. How the Markdown editor works. Tip: Split works especially well with Focus enabled, giving the editor and rendered preview more room.

Next, the escape hatch for literal characters: Escaping characters.

Learn Markdown course index — all 12 lessons in order.