CaseLeaf

Handbook / The `note` command

The note command

You checked the copy against the signed original, and the next person needs to know that was done and why.

Adds one line to the document's history. It is how a person's reason gets into the record beside the operations: checked against the signed copy, approved by the committee. The history is otherwise a list of what was done and never why, and the why is what somebody reading it later actually needs.

How you run it

caseleaf note report.pdf --event Reviewer

caseleaf note report.pdf --event Reviewer --note "force majeure" --at 2026-01-31

What each part means

In full, every part it will take:

caseleaf note <file> --event <name> [--note <text>] [--at <ISO date>]
part what it is for
<file> The PDF to work on, as a path, such as report.pdf beside you, or the full path to it. This command writes to it, so keep a copy if the original matters.
--event What happened, in one word: reviewed, approved, filed. It is what the history is searched and sorted by, so a consistent handful of words is worth more than a sentence.
--note Anything more worth recording, for example --note "Checked against the signed copy". Left out, the entry carries the event and the time only.
--at When it happened. Now if left out. (optional)

What comes back

Asked of a short sample document, it answers as below. The sample has eight sheets, a highlight and a note left by a reviewer, a web link, a small table, two pictures and one form field already filled in.

{
  "entries" : 1,
  "written" : true
}

The same thing from AppleScript

Everything above can be asked for from a script instead. There is one AppleScript command, perform: on names the document, and options takes the rest exactly as you would type it.

tell application "CaseLeaf"
    perform "note" on "/path/to/report.pdf" ¬
        options "--event Reviewer"
end tell

tell application "CaseLeaf"
    perform "note" on "/path/to/report.pdf" ¬
        options "--event Reviewer --note \"force majeure\" --at 2026-01-31"
end tell

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